trolley813

After reading Bridge for Dummies, you should study Bridge for Declarers and then Bridge for Defenders.

Even in bridge, playing in No Trump is not always the best choice.

Another story translated from Russian: A bridge player dies from heart attack (no pun intended) when his redoubled contract went down 4. His partners are visiting his funeral, and there's total silence there. But after some time, one of his opponent finally breaks the silence saying: - Mike, if you led a diamond that time, it could be much worse for him...

Well, this is not only the strongest hand I've ever played, but even the strongest one I've ever seen, with whopping 29 (twenty-nine) HCPs. [hv=pc=n&s=saqhak963dakq6cak&w=sj852hqjtdj54ct75&n=st943h42d9872cj82&e=sk76h875dt3cq9643&d=e&v=0&b=14&a=p2dp2hp3hp3np5np6dppp]399|300[/hv] So, I really don't know how to bid that properly. This is what I tried: S: 2♦ (strong, artificial, showing 20+ HCP) N: 2♥ (0 aces) S: 3♥ (strong hearts) N: 3NT (no heart support) S: 5NT (this will probably make even if North has 0 HCPs, "pick a slam"-like) N: 6♦ S: Pass (fit in diamonds, but I was afraid to bid 7) So, it ended up in 6♦+1, 940 points with a good MP result of 87% (however, some people managed to get 6NT for 990). Interestingly that many Souths (they too were beginner players, just like me) bid 1♥ and this was passed out, ending up in something awkward like 1♥+5 (or +4).

Well, that's not so funny, but still: - What's the difference between bridge and Minecraft? - In the latter, one can always make 1 spade* holding only a single diamond and 2 sticks. In bridge, that's often not enough**. *Actually, it's called a "shovel" in-game, but it's a near-synonym of "spade". **Here, "2 sticks" is intended to be interpreted as "11 HCP".

Well, not all of them. I'm actually a programmer and I'm at least trying to play bridge.

As well as I can see, 6♣ is makable even with a 4-3 trump fit (in this particular E-W layout). All you need is to win the first trick, then draw all trumps (crashing the ♣J and ♣Q in one trick) and you're home (7 diamond tricks, 3 clubs, 1 spade and 1 heart - even on spade lead, if E-W continue spades after winning the trump trick, you can ruff due to your ♠A being singleton).

That's probably because this hand is quite old and is initially a whist hand (where all suits were equal). Actually, I'm wrong, South always has the ability to save in 7NT (there was no notrump option in whist).

Another story from here: [hv=pc=n&s=sj3h432d8765432ca&w=skqt8hjt97dqtckj8&n=sa9hakq65dakcqt54&e=s76542h8dj9c97632&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1cp2hp2sp3cp3hp4np7ddppp]399|300[/hv] Explanations for bidding by South (this was a kibitzer which knew nothing about the game, except "Just bid what you have and follow suit"):

With the Duke of Cumberland hand, it is actually better to sacrifice with 7♥ or 7♠. As far as I can count, it's down 3 at most (so minus 800 when doubled and vulnerable), opposed to minus 2660 for 7♣ made and vulnerable.

Since the 3NT bid promised 21 HCP, and you have 10, why not launch Gerber with 4♣? Despite 31 HCP is in theory somewhat low for a slam, but you still able to sign-off at 5NT if something goes wrong. P.S. However, playing at notrump is a bit risky due to weak spades.

Not quite a joke, but still (from the ACBL Encyclopedia of Bridge, 7th edition (2011), page 393): [hv=pc=n&s=st3hk76dc&w=shq952djc&n=s98hat8dc&e=shj43d96c]399|300[/hv] This rare case, when a tenace really consists of a ten and an ace.

Coincidentally, I've lost a hand today (by allowing my robot partner to overbid) just because my heart was not good enough: I even created a topic about it since I don't quite understand the bidding. (Not a joke.)

I had the following hand when playing SAYC-like with a robot: ♠4 ♥108743 ♦KQJ7 ♣AQ10 Partner had ♠AQ982 ♥QJ6 ♦A ♣K875 The bidding went as follows (I opened): 1♥ (12+ HCP with 5+ hearts) - 1♠ - 2♦ (good diamond suit, no spade fit) - and then North suddenly blasted to 6♥. Of course, for the obvious reasons (missing AK of trumps), it went down 1. So, why did North bid a slam without further investigating (Blackwood etc), since I didn't promise the strength of my heart suit (opposed to length)? Or maybe I shouldn't open with my long major being not good enough?

... and the bartender says "Sorry, we don't serve minors."

I've done some calculation and found that the cashing ace and king of diamonds gives slightly more chance (about 53.1%) of success than trying to finesse (about 45.2%, but the latter figure depends on the rank of the North's diamonds spot card). It was done with the assumption that the first method succeeds when trumps are either 2-2 or 3-1 with a singleton queen, and the second one succeeds when trumps are 2-2 or 3-1, and the queen is with West (when trumps are 4-0 with West, and he/she has at least 3 diamonds higher than the North's lowest diamond (e.g. Q762 vs. KJ5), the finesse will fail).

Thanks, my fault. Cashing the king first, then the ace (in trumps), so the lead will be in right hand (South). Of course, one may try to finesse the queen, but I'm unsure what is better from the view of probability theory (since East-West have passed all the time, we know little about their suit distribution).

I apologise since it may be an improper place to post it there, but I've found nothing better. Topic for posting bridge jokes, memes and other bridge humour (I've found no existing topic dedicated to it). Here's a joke by me (I've posted it today on Reddit (to the general jokes subreddit), but the people there seem not to play bridge): - Why an owner of 4 bridge clubs would give one of them for free only to help Democrats to win the 2020 presidential election? - Because in bridge, four clubs are worth less then three, but with no trump.

I would try to draw trumps with ♦A and ♦K ("eight ever, nine never", hoping for 2-2), then cash the ♣A, ruff a low club and lead a low spade to the jack. If West attacked with the ♠K he/she must definitely have the ace, so your QJ9 in spades are likely to take at least 2 tricks (unless it's some weird distribution). So, 6 diamond tricks (if trumps are 2-2), 2 spades, 1 club and 2 hearts, totaling 11. Since there's 2 quick losers in spades, it's the limit. P.S. Of course, you may try to ruff a heart, but this can be risky too (if hearts are lying 5-2 or even 6-1, defenders can overruff).

I was afraid that 3♦ could get info a misfit. Since I'm using 5-card majors, an opening bid of 1♦ could indicate as few as 3 diamonds (and 2NT does not show a long diamond suit). P.S. As far as I can see, 5♦ (or even 6) is makable in this particular NS layout even with unfavourable trump distribution (since at least one of the ♦K and ♦10 can be successfully finessed, and the remaining trumps are enough to ruff).

Hello all! This is my first post on BBO forums (I'm not so experienced bridge player as well), so I likely did something wrong. I appreciate any notes to that. Today I've played a training hand with robots online (unfortunately not on BBO) and had the following hand (I was South): [hv=pc=n&s=sj2hqjt643da73ck8&n=sakqhadqj9854ca53]133|200[/hv] The bidding was as follows: North: 1♦ (as usual, 12+ HCP, no 5-card major, 3+ diamonds) South: 2♥ (intending to show 9-11 HCP with a long suit, at least the explanations provided (meaning shown upon pressing the bid button) say so. But I suspect that North might understand it as strong jump (16-18 HCP), however it may be not the case) N: 2NT (14-23 HCP, game forcing) S: 3♥ (6+ hearts. My thoughts: "Well, I have nothing except hearts, and my black suits are too weak to bid 3NT. If you have stoppers in them, welcome.") N: 4NT (Blackwood 3014 (non-RKCB), asking for aces) S: 5♦ (showing 1 ace) N: 5NT (ask for kings) S: 6♦ (1 king. I expected that North will pass now) N: 7♦ A very, very risky grand slam which could be disastrous. But the trump distribution with defenders was favourable (2-2 and the king being onside (with East)), so we managed to make it! (East lead the 10 of clubs, I took it with the ace and immediately led the queen of diamonds. When His Majesty (the king of trumps) showed up, I took with the ace and led the 3 of diamonds to the jack, then ruffed a club and the grand slam was made). 2210 points and +16 IMPs. Full hand: [hv=pc=n&s=sj2hqjt643da73ck8&w=s98543hk8dt6cqj42&n=sakqhadqj9854ca53&e=st76h9752dk2ct976&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=ppp1dp2hp2np3hp4np5dp5np6dp7dppp&p=ctc8c4cadqdkdad6d3dtdjd2c5c6ckc2h3h8hah5c3c7d7]399|300[/hv]