pbleighton

Pass. Peter

"I don't know why I'm rambling, but my point is ACBL or WBF or whatever needs to sponser a movie starring a sauve brad pitt playing bridge and getting many beautiful women because of it." Fantasy movies are doing quite well these days. Peter

"I personally think that an invitational "Stayman and Blackwood only" tournament that offered substantial cash prizes would attract a very strong field for sure (the pros are all whores - they will go where the money is). However, I also think that such an event would be a lot of fun to play in, and, if promoted properly, could do wonders in terms of making social players more interested in duplicate. If the promoters did a really good job, they might even manage to attract a whole bunch of new players to bridge." Nah, no Stayman, no Blackwood, cue bids are natural, and doubles are penalty. And all openings guarantee 4+ cards. Peter

Bidding highly distributional hands in competition, where the auction goes up so fast that I can't rely on the Law :lol: Peter

ArcLight writes: "PS Peter, I didn't give the game away, I don't want to play in the Open venue, and shouldn't be forced to. If you had your way, all venues would be completely open and those of us who don't like that wouldn't enjoy playing." You gave the game away again, when you state as a fact that I think that you should be forced to play in an Open venue. I have no objections to restricted events. I do think that all sectional and regional tournaments should have system-unrestricted (or at least Mid-Chart) events available, along with more restricted events. Let people choose. At least where I play, the weekend events I am able to play in (Open Pairs and Swiss Teams) are always GCC (HIGHLY restrictive). You will find some regions allowing Mid Chart, but ONLY in Knockout Teams in regionals (and there usually only in the top bracket), which start during the week, and are therefore unavailable to a lot of players, including me. Peter

ArcLight writes: "Had you bothered to read my post, you would see that I wrote that those who favor an open venue should also have a place to play. And I favor the idea of an electronic forum, so both parties are satisfied." I did read your post, which included: "(But I get the impression (based on your insulting posts) that some of you "Open Venue" advocates would be more than happy to ruin the enjoyment of those preferring the closed venue. I would rather not deal with you at all, and certainly not encounter you socially)." You gave the game away. I agree with you on one thing, though. You play pretty much only online, as I suspected. Alerting standards online are dreadful (this is true of the main lobby, I haven't bothered with the tournaments). However, this is not a "closed venue" versus "open venue" issue. It's a result of cyberspace enabling laziness and unsportmanlike behavior. If you start playing ftf bridge, you will find alerting behavior much more to your liking. I agree with Elianna that those who play unusual systems are particularly attentive to alerting requirements. As to national level events, I suspect our chances of winning one are equal: Zero :P Peter

ArcLight writes: "The negative double shows 4 Spades, the 1♠ shows at least 5. I'm sure that few would volunteer that information. Same for people using Bergen raises. How many are going to alert their opps that a 3♠ response to a 1♠ is not a limit raise, but instead shows 4 trumps and a weak hand? That information should be available to all, not just the opponents. If they are using Precision an opponent may be misled as to the shape implied by certain bids." Using the ACBL as a frame of reference: Negative doubles are not alertable by ACBL policy because they are very common, in fact almost all non-beginners play them as you describe. The preemptive jump to 3 of a major (or minor for that matter) is alertable. People I know who play these (including me) alert these routinely. Precision players (and I play some Precision) alert their 1D, 2C, and 2D bids routinely. Where do you play bridge? "There are people who love the language aspect of modern bridge and or the destructive bidding systems. They too should be able to play as they like and not be limited." Where can I play non-limited tournament events in the ACBL? Again, where do you play bridge? You seem to know nothing of bridge in ACBL-land. Peter

There's a better than even chance you will be playing in an 8+ fit. Thre's also a decent chance that, even if you aren't, you won't be doubled. Peter

"Tell me first if you think this is a balanced or shape hand:) then you will know the answer." This is a balanced hand, and I would pull in a second. You would not, I take it, and your opps would make their doubled contract, perhaps with an overtrick. Peter

"Whether to pull or not doesnt depend on your point, but depend on your shape. No matter how much hcp pd's dbl shows, you should not pull unless you have shape AND a weak hand. A weak hand doesnot justify a pull." If you have xx-xxxxx-xxx-xxx, wouldn't you pull? Peter

What system are you playing? Peter

Double, the least bad bid. Peter

"Weak 2 bids show 8-12 HCP points. 1 NT shows 10-12 HCP (and often includes 5332 hands) Switching 1NT to a 12-14 HCP range will decrease the definition of the 2 level openings." Only if you open 5332s at the two level. My understanding is that F-N do not. Another thing to consider, Richard, is that F-N's 2 bids are 10-13 minus, with 9 counts opened exceptionally, and strong 13 counts opened at the one level. This is a somewhat narrower range, with a 2 point higher minimum (I'm assuming your interpretation of 8 was EHAA style - all/virtually all 8 counts). This allows F-N to use GF relays and (I believe) new suits are GF as well, greatly improving constructive bidding relative to EHAA, where a new suit is an escape, to play. You have a good point on 2 bids, but you are really not comparing apples to apples. Peter

"Don't follow this advice Mauro, as it is very poor advice and patently incorrect. We get huge results from thoose who double with "equal or better" points. Terrence Reese stated that the X of a 12-15 NT should start at a decent 15. " Ron - What do your doubles in the balancing seat show? Peter

There is a system I've read of called Mafia Club, which is similar. This description is from Larssen's system summary: The Mafia Club was invented by Kenneth L. Lindsay, 1981. Mafia stands for Majors First Always, and the main idea of Mafia is to open 1H/S as often as possible. In principle, Mafia is a strong 1C system, but since the openings 1H/S may be based on three cards only, it was placed among the artificial systems. Information from Rene Steiner, Dusseldorf, Germany. Mafia Club Opening Bids 1C 16+ any shape, 16-19 if balanced 1D 11-15 different shapes 1H 10-15 3+ hearts, unbalanced 1S 10-15 3+ spades, unbalanced 1N 13-15 balanced 2C 16+ any 4441 20+ balanced 2D 11-14 solid 7-card minor 13-15 6M331, 6M4m21, or 6M4m30 2H 6-9 6+ hearts or 11-15 6 hearts 322 or 13-15 5 hearts 332 2S 6-9 6+ spades or 11-15 6 spades 322 or 13-15 5 spades 332 2N 6-9 6+ minor 3C 13-15 6-7 clubs, no major 3D 13-15 6-7 diamonds, no major 3N 11-14 solid 7-card major If the openings 1H and 1S are made on 3 cards, the suit is at least as strong as KTx. You can find this summary on Dan Neill's website: http://www.geocities.com/daniel_neill_2000/sys/ under "More Stuff" - it has a ton of summaries like the above. Peter

I like Chamaco's idea the best - keep one Main Lobby, and put the rest on separate servers. I agree with others that seeing all of the users is a waste of resources. You could display friends and stars, and have a Search mechanism for others. Peter

1) Unbalanced 2) 4 card major 3) Not a true diamond stopper I can live with 3), and might conceivably bypass a 4 card major if I was totally flat and the suit was bad. Overall, 3NT was terrible. What "should" have been bid depends on what they were playing. Peter

Agree with Ron, but 3rd seat favorable this is an automatic 2H opener for me, with any partner. Peter

3NT. Dangerous, but I think it's better than 50%, which is better than the alternatives. Peter

At MPs or white at IMPs, 2S is automatic. Red at IMPs, it's still 2S, but visions of -500 dance in my head. Peter

You've pointed out the advantages, but here is the big disadvantage: You say "almost all the hands with 10+ points have been removed from the forcing notrump!" So now you still have the forcing NT, with the disadvantage of having to bid 2m with a 3 card minor and a minmum hand (or worse, a 2 card minor with 4522 shape), in order to support very few invitational hands. If you are going to do this, play 1M-1NT as semi-forcing. Or else just play Standard, and use the jump shifts for GF, with a decent 6 card suit without a side suit. Peter

I agree with Ben that if North opens 1S (as IMO he should) then 1S-2D-X finds the fit. Peter

"But I would imagine that the odds are better in a casino than they are in rubber bridge game with experts." In either case, if you play long enough you will lose all of your money. Peter

"You can make a good living by playing big money rubber bridge games." I know someone who does this. He has three U.S. national titles. When I have played him, it seems that he can see through the backs of the cards. If you are going to make a living this way, I don't think being "very good" will be good enough. Peter

Yuk. 4H. Peter