jdeegan

:P Your side is vul versus nvul opponents. Playing IMP's. RHO is dealer. He passes. You hold: A9 KJ Q108742 Q83 You open 1 diamond. LHO bids 1NT. Partner doubles. RHO passes. You bid 2 diamonds. LHO bids 2 hearts. Partner doubles. RHO passes. Your bid?

:P Simple hand. N opens 2♣. S has an easy 2♦ response (I like to play this shows 2 queens or better). Regardless, N has an automatic 4NT bid showing the next HCP step above a 3NT rebid. Now S can bid 6♠ with the expectation that it will have a decent play. For the serious, established partnership, there are some excellent ways to show the N hand w/o getting above 3NT. I have forgotten exactly how they go. I see the Kokish relay mentioned in one thread - I recall that is a very good method.

:P Yeah. Just good Germans.

:P Would BBO consider blocking all Indonesian IP addresses? Imho, the world bridge community needs to fight back and to start trying to protect its own.

:P I once took a 17 year hiatus from bridge. Going back was painful for a while. To me the model is that of athletic conditioning. You just need practice bidding and counting hands until your mind is back in the groove. You relearn much easier than when learning the first time. A one year layoff shouldn't be much of a problem to overcome. As far as the game itself changing in one year, not so much.

:P It is not too late for the US (and perhaps other) teams to withdraw and join the Mind Games in China. See what I meant, earlier. You give in to extortion one time, and it just keeps on coming.

:P Recently received two BBO e-mails from complete strangers with whom I had recently played one hand in a BBO indy. The first one was clearly meant to be abusive: "learn bnridge" Just a guess, but this poor fellow must have been intoxicated or was so enraged that he had forgotten how to spell. I went back to the bridge hand in question. It involved a complicated, unusual, competitive auction. We ended up getting a poor result. One of us does, indeed, need to learn bridge. The second one was cryptic, but abusive as well (I think): "at least i don't cheat girl and xpect dir to protect girl!" I went back and examined the one hand where we played against one another. It was the last hand of a BBO indy. For some reason the director stepped in and called time, assigning averages. I was dummy, so I had left as soon as the bidding was over. I later got two BBO e-mails from the director explaining her position. Very polite and professional thing to do, imo. Perhaps, mister semi-literate meant to send his e-mail to another party. All a mystery to me. You have standards for Forum postings. Do they apply to BBO e-mails as well?

:P I will second your observation about the disruptive effect of the ♦ suit weak two bid. Often the dangerous opponent with all the high cards will not have enough length in both majors.

:P Well, a 4-4 ♠ fit with the side 6 or 7 bagger can play wretchedly, esp. with skinny HCP values. Should my auction go one ♣, pass (or whatever), 1♥ or one ♦, I plan to ditch the spade suit and bid this thing as a minimum hand with long clubs.

:P It was IMP pairs. I think it was an indy. Partner claimed to be a BBO 'expert' so I did as you would have done playing opposite an actual, real, competent bridge player and opened 1♣. Partner held: AKxx Kxxx xxx Kx so we reached an easy, makable 4♠. What made it so odd was that after the hand, my erstwhile partner insisted again and again on giving me a bridge lesson. Evidently in his world, my hand was a clear 3♣ preempt. Resulting is one thing, but is there an appropriate term for anti-resulting? Seriously, these 'tweener' hands do come up once in a while. I was always taught to look at quick tricks and playing tricks. IMHO, this one is not even close. As the late, great Charles Goren would have said: "Count 9 high card points, plus 3 for your void and one for your doubleton. Does this add up to the 'magic' 13? Do you have at least two quick tricks? Then you must open the bidding." Just having that alone might have made me slightly nervous. I was more than a little happy to have the ♠ 10 and another nice ♠ spot plus the good interior ♣ spots to spare. Dios mio, just how bad are some of these BBO 'experts'?

:P First seat, both vul, BBO 'expert' partner of unknown quality, playing BBO SAYC: [hv=pc=n&s=sjt74hda8cat87642]133|100[/hv] First hand of the session. Your bid?

:P Sorry. I see extortion. I get angry, and I say stupid things. I apologize to you and to any Indonesians I may have offended. The only exception is to the ultimate perpetrators behind this little shake down.

:P $1.5 million USD seems way too much for a duplicate bridge game with a few hundred players. It could even be held online with appropriate monitors. Players and each country (mostly the players) combine to pay the participants' travel and hotel and other expenses. The cash prize for winning? How about ZERO. Of course, the prestige of even going is worth a lot of money in many countries. But, that has nothing to do with the WBF or the host country. Please. Don't get me wrong. I am very sympathetic with the Indonesian bridge players and the Indonesian people. All of us have become victims of an outrageous shake down attempt by a bunch of losers - the fading world of Islamic fundamentalist thugs.

:P The old time thinking on this subject is that: 1. undisciplined weak twos - use Ogust. Your main object is to preempt the opponents' bidding and just to survive if it is your hand. 2. disciplined weak twos - show feature. Your main object is constructive bidding. Personally, I prefer #1.

:P OMG. Don't you know nuthin' about Indonesia. Shadow Play? "The Year of Living Dangerously". An island nation (empire?) with hundreds of islands. Four different religions. A former Dutch colony for several hundred years. People there are not what one would characterize as straightforward and for good reason. You don't have to be a genius to know what is happening. You just have to not be stupid.

:P Last time I looked, the convention business was still a buyer's market. A vendor can't provide the product as specified? On the phone to find a suitable replacement. Macau, Phuket, the Gold Coast?? Wtf. even the Holy Land is an interesting place to visit, and the IDF has a reputation for providing excellent security. BTW, was the feeler from Beijing a hint to move the whole event there? Giving in to a shake down by two bit thugs? Of course, YOU will NEVER do that again. At least until next time. Granted, Indonesia is a very complex place. No doubt, the people you dealt with were good folks, and were honest and correct in saying they could not guarantee security. So, get your deposits back (to the extent possible) and, in return, reschedule for a better time. Meanwhile, find a more suitable venue for the event and the tourist dollars, euros, et.al. the participants will bring with them.

:P Bali is a lovely vacation spot, but if they won't allow some of our players to attend or cannot protect their safety, then the WBF needs to relocate the tournament to somewhere that can.

:P Excitement for this year's SBO is mounting by the day. Secrecy is paramount because some of our invitees and attendees have been and will be Roswell Greys. This year several Blues have been invited. Will they come? Stay tuned.

:P Thanks for a really nice problem hand. No one answer stands out imo. So, who is this player who passes nvul over 1♠ then jumps into my auction over 2♣? Can he/she play or are they just filling out the movement? What is he/she up to? Are they shooting for a top late in the session? I really want to double for penalties, but pard will pass with a lot of minimum hands with a doubleton heart where they make it or go down just one for a poor score for our side. I'm definitely going to sneak a peek at this intruder and sniff the breeze as well. Pass, 2♠ or even 2NT may be the resulting answer. Viewed in isolation, I am guessing RHO has a ratty six bagger and about 12 HCP. For all I know Kx of hearts may show up on my left. Plus 300. I can taste it and smell it, but that doesn't mean it's there.

:P 3♠. wtp???

:P The game is not all that hard. You just bid 3NT. Playing 20-21 HCP 2NT open, you might just possibly consider an upgrade and open 2♣. If you got a bad result and it worries you, then maybe a strong club system is in your future? What did partner have?

:P Oswald Jacoby used to say that his average in regional and national duplicate tournaments was 60%. He usually had a non-trivial wager on the game's outcome.

White man = devil

:P I suspect the 'logic' (at least in part) may be that strangely silent non-vul opponents increases the odds that the hand is breaking normally.

:P I will second your motion. Maybe it is just that I never learned to play it properly. In any event, I got to the point I hated them so bad that I was bidding 1♦ over 1♣ instead.