Vilgan

Well my usual partner of late is the girlfriend, and she has an easy time w/ kickback but kept forgetting lebensohl so we took that off the card for a bit until she feels ready to add it back in. I dislike playing w/o lebensohl over 2M but I tend to roll with whatever she is happy and comfortable with ;) Han: thank you, good example. One thing though, I thought 5NT there usually shows Q and the unbiddable K (in this case, the K of hearts). Ken: I dunno, I thought "is this a queen ask for sure" fell under intermediate B) I had some solid foundations in bidding as a beginner so some things I know.. and some things I feel like I *should* know but am not sure on. This fell into the latter category.

Soo.. with a 2♠ opener on your right, you hold: ♠A ♥AKQTxx ♦AKxx ♣Ax So taking the obvious double, it goes pass and now you hear 3♦ by partner (not playing lebensohl) It seems like the ONLY thing partner needs to have for 7♦ to be cold is the trump queen. However, the usual space (aka that below game) is going to be used up by their 0 keycards response. So if the auction continues: 2♠ X p 3♦ p 4NT p 5♦ p 5♥ Is this clearly asking them to bid grand w/ the trump queen and out? Or is it just omg I have a big hand, please bid grand with some extra? Partner had something like: xxxx xxx QJxx xx Also, playing lebensohl over 2M x, is there a way to find the diamond fit for the grand? Maybe a bit immature, but I really love getting to 7 of a minor on a 4/4 when I know the field will be in the more obvious 6M slam. disclaimer: the actual hand at the table had a 2♥ preempt and my major suits were reversed. But playing kickback, whether or not it is a trump queen ask now becomes simple. If spades is the preempt suit 4♥ is too ambiguous thus forcing 4NT to be the keycard ask.

What is a more modern response structure after a 2c opener? I always felt like 1♦ and 2♣ openers were the weak part of precision in MP. Last time I played precision, did something like: 2d forcing, asks for further description 2h nonforcing, 6-10 (I think the point range is right, has been a while) 2s nonforcing, 6-10 2NT natural, invitational (like 11-12 or a crappy 13) 3c preemptive 3d I forget.. GF w/ club support, slam interest I think 3h/3s GF w/ at least 5 3NT (to play) I too experienced a lot of missed 4/4 fits if responder was too weak to look. Or if they did look now we are one level higher when opener has to run back to his club suit. Oh ya, I agree on the mini-roman comment. Its more bearable as like 10-12 than 11-15, but it really sucks (imo) against solid players. Hello trump leads if they defend and near perfect count on the hand at trick 1 if playing it.

Fun hand. Harder part is figuring out what situations cause the squeeze to fail. It seems like if east guards spades and west can guard diamonds (likely both can) and either hearts or clubs, the squeeze fails. The other scenarios all lead to a successful squeeze I think. Of course if the J of hearts drops that makes life easy too. Fun Hand :rolleyes:

If you dont play it, dont start playing it. The frequency is too low to make it worth while, because you would also need to learn the follow ups, else playing this convention is a waste of time. And since this opening does not come up often, the follow ups wont come up often, i.e. you learn someting, but can use it, in other words useless balast. With kind regards Marlowe Whenever I am playing it, it never comes up. Whenever I have a partner who doesn't play it, there are 2 boards in the same session that I wish I could open a gambling 3 NT. Really tho, what else is 3 NT opener good for? Maybe a broken 8 card minor (have some friends that play that), but 2c p 2d p 3NT covers the big hand so well.

Huh? Support doubles are like bread and butter to bidding. In my opinion, they should be taught right after takeout doubles, stayman, and transfers. As someone who was a a beginner like 2.5 years ago, I don't know that some of the advice here is really in tune. Bidding slams is FUN. If you make it, you feel good. If you don't, its a learning experience. JT had a story about some beginner who was bummed for 3 boards. Oh well. If the slam HAD made, what do you think the beginner would have remembered? The 3 boards she played okay on, or that she BID AND MADE A SLAM!! ? The key thing is to try and then learn what went wrong. Learn to evaluate your hand, sources of tricks is a lot more important than HCP. Don't go crazy with conventions, just listen to the auction and try to evaluate your hand. I don't know that even learning regular blackwood has any point. Just start with RKC or kickback and only ever know that. Slam bidding IS a lot easier with 2/1 being a GF, but its doable in standard too. All the discussion of %'s and such doesn't matter when you are learning. You learn by trying and either succeeding or failing. The main point is to look at what worked and what didn't so you learn from it. If you play 100 sessions but never examine what was good and bad, you will improve a lot less than playing 25 sessions and examining what happened on each board and how you or your partner could have known to do something better. I remember being SO excited when I bid and made 7 NT for the first time (it took 2 attempts, the first time it splattered on a 5-0 diamond break) after like 3 months of playing. When you are new, everything should be exciting. Heck it should be still be exciting as an expert, why play otherwise? :) So if people tell you not to bid slams.. just shrug and move on. How are you going to learn other than by trying? The only conventions I consider really hard to do without in slam bidding are: RKC (kickback preferably, especially for minor suit slams) Splinters 2/1 Game Force and the concept of fast arrival Jacoby 2NT is nice but not omg critical Super not useful: Regular blackwood. 4NT is almost always better (imo) as quantitative or something else.

Huh? playing 4/3 major suit fits is like the bomb at matchpoints. Also partner can respond one level lower. 2♣ is too committal on such a wretched suit (imo).

Not sure what the best way to play this holding is: Playing 3NT, lefty leads a 4th best spade (like the 2) showing spades are 4 on left 3 on right. I don't have any long suits to mess around with, lots of nonfits with aces and kings. So it comes down to how to play the heart suit. Heart holding is: AK9x on dummy QTx in my hand. I ended up playing A of hearts and a heart to the T to take the finesse. Is this better % wise or playing hearts from the top hoping for 3-3 OR J to be on the side w/ the short hearts? West only has 1 known card more than east. I guess I also sort of went with restricted choice as I'm missing similar holdings in both.. that if he had 4 hearts he might have led one, leading me to hook the heart. I dunno. No real confidence on better % here. In retrospect hearts were 3-3, but not worried about results so much as finding the correct play. Thx! Eric

Seems like north should take another call. Partner shouldn't be broke for his voluntary 3d bid, and you have invitational values and a diamond honor. I have trouble bidding 3NT with the south hand due to a lack of clubs and I don't want to hang partner for being a bit light.

Why does this line work against Kx with RHO? I'd probably do the same thing, except a small club towards the king then come back to my hand in hearts if it holds. No real confidence here on this, but I think Kx in RHO is less likely than Kx or Kxx in LHO so going to give it a shot. Having trouble because almost every hand layout with LHO having 5 spades, they should be bidding. Read what you're quoting again, more carefully this time. ya, my bad. Still confused as to the point in laying down the J of clubs when lefty could have (unlikely tho) the stiff K. Its not like you are starved for entries.

For some reason being arrested but released still isn't equivalent to never happening. Employers might ask if you've been "arrested" for various offenses (not "convicted"). The police can use this as an excuse to take your fingerprints or DNA so you'll be easy to pin other stuff on later when they pull you up as a false positive in some database search, etc (No, I'm not making the DNA thing up). Not a good situation all around. Huh? Reality check please? Even after the ACBL ban on cell phones, having a cell phone in the area is NOT a crime. The cops aren't going to do squat. Chewing bubble gum might be forbidden in some schools, but if you do so it does not create a permanent criminal record. Only scenario here that involves any sort of arrest/criminal whatever is ACBL person asks you to empty your pockets. You say no. They say I'm afraid you need to or xyz bad thing will happen (probably a large penalty in the game, and a record inside the ACBL about the incident.. if they even have a clue wtf to do). You refuse. They say then I'm afraid you have to leave. You refuse. They call the cops. Cops say you have to leave. You refuse. Now there is an actual sort of criminal/cop issue of some sort. All this silliness about omg criminal records, etc is just that: silliness.

Why does this line work against Kx with RHO? I'd probably do the same thing, except a small club towards the king then come back to my hand in hearts if it holds. No real confidence here on this, but I think Kx in RHO is less likely than Kx or Kxx in LHO so going to give it a shot. Having trouble because almost every hand layout with LHO having 5 spades, they should be bidding.

Ya there really only is one line to go down in this hand. K spades, 2 club roughs, draw trump :P Or maybe declarer ducked a club to rectify the count? Expert I tell ya.. expert.

Just because something is slightly more modern does not make it better or even inevitable. Just because Amazon's Kindle now exists does not mean that suddenly books will become obsolete. Computers add convenience to many things, but not without cost. The reduced quality of "experience" if major events were moved to computers would be more than I would be willing to sacrifice, and I don't think I am in the minority. Hell, I'm a network engineer/CS major and am like 40+ years younger than the average bridge player. Bridge via computer absolutely has its advantages. Heck I practice on BBO reasonably often. Computers also enhance the bridge experience, with things like ACBLScore, BridgeMate (if the ACBL ever gets them), etc. However, for the actual play itself... I don't see computer play becoming standard and would be extremely bummed if it did.

In how many (potential) grand slams is the over trick that crazy hard to find though? I mean, sometimes there are lengthy squeezes or a need to count the hand to make a wiser choice. However, many times all it needs is a 3/2 break in a suit or something similar that everyone with 2 master points will find. So it seems like a lot of the time, the outlay would like something like this 100 people bid 7, 95 make it 900 people bid 6, 855 people make it So if you bid 7 and make it, you get like 90.5% of the masterpoints, whereas if you bid 6 and make 7 you get like 51% of the masterpoints (which sucks if you are aiming for a 65%+ game). I am not trying to argue.. just understand :) I have had hands come up that took very tricky play to make the extra trick. But it also seems much more frequent that every monkey and their uncle could make it and it was actually bidding 7 that made the difference.

In matchpoints, if a grand slam feels possible... what % does it need to feel like to take the push? I've always been of the opinion that if a grand feels like 65% or better and reaching the small slam feels like child's play, to go for it. However, I've heard a variety of bridge teachers say things at the table like "it should be 90% to bid it, since the field probably won't be there". Every time I hear this, I argue with it.. but it seems like I'm shouting into the wind on the subject. Why does it need to be so rock solid? Is this a widely held view, or just around here? I don't know, it seems like bridge contains millions of percentages.. and I'm not sure I understand how this is so different. If the odds are in favor of your decision, why not go with the odds? Sure, sometimes we will be wrong. However more often it will be right, and isn't a major part of bridge choosing the routes that are right more often than not? I dunno, maybe I'm just not an average+ style of player. However, every time I hear someone say it "why bid 7 when the field won't bid it" I feel like grinding my teeth. Is there something I am just not understanding here?

I'm a big fan of screens, for lots of reasons, but you have to realize that they are very expensive, both because of the cost of shipping and setting up the tables with screens (even ignoring the cost of buying them to begin with) and because a table with screen takes about twice as much space as a table without screens, which usually has to be paid for. I have a feeling that if entry fees for day 2 and on in the NABC events were doubled or tripled to pay for having screens, there would be a huge outcry. On the flipside though, the current times they use screens the tables/screens are very heavy and expensive looking.. at least from what I recall of my experience with them. If they made screens less of an exotic item and approached it more from a mass produced perspective it seems like a lot of the size/weight/initial cost issues can be mitigated. Screens don't have to be expensive/heavy/exotic, that's just the approach it seems like the ACBL has taken (no clue outside the ACBL). Hell, screens could be cloth as long as it was dark enough to not be seen through. As for setup... unload them in the corner and ask players to grab the components to set it up (again, heavy is a bad thing here). I'm pretty sure those who have physical difficulties with it can get help from their opponents or a nearby table. Anyways, I'm not saying this is implementable without there being costs. It does seem, however, somewhat naive/foolish/arbitrary to ban an item many people use constantly for a million things while ignoring all the much bigger problems of UI at the table. The fact the cell phone ban is very hard to enforce only makes it worse. All the law abiding people get massively inconvenienced, all the ones who might be tempted to cheat aren't going to give a flip about the cell phone rule. So the end result is a bunch of inconvenienced non cheating individuals and no reduction in the potential for cheating at a tournament.

Who cares about regional events? I mean... seriously. They are cool and fun and all, but its not like regular points mean a damn thing. If you go to the trouble to text msg something about about a board in a regional event.. you fail at life. Its not like there is any sort of long term recognition for winning a regional event like there is for winning a national one. I can sort of see this in NABC events, but imo its probably not going to be enforced very well. It also seems sort of silly when they don't even have screens for a lot of sessions where they probably should (day 2 and beyond in all national events imo). Don't think I'm saying anything new, but the idea of extending this to regional events is ludicrous.

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=skj72haqj9542dct5&s=sq6ht763d4caj8742]133|200|Scoring: MP[/hv] This is the full N-S hand. I chose to make this a 4 card limit raise, LHO bid 2 spades, Partner went to 4 hearts, RHO bid 5 diamonds, passed to partner who bid 5 hearts, playing it there. Partner guessed hearts and scored it up. As 3rd hand I would just open 4♥. agree. With 4 card spades? Switch the spades and clubs and I think that's an easy call. With 4 spades tho, we could easily have game in spades if partner has as little as QTxx x KJx xxxx, whereas 4 hearts would not be odds on. I mean.. I am a huge fan of preempting, and will do so in a minor w/ a 4 card spade suit fairly often. However, when you own the major suits, there seems to be less of a rush imo. On the flipside.. with what it sounds like east had, I'm not sure that X is the best bid.

Sounds like the best idea is to just pre-generate hands and hand records, and then merge the file used to make this w/ the game file and have it output in an html format. Going to play w/ merging now. Thanks to those who sent me the files.

Our unit looked into that once, but as I recall it was pretty expensive. Something like 2-3 thousand is what our president said. Are there any deal machines that are a bit more affordable? B)

So I am trying to enhance our unit's webpage a bit by showing hand records and scores of each pair for that board online, similar to how San Diego's unit does it. However, I'm not seeing a way to have a record after the fact in a way that doesn't either involve a: premade hand records which means 4 people cannot play a set of boards or b: lots of work either before or after by the director setting up hands or recording what each hand was into a program. I can write a program for the director to enter in hands, merge that with a game file, and create a web page. However, this still involves the director sitting there for like 20 minutes after the game entering in all the hands. Is there some sort of way to do this that doesn't involve the director sitting there? Leaning towards hand records made via a software program for each game (then its fairly easy to merge the files). However, on nights where we have like 6 tables, that can kinda suck. Anyways.. is there a good solution to this? I'm guessing not.. might just go with the hand records method. But thought I'd toss a shout out in case there was a way around it that didn't involve lots of work for the director or 1 table not being able to play a set of cards. Thanks for any advice! Eric

If you are leading against 3 NT and choose to lead a suit you have AQT9 in, what is the correct one to lead? The auction was something like this 1♣ 1♠ 2♥ P 2NT P 3NT all pass I had K97xx A53 AQT9 x. As its matchpoints I decided not to lead a spade and instead lead a diamond. I decided to lead the Q as if either dummy or declarer had Jx, it seemed like the T or 9 might let declarer have 2 diamond tricks when they are entitled to only one. I don't see partner getting in ever. However, everybody I asked said the normal lead for them is the 9.. 4th best. So like.. is the 9 the standard lead here? Pretty sure partner doesn't have the king, and if he drops the J under my queen, I am not unhappy about it.

Bidding seems fine up until the 5♦ bid. If you want to get to slam on this hand (imo) you have to pass/pull to 5♥ to show some sort of slam interest. Not sure if that is the correct bid, but starting with a double that seems the only route there.

Man.. I would fight hard against it being played on BBO if I was involved in this. I like the things online bridge offers. Its great being able to play from lots of locations at just about any time. However, it just doesn't feel the "same" to me. Maybe this is the wrong board, but for me online play is practice only and serious play is done f2f. There are obvious gameplay differences, such as misclicks... self alerts, etc. However, the main thing is that for me f2f bridge just feels like the "real thing" and I'd hate to give that up just so people could feel more 21st century. Heck, I sound like an old fogey and I'm one of 3 players in my district under 30 :) Eric