GreenMan

Suction seems at least playable over 1NT, but I sometimes see people using it over strong 1♣, which means advancer cannot bounce the overcall because they have no idea what overcaller has.

The one instance I can recall involved RR misquoting the rules after a contested claim (he thought he could neither take any finesse nor draw trump), and his misunderstanding led to a good result, to HH's dismay. But it's been a while since I read it.

Same reason you can't win the concert tickets if you work at the radio station? :)

I used to feel smug when I saw mini-Roman, but pretty much everyone has gotten wise and stopped playing it.

Thanks all for the alternatives to inverted m's. Food for thought. :)

rathia and I are available (and visible) if that's OK. :)

What's your approach to hands that would normally make an inverted raise? I've played IM for long enough that I don't really know alternatives for creating forcing auctions in those situations. Would like to hear more. :) (Somewhere I read an article by Matt Granovetter about a client who insisted on some insanely complicated system that nonetheless didn't have any way to show support for a minor with a strong hand, as he realized on an early deal when partner opened 1D opposite his 2362 17-count.)

I can't remember who it was, but someone posted on RGB years ago that in years of observing national and WC events he had never seen the presence or absence of Smolen make a difference on a board. Regardless of theory, it appeared, the number of deals where it actually matters is vanishingly small. I'm generally willing to play it if a partner wants to, but I never suggest it.

Seymon Deutsch, age 78, multiple national and world champion, frequent partner of Bobby Wolff.

I sort my cards twice, once by color and once by shape, then put the long suits on the outside with honors toward the center. I do all this below the table so no one draws inferences.

I thought "first to bid it" at these colors was a vanishingly small target -- it's only right if we have exactly 7 tricks; if we have 6 then we want them to bid it for -90 instead of -100. (I know it's not that simple in practice, but as a baseline ...) Partner barely scraped up a 3rd-seat opener and they have lots of minor-suit cards, so NT pessimism seems in order. I'm a passer too.

Heh, recently at a tournament I was eagerly waiting to open 2C in fourth seat, and third seat opened 2C in front of me! :blink: I admit I did a double-take, waited for her partner to alert (nope), and peeked at their CC. I had AKQxxxx x x AKxx and she had the rest of the high cards except one or two quacks.

Anyone who says Culbertson proved it can be done: We've had a similarly outsize personality in Zia in the game for decades, and we are where we are. When the Blue Team toured the U.S. in the '70s they drew some enthusiasts but nothing you would call cheering throngs of spectators. And so on. Bridge drew a lot of attention when it was new and developing, but now it's matured, and it's less interesting to the casual observer. No getting around that.

Manual dexterity? Please. I've already demonstrated that by pulling playing cards from my hand one at a time, without dropping (hardly) any. AFAIK I'm the only one at the local club who manipulates the bidding box that way, and I'm careful to leave it in order, but somehow cards still get put in the wrong places sometimes by the grab-everything set. :P

I suspect the second factor is the strongest. People can form and develop partnerships with whoever they like without geography in the way. IIRC Meckwell did most of their system development through the postal mail before Rodwell moved to Florida, and if their chemistry had been just a bit different they might not have bothered. That's much less of a hurdle nowadays. As for junior development, a friend of mine is in the USBF mentoring program and absolutely gushes about it. Keep it up, folks! Good things happening there.

Some newbies do do it that way out of newbieness. I find the extra effort putting the cards back to be negligible; for me it's preferable not to worry about my stack of cards going askew, and on those occasions when we start to pick up our cards and someone says "Please wait, I want to study the auction," I can just spread mine out again. Also, it saves wear on the 1C card. These are small considerations, but they matter enough to me. Quirky, I know. :)

Terry Michaels (widow of Mike Michaels of cuebid fame) trained service dogs and always brought her current charge to the club, often a GR.

One of my regular partners hates to be East or North. I guess that really doesn't count as unusual after all these posts saying something similar. I prefer to pull the bid cards out of the box one at a time instead of in a stack. People sometimes tell me I'm doing it wrong, as if I haven't been using bid boxes since 1983. :P

It seems as if more than half the player bios I've read include dropping out of college because they were missing too many classes playing bridge.

You haven't been watching the team trials on ESPN?

This is an excellent point, and AAMOF it bears on this year's USA trials; from what I gather, Kranyak were playing without a sponsor in part with an eye on improving their professional prospects down the road, which is sort of the same thing as playing the Davis Cup for the market boost. Also, the Davis Cup isn't really equivalent; everyone there is getting paid the same, I presume, but the pros on sponsor teams in the BB are getting paid, so it makes less sense to play for free when you don't really have to.

They are also playing four-handed, so if one of them came down with something then they would have to withdraw. Or the fatigue might have caught up to them -- they're not all as young as Kranyak et al.

Point taken. But don't forget, everyone on Fleisher is twice your age, so rest may make a bigger difference for them. :P

Sure they do. They don't play by "innings" or "quarters" or "periods". Highest total point score at the end is the winner.

Sure they could; it's a matter of weighing the chance of winning vs. the chance of winning the USA2 playoff with an extra half-day of rest. IOW, how likely are you to score ~4 IMPs per board against a team that's been playing like world-beaters all week? Anything is possible, but few things are probable.