pbleighton

I play 10-13 NV in 1-3. A 1NT rebid shows 14-16, a 2NT rebid shows 17-19. In theory the 17-19 range could cause us some problems, in practice I can't remember the last time it bit us. 10-13 is a little sloppy, though we do upgrade 13 counts with decent 5 card suits, and open them in a suit. The gains of opening flat hands 1NT when the field is passing them are huge. I understand they would be smaller against world-class opponents :D I agree that 10-12 in a natural system would require jumping through some hoops. Peter

West should never have bid, not with those clubs. His only bid with that shape is 3NT, and he isn't strong enough for that. Peter

26, yup. I'm getting very sleeeepy... Peter

"Uh, I count 30 hcp..." Looked again, and I count 23 + 4 = 27. 30 if you include distribution (singleton), which is usually not enough. There are good slams that have 27 raw hcp. They usually have an outside source of tricks, and/or more than 8 trumps. Peter

"4S for me thanks!" Yes. 27 hcp, 8 card fit, no good source of tricks, only one singleton. Don't worry about missing slams like this. Peter

"ok ill tell you what i had, and you tell me if you think it make sense. I had 2245. If you agree that this 1nt should show the minors, how strong do you think it should be ?" 1) I think it shows the minors if you have agreed with your partner that it does. Did you agree ahead of time, or did you make this up at the table? If you made it up, you're a lot like my partner :P 2) If you are going to play this, it makes sense to have it be a hand too weak to reverse. There is also a case for this being alertable. Peter

""a balanced 18-19 hcp"? Why didn't he bid 1NT directly after 1H? This 1NT bid seems weird to me." Agree, but he apparently did bid it. What's your explanation? "Brain fart", while possible, is a cop-out :P Peter

A bit of a surprise? He's sorry he doubled? :P Maybe a balanced 18-19 hcp, hoping you would bid 2C. Peter

"needless to say, i disagree with the "lot of bottoms" part of that, peter... i don't particularly view 1m (1M) as a disaster when playing 12-14 nt... partner still has 13 cards" My point was really that when you play weak NT you lose the preemptive effect of the NT opening on 15-17 hands. I do get a number of bottoms on these hands, though "a lot of" might be an exaggeration. Don't you get bottoms in a strong NT field when your opps have found the only 2S contract their way? "also, won't you be opening 1nt more often 12-14 than 15-17? the preemptive effect, for what it's worth, does exist" Absolutely. That's why I started my post "As someone who prefers weak NT, but who plays a lot of strong NT" I play strong NT when I have to. I don't care for it, but it has its advantages. Peter

As someone who prefers weak NT, but who plays a lot of strong NT: I agree with Ron that NT range affects the rest of your system significantly. I play a light Standard American type system with one pd, with 12-14/10-13 NT. When I first started playing it, I didn't realize the impact it would have. Inverted minors, especially, work much differently with weak NT, and of course the knowledge that pd doesn't have a balanced minimum can be huge. Opening strong NT hands 1m in a strong NT field gets a lot of bottoms. Fred's point about interference is excellent, but opps 1M overcall of 1m happens more frequently (at least in the circles I play in), and can be a disaster. Peter

I play double as stolen bid, with suit bids being transfers. Not elegant or optimal, but we don't forget it :rolleyes: Peter

"Getting the odd 800 is part of the education in the BIL" Oh, and other players keep getting refresher courses, too :) It's Bridge Continuing Education. Peter

Bad. Sorry :( 1) You've shown your hand, and pd passed. 2) I will raise on 3 to the 2 level, but not with 3 small and a flat hand. 3) Play defense. Peter

"I don't know of any relevant bug. As long as I've been here, MP games have been far less popular (in the main bridge club) than IMP games." IMP is the default. Based on my experience as a programmer, this could be the entire reason. Peter

"I would like to see two additional changes in ACBL tournaments. Simplify to two flights, Closed and Open. Both are open to anyone, but points are awarded separately. The Closed pairs would be MPs to give everyone a chance. The Open would be Imp pairs, to remove as much luck as possible. Heck, I might even be tempted to play in that." So would I. Peter

TimG writes: "Expecially if not providing one means these players won't show up. What purpose does it serve to offer events which people don't want to play in?" A valid point. Peter

Richard writes: "What I should have said is "Don't bitch the tournament organizers don't appoint you King of Flight B.5" Is this better? Either way, the critical issue seems to be that you have some pressing need for external validation..." 1) In an Open event I would be "King" of precisely nothing. My score, my "external validation" if you will, goes significantly down in an Open event as opposed to a B event. [snipped out : uday@ ] Peter

TimG writes: "Let's refocus the discussion: What would be the benefit of eliminating flighted events" For all players, many people (including myself) like to play in bigger fields. It's more fun. For the B players, they would improve their bridge by playing against better players. For the A players, I will paraphrase a very good player of my acquaintance, who also favors eliminating flighted events: "I like Open events because you get to play against and socialize with people other than the same old A crowd, who tend to have little personality." The A players would, of course, be able to win more masterpoints in a bigger field, assuming they cared

TimG writes: "Why don't you want to play against the 199ers?" I have no problem playing against them, particularly as I am one of them. I believe, however, that there should be a sanctuary for them to play in, if they don't wish to play against stronger players. There is no magic number of masterpoints - I chose 199 because the sectionals use this as the cutoff. From my perspective, when someone has played enough bridge to accumulate 200 (or 300) masterpoints, they shouldn't need (or don't deserve) a sanctuary, and they should play in the Open. Peter

Richard - you didn't read my post carefully: "From my perspective, many expert level players prefer to play in events where the skill levels are fairly uniform. Adding beginners into the field" and "With this said and done, I like it when the experts make an effort to play with the Beginners. However, I think that this is best achieved through events specifically dedicated to education. New England has a number of Pro-Ams in which experts and novices partner each other. There are a wide number of training /mentoring programs available..." I wasn't proposing this - I specifically recommended keeping 199er games. There should be a separate event for beginners. What I am proposing is blending B events (top limit 1500 mps for sectionals, 2000 for regionals) with A events. Low end B players could choose to play in the 199er events, and I imagine many of them would. I don't know why you create a false dichotomy of experts and beginners, when most bridge players are neither. I was specifically responding to yzerman's post regarding the lackof opportunities for the "aspiring and talented intermediate/advanced player". I've been playing for two years, and have become an above average club player, and put myself into that category, rightly or wrongly. "However, don't complain that you can't simulataneous "win" master points." I wasn't - my post didn't reference masterpoints, which are pretty low on my priority list. I do feel, however, that getting a 38 in a segregated A event is just as much a distortion as getting a 60 in a B event. I'd rather play against everyone except the 199ers. In spite of this, I will be entering some segregated A events this year. In my area this is quite unusual - people hate to play up. I think B players would have the opportunity to get better if they had to face the best players in Open events in tournaments. Richard, I find your attitude unfortunate. It seems that, in your own way, you are as cliqueish as senior ACBL members. You would no doubt feel at home on the ACBL Rules committee. I hear Bobby Woolf is retiring. You'd make a splendid replacement.... :P Peter

I posted a suggestion on rgb, which got no support: Eliminate stratiflighted events, and just have a beginner game (199er, etc.) and a stratified open event. That way the "aspiring players" (me!) can play against the top players without having to play up in a segregated event where we would (for now :blink: ) lose for sure. Lots of B players don't want to play against the best, and from the reaction on rgb, a lot of the best players have their noses in the air and don't want to mingle with the <2000 masterpoints crowd. I'd make an exception for some national events which require prequalification. What do you think? Peter

Eric Kokish had a column in the ACBL Bulletin a few months back, where he advocated very light responses to one of a suit bids. I wrote to him, and asked him to clarify his position. He was nice enough to respond: "There are no hands with a 5CM that I would pass in response to 1m, and most 3/4-counts are responses. As we play 1D-1NT=8-10, not 4M, 1D-1M may be 3 if less than 8. How much less than 8 is in the eye of the beholder. As we're now opening 2D with 18-20 BAL, we no longer have to worry about a BAL 2NT rebid so there's more safety. And with 1m-1M; 2M either 15-17 BAL or shapely it's pretty reasonable Not to pass. I might pass 1C or 1D with a 4333 2-count, would never pass 1M with support or shortness. Might respond 1S to 1H with a terrible hand, occ with only two spades, but normally four. Obviously, never pass with an ace or an honor in partner's suit." Food for thought. Peter

"Best would be 1D 2C 2N 3N." Agree. KISS. Peter

Bid 1H here. Peter

"Are there any questions you should ask your opponents?" Who lied? ;) They have 17 points between them, looks like responder made a "tactical bid". It would be nice to know how often their 2C bid has only 5 - do they open (224)5s 1NT and/or (34)15s 2D. Play the CA, pitching a spade. Play a D to the A. If the Q doesn't fall and no one shows out, then a H to the A, then run the DJ as W has at least 9 cards in 2 suits (feel better about this if 2C is rarely 5). One more round of trumps if necessary, dropping East's Q. Cash the HK, and ruff a heart. Ruff a club, and play the HJ. You lose the HQ and a spade. It's after midnight. How bad did I mess this up? :P Peter