Robert

Hi everyone Zia is a favorite of mine. Doesn't his bidding come with Red warning labels attached? I consider him part of the top level of bridge. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I can bid both of my suits 'if' I get another chance. I would bid 3Ds over a black suit bid by the other pair. Using your methods would you want to bid 3Hs after an auction of (1C)-X-p-2D-(3C)-p-p-? or (1C)-X-p-2D-p-p-(3C)? If I bid at the 3 level, my partner can 'prefer' either red suit 'at the three level.' Using your methods 'if' you bid 3Hs(a big 'if' IMO), you would 'force' the bidding to the four level 'if' your partner prefers Ds to Hs. This hand is worth a mild invite(in both of our methods we both jumped to the two level) my bidding 'might' go as high as the three level. You would have to decide 'if' the four level was worthwhile with the 'same example hand' after your partner 'did not' show any additional values. Any method that you chose to use is fine with me. I play a lot of non standard agreements. Showing a natural suit of hearts after making a non-forcing bid in Ds in reply to a takeout double does not seem to be the best use of the bidding space. I have been playing almost four decades now and the other pair tends to bid 3Cs fairly often, my methods are to show hearts at the two level and Ds 'if' possible at the three level. Your methods would appear to require you to bid 3Hs and get a possible correction at the 4D level. I just do not see the advantage of sometimes either forcing the bidding to the four level 'or' passing out 3Cs with the given example hand 'that we both felt was only worth a mild invite. Regards, Robert

Hi HeartA Playing IMPs or MPs you do not want to miss bidding game. Bidding 2Ds with this hand is an attempt to miss 'bidding a game.' Finding a 4-4 heart fit is almost impossible 'after' you bid 2Ds. Bidding 2Ds denies 4 hearts. A 4-4 heart fit is your most likely chance to bid game with this example hand. "If" partner bids 2H over your 2D bid, he would have to hold "5+ hearts" and also a hand 'too strong' to simply overcall 1H. 2) 3Hs after partner bids 2S, 2NT or 3C 'would not show a 4 card heart suit.' 3) 3Hs after partner raises to 3D 'would also not' show a 4 card heart suit. 4) If partner passed 2Ds, you just might have missed a 4-4 heart fit that makes game. You may bid this way 'after some private agreements', however, the vast majority of bidders would not bid this way. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I was teaching the young lady(sitting on my lap) to play chess. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone 6H. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone When you hold a minimum hand 'without' support for an unbid suit, you are allowed to pass. My guess is that you were lucky here. Your double followed by a 'free bid at the four level' would show a much stronger hand using most partnership bidding methods. They opened the bidding with a bid 'showing' your Jxx holding, this should set off the alarm bells for some caution. Also holding 'AJ' of spades(the unbid major!) and intending the double to be for takeout suggests that you believe that partner will not expect more than two card support for an 'unbid' major after you make a takeout double. I trust that 'if' they opened a natural weak 2D bid, this hand would find a pass. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone If the other pair is nuts, double would be very good most of the time. If they really have the hands to bid at the five level(vul.), they likely have a club suit(often headed by the AK) If they hold a two suiter, a stiff diamond or spade void should not be a surprise. If the other pair normally goes down two vul. at your table, could I please have their address. I will be starting a money game and they surely will be invited to attend. Do all(or most?) of the doublers intend to sit for a XX by the pair that did bid 5Hs? Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Have you read about the Roman system? 1C tends to be 12-16 balanced or an 'unbalanced' strong hand. They use Canape bidding so that 'if' responder bids the relay suit, a 1NT rebid shows 5+ card raise with @ 12-14 and a single raise shows @ 15-16 dummy with 5+ trumps. I slightly modified the system to 'promise' 4 cards in the opened major(delayed jump raises with four trumps sometimes still left opener playing a 4-3 fit). They also play a 17-20 1NT opening(they rarely go down in their opening 1NT bid) In competittive auctions, you can count on opener holding 2+ cards in any given suit 'or' he will bid to show a 'strong' hand type. I liked the idea from Helene_t about the 1H* opening, however, in the Little Major that showed 'some' 20HCP+ hand type(I think) I suspect that the two bidding ideas conflict. Passing the relay might be very bad 'if' opener held a strong two type hand. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Do you really want to be in a NT slam with 31HCP 'plus' a holding of AQ and AK in your doubleton major suits? A lot of HCP in short suits tend to reduce your trick taking total. A spade 'hook' is just not possible with that 'AK' holding. If you are going to bid a minor slam with these cards, there are an assortment of methods. You could accept the slam try of 4NT by jumping to 6C as a 'possible' contract, however, only 'after discussing it' with partner. If you do not have a decent five card suit to jump to slam in, you might use 5NT as pick a contract, to discover your 4-4 minor fits. I use 1NT-3H* as CONFIT(control/fit asking bid)-3NT*(five controls, A=2 and K=1)-4C(Hxxx+ suit)-6C(HHxx+ jump raises) Some pairs play 1NT-2C-2Y-4NT-'if' you accept you can show suits bidding them 'up the line.' Be sure and discuss this with partner first because some pairs accept the slam try by making a BW reply(just to avoid slams missing 'two cashing' Aces) :) Congrats on your 55.79% game in a 0-1,500 field. Shows promise. :) When you are dummy, perhaps that would be a good time to take some notes on the hands. If both you and your partner do that, at least one of your partnership would be writing down the hand to discusss later and maybe also make notes about the bidding. board 26. You missed somethng in the bidding. After partner raised to 2S, the other pairs' only possible bid at the two level would be an unlikely 2NT(unless they were playing Good/Bad 2NT* and that would require an alert) Bidding three over three is often 'not' recommended 'without' good reason. You might have suspected a bad trump break due to the takeout double by RHO. You held a weak hand with a very weak 5 card suit. You also did have quite a few losers. If you get a chance, you might want to try 'support doubles' to 'show' a three card raise. Your partner could have made a support double over the 2C bid. That bid might very well cause you to avoid making that 3S bid. A side bonus of playing support doubles is that you may freely bid to the three level 'knowing' that partner is showing four card support for a raise. A 'known' 5-4 fit is often reason to bid three over three. When you play weak two bids, you should not bid poor six card suit in reply to a weak two opening. Most pairs play RONF(raise only non force) so a new suit should be forcing. I happen to play a non standard 'new suit non forcing', however, it does show a good suit 'plus' a fairly strong hand. Best regards, Robert

Hi everyone I am curious about mixing the light opening bids into the 'unlimited' style of Fantunes type bidding? I believed that the 14+ requirement for a one bid allowed for 2/1 replies on 10+ to be game forcing. If lighter bids are mixed in, you must raise the standard for 2/1 bids. I live in ACBL land so the Little Major cannot be played. Fantunes would likely be legal since it is natural bidding(mostly) That 'maybe 3 cards' in the opened major 'might' be a serious weakness 'if' the other pair tried to 'push you around' in the bidding. I used to play Roman Club with some three card major opening bids required by the system. I changed the system to only allow 4+ for a major opening after a couple of jump raises on 4 trumps 'still' had us playing in a 4-3 trump fit. Reese used the step in between to ask and used the 1C-1H or 1D-1S to warn of weakness and show a possible place to play(it has been several decades since I last read the system so I might be a bit fuzzy here) I have played Roth Stone solid type openers(just 'not quite' as strong as Roth-Stone opening bids) and I often play light openings bids using my current Big Club framework. Mixing the light openings in with the 14+ standard seems to lose some of the advantages of both methods. A decent pair will certainly try to bid 'somewhat' more aggressively vs a 'multiple meaning' opening bid. I tend to shade my values a bit, 'if' it appears to steal bidding room from a system that needs bidding room to 'sort out' the assorted shapes/ranges. Against a decent forcing Pass pair, I would trot out the Phantom Club to reduce their bidding space. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Using standard methods a cuebid is a game force(I play 4 of a minor may be passed 'if' 3NT is unplayable and 5m seems too high) after a negative double. A jump rebid in reply to a negative double 'shows' inv. type values. My non standard agreement is that opener may bid an 'implied' major at the one level to show a that he opened a minimum type hand. With a solid opening bid, opener bids 1m-(1H)-X-p-2S to show a decent opening bid. Opener may have an assortment of hand types. His rebids should help show the various hand types. A rebid of his suit would show a GF type one suiter. Supporting your suit tends to show a strong hand three card support(my style) A rebid in NT would suggest a stopper, however, other possible games maybe possible. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Playing standard methods, pass. This is a forcing pass 'suggesting' that you 'think' that your hand has features that suggest bidding higher. Partner is supposed to 'look at his hand' and in the light of your forcing pass 'make a informed decision.' Partner is in a much better position to judge your combined assets 'after' your forcing pass. If you bid in front of your partner, he would not be able to use his fine bidding skills. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Splinters are a good bidding tool. They are 'not' a cure all by any means, classic bidding can often show the same hand type by 'bidding around the clock.' I am somewhat nervous about using up all the space with a 3H jump(in your methods) showing 'reversing' values. You are trapping partner into bidding 3NT without a club stopper 'or' perhaps showing support for a major 'with less than normal trump support.' 2/1 auctions are supposed to save bidding space by 'forcing' to game with the first bid. Why not bid 2Hs and 'show' extra values later 'if' needed. After the 4H bid, couldn't opener have a great deal less values 'since' your 2D bid promised GF values? Cuebids with no idea of what type hand partner holds is very dangerous bidding. I play 'Kickback' to ask for keycards 'when' a minor suit is agreed. I also play 1S-2D-3H* as a splinter bid. If you hold 'wasted' heart values, you can bid 3NT. What do you bid 'with wasted' heart values after a 4H 'splinter?' You play 4NT as ace asking. The King asking bid was risky. You had no idea of what partner might hold. Your guess 'ranged' from 0-3 Kings. After he showed 3 Kings, you now 'hoped' that he would have a key extra Jack, Queen or that spades would split 3-3. A famous bridge player is often quoted as saying, 'Do not play me for a perfect hand, I won't have it.' Not 100% true, however, a good general rule to follow 'most' of the time. That example hand is not nearly a 2C bid in my style. It also 'does not' have 20-21HCPs. There are 19HCP there 'if' you do not discount(somewhat) the singleton King of Hearts. I would describe the hand as having 16HCP 'plus' the stiff King of hearts. If partner held this hand 'with one King', Axxxx K AQxx xxx are you making 6Ds? Regards, Robert

Hi everyone There are many methods to bid over your sides' 1NT opening bid 'when' the other pair bids. I will be teaching a class on beginning bridge, so I just downloaded the ACBL Standard Yellow Card System(revised Sept., 1988) "If the opponents double, all conventional responses are "on." For example: 1NT-(double)-2C=Stayman. A 2D bid would be a transfer to hearts. If the opponents bid over your 1NT opener, Stayman and transfers are "off." Bids are natural except for a cuebid, which can be used with game force strength as a substitute for Stayman. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone That responding hand is approaching a limit raise. I happen to play that 1M-P-3M(4M?)-p-p-X shows a 'trump' stack. I have no problem with a psyche 'fixing' me. It happens 'some of the time.' Other times it 'blows up' in their face for a huge score my way. I have seen several recent rulings about 'fielding' a psyche that seem very bad to me(against the pair that made the psyche) How this pair could bid in competition while using this type of psyche would seem to give me a big advantage 'most' of the time. Partner is also fairly close to making a takeout double of 2 spades, that result might prove interesting. I happened to be playing Blue Team Club when someone psyched a 1S overcall after a 1H opening. Since Blue Team played penalty doubles after a 1H-(1S) overcall I doubled holding an opening bid with AQ10xx in spades. His partner was not 'in' on the joke and 'raised' to 2 spades. I also doubled that contract. Psychic controls are banned now(in ACBL land anyway) aren't they? What happens 'if' I switched hands with West? Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Are we playing 4 card majors and a weak NT? If 'five' card majors, 4S is the bid of choice in my methods. I do play a Big Club system and 1S-(X)-3S would show @ 7-9 with 4+ trumps. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Kaplan type bidding style is to pass here. I rarely disagreed with his bidding ideas. Pass. 'If' partner does reopen with a double, 'Pass.' I do not have to worry about bidding again 'unless' someone else bids first. Passing and bidding later 'often' suggests a good holding in the 'opening' bid suit, why partner would assume otherwise here? I have not given up on bidding game quite yet, however, trying for a large(huge?) penalty isn't such a bad idea all of the time. If the cards happen to lie 12-18-5-5 around the table and everyone passes 1S, is that assumed to be a poor result? Why are most people worried about LHO bidding? Your partner is almost as likely to be bidding in this auction 'if' the bidding does go 1S-p-p-? I tend to be very aggressive in reopening an auction 'because' partner is marked with an opening bid. I seem to have an opening bid(+) and the only reason that I am not bidding is that I hold solid defensive values. Hi gwnn Reopening doubles do not promise(and sometimes do not deliver) four hearts. They are likely, however, a good partner will double with 2344 types without four hearts. If partner should hold 1345 or 1354 type hands I would encourage him to reopen with a double. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I never had any idea about making a game forcing 3C strong jump shift with this hand. Opening 1S and rebid 2C over a 1NT reply appears quite normal to me. If partner bids 2 of a red suit, I make a 'high' reverse to 3C. I normally play a Big Club system so my 'non' 1C bids are limited. I learned bridge bidding many years ago and standard methods are not really all that bad 'if' you use them properly. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Serious and non serious 3NT auctions are used 'after' a major suit has been agreed. I have not seen anything that showed a serious(non) 3NT used in a minor auction. I suspect that there is little to pick from the serious vs non serious schools. I prefer the serious 3NT because I normally have several features to 'show' and this alerts partner that I have 'solid extra' values. If I hold a mild slam type, I get to bid my lowest control and also show only mild interest. If you are using a minor auction and someone bids 3NT, the auction often is passed out. In a serious 3NT auction, the auction continues to 4M 'without' some private agreement being involved. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone I have played bidding the opposite major by responder(I still do in my Big Club methods), however, raising to 2H showing both a range of 13-17 with either 3 or 4 hearts appears to be a 'tad bit' wide range for both HCP and your trump support. Has Blackwood, RKC and Kickback all gone out of style, you could be off two cashing Aces if partner holds KQJx QJx A10xxx Q which still appears to be 13+HCP Since you are going to 'punt' 6Ds here, why not skip the lower bidding and just bid 1D-4NT(or a Kickback 4H*?) You did jump to slam without checking on the spade situation. Partner might hold QJxx QJx A10xxx A which appears to be 13+HCP with the same shape and the 'cashing' AK of spades is still in the other pairs' hands. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Board 2 1D-1S-3S-4H*=RKC(playing 'Kickback' and 4130 in my methods) 4NT*=Three 5H*=shows all Keycards present 'plus' trump Queen, trying for seven 7C*=Meckwell style bid, offers choice of NT or 7D. Spade Queen plus AKQ of clubs must be 'golden' cards. 7NT Board 1. 1H-1S-1NT-2D*=XYZ convention, game forcing 2H*=waiting bid 3C=nat. suit 3S=two card 'delayed' support 4C*=cuebid 4D*=cuebid maybe a relay method gets to seven, I would 'stop' in six spades. How did you end in 6NT? It does not 'look' right. You know that you are missing a 'cashing' Ace. If you know about the eleven 'solid tricks in the black suits, why not play seven spades? If you do not 'know' about the eleven 'solid tricks' in the black suits, 6NT appears to be quite a gamble. Inquiry Isn't a 7D reply to 'deny' the diamond Queen a tad bit high since diamonds will either become trump or will be 'needed' to run the diamond suit for 7NT. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone 2. Holding a higher ranking suit, I do not try to block a world class pair from bidding higher 'if' they had a previous chance to do so and already 'have not bid.' 3. I prefer hrothgars'(and Halos') meaning for 3C rather than whereagles. If partner normally rebids his suit in a live auction 'without' a really good suit, I will be searching for a new partner very soon. 4. A world class pair that bids 2D in 4th seat and has a 'good' hand' that good hand' should be taken in the context that the hand is limited by the original 2D bid. 5. World class pairs 'support with support', I strongly doubt that you will often steal the 'pot' from players at this level by bidding 3Hs. 6. I live in one of the three strongest bridge areas in the USA according to some reports. I respect the level of play of a number of pairs here, however, awe is not really changing my bidding all that much. If you held a hand worth a 3H bid at an earlier turn to bid, why isn't it worth a 3H bid now? Who is now 'not bidding' 3Hs because they are in awe of the other pair? If partner holds the clubs plus xx of hearts, I think that 3H will be likely on a hook. Put me in the three heart camp, but only after I took a shot at perhaps playing for 2Hs. I like our sides bidding so far, but only 'if' partner was showing heart tolerance plus a club feature. p.s. I am not doubling here. I could hold quite a bit more in defensive values and one less heart for my previous bidding. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Jillybeans2 are you aware that bidding a new suit at the three level 'without a jump' is a 'high reverse?' You are forcing to game(some play 4 of an agreed minor may be passed) If you open 1S and partner bids 2 of a red suit, your 3C would be a game forcing 'high reverse.' Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Fred likes to play 2NT as GF natural. I play a Big Club system and 2NT shows either 11/12 'value' with 4+ trumps or a GF hand. Since my opening major bid is limited and I also 'split' that range 'when showing shortness after 1M-2NT*, I can show any shortness 'plus the range 'at or below' three of our bid major. My 1M-2NT-3S* shows 'max.' values(in a 1C context) with an undisclosed shortness(3NT relays...) I try and avoid bidding a weak 4(3?) card suit over 1M. I also use an unlimited 1M-1NT auction to avoid bidding bad suits in a possible slam type auction. Fred and I share the same concerns. We both cope with the same problem by using different methods to get to the same goal. Regards, Robert

Hi everyone Most systems and writers suggest opening this hand 1S. Some very good 'other' writers suggest bidding 1C so the opening bid is a matter of style. That 2C bid 'suggested' a fairly modest hand(less than 10) so a 2S bid would be 'showing a 5th spade plus 'extra values.' The auction should now go 3C showing a 'minimum' hand and you could now pass 'or' invite with 4C which would now be passed. Regards, Robert