pbleighton

2D - the suit is terrible 0. Splinter - the singleton is an ace, and the hand is too strong (though I know that many play splinters as unlimited) - 4 Jacoby 2NT - by default - 9. Peter

My understanding is that "relay systems" are legal under the GCC only: 1) after a strong club opener which guarantees at least 15 hcp. 2) starting at the opener's rebid or later. So a 1S-2C relay is Mid Chart. Dwayne Hoffman's Key Lime Precision uses the following approach to get around it, which he says is legal: 1NT forcing after 1M can contain weak (with 2 trumps), invitational, and GF hands. The weak hands always rebid 2 of the bid suit, or pass if the opener rebids his suit. 2/1 responses are nonforcing. Invitational and strong hands start a relay, which he says uses the Viking Club system. Therefore the relay "starts" on the responder's rebid. Ingenious, but seems impractical for 4 card majors. "... the tangled web we weave.." Peter

Can "pungent" describe a crock pot?

Warning - this post veers from the topic, and complains about the GCC >B) Ron- I have a document "The Way Forward", which I got off the Cambridge Bridge Society website, when I was first investigating The Science, with this identifying information: "Summer Version: 23/6/96 Ed Sheldon Alistair Flutter Jon Cooke" Is this what you are referring to? If so, people can download it at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/bridge/#systems It is indeed a very interesting system. From my knowledge of the GCC, no way. 1S-2C is a relay, which is Mid Chart. Also, 1D-1H is "Hearts or a game-forcing relay or a balanced 12-count", which is multi-way. I'm sure Richard will correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I am getting depressingly familiar with the GCC. It would also cause my pd to experience an inadvertent bowel movement :) We have been playing The Science (at least the bastardized form I discussed with you) for 6-7 weeks now, and love it. Pd has gotten over fear of 4 card majors, as they are restricted to hands with <14hcp, and are therefore controllable. He is amenable to a strong club version of something like The Science, but won't consider anything that is too complicated to start with. I have been researching and analyzing our options. The feedback I got from an rgb post was somewhat depressing, as it appears the GCC effectively limits 2/1 responses to either GF or forcing for one round, since transfer responses and relays are both Mid Chart. Richard had a post which was typically pungent and helpful (as he could be). This means, I think, that openers should be no lower than the decent 10s we are using now. WAAAAHHH! We will probably wind up in a fairly simple strong club, 16+, 14-16 NT, 4 card majors, openers 10+ - 15, canape openers on 5C4M hands, and maybe also 5D4H hands. 2/1 forcing for one round. Any suggestions welcome. Peter

Last night, one of my prospective teammates at a pairs event made suggestions about IMP bidding, most of which were familiar to me. However, she said "don't compete too hard for part scores". It was 11 at night, so the conversation ended. Do you agree, and if so in what circumstances would you compete less? On part scores, I know that you should choose the safer contract (bailing to a minor rather than risking 1NT or 2NT), but what else? Careful of LOTT vul? Peter

How do they determine who plays who in the first round?

I will be playing in my first Swiss teams event in a couple of weeks (a sectional). Would someone please describe the mechanics of it? I will will be a B/C event, with about 20 teams, if that makes a difference. I know the basics of IMPs strategy, I'd like to know about who plays who, etc. Peter

A 6421 shape with 21 hcp and all suits stopped - did you consider opening 2C? Peter

Ron writes: "Hardly any good players play. It does seem to me that the average player wants to play against good players, but does not want them to play complicated systems. This is a conundrum to which I do not have an answer." I would restate this. In the U.S., the typical "average player" plays 2/1, with a whole slew of conventions, mostly the same ones as everyone else, because "everyone knows you need them to bid accurately". I play this with one pd. It is IMO a good system, but it is neither natural not simple. In fact, it is rather complicated and most people playing it (including myself) don't play it very well because of that. Big hands are hard to describe without Ben-like partnership agreements, and there are numerous convention fiascos ("I thought your bid was Michaels" "No, not in this situation" "Another bottom"). With another pd I play a somewhat simplified version of The Science (4 card majors and canape openings 10-13 hcp, 5 card majors 14+, 2/1 GF, 1M-1NT semi-forcing), with some conventions, though susbstantially fewer than with my 2/1 pd, as this pd still has an aversion to memorizing seldom used conventions. It is not "simple", but it is not as complicated as 2/1. Because it is different, however, it is perceived as "complicated". People don't like to play against anything different than what they are used to, regardless of complexity. Even playing plain vanilla SA with weak NT, and very light and short weak 2s and 3s created some consternation. I like Richard's suggested 2 tiered approach. It could work very well. However, the chances that the ACBL would do it are zero, IMO. Peter

Poky (or anyone else) - What are 100% forcing 2C rebid Turbo 4NT CUE Peter

I have never used the VuGraph before. I will let more knowledgeable people (and those who watched more of the match than I did) comment on the match itself. My personal observations as an intemediate watching these great players: 1) Boy, do I have a long way to go :) 2) Even experts guess wrong, and make obvious errors (not just the last board) 3) What a terrible end to a great event. 4) Thanks loads to Fred et al! Peter

Don't know about Bridge Master, but XP is a memory hog. It may be that the RAM you have was sufficient to run the OS plus Bridge Master, but needs an upgrade now. You should have at least 256M of RAM to run XP. If you have less, it will work, but will use the hard drive as substitute memory, which is very slow. You will probably experience slowness on other memory-intensive programs, if you run any. This is just a guess. There may be a technical problem on version or installation instead. Peter

I just tried it and got a "not found" error. Peter

Luis as usual has a sophisticated reply. For a naive reply, see the following :) Question 1:- Over an overcall should 1S by South me show / 5+ cards so is 1NT ok (9-11 stopsl in both suits I hope) or should I dbl as a negative X showing 4 cards in spades? Negative double - show your major! Question 2:- Over the 1NT would 2H by North be a transfer to spades showing 5 and thereby showing the 6D-5S shape? Transfers are off in competition. Question 3: How would everyone bid this board... Two answers - a) I agree with Luis that this is an opening hand. :D If you don't open it: P-1C-1D-1H-Dbl-P-3S-P-4S Peter

I have seen this referred to in several places as the "modern" NT range. I have been playing it recently in a system in which it is required, and have played it a little in Precision. I'm interested in how widely this is played, and why. I can see the following advantages: 1) It's good for 16 point strong club systems, where 8 counts force to game, since it takes the balanced 16s out of the 1C opening, but still takes a lot of bids out of the limited bids (particularly 1D in Precision). 2) It occurs 33% more frequently than 15-17. Because you invite with 9, you don't miss nearly as many 4-4 major suit fits as you do with a 12-14 NT, where you need 11. You also don't go down much after 1NT - all pass. It thus has some of the frequency advantage of the weak NT without (mostly) its disadvantages. 3) The opener's NT rebid limits his strength to 13. This is particularly useful if you open light, so your NT rebid range is 11-13 vs 11-14 in 15-17. OTOH, the NT jump rebid shows 17-19 vs 18-19. My questions are: a) Have you played it, and do you like it? I do so far. B) What advantages and/or disadvantages do you see, apart from the above? c) How many people are playing it? From what I have been able to glean, it is pretty popular among strong clubbers. Apart from them, it seems to be unusual in the U.S. (where I live), but seems to have some popularity elsewhere, especially in the U.K. Comments? Peter

This was a useful bridge link site at http://www.users.qwest.net/~jplanier/bridg...dge/linksS.html It's not there any more. Does anyone know if it's still around? Peter

Playing a standard 20-21 range for 2NT, what do you do with balanced 22 counts. I open some 2NT, and some 2C, depending on the hand. What do you do? Peter

HAND 1 Dealer West, Imps Vuln. EW As north you hold: S 872 H 652 D QJT C Q432 The bidding you hear is: W N E South 1H P 2H 2S Dbl P 3C 3D 2Sx = game try 3S P 4H DBL P 4S P P 5H ? What do you bid? Pass, dbl, 5S? Pass. You have told p what you have, and have nothing to double with. HAND 2 Dealer West, Imps Vuln. None You are south this time, and are amazed to hear partner’s Michaels cue-bid S AQ H QT9874 D A943 C 9 1D 2D 2S 4H 2S = not alerted, so assume natural P P 5C ? Ok, 4H was a terrific underbid (IMHO), but this is the auction at the table. I would have bid 3D in all likelihood, and if that is doubled back to me, I would redouble. But the question is what do you do over the 5C bid? Pass, DBL, 5H, 5D, other? What is 5C? A cue-bid for slam, probably in diamonds? Assuming it is a cue bid, and your partner's Michaels guarantees 5-5, 5H. If he does Michaels on 5-4, pass. You will likely have hit his 4 card suit. If they go to 6, I would double. HAND 3 Dealer West, Imps Vuln. All You are north this time, and hold. S KQJT83 H 92 D AT85 C J P 1S 2S 4C 2S = hearts and a minor 4H 4S 5H Pass 4C = fit jump, Clubs and spades Pass ? Ok, maybe you don’t open 1S. This is a very bare opening bid, but many did open 1S. Pretend you did too. Now, what do you bid over 5 hearts, and why? IMHO, 1S is a very nice opening bid :) Ben, I can't remember if your fjs are inv or GF, I seem to remember inv, so I will double. Clubs aren't the suit I wanted to hear. Neither pair likely to make 5. Good example of the rule in action. HAND 4 Dealer East Vuln. EW You are north again, and here the following bidding S H Q4 D QJ543 C QT8743 E S W N 1S 4H 4S ? What do you bid, if anything? 5H. Favorable vulnerabilty, the HQ, and the spade void. I only went to the 5 level once - I think I failed :) Peter

"His comment was that I showed under 3 points. LOL. Has anyone ever seen a worse bid than his pass?" Plenty of times. This was a misunderstanding of a response to an artificial bid. As unusual as it is, your partner's interpretation of your bid has precedent, as noted by erkson. I ran into a pair at my club playing this last month. The truly terrible bids are natural - with those there can be no excuse :) Peter

S7.

Double will likely end in 4S down many. 4NT will at least get you to an 8+ card fit, but still very likely down. You don't know if RHO is strong or preemptive, so 4H is uncertain to make. What else other than pass? Peter

Flytoox writes: "Dbl here ask pd to bid s, if he has some. If u really want pd to bid minor, u may bid 4n." That's fine if that's the way you play it. I play it as straight takeout. BTW - what do you expect your pd to do with 2 h and 2 s, and 54 in the minors? Peter

"MP, only we VUL AJ975 K74 Q6 AK3 (3H) - pass - (4H) - Give your ratings (0-10) for... a) 4S B) Dbl c) Pass ...and explain." a) 7 B) 3 c) 3 This is tough. There is no good bid. RHO is either weak, and they have 10+ trumps, or strong, and they have 8+. More likely weak, given your hand. In that case, pd is likely to have at least 2, probably 3 spades. 4S is makeable. Top marks for a 4S bid, in spite of the quality of the spade suit. Better spades, and 4S would be automatic, IMO. My rating of double is based on a dislike of playing at the 5 level, AND 2 diamonds. You do get to show a strong hand, but pd bids 5D, then what? RHO may be strong, and in any case slam is very iffy, and this is MPs. If you want to bid, just bid 4S and take the most likely game at the lowest level. Pass is somewhat tempting, given the problems with double, and the not so great spades, but the hand is too strong for this to feel right. Peter

Now that I'm playing 4 card majors (though a weird version) for the first time, I find myself confronted with more 4-3 major suit fits than before. Do you have any pointers on playing them, other than don't be in a hurry to draw trumps. A link would be great. If it makes a difference, they will almost always be at the 2 level, with the opener having 10-13 hcp (we raise on 3). Peter

"BTW, it is this don't share with opponents what they don't need to know that has made me switch away from jacoby 2NT. Ben" What do you use in it's place? Peter