jdeegan

:P At the risk of being tiresome, I must point out that this is a 20-20 HCP hand with exactly 16 tricks. Only at MP's does it make a tinkers' damn if you get this one right. The whole structure of any commonly used bidding system is oriented toward reaching games and slams. You just can't have perfection with your limited bidding vocabulary. Learn to defend. Even if you lose this particular auction, accurate defense should get you an average minus assuming you get your tricks on defense.

:P It is obvious that N with nothing extra can save the day on this hand by bidding? Is it really worth the risk if pard does not have four spades. Sometimes it is right just to sell out even if the result is an average minus. Bridge bidding is such a limited vocabulary that its imperfections have to be respected.

:P I think the double to show ♦ and ♠ is a fine way to play, but with a minimum hand a double is imo, too aggressive. This example is a 20-20 HCP split with pard having pretty much the magic minimum hand.

:P I think the double to show ♦ and ♠ is a fine way to play, but with a minimum hand a double is imo, too aggressive. This example is a 20-20 HCP split with pard having pretty much the magic minimum hand.

:P I think W just got a little over-excited with his hand. The 4♣ cue bid should, imo., show the ace because it is the first cue bid by a strong hand is and not in any of pard's suits. Over 4♥, W should reflect that his hand keeps getting worse and worse as the auction progresses. It is now down to 15 HCP and poor trump support. There is, imo., no presumption that pard's ♥ are solid, just long and playable opposite a singleton or void. 4♥ can be passed, its time to give up.

:P 1♥. The only point not mentioned in earlier posts is the danger of doubling w/o ♠ (at least in North America). Even so, reverse the ♠ and ♥ suits, and I still would overcall.

:P Most players in the U.S. play the support double. That leaves 2♦ or Pass, and your ♦ suit isn't really good enough to play well opposite two small or a singleton. Imho, Pass is the preferred call with 2♦ OK if you need a board or if you sense the opponents are likely to take the push (possibly because they lack confidence in their ability to defend).

:P First, call him and find out if he is in the process of bailing out of the program. If so EOJ. If not ask him why he is so special that he doesn't have to do his job. These days most test questions come from some instructor's textbook manual or database anyway. Don't really sweat it. I'm sure you have plenty of study questions for the students w/o this guy.

:P I happen to think he is/was a good salesman, but otherwise a total fool.

:P I can't remember, offhand, all the details of "I Fought the Law", but one lesson was for sure - Don't bid a lot when you have short suit high cards. This hand has two. It's silly to assume LHO has psyched absent some strong outside evidence. So, the 2♦ low road seems best, imo.

:P At Bakken they are fracking for oil for the first time that I know about. Fracking for gas has been going on for 5+ years on a fairly large scale, mostly in the U.S. The consequences from this new technology both the U.S. and the world are going to be quite substantial. OPEC will be tamed, and oil and gas prices should be moderate at worst. We may have to re-engineer our cars to get 60 mpg, but it will be because of global warming, not because the world is running out of oil.

:P 4♠ or maybe just 3♠. I was taught that all 7-4 hands should be bid to game. There are, of course, exceptions, and this may be one of them.

:P Thanks for the story. Real bridge is, in part, about a battle of wits. Too many players today are like simpleton robots. They faithfully rely on the opponents' bidding. You have to be careful about psyching in a pairs game that your partner doesn't know more about the situation than the opponents due to past experience. Otherwise, f**k'em if they can't take a joke.

:P I think E should double a second time. He knows that pard is "short" in ♦ - at worst a doubleton. Therefore, he must have a four card major or five clubs. Imo, you simply can't sell out with 17 HCP even though pard didn't bid over 2♦. Can it lose? Of course, but we are playing a game of percentages, esp. at MP's.

:P South 100%. North's 3NT was imo not a bad bid - he could have bid 2♠ just as well. If you play the negative double does not show 4-4 in the majors (I generally do, but I respect the other, earlier, method), then 3NT makes very good sense. South, then, overvalued his stiff ♦ and basically just bid 6♣ after a virtually forced cue bid from partner, and a screaming message to stop at 4NT. Can't South count HCP's? He has ten. His partner has 19 or 20. Partner has wasted values in ♦. Oy veh.

:P Pass. Game our way is remote. 1♠ is NOT forcing in any system I know of. The contract of 1♠ should be reasonable. A Pass really puts pressure on LHO. If he/she does not pass, it gives you and partner good information.

:P If there were ever a hand that was safe to operate with, this was it. You are always willing to end in 4♠ if things get messy. ♠ K9xxx ♥ Q9 ♦ 8xxx ♣ xx Your hand is really not that good for offense - no stiff or void - the deadly ♥ Q, worthless on offense, but a possible defensive trick. Unless pard has extras, the opps may have a game. I think it is time to get creative. At the table, the Norwegian bid an unimaginative 4♠. His LHO, who was a passed hand, held: ♠10xx ♥Axxx ♦ x ♣ A98xx Playing his partner for a ♠ void, he/she bid 4NT showing two places to play and a really good (but limited by the original pass) hand. The next hand passed, and the original doubler was looking at: ♠ void ♥ Kxxx ♦ KQJ9 ♣ KQ10xx He/she jumped to six clubs - all pass - making six. Blasting with 3 or 4♠ may work against the typical duplicate field, but this was the Norwegian national team trials.

:P Teams. IMP's. Playing 2/1. The match is about at midpoint and close. They are vul, we are not. LHO passes. Partner opens 1♠. RHO doubles. You hold: ♠ K9762 ♥ Q9 ♦ 8452 ♣ 42 What do you do?

:P I think the relevant issue here is W's claim that he/she/it would have bid 2♠ had they known RHO's double of 2 ♥ was for penalty. This is an obvious bald-faced lie. Pard said he/she/it liked ♥ and W held J9x.

:P North screwed things up. He needs to make a mild to moderate slam try with 4NT and leave the decision to partner. Partner will value ♣ cards properly.

:P Just looking at the question, I think the opponents are a favorite to make 1NT based on a likely split of the remaining 15 or so HCP. I would try the ♥ seven as a passive lead. At IMP's it's a whole different story.

:P The fundamentals of this situation are mindnumbingly familiar by now. Your own national currency makes it possible to devalue one single price (your currency) whenever your economy goes in the crapper (and vice versa). A common currency (assuming everyone believes in it) makes borrowing and lending within the currency union much easier. Advantages and disadvantages. Spinning off the sunny Med countries I think makes sense. Keeping together France, Germany, Benelux and their Eastern European followers should be O.K. We live and learn.

:P On the JEC "forum" today the dreaded question of Kaplan Inversion versus Flannery versus using nothing at all or maybe something else entirely raised its misshapen, slime-encrusted head. Evidently, some people have been spreading the notion that the Kaplan Inversion has no shortcomings at all. While imho it is the least of evils, esp. at IMPs, it's obvious shortcoming, esp. at MP's is that opener can't play 1NT with a normal 5-3-3-2 distribution and a minimum hand. He can only rebid 1NT with the relatively rare 4-5 Flannery hand. How else to use the 2♦ opener (Multi or weak) is also an issue. I would love to hear your opinion.

:P Nightmare scenario, YUK. I am not going to pass assuming a regular partner. 2♣ is only a ♥ raise if pard thinks slam is possible opposite five ♥ and the right six or seven HCP or maybe less. Maybe 2♦ is the best way to slow this auction down.

:P 5♣. 4NT is probably equally good if I were sure partner would not misread it. Chances are we have two losers - maybe the ♠ ace and a ♥. Vul vs nvul preempts spook me a little, so I plan just to stay fixed.