Robert

Hi everyone 1S What do the 2C opener bidders do after 2C-(4D)-any-(5D or even 6D)? Why worry about the results with people who cannot bid properly? Relax and daydream about something nice. People that cannot bid often also cannot play. The results of playing with this person should rightly be sub par as the normal result. Finish the game, thank the person and do not ask for anther game. Why continue to punish yourself. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I like the idea of bidding out your pattern with 3Cs, however, only 'if' my spade suit were fairly strong. This hand has potential, however, the bidding to date suggests caution. I concur with your pass of 2Ss. Partner is either holds a doubleton spade 'or' is too weak for a raise to two spades(depending on your chosen methods) If your methods are that a 'weak' 2S raise goes by way of a 1NT* bid, I would pass the 2S bid since partner will only have three spades with a 5(6?)-7 value dummy. Limiting this bidding to 7HCP seems extreme. Whatever does partner bid with 8-9 HCP? I use a Big club method, so I would be bidding game here. Not that this hand should/would make game. I strongly suspect that I would like to be able to stop in two spades 'knowing' what you knew in your 2/1 auction. I rarely suggest that a 2/1 auction is superior to my chosen Big Club methods. :) Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I open 1H and intend to show the spades next. Max. hand with 4S and 6(+) Hs. If you play the Kaplan inversion where 1H-1S*-1NT* shows 4 spades and 1H-1NT* shows 5 spades. Opening 1H is clearcut IMHO Reversing in Precision without a 6th heart just seemed wrong so my Big Club bidding reflects my current style. I do reverse with a strong 5431 with a 3 card 'fit' for partner. Good players try to confuse your big club auctions. If you have shape, the chances are improved that they have shaped hands. I rarely 'upgrade' a hand into a Big Club. I am currently trying an approach that uses 7HCP positives to a Big Club 'only' when Vul. You only need to make game 38+% of the time vul. This 0-6HCP range for 1C-1D also helps define my 1C-1D bidding. The Meckwell style that 'upgrades' seven card suits that include top honors does appear sensible to me. You are going to show your seven card suit even at a fairly high level. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone You balanced with 1S and 'after' they rebid their suit, partner doubled for 'penalty' and you left it in with the stiff Q of trump 'plus' AKJx in an unbid suit. Perhaps partners double was more than a little shaky if his values produce minus 870 when the opponents 'rebid' suit was still very minimum? 2S raise is a really fine idea 'opposite' a passed partner. You might be short a trump(Qx plays for no losers sometimes opposite AKxxx while AKxxx opposite xxx never plays for zero losers), however, you do have extra values and you do have an idea that a penalty would be unlikely to gain. It is not a really bad idea to pass a ten loser hand opposite a 1H opening with xxx of trumps. I like to play almost all low(and many high) level doubles as value showing. I seem to get more penalties 'showing' values rather than 'got them' partner type doubles. The partner with the shortness doubles and the partner with the trump stack passes. Without a trump stack, you bid higher 'at low levels.' Overcalling bad hands with bad suits at the two level 'sometimes' works and sometimes goes for minus a zillion. Exchange the North and West hands and see how your 2C overcall does. You lose maybe a spade, two hearts, 4 clubs and a diamond. Result merchant? With values North will balance and 'if' the North and West hands were exchanged, The auction will go p-1H-p(!)-1S-p-2H instead of you overcalling 2Cs and getting hammered vs a partscore. Result merchant? The losses to bad hand/suit overcalls at the two level are not just from getting whacked. My partners take my 2/1 overcalls fairly seriously and we can compete to good partscores and games 'without' concern about me overcalling a bad hand/suit 2/1 overcall. As an added bonusmy 2/1 overcalls rarely get carried out. Seems the betting line for Fred is that people are betting $5,005 dollars that Fred would not overcall this hand. Playing for coin of the realm or maybe even at IMPs, bad suit/bad hand 2/1 overcalls might be a losing idea in the long run 'with' some exceptions for the result merchants to point out. I stay fairly close to my bidding methods playing IMPs or MPs. The crazy bids still come out at MPs, but not by my bidding 2/1 overcalls with bad suits and minimum values for a 2/1 overcall. Fred and Jlall play at very high levels of bridge and neither apparently would overcall this hand with 2Cs. Perhaps they have learned something about the value of overcalling poor suits with minimum values at the two level? Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Playing a 2/1 version, 1H-2D-2H-3D-3H-4C*(extras for the heart raise)-4H Holding 7-5 minors you should bid 1H-2D-2H-3C IMHO Seven hearts with Axxxxxx opposite Kx is not a real good idea until after the hand is over and the hearts are known to be divided 2-2. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I let opener bid 4m with a 4(+) card holding, his 4M show a slam type 4(+) card holding in the ranking minor. If you do not let opener show a 4 card minor, he might not end up playing the hand. 2NT-3S-3NT-4C=4C and 5+ Ds 4D=4D and 5+ Cs 4H=1255(0355) numeric bidding 4S=2155(3055) Opener plays the hand in the vast majority of cases. Single suited hands do not use 2NT-3S* as their start in my methods. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Light jump overcalls(some would say kamikaze style) and 'if' partner is a passed hand 5+ card jump overcalls(with a 5-12/13 HCP range) Play the Phantom Club system vs the 1C suit opening. Overcalls are natural and double is takeout of 'whatever' suit was 'opened' 'or' you hold a fairly strong hand type say 18/19+HCP. Vs their 1NT opening, I would attempt my normal 1NT defense until it proved unsound. I would 'know' what suits I held and they would know nothing about their shape 'except' that they hold an unbalanced hand type. Seems to be an unfair advantage to my partnership, however, it is their choice of system. Their higher level bids would seem to allow a takeout double vs their natural holding and pass and double/overcall without shortness. They might want to consult a table of HCP holdings and redesign their bidding system. The odds against holding that '0-1 unbalanced 1C are something like several hundred to one odds against. Defining that 6-37HCP 'balanced' range must also be a real delight. I also play a modified version of the Power system so I do not see any problem with defining a 11-16 balanced range, however, 6-37HCP still seems a bit much. If they enjoy playing their system so much the better. I will await their winning in high level competition before I will study the system in detail. I would use my normal style of bidding against this 'system. If partner has passed, jump bids show 5+ card suits and something like 5-12(13?) HCP. Let the opening pair sort out their fit and values. I play a North American style of overcall/doubles. I tend to overcall with my long suits and only double with 'strong' hand types. They have preempted themselves 'without' showing their shapes. It would seem that doubling for takeout would get penalties from either side of the table. I use most low level doubles as takeout anyway(including over my 1NT openings) and it seems to get me more penalties than playing normal penalty doubles. Maybe they would be better off playing something in a forcing Pass type system. The most common hands are in the range of 8-12HCP. Add a fert for the 0-7 range and Pass with 13+. I did play a forcing Pass system several decades ago. Pass*-1C*(0-9HCP)-1D was used to show added values. We used a 1C fert showing 0-9HCP in all seats, so 1C*-1NT showed 15-17HCP perhaps a record for signing off in 1NT opposite an 'opening' bid. If this pair happened to get decent results playing their system, I would merely change to my normal defense against a 'good' forcing Pass pair. I would play the Phantom Club defense. You pretend that the other pair has opened 1C to your right 'even' if you are the dealer and you overcall as if they have opened with a 1C bid. A 1C opening is takeout of their Phantom Club opening. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Jlall's bidding is somewhat more conservative than mine in responding to one bids. I do play a Big Club type system so 'if' partner opens a non 1C bid, my agreement is that I may respond with 0+ HCP. Partner cannot have a huge hand so it is very unlikely that he can try and bury me. The system is also very souped up so that jump shifts promise 6-5(+) hand shapes plus max. type non 1C values. We do pre alert(and also alert our suit bids which may have anywhere from 0+HCP upwards) because we 'are trying to steal' and feel that it is only fair to let the other side in on our little joke. If you happen to hold zero HCP, the odds against holding 'that' hand are something like 1800 - 1 odds. You normally hold a couple of HCP so we normally have 3/4+ HCP for most of our bids. We do like to think that the 'balancing in direct seat' bidders will have major problems with our choice of values for our bids. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I play a version of the XYZ convention(modified of course) 1C-1H-1S-2D*(game forcing)-2H(without a diamond stop you can bid 2Hs with honor doubleton or three trumps in a minimum balanced hand, I would bid 3Hs here with 4=3=1=5 since I feel that it should normally be worth a jump on the shape alone) I also play Kickback so 4NT would indeed be natural for my methods. Since a game force would be created by the 2D bid, either partner could stall with a 2NT(which should include a diamond stopper :P I am still slightly puzzled. Does the slam still look good 'if' the club spots are not quite so good(replace the ten or even the 8/9 spot) or replace the heart 10 with a card of 2-9 rank. The slam seems much less likely to make 'if' some of these spot cards are missing. I realize that I bid more with better spots, however, I normally do not count on partner to hold Q10 when he shows an honor doubleton. 1C-1H-1S-2D*-2H-2NT(you created a GF with 2D so you can let partner bid out his hand)-3NT-4NT(natural)-5NT(pick a slam)-6NT Since opener does hold all of the good spots, I would bid the slam. Without such an outstanding spotcard collection, I suspect that a pass of 4NT would be my bid. That 10 of hearts really impressed me and the A1098x of clubs would also combine very well with any honor held by partner. The club suit also seems to have a quite attractive spot card holding. Would opener really bid differently in your methods holding say A108xx(A98xx?) in Clubs or Q9 in hearts? You hold near slam HCP values with no 8 card fit and the slam is decent with all of the spot cards present, if either the heart ten or club 10(9 and even the 8 spot?) is missing? I would not mind missing this slam. Opener has full values and really good spot cards. Whether I would bid 4NT holding 18HCP without any good suits or spot cards is somewhat in doubt. I play a 15-17 1NT and would expect opener to accept with 13-14 HCP. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I switched to TO doubles after we open 1NT. The number of penalties actually rose IMHO. It also made some difficult auctions better. "If' either hand has a penalty double, you may 'pass' and let partner double for you or 'if' you are worried about missing a game, you simply bid 3NT with game values. If non game values and a trump stack are held, you pass in tempo and partner will reopen with the dreaded TO double so that you may pass for penalty. I very much like Stayman, however, I play a 'juiced' up version that shows shortness at the three level after opener bids. We try to avoid playing stopper less 3NT contracts and also seek out good 4-3 major and even some good minor games. My initial reply 1) is that 'if' partner has invitational+ vaules, he will very likely reopen with a double 'if' you hold a penalty type 1NT opener. If partner holds the penalty type pass, opener will very likely be short and will make a TO double. I generated a fair number of hands and garbage stayman seemed a fairly steady winner, however, I still do not play garbage stayman because it would cost me many other possible auctions that gain much more and occur somewhat more frequently. 2) pass is not played as forcing, since the TO double suggests shortness in the bid suit. If you have to double with game values and 3+ trumps and partner still passes for penalty. :) Regards, Robert

Hi Everyone With two cue bids available, I play the lower cuebid shows a limit+ raise with 3 card support and the higher cuebid shows a 4+ support limit+ raise. Did I first see this idea used while reading Ambra? Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I like the 2S bid with the two 'fitting' Queens. The Jxx of hearts is likely waste paper, however, he does have a doubleton club and even that nice 98 of diamonds. I do not suggest a 4S bid when I bid 2Ss. I am showing about 5-8 'range' and 4+ spades. Partner suggested that he can support Ds and Ss, I have Qxxx of spades and the values to bid at the two level 'opposite' a takeout double. Why would this suggest that I wanted to sacifice at the 4 level? Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Italy won 10 world championships between 1957 and 1969, the Blue Team retired and returned to win in 1973, 1974 and 1975. The Blue Team won 13 in a row, 'when they played.' The current holders have won 'one' in a row. I do not see how winning 6-7 current worldchampionships would match winning 13 in a row. Whether you play once a year or every other year, winning 13 in a row is still much better than 6-7 in a row. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone One old time Blue Team player won a world championship on his first attempt and followed up with 12 more world champship wins in a row. The current crop of Italians might be very good, however, that record of 13 world championship wins in a row is not in any danger. Regards, Robert

Please stack your arms and move into the POW holding areas. England taking over America is suggesting that the U.S. military would not even try to resist. We resisted in 1776 and today would be 'very heavy' favorites at most betting sites. I am not a gambling man, however, I would take the U.S. military and give up the points. England would be a huge underdog. I do take note that I did not even notice the previous posting of this silly suggestion several years ago. I wonder why the British tax collection system has not contacted me in the previous six years. Perhaps they read the results of their last attempts to collect taxes in American areas of the world. Shania Twain sells huge numbers of various products. If you do not like her music, please refain from buying them. She will not notice the shortfall in her very large income. Best regards, Robert

Hi everyone One heart. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Double with no second choice or either Pass or 2NT. Regards, Robert

Hi Everyone 2D overcall 'not' even close to a double. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone The best site that I have seen on Meckwell methods is www.bridgeFILES.net If they 'ask' in a suit, they want support and controls by steps. They often save room in their 1C-opposite major-'2C' asks in the other major. The hands that use up the most room are based on minor suits. Meckwell often bids to 3NT 'without' showing a minor and sometimes with a stiff. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone How do you hide an elephant on a pool table? Paint the toenails green. I have never seen an elephant on a pool table. See it works. What is purple and conquered the world? Alexander the Grape. What eats bananas and is very dangerous? A monkey with a machinegun. What has four legs and one arm and is very happy? A Rottweiler chewing on an arm. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Hrothgar Thanks for the detailed information about arms transfers. We did supply most of the arms to Iraq(prior to the war) and we did also 'cut off' spare parts when they did not behave. We did not send military units or air support into the Iraq/Iran war. Hi phleighton Please consult the above information. If you want examples of America supporting/provoking war against another country. We firebombed numerous Japanese cities and nuked two of them to show our unhappiness after Pearl Harbor. Germany faced round the clock bombing from the RAF and America bombers. We firebombed Dresden and Hamburg in addition to bombing numerous cities. I did not understand(see) your statement about world while terrorism increases being a result of the invasion of Irag. Sorry, my fault. A Dane newspaper published some offensive cartoons and some Arabs burned an embassy(two?) and the mobs also killed a number of people. Normal reaction to the invasion of Iraq from your viewpoint? They riot and burn an embassy(two?) as a result of cartoons or was that also the result of the invasion of Iraq? Nonsensical is how I view many of your claims. You choose to ignore the Iran/Iraq war as 'violence' because it happened 18 years ago. The Iraq invasion took place several years ago, did the terror networks really take several years to get the news? Now you claim that their own people are being killed because they are 'soft' targerts. The people fighting against enemy occupation could also target their own people, however, they normally tend to kill the invaders. We are to blame if the people of a nation cannot control their mass killing of their own people. We must be to blame for the Germany concentration camps and the mass killings there if your logic is correct. The largest number of deaths occured after we invaded North Africa in WWII and followed up by invading Italy, France and Germany. Thanks for confirming that we did not(repeat not) send troops or air support to the Iraq/Iran war. We also cut off spare parts when the war dragged on. Two Arab nations fight each other and it is our fault. Are we also to blame for the Axis attacks during WWII? Both and the Iraq/Iran happened before the invasion of Iraq. You still have not anwsered my question about why we should not have allowed the invasions of Korea and Kuwait without intervention? We should have avoided fighting in Vietnam, Korea and Kuwait? How do you pick and choose? Did someone that you knew die in Vietnam about 1968? It seems a strange date to suggest withdrawing. The Supreme Court ruled that the conflict was a 'war' in 1984 as I recall. I never wrote that we cut off spare parts on the first day of the Iraq/Iran war. They were able to re equip their troops with Soviet Bloc weapons by the Gulf War timeframe. An oil rich nation buys(or is given) arms by assorted nations) is a fact of life. You appear to misunderstand that fact. You blame the violence on the Iraq invasion and choose to ignore the fact that that there have been wars on this planet every year since Christ. If Arabs and non Arabs both choose to fight for thousands of years, why would one invasion suddenly change their behavior? They are butchering their own people(you say because their own people are 'soft' targets. This makes no sense to me. I am going to hurt America by killing 12 and wounding 17 in an attack on a local place where the Iraq police hang out(News story in todays MSN headlines) Thanks for looking up the losses in the Iraq/Iran War. A mere 300,000 dead and you say that violence is increasing because of the tiny fraction killed after the Iraq invasion? Using your numbers it would seem to sugggest that violence is remarkably lower. Would Kuwait really be better off with Saddam ruling there? Would South Korea be better off with the Americans leaving them to their fate in the 50s? Do you know something about the starvation in North Korea that I do not know? The South Korean economy seems better than that trainwreck of an economy in North Korea. Best Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Double followed by 3C 'if' partner bids 2S. Clubs games are fairly bad here in one of the three strongest bridge areas in America. 60% might win only in a smaller weaker club game here. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone We have zero disagreement over violence being widespread over human history. You stated that the increase in violence in Iraq was a result of the invasion of Iraq. Hundreds of thousands(millions?) died in the Iraq/Iran war so violence appeared to have dropped sharply after the American invasion of Iraq. At least compared to their earlier level of 'violence.' This recent 'violence' has Iraqs killing Iraqs in very small numbers compared to their fairly recent Iraq/Irqan war. Still no reply as to why 'if' the American invasion triggered the 'increase' in violence that the Americans losses have not jumped, however, the killing their own people has risen sharply. What military units/air support did Regan provide Saddam during the Iraq/Iran war? We cut off spare parts shipments. Perhaps you might have noticed that the weapons that we faced in 1991 and Gulf War II were Soviet Bloc weapons. The tank units had tanks starting with T series(T-54, T-72 and some T-80 all Soviet Bloc type tanks) Rifles were AK-47 rather than the American M-14 or M-16 rifles. If you are talking arms sales 'before' the war, America is one of the top suppliers of arms to the world. If getting American weapons leads to additional invasions, dozens of our Allies fail to respond to that theory 'by invading someone' after getting our weapons. South Korea is very well armed with largely American weapons. Hitler had zero amounts of American weapons before attacking Poland. Japan also did not have access to American weapons prior to Pearl Harbor. Recent American court decision held a pistol manufactoring company 'not'(repeat not) liable because of the use that a person might use the weapon for. We both agree that the voting booth could have a sharp impact on Congress. Bush is leaving because of term limits. Best Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Violence is eternal. Well written. 100% agreement. Nazi Germany? I have been a student of military history for almost 50 years now. WWII Russo German front is my main area of interest, however, I am fairly well versed on the Western front, Italy and Africa. Please feel free to comment on Nazi Germany and do not feel that I will be upset. It seemed a cheap shot to mention Nazi Germany. I do not suppose that many would be against America helping take down Hitler. I try and avoid straw man ideas. They are also getting pay back for tribal conflicts dating back hundreds(thousands) of years by killing off each other in Iraq. If the invasion caused the increase in violent(directed against their own people)why aren't American losses higher? You mentioned Vietnam. The public seemed to get upset when the losses were some 300-500 per week. Our losses last year were what about 1,000. 20 per week maybe? Our population is much higher now so the losses needed to trigger a shift may be somewhat higher. You neglected to respond to my mention of the Iran/Iraq War and the invasion of Kuwait from Iraq. These two invasions cost many more lives than the 'violence' of Iraq against Irag. This area of the world is very violence and the history of the viloence goes back at least to that 732 era that I mentioned. Did we save South Korea in that police action? Would Kuwait prefer to live under the rule of Saddam or their own rule? Straw man idea, but really do you think we should have deserted the Koreans? For the record. I am not a supporter of Bush. I also feel that the war is being run badly. When you gather say a million plus anti war people on the Mall your solution will occur. At this time, I will not be with you on the mall. My world view does not include deserting allies or nations that we have promised aid to. South Vietnam was promised aid before we left. We cut off their ammo supply, Vietnam fell and we donated the same amount of money $750 million to 'aid' the people of Vietnam. Best regards, Robert

Hi Everyone Iraq invaded Kuwait and we threw them out(with even some help from assorted Arab nations) Not too much before that attack, Iraq invaded Iran and fought a war for almost a decade. With a great deal more dead than the number of death in the 2005 count. I hope that most people remember that Iraq regularly used poison gas in attacks on the Iranian troops. How we get the blame for Iraq invading two other Arab nations is way past my understanding? Some of the Arabs are violent no matter what we do. Those 5,000% and 2,000% jumps in attacks/deaths are because they are attacking and killing their own people. Violence is on the upswing because they are 'killing' their own people. They are settling some of their old tribal 'problem areas' and making attacks on 'other' religions. Binding the hands behind their backs before torture and some beheadings seems to also be in fashion. Before we invaded Iraq Saddam was using poison gas and assorted other weapons on his own people. Some people might want to ignore facts that happened in the pre 21st century, I cannot ignore the Iran/Iraq War or the Gulf War of 1991. This is a dangerous area with some very dangerous people in it. Americans are getting killed, however, the vast percentage of dead are from the locals killing their own people. Religious wars have often taken place. The Balkans spring to mind, but that also happened last century. Who decides what century 'facts' come from? Is this an area where 'unpleasant' facts are deemed 'unworthy' because they conflict with the 'world view' of some posters? Regards, Robert