Robert

Hi everyone Finish the hand(round) and leave this partner before they can strike again. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Faking a club suit could lead to some very strange(bad?) contracts. How do you shut down a 1D-2C auction and still show diamond support? If this is vanilla Precision, 1D-2D should be 'forcing' one round. FSF played as GF makes some Precision auctions impossible to bid. What do you do with 10-12HCP and xx or xxx in the 4th suit? Is the xyz convention with 2Cs inv. and 2D played as GF, a possible solution here? The Italian style of FSF forcing to 2NT might allow the bidding of more invitational type hands to be accurate. Support doubles can be divided into two main camps. Optional(which I play) and mandatory which gives partners more information(or a much less accurate sort) Another question is how high to play Support doubles. I play them up to and including 3H(for spades) while many only play them at the two leve. Meckwell plays them to the 4 level, however, they are not known for passing when the auction gets to them. :P Regards, Robert

Hi arrows Nice squeeze 'if' the cards are exactly as you have placed them. Give East the spade Ace and he is cashing his Ace and a diamond. Give West A10x or AJx or AJ10 or Axx of spades and your play to the King leaves you with two spade losers. You also have no entry to take the 'winning' heart hook unless you can now concede two spade tricks to West(for down one) If East happens to hold(very likely when West holds Ace spades and heart Queen), the J10x(Jx or Jxx) of spades, you cannot throw West into the lead because he can return his last spade to partner(who might well cash a diamond) Regards, Robert

Hi whereagles Unless NS are crazy or beginners, I would expect a long club suit to appear in dummy and it will be set up with one ruff. Any decent bidders will probably make 6Ss by winning 6 spades, 1-2 hearts, 4-5 clubs plus the diamond Ace. If you make more than the heart Ace I would be very surprised. Axx KQ Ax AKQxxx opposite KQJxxx Jx Qx xx 6S, 1D and 5C Axx KQx Ax AKQxx opposite KQJxxx Jx Qx xx 6S, 1H, 1D and 4C The bidding is not very good, so you might set this one. Your hand does suggest that the cards appear to be very favorably located for them because their black suits should have 19 of the 20 HCP 'black' HCP and any 5+ club suit should easily make slam. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Love is a many splendid thing. The 'Love' convention for mini splinters. Love is a 'mini splintered' thing. San Francisco Control asking bid. I left my heart in San Francisco. Regards, Robert

Hi jillybean2 4th suit 'forcing' is the normal convention used to create GF auctions 'without' having to reverse or jump. I do play serious 3NT and Last Train. Neither is needed for learning bridge. The classic methods of bridge bidding(with minor tweaks) will serve quite well. If conventions are later desired, they can be added 'after' prior agreement. Hi Double ! A very good bid. That 4H jump is called a 'self splinter.' That was the first example that 'popped' into my head for this auction. 1C-1S-2S-4H* if this auction does not get you to slam, you are very unlikely to get there or the slam chances will normally be poor at best. You do not want to use a 'self splinter' with a partner 'unless' a prior agreement has already been made. Best wishes, Robert

Hi everyone You cannot bid every makeable slam. Let the borderline slams go. This hand makes because of the near miracle fits. AKQ10xx x Kxx xxx and there are two losers. AKQ10xx x Kx xxxx and there are two losers. Do any of the proposed slam auctions stop short of slam with these holdings? Did the 1C bid promise 3+ clubs or 2+ clubs? If 2+ clubs were allowed because of a 4+ D opening xxxx xxxx Axx AK Same shape and same honors and still two losers. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone You passed with a 13HCP hand and pulled to 5S on Ax when they bid 5Cs? I use the unusual unusual defense and 5D would have shown longer/better spades while 5C would show egual/longer hearts in many auctions. This is not one of them. Did the other pair really bid 4NT showing 5-5+ minors. The bid to show 5-5+ minors is normally 1S-2NT. Bidding 7H is a wild gamble. Even six hearts might lose the first two club tricks. Partner cannot count on you for a fit and you cannot count on your partner for a club void plus 11 major cards 'with KQ or spades and AJ of hearts.' Try trading opener's spade King for the diamond king. Or just give him KQxxx of spades and you are playing for a 3-3 break after hearing a 4NT overcall. Regards, Robert

Hi Wackojack I open 1H playing Acol with a somewhat weaker hand than the example hand and my favorite Acol partner of many years(he is English) would also do so while playing a 12-14HCP 1NT(which we did also play) Since it contains extra values you can rebid 1C-1S-1NT 15-16 or 1C-1D-1H Our 'opinions' differ as to what is Acol 'if' you do not open 4 card majors when playing Acol. I learned Acol from a booklet published in England from a longtime well known English writer and player. The methods are several decades old, however, they open the bidding much like Goren methods in American bidding. David did reverse a bit lighter than I did(my American background), however, he did often open four(repeat 4) card majors(as I did) and he would not have reversed holding this collection. I recall that I used to comment that David only opened 1C holding less than four(4) cards in clubs only one time in the first three years that we played Acol on a regular basis. Playing a four card major system, we often opened a 4 card major when the hand was not worth a reverse bid. :lol: You did 'not' say that the other pair would overcall 1D. You did write that the auction might go 1C-p-1NT-p-p-(X) holding AQx xx Jxxxx QJx which I looked at in horror. :) Kxxx Qxxx A10xx x is an automatic balance and some(many?) would make a direct seat double of 1C. This is 'worlds removed' from balancing with a reopening double on 'your' suggested AQx xx Jxxxx QJx hand I did not ask 'if' you paid an entry fee. Do they bid like that(a balancing double on AQx xx Jxxxx QJX) and play rubber bid for coin of the realm? Cash money even? :) Regards, Robert

Hi everyone In the SAYC discussion thread, Kx KJx QJ9xxx xx is supposed to be a possible opening bid? :) So bidding 1D-1S-2Ds shows somewhere between an 'Ace less' 'Ten less' wonder 10(My favorite 'tie breaker' method yields 9.7HCP here) 'count' and 15HCP I will offer my own choice of bidding methods, however, I will clearly state that this is non standard. I do play 4C* as a 'choice of game cuebid' in this auction(Game before Slam) Making the decision 'without' consulting with partner seems a bit much. He will rebid 4D holding 109x Qx KQJ1098x A and I will raise to the 5D game. Jlall suggests a decent auction to 3NT after noting that this auction 'expressed' considerable doubt. Well done. Final note. If you somehow were forced to open 1D(perhaps at gunpoint?) with Kx KJx QJ9xxx xx 'playing' standard rebidding 2Ds over 2C is the correct bid while playing standard methods IMHO. Regards, Robert

Hi Wackojack We agree that a 3H bid is a splinter raise of spades. :) You can gain by passing forcing bids on some hands. You can also lose by passing forcing bids on the same exact hands. You will, however, destroy partnership trust by passing forcing bids. :( If you are playing Acol you could open a 4 card major. If the other pair bids up to 3Ds, you might be 'fixed.' :( You play against people who double 1C-p-1NT-p-p with AQx xx Jxxxx QJ9 ??? Do they like to play for money? Their heart support 'looks' a trifle 'thin' by my standards. :) Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Passing a forcing bid might win on any given hand, however, it will lose on too many others because partner will no longer 'trust you.' Better to honor the 'force' than lose partner's trust. I do play a forcing club system, however, I still define my reverses as forcing for one round. I do not reverse with 'just' 4-5 shape, since I cannot have the HCP for the bid. I can have ten+ cards in the two suits and want to show the extreme shape. Some systems(POWER) use special gadjets to allow a 4H/5+ club hand to show the distribution and allow a pass. I also have a number of 'tools' gadjets to show various limited but 'shapely' hand types. If I were playing standard methods this hand does not have the values to 'reverse.' I would open a 15-17HCP NT as a possible solution. Playing 12-14 1NT openings, I would open 1C and rebid 1NT over 1S. If you pass opposite x AKQJ Ax KQxxxx and your pass of the forcing 'reverse' misses a good slam. If that is too strong for your methods x AKQx Ax KQxxxx I have seen bad bidders jump to 3Hs with these kinds of hands, since they remember that partner passed their 'forcing' 2H bid. That is not the solution to the present problem. Regards, Robert

Hi pbleighton The primitive Acol that I played was a very natural system. With 4 card support and GF values, you('surprise') jumped to 4m as a GF. :) I still used the classical methods of bidding. With 5224 I would jump raise and with 5314 shape I would bid 'around the clock' to show shortness and 4 card support. Splinter bids are 'nothing new under the sun.' :) I played Acol two bids which eliminated many hands from the one of a major openings. It quickly evolved into a mix of science and Acol style bidding. Have you seen a copy of POWER(or his POWER ACOL book) by Ron Klinger. He uses 2C* and 2D* as artificial bids over his openers to show 10-12 inv. and 13+ GF. By shifting the ranges around, you might be able to handle 'lighter' opening bids. One of his methods uses 1M-2C-2D to show less than 14HCP. Higher bids are GF opposite a 'known' 10-12 responder. Perhaps you can play 1M-1NT* F1, 2C* as inv. range and 2D* as GF? Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I would tend to pass. As I do not open about 10% of balanced 12HCP hands playing a 12-14HCP range. This counts to 10.9HCP using my 'tie breaker' count system A=4.3 K=3.1 Q=1.7 and J=.9 You do not have to count fractions very often. Aces 'balance out' Queens and Kings 'balance out' Jacks. I do like the KJ109 combination in spades, however, it is not quite worth 1.1HCP IMHO. I pass this hand, however, it is very close. Several of my partners do not like to throw in hands. They would open this hand in a heartbeat with 1NT and I have no objection. They play their cards well and any competition will find us with 4 decent spades and Jxx of hearts so the other pair will often be forced to three clubs. I cannot see opening this hand 1D using a 12-14 1NT opening range because partner will expect either long diamonds or 15+HCP balanced 'if' I open 1D. Opening 1S also has risks since I am light on values and do not have a 5 card major. In the modern game everyone likes to bid and/or jump overcall. Why start something that you cannot finish. It might work on this hand, however, on another hand partner will 'hold back' fearing that you have opened with trash. Regards, Robert

Hi beatrix45 Partner did not open 2Hs. The (2H) bid in 'brackets' shows that this bid was by the other pair. Hi everyone I bid 3D here, the partner 'short' in the enemy suit should try to bid. I have somewhat light values, however, I do have a lot of shape. I agree with Jlall here, if partner bids 3NT, I am also pulling. I started this auction by bidding 3Ds on shape and I will continue with a 4C bid to show extreme shape over a 3NT bid. If you do not go for an occasion -800 you are not bidding often enough. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I have been exchanging messages with a Relay system builder. He has bids to show 'up to and including' specific 12=1=0=0 holdings. I assume that with 13 trumps he can duplicate your 7S call and his partner could pass or convert to 7NT holding 13 tricks in his own hand. The Ultimate Club relay method also uses bids to show 8 something and 9 something patterns. You might want to check out the details of that system's methods. I have not read my copy in a couple of decades so the exact bidding is a bit fuzzy. Your 7S bid was two to one odds with the example hand and Grand slams odds should be 70+%. If partner opened 1C without both Red Aces the odds would drop much further. I do not play relay methods, however, it is not uncommon to have 9 out of 10 bids in a slam auction be alerted. I play a lot of transfer type bids to attempt to make the big hand declare the final contract. My Big Club methods include a 1C-3D* to show 'solid' suits. I use relays to transfer the bidding back to opener to gain any lead advantage. Partner can 'often' guess my suit, unless he holds no honor in two suits. Partner would transfer me 'into' his suit 'if' I bid 1C-3D-3M and 'that' was not his long suit. 1C-3D*-4C* also asks for partner to transfer me into his 'suit.' I also use the 'higher bids' to show longer and 'longer' suits. Ten card suits does not begin to stretch the method. If you are going to play diamonds rather than NT with a 'solid' diamond suit it will often be at the 6/7 level. With your example hand, I would check to see if partner held a club and bid 6NT if partner did hold one or more clubs. If you had a club void, I would bid 7Ss. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I just 'woke up and reread' the first post. The 2NT bid is a two way bid. Whoops! That certainly makes more sense 'if' MisIry bidders do not want the other side to bid in their GF auctions. :) Delete my 3H Michaels suggestion. Bad, bad Robert. :( It appears to be easier to defend against the weak 3C version. You can bid 3Cs as Michaels here saving a whole level of bidding. You also get two bites at the apple, you can double 2NT for takeout or wait and double 3Cs for takeout. If one of the NAMYATS defenses is used, you can double 2NT for takeout or pass and double 3Cs for penalty! Aren't the MisIry bidders also barred from raising or jump raising 'clubs' after the two way 2NT opening. You are leaving the other pair all kinds of 'extra' bidding room that normal bidding would certainly not have. Against the stronger version, the other pair will tend to bid three of a suit more often with long weak suits since the MisIry pair cannot risk passing out a 2NT bid that might be a GF hand. I have read that the best defense against a Multi is to use the same methods against it. You can bid directly with weak hands and 'pass and bid' with stronger hands. Being able to overcall suits either directly or after 'passing and later bidding', should give the other pair much better bidding results. The weak 3C version would appear to be the normal holding(95%) so MisIry bidders allow the other pair extra room to bid and also several additional ways to bid. :) Regards, Robert

Hi kgr I am just curious. What do you bid to invite with long hearts 'if' 3Hs is forcing? Bidding 2Hs is to play. Natural bids normally do not need to be alerted. If you are thinking about bidding seven, you need to find the heart Queen. Partner might have raised your forcing 3H jump rebid on xx or Jx or xxx and playing opposite any of those holdings in 'seven' is not a real good idea. If partner does not know the system(that 3Hs was forcing) I do not think that a Queen asking bid is a good idea. Why should he remember exotic bidding 'if' he cannot be trusted to remember our basic rebids? Assuming that partner can be trusted, ask for the trump queen. Unless you have an unusual agreement here, asking for the trump Queen is a Grand slam try showing all five of the Aces are present(counting the trump King as the fifth ace) Partner is expected to show a side King 'only' if he has no 'side' source of tricks. If he holds AKQJ10x(or AKQxx or AKQJ) of clubs for example, he should just bid seven hearts holding the trump Queen. If partner does not jump to seven hearts, I sign off in six hearts. My asking for the trump Queen was a Grand Slam attempt and partner claims 'not' to have a source of tricks for seven 'if' he does not bid seven. Trust your partner. :unsure: Regards, Robert

Hi everyone All of that bidding to go down in 6NT seems strange. 1S-2D was not a possible start? Bid 1S-2D-3C(high reverse showing extra values)-3NT-4NT-all pass. You have a spade loser, a diamond loser and a club loser. Aren't two of them 'happening' going to defeat 6NT. To get 4S and 4D winners, you have to lose 2 tricks. A misfitting 18HCP opposite 14HCP are not good slam odds. Regards, Robert

Hi beatrix45 I play the double here as limit+ spade raise. A bid of 3Ss is not quite a limit raise, much like a sound single raise. Some players like to use the double here as negative. I have values, please do something smart. Hi mike777 Would you mind posting your partners hand that went two off. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Exotic bidding? It seems that you forced to slam in a possiblea 4-3 or 4-2 fit without any possible reason. Unless the 3D bid was some sort of conventional spade raise, it is a terrible bid. 1C-1S-2D is a forcing bid showing 16+/17+HCP. Some people do play that a 'jump reverse'(3Ds) shows an unbalanced spade raise. Since you hand does not contain any shortness, showing side shortness is not a really good idea. Most people would raise 1S to 4S to show about 19+ dummy points, four card support and no side shortness. Your partner showed 'tolerance' for your 'long' club suit(his 4C bid) and denied four card diamond support. I would prefer that he bid 3NT holding a heart stopper rather than support clubs with Jxxx Your 4D bid should be either a cuebid showing 'really long solid(semi?) clubs' or show a 5D and 6C hand 'if' some prior agreement was made. 4H is a good bid opposite a good partner. It is a terrible bid opposite someone who bids like South bids. Without some unusual agreement, 5S forces 5NT and the follow up 6C bid is a Grand Slam try in 'clubs' showing that all the Aces are present and the trump suit is solid. Neither condition applies. 6C is trying to save something from this very strange auction. If you play 1C-1S-2NT is forcing(which I do not), you could bid 1C-1S-2NT*-3NT which is likely the best contract. It happens to work on this hand, however, on other hands bidding to 3NT opposite 5-6HCP is overbidding. Playing standard methods the best reasonable contract is 4S. Does the result suggest that maybe 1C-1S-4S showing about 19+ dummy points, 4 card spade support and no side shortness might be a somewhat better method? Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Showing 5Hs and 6Cs does not always promise the stiff Aces of both unbid suits. A 4-1 break would often push you into Minus City 'if' an Ace was missing. Perhaps a jump to 5H 'asking' for a diamond control might get you to any decent slam and avoid some silly ones. As far as the bidding goes, most decent pairs play some form of 2NT Lebensohl type bidding. Without some more details about the systemic agreements, answering this question is very difficult. If partner is 'showing' a weak hand type, bidding higher than 3C is a big overbid. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone You are starting your not unlikey slam auctions with 2NT* and have to sort your delicate fits at a much higher level 'with the second suit as yet unknown.' Starting with 1C* allows much more bidding room. Granted some defensive bidding might be reduced, however, I would try to strain to bid after you opened a 2NT with at least one unknown suit. You are very unlikey to want to double and defend since you have already shown a strong two suiter and also you 'have not' shown the second suit. If the bid denys clubs, I can double to show a two suiter including clubs. With a one suiter I can bid that. I can also bid 3H as Michaels for spades and diamonds 'if' I play 2NT-X=clubs and another. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone xyz convention is like a license to print money. It is of somewhat less use in a walsh auction, however, I play a Big Club system and the advantages are tremendous. 1D-1H-1S-2C and 2D here give me many additional ways to bid my hands. Use 1C-1D-1NT and 2C as a puppet to 2Ds either to pass or inv. Use 1C-1D-1NT-2D=GF I use the 2C-2D step to 'narrow' the range of my 2NT inv. bids. Direct 1NT-2NT show minimum interest and 2C-2D-2NT show max. interest. You can also show a multiple number of minor raises/rebids and shape showing bids by using the same bidding space twice. First after 1C-1D-1NT and another time after 1C-1D-1NT-2C-2D You get yet another chance to use up all of that lovely bidding space in a GF auction after 1C-1D-1NT-2D If you have good NT bidding mehtods, you have replace all(many?) of the bids higher than 2Cs in this auction with your superior NT methods. I use 1NT-2C and use many follow up bids to show shortness, long minors. exact 1345 or 1246 patterns, Confit(balanced slam trys), BABY CONFIT for minor suit balanced slam trys etc. etc. You can also sign off in 2Ds using the 2C-2D puppet. As has been already posted, the ability to bid and play 2Cs is a seldom worthwhile auction. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Didn't EW 'miss' a cold 7NT contract? West appeared to give up too quickly. A pass here 'does' show the Ace of spades and does invite 7NT. If you were making 7Hs, 7NT cannot be that far away. An opening GF 2NT bid loses a lot of bidding space. It barely has the HCP values that I need to open 1C* 16+ and I would often like much more room to describe my opening 1C* bids. Unless the other pair is not prepared to defend the MisIry 2NT opening, I would expect competition. Can't they double to show clubs plus 'another' suit? If you show your two suits, it will be a 'roadmap' for the other pair. Positive replies in spades to the MisIry 2NT would appear to lose even more valuable bidding space. Regards, Robert