Robert

Hi kgr You might want to read the article in Esoterica 'TSAR' by Jeff Rubens at The Bridge World website. It is six pages long and very good. A lot of meanings change after you adapt this style. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone This happens to your a lot? Perhaps you and I could become set partners for 'a lot' high stake rubber bridge. I rarely hold a strong 2C opener. I often hold less than the example hand when partner does open 2C. The jump to 3M holding 4M and long diamonds is a fairly common tool with good players. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Have your considered playing 'Last Train' in these auctions? A 4D bid would ask partner to bid higher with extra values. I suspect that you would be overbidding to use 4D with this example hand. Seven losers and minimum values suggest a great deal of caution even when holding three Aces. I think you 'pushed' a bit after you bid 4D and kept on bidding. Your partner also overbid a bit when he bid 4S over your 4D bid. At least he had the excuse that you had made a slam try first and he held strong trumps plus holding five trumps instead of four. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Unless this was a high paying client, you should not play with people that bid 1D-3NT with an aceless 11HCP hand including a doubleton QJ of hearts. Bidding 4D with a 5332 shape is not too useful 'without' specific agreements. A normal 4NT raise might be decent if partner is not known to make weird jumps from 1D-3NT with this hand type. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Splinters were not around in the early days of bridge. They coped quite well by 'bidding around the clock.' Bid two suits and support partner. 'If' you can jump support that shows 4 card support. Non jump support normally shows 3 card support. Sometimes the space limits this method. It does work a large part of the time. If you have a 'source of tricks' in a 5 card suit, I normally do not splinter. With a 4315 hand and a poor suit(Qxxxx) I like to splinter. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I am curious how OBAR bids work when the other pair 'does not' promise standard type values when they bid? Meckwell open 10+HCP and 9+ with shape. They also tend to open in 3rd seat with 8+. Many of the posters here state that their opening bids are 10-11+. In America some(many?) top players respond to an opening bid on 4+HCP. Moscito uses a 9-14HCP range opening. I have played an assortment of systems that opened 8/9+ hands(Big Club types) My Acol bidding used a 9+HCP range. My current style to to often respond to my 'limited' openings with 0+HCP. I alert that partner might not have standard values(0+ is what we play) to respond to one of my 'limited'(Precision type) range openings. With the number of weak jump shifts, weak jump raises and other shape showing bids common to todays game, how does your OBAR partner decide what to bid? Like Meckwell, I also play a 1M-4M raise that goes from a standard weak hand up to a weak NT type holding. Meckwell found a +800 recently when the other pair decided to compete at the five level. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Double is not responsive. Double shows values. This hand passes in tempo. If your partner has extra values, he is free to express them by making a second double. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone 2H. Close decisions sometimes can be helped by looking a couple of things. I normally give a limit raise with 10HCP, however, 1) I have weak trumps, 2) there is no ruffing value present and 3) I have nine losers(which is hardly a standard limit raise type holding) If partner were a very solid bidder(or maybe a Roth Stone 'solid opener', I would make a limit raise. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone XX was good. I would not bid 1NT now 'without' a stopper. A pass of (1S) is forcing after the XX so pass and let partner do something helpful. If you play double is takeout after the (1S) bid, how do you get a penalty holding say AQ10xx ? Regards, Robert

Hi jillybeans2 If you are not playing 2/1 methods, your auction of 1H-2D-2H-3H is 'not forcing.' You need to force to game with this strong responding hand. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I do not know about bidding 2H on 'very poor' hands, however, if you do not raise with a hand worth a single raise, what happens after 1H-(1S)-p-(2S or even 3S?) Constructive raises are nice, however, when they overcall you lose the forcing NT followed by a 2H bid. You also gain a cuebid so that the 2H raise is limited by your 'failure' to cuebid. The bottom range of a single raise drops a bit and the high end of a single raise 'bumps' up against the use of a cuebid raise. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone The Precision jump rebid with 5-5 suits and 14-15HCP sometimes(often?) leads to a 5-2 fit at the three level. Playing the jump as 6M-5(+) allows partner to raise to game on 2 card support. It allow tends to discourage partner from rebidding game after 1M-1Y-3Z-3M. Opener has already shown 6M-5 and partner still 'only' bid 3M. Responder normally takes two bids with 10+HCP, so they tend to bid something after 1M-1any-2Y. Jumping to 3Y with 5-5 suits and 14-15HCP loses bidding space and forces you to take nine tricks to go plus. The jump rebid of 2NT shows 3 card support for responder's suit plus 6+ cards in opener's suit and 14-15HCP. Revision tends to jump rebid the opened major with 7(+) card suits. Revision does respond(sometimes) with zero HCP to a 11-15HCp opener. It does create problems, however, most of them are for the other pair. OBAR players are most welcome to their 'pre' balancing action against this tactic. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Most advanced+ players play negative doubles so the question would be what type of hand is needed to pass partner's takeout/balancing double. Almost all of my doubles are for takeout or show some non penalty hand type. If I want to play for penalty, I pass and let partner 'reopen' with a takeout/balancing double. I have also played doubles for takeout over my NT openings and I have found that I get better results playing takeout rather than penalty. The solution varies with the vulnerablity and form of scoring. Playing MPs, down one vul. will beat any partscore and so matchpoint players will often try to defend for plus 200 rather than attempt to make their own partscore. Playing IMPs the 'rule' that I was taught is to double for a two(+) trick set. At the two/three level you normally need something like a decent 4(+) holding(Q10xx+ with about 10+HCP). At the four level, you are normally showing 'cards' with a double and partner is expected to pass with most normal shaped hands. Playing MPs you might defend a three level contract with honor third 'if' you hold the balance of the HCPs. That down one doubled vul. score of +200 is almost always a top. While playing IMPs(or rubber bridge) you will do fairly well to take 300+ vs a possible 400/420 game and 500+ for your 600/620 High card points are not equal. Queens and Jacks(unless in the trump suit) will not take as many tricks as the same number of HCP in Aces and Kings. You might also want to go over some hands and learn how to defend low level contracts. Some hands require a 'forcing' game by making declarer shorten his trumps by ruffing. Some other hands need to have partner lead a trump so that you can draw declarer's trumps. I learned to defend one level doubled contracts by playing a lot of Blue Team Club. They did not play takeout doubles except 1D-(1S)-X which shows hearts. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I play 3NT in preemptive auctions as offering partner a chance 'to take a view' on 5m. I play wide ranging three bids and opposite some(many?) of them 5m would be too high. Since most play that 3C-3D shows a forcing bid, 3NT would be natural here. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I was asked by a former bridge student of mine to get some of my group to play in her home team league. Teams that she had played on had been the doormats of the league for some time. I asked two other bridge players to join us on her team and we won the first evening 123-3 a little over 4 IMPs per board. We were not cheating, they were simply outclassed. Several decades ago, I played with another group against the local best team(some of which have world championships to their credit) We lost by 76 Imps during that session. They were not cheating, they were just that much better. I also played a number of times with an out of town partner and we normally scored 70+% whenever he came into town. We were not cheating, he was simply the best player that I have ever had as a partner. On OK Bridge I played several hundred hours and rarely felt that 'something' was amiss. I happened to be winning almost an IMP a board while trying to learn a new system. I had a good partner and decent methods. If we continued to improve would that be proof that we were cheating or simply getting our partnership in tune? Regards, Robert

Hi Jillybeans2 Mike Lawrence wrote a book on overcalls that might be a help in finding your overcall style. He not only outlines what is his idea of an overcall, he also shows how to respond to an overcall. Even if you do not like his entire approach, you might find out some good ideas in his book. Even if partner showed a 6+ card suit(and many people besides myself would only be showing 5+ cards) why would you raise after bidding a 9HCP overcall with 'xx' for your support? If the 2S bid is as good as your suit(KQJ10xx) your partner can compete over the 3H bid. Support with support is a very good bidding style. Sometimes pass is a superior bid 'when' you do not have the values to bid at the three level. This overcall of 2Cs does not have any extra values. I would have bid 3Cs with the same hand. Hi everyone This is a clear 3C bid in my methods. I do play that unusual doubles and some 3NT* calls show hands that suggest bidding higher in many auctions 'only if' your hand is suitable. Sometimes I get dealt seven card suits, however, I like to be able to show decent 6 carders given the chance. Partner should not hang me 'if' these bidding methods are in use. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone If you have no agreement that 6Cs 'asks' for third round(or some other holding) pass that 6C call. Doesn't 4NT followed by 5NT show all of the Keys and suggest a grand slam in your methods? I would have liked a forcing bid in clubs after that 2H call. Some hands might need to blast RKC, however, changing the RKC rules should be avoided since 'forgetting an exception' will normally be a shortcut to disaster. Regards, Robert

Hi SoTired I like the method when it occurs 'and' I have a 2C opening that wants to pass. What happens on the much more common auctions 2C-2H(2S,3C,3D) when opener has a suit ranking lower than the responding bid? You do no want to give up on game/slam bidding. I also like to play a 2H* relay over the 2D 'waiting' bid showing 25+ balanced(or hearts) and I get to use my complete set of conventions after making a GF 2NT bid. Don't you lose second negatives? You also cannot 'jump' raise after 2C-2D-2M to show a hand with trump support and no slam ambitions. If a suit bid shows a long suit and 0-3HCp doesn't that prevent any positive suit bids. Your later suits bids after 2C-2D appear to show 4+HCP and the range is quite a bit bigger than standard methods. When opener has a two suited hand, a bid of a higher suit by responder might really take up a lot of much needed bidding space. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Board 22 One conventional method of bidding is a 'double at the three level'(after a suit has been bid and raised) is penalty 'if' there is an unbid suit available to invite game. If there is no unbid suit available, double shows an invite in the agreed suit and a bid of the agreee suit is to play. Playing these methods, 3H would be an invite in spades and a bid of three spades would have been competing 'without trying' for game. If you follow the LAW, you bid at the 3 level with most hands that have a nine card fit. Hands that are 5332 or 4333 should be devalued when following the LAW. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Welcome to the forum. :D The modern style is to use weak jump overcalls rather than strong jump overcalls. Some players use strong jump overcalls when they are vulnerable. I use them at any vulnerablity. A slightly more cautious approach is needed when vulnerable. You might want to ask yourself whether you hold more hands with 6-10HCP or a stronger range 'after' someone opens the bidding. Whatever works best for you should be your choice. I like weak jump overcalls and use double followed by a new suit to show a strong one suited hand. There is a warning sign here with you holding the four small clubs. However, the possible spade fit and club shortage in partners hand is a bright spot. Holding a fairly solid spade suit I would use a weak jump overcall in my methods. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone It is a war. Matchpoints revolves around the scoring method. Beating a pair 'by any amount' gains you one matchpoint. Losing by any amount costs you a matchpoint. Kit Woolsey wrote a very good book called Matchpoints. To be a good matchpoint player you have to make some crazy bids. I have doubled contracts that I believed would likely make because our side rated to get a very bad score if it made and doubling would lose few matchpoints. If it happened to go down, we rated to win many more matchpoints. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Pass 'in tempo.' Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I switched to takeout doubles by both partners after 1NT bids some time ago. It apparently gets me more good doubled contracts and also helps to find playable contracts 'when' we should not defend with a majority of the points and the other side holidng 8/9 trumps at the two level. How do you play a 6-10 range 1NT reply to 1m? Opener raising with a strong NT range would often find you with 6-8HCP and passing would sometimes find you with 9-10HCP? My weak NT play using KS defined 1m-1NT as 'no game' oppoisite a strong NT. Regards, Robert

Hi Hog I remember our exhanges. You directed me to the Australian Bridge Magazine bidding quiz forum. Robin Cross was my 'name' there until recently, they asked for a picture from the leaders in the bidding quiz and I had to explain the use of a 'pen name.' I will be switching to Robert starting with the next quiz if I understood their message correctly. What is that old expression finishing second is like kissing your sister? When I find that most of the people in a room(group) agree with me, I tend think about exiting stage left. It makes me nervous when a group agrees with the majority of my ideas. It would be a heavy Raptor 'if' the standard range for Raptor is used. I am new to Raptor and whatever range I decide on will be determined by future testing. Regards, Robert

Hi Hog After I get up off of the floor, I also enjoy banter. I joined in a couple of early comments to Jlall before someone PMed me that he was a junior world champion. It did not change my comments, either he is right or he is wrong and being a world champion does not change my view. Many(most?) of his posts are very good, I still have not decided why he wants to overcall what many players would make a jump overcall on the same hand. I would post an example of one of my white vs red jump overcalls, however, children or people with weak hearts might very well suffer grave damage 'if' they viewed one of the examples. I play a fairly solid overcall style at the two level, this example hand is not nearly a 2D bid in my style. That 'suit' is not going to be bid in my partnership 'unless' I am playing my range of Raptor 1NT overcalls. My Raptor range has not been frozen in concrete quite yet as I am new to Raptor. It will be slightly higher than most play the convention of that I am 'quite' sure. Regards, Robert