pbleighton

Adam, I assume you're joking. 99% of bridge players have never hear of ZAR points. If you upgrade and downgrade a lot, you can do one of twp things: 1. Announce/alert the *normal* range (say 15-17), and deal with complaints as they come up. I thik this is a reasonable thing to do, but you will get complaints. I don't think that a competent TD would rule against you, but not all TDs are competent... 2. Announce/alert your range as 14+ to 18-. Peter

Play some tournaments. That will tell you how good you are. Club games vary widely in strength of field. Peter

I would bid 2D, to cater to 5-5 hands. If pd doesn't rebid 3C, or otherwise grab my attention, I will then bid 4H. I don't think a direct 4H is bad, though. Peter

No question responses have become ligher at the one level. I will respond with 4-5 myself when it looks right to do so. When I respond light, and pd is down in 2NT, I acknowledge responsibity, htough I don't feel too bad. However, I still require more once the opps have bid at the 2 level, especially red at imps. This is common where I play, in the Northeast U.S. After a one level overcall, which is frequently < 10 hcp, we will have more combined hcp than after a two level overcall with usually > 11 hcp. But each to his own :D Peter

Do you think you have the nuts for your 3NT call, that's the question. What are you expecting from partner's 3D, that's another question. In fact, I think it's the most important question. Could he have Kxx -x-J10xxx-10xxx? My partners could. Peter

I think pd just told me he has very little high card strength. My 3NT was minimum, so I pass. Peter

Or opener has a monster... Peter

1D at mps is very clear for me. Vul at imps I pass, but I wouldn't criticize 1D. Peter

And how? The alert boxes have so few characters available. Peter

P***y. :P Peter

Correct, but you are also showing 4+ hearts. You may have better values if you only have 4 hearts. I would have doubled here. Were I your pd I might have bid 2N here, though it's a stretch. A double after 2C should have 8+ hcp. I would have opened his hand 1NT. Peter

It's vul at imps, I have 12 hcp, I must go forward. Yuck, truly an awful spot. 2NT. I'll stop diamonds eventually, won't I? Peter

3C. Peter

The addition of the non two suited hands makes this technically legal. Without it, you are clearly in violation. I'm not sure that you are home free, however. At an earlier point in my life (undoubtedly as a punishment for sins in a past life, which must have been a LOT of fun), I had extensive exposure to tax law, and opinion letters by various counsel. One thing I remember quite clearly is *substance over form*. You may (if you decide to play this again) find a TD who takes this approach, in which case you are toast. Your single-suited hand will be so unlikely that the responder can safely play for the existence of a four+ card minor. This is quite differnt from the Precision 2C example. Let me give you another example. A 1NT forcing response to a 1M opening can't have only invitational or better values. What about an approach which says it has either invitational or better values OR a hand with zero hcp and at least six cards in partner's major. This is a more extreme example (meaning the *other* hand is even more rare) than yours. Do you think this would survive an appeal? If not, then at some level *frequency matters*, and your approach may be ruled illegal. I don't know the answer to this, BTW. Also BTW, your Kamikaze diamond and R.U.N.T./Son-of-RUNT seem totally legal to me. As far as interference over a strong club, there are actually limits. The 1S overcall as 13 cards has, I believed, been banned as destructive. Your approach is probably OK, as it seems like a Suction variant, which is legal. Peter

2C, with 2N a close second. To me, showing a mixed raise is a clear underbid. Peter

Ken, what was your alert on this one? Peter

When I logged on to BBO, I got the message that they will be available 6/15. Will all of the ACBL games be Mid Chart now? Peter

Thanks, Uday. Peter

Here is a xxxxxxxxxxx rgb quote from June 2003, regarding light opening bids: Note =destructive= very similar to =definitely= a separate issue; and =definitely= infuriatingly unjust if you are relaying events correctly earlier in this thread. And, of course, the attitude towards light openers. Peter

The ACBL changed the rules so that 2 suited openers have to have a minimum of 10 hcp, so that 9-12 would be illegal. Peter

In theory, you are right. 1C and 1D *should* be able to be anything you want in a GCC event, and 2C and 2D *should* be able to be anything you want in a GCC event, subject to being *strong*. Alas, this is not how the ACBL does its business. I was playing 2C and 2D as strong transfer openings (showing 15 hcp and 5+H and 5S respectively). A TD banned it. I wrote to rulings@acbl, and wa told it was legal, as it clearly was, by Mike Flader. The TD appealed the ruling, and Rick Beye overturned the ruling, and said that since it was a transfer opening, the obvious language of the GCC which allowed the bid didn't apply, that it was obviously the intent of the framers that the Mid Chart clause applied. The depth of dishonesty is appalling. This is a separate issue from the restrictiveness of the regulations. Peter

I believe you are referring to Honeymoon Moscito, which doesn't have true relays (or transfer openings), but which are technically relays, so that the system is Mid Chart. It's not a serious system. Peter

Anything but fun, believe me. I'm on my second Dell, I'm picking it up tomorrow, I've brought them back to the shop 6 times. The culprit is probably the huge amount of software my company puts on the drives. Peter

Foo, your comments about aggressive bidding methods are consistently ill-informed. FYI, you can't play transfer openings (the current version of MOSCITO uses them) even in Super Chart events. The ACBL has disallowed all defenses to them, and therefore, even though they are technically legal, they may not be played. Therefore, MOSCITO is effectively banned in the ACBL This has been true for some years now. Peter

I recently had a problem with a new laptop (Dell). After a week, problems developed, which were traced back to corrupted Bluetooth drivers. Are Bluetooth drivers installed as part of BBO software? Might the original drivers have been overwritten. My other laptop and home PC haven't had any issues. Peter