Rado

Congratulations Misho, Very nice idea to construct such polls. As you know I prefer similar to Ekren in 3rd and 4th positions only:-))))) Best regards Rado

Hi all, Further Ben's good article, I have to add just that I'm sure psyching with 1Cl strong, or 2Cl strong is forbidden all over the world. On the other hand bidding Splinter on xx while having side singleton/void is very commonly used psyche. Another good exampe is bidding 1Sp-pass-1NT forcing with xxxx, xxx, xxx, xxx - many times presented by Zia, Chagash,........... 2nd widely spread is 1He-pass-1Sp - some top Polsih players bid 1Sp near automatic LOL Best regards, Rado

Hi Luis, Not quite correct about forcing pass systems, they are allowed at high level competitions as Bermuda Bowl, Olymiad, World and Euro teams championships, also at many National team championships. Rado

Hi Roland, You are right that 4He may go down on some layouts (singleton Cl lead with ACl+AHe at his partner), as well there are other possible hands for 1Di opener: Axx xx KJxx AJxx, Kxx xx KJxx AQxx, xxx Ax Kxxx AQxx, Qxx xx KJxxx AQx KQx xx Kxxx AQxx even xxx Ax KJxxx AQx and many many others where the normal SP lead (strongly suggested by the bidding sofar) may simply ruin 3NT while 4He still have some chances:-)))))) Regards, Rado

4He I think we must have a period just to post answers without any comments and after to open the topic for comments and point awards:-) Rado (BTW Ben finding trump squeeze at live play and being good moderator are different things LOL - so I thank you for you proposal but have to decline. Anyway will be my pleasure to help for arranging "BBO Solver's Club")

Hi Claus, Your questions touch very difficult matter. In general it's not allowed to psyche with conventional bids. For example to open 1C strong(16+) with 0 or 3 or 8 points, or to open Flanerry on 3Sp3He7Di0Cl for example. For more detailed answers and rules we might ask some experienced tournament directors I think. Regards, Rado

Hi all, After the well written introduction by Ben I may just add that Mike Lawrance Book on balancing is very intersting and usefull for all bridge fans. Same words about his book on overcalls :-)))))))))) Regards, Rado

Hi Maureen, One simple and practical advice about overcalling after Opps preempt: When you are in doubt whether to bid or not after opps weak 2, substract one valuable Queen from your hand and see whether you had an overcall if opps were opened at level one. This is helpful for 3 level preempts too. The opposite way: if your minimum direct Take-out DBL of 1Sp is 1444 with 11 points, add a Queen to have your minimim take-out for 2Sp, same when balancing. Hope above to help you, Best regards, rado

Hi all, "SCRAMBLING 2NT" might be described as showing 2 or 0 places to play. For example: 1Sp - pass - 2Sp - DBL pass-? 1. xxx Qxxx Kxxx xx the DBL hand most probably contains at least two 4 cards suits. So we need to have a tool to play at our sure 8 cards fit, so here 2NT scrambling sends a message: " Pls Partner bid you first 4+ cards suit up the line". If P bids 3Di or 3He we gladly pass, if he bid 3Cl, then we 3Di which says: " pls choose from the reds" 2. xxxx Qxx Kxx xxx here we do not have real suit to propose and againg SCRAMBLING 2NT helps to play at leas at 4-3 fit . If we just try to guess with direct bid of 3... we may hit partner with some 1345, or 2344 shape and find a lovely "3-3" fit. There is one little hint for the He suit which will be explained in the future:-)))))) Best regards, Rado

Hi, May choose the least of the evils: Splinter 4Cl, and when partner returns to 4!Sp bid one more (maybe 5Di). It's very tough hand because against QJxxx x xxxx xxx we have laydown 6Sp while against Axxx xx KQx Kxxx we are in danger at level 5SP (while 5He is good) Regards, Rado

Hi all, Some modern ideas quote : 1D-1S 2D-3H as 5-5 and exactly INV while : 1D-1S 2D-2H as F1 showing weak or FG hand when accepting the above the 2 possible solutions: 1. 1D-1S 2D-4H as Spliner ( very easy to be passed though) 2. 1D-1S 2D-3C 3... - 4D picture bid showing singleton He + SI Regards, Rado

Hi all, I just cannot understand why my name is mentioned, maybe some joke? LOL Anyway it would be good idea to show the possible squeeze position ( I think the correct name is CRISS-CROSS TRUMP SQUEEZE) Dummy Kx - A - Declarer - x 10x - RHO must keep both AQ of sp and Qx of Di Now we must be from Dummy and the defender is already Squeezed at S/D ( note that if we are at declarer's hand at this moment the Defender keeps Aspade+2 Di and no squeeze). That's why returning Q of DI renoves the vital entry and ruins the squeeze. brgds/Rado

Hi Luis, You scheme looks interesting. At first glance some questions: - what to do with 5422 ? - 1NT showing any 5-5 or any 6-4 is of doubtful use. Otherwise the main idea to put maximum pressure on strong Cl bidder is fine:-) Regards, Rado

Hi all, One simple decision until Fred and Uday develop real overcalls: when practising with P just write in the chat: "Partner let's now assume my LHO overcall 1Sp after my 1C opening and pls bid on" - so Partner may bid from 1NT and UP, the only problem is that he cannot DBL so must bid pass and write DBL in the chat. (note that suddenly we have 10 cards fir in Sp, the we may call it psyche:-))))))))n My proposal might look funny but it works and helps to practise your bidding in more realistic situation:-))))) Another good idea for the future: Fred and Uday please think about incorporating some bidding tests with evaluation of the final contracts - something similar as in bridge magazines. Also we may arrange "Solver's club" where problem hands to be discussed together with the tests. Best regards, Rado

Hi John, LOTT says that the sum of tricks each side has when playing in their longest fit is equal to the sum of both sides best fit none vulnerable, dealer S ...............AQJxx ...............xxx ...............AK ...............xxx xx................................xx AKJxx...........................Qxxx Jx.................................Qxxxx AQ10...........................Jx ...............Kxxx ...............x ...............xxxx ...............Kxxx S - W - N - E p - 1H - 1S - 3H ? Here S knows about 9 cards Sp fit and minimum 8+ cards opps fit in He 1.Assume 9Sp + 8 He= 17 total tricks 1.1 if 3He=just (9 trikcs) then 3Sp=17-9=8 one down 1.2 if 3He 1 down (8 tricks) then 3Sp=17-8=9 just at both cases LOTT shows that bidding 3sp gives better result for N-S 2. Assume 9Sp +9He = 18 total tricks 2.1 if 3He=just (9 trikcs) then 3Sp=18-9=9 just 2.2 if 3He 1 down (8 tricks) then 3Sp=18-8=10 +1 again bidding 3sp is better. At our example both sides have 9 tricks when playig at their longest fit for 18 total tricks = number of total trumps Also see that if we change King of Cl from S to N hand then we will have 8 tricks at He contract and 10 tricks at Sp contract - the total number of tricks does not change from the displacement of the honours Useful advise: when sure 8 cards fit only never bid 3 over 3, when sure 9 cards fit then always bid 3 over 3. Larry Cohen wrote 2 very intersting books on the LOTT: "To bid or not to bid" and "Following the law" I strongly recommend both of them :-)))) Also good link: http://www.users.qwest.net/~jplanier/bridg...ge/LOTT-MP.html Best regards, Rado

Hi Orla, One more helpful topic especially when part-score battle at MP's: when feeling opps may go down always look at your fit for partner's suit already bidded - when you are short 0-1 cards green light, when you have 2 cards in P's suit - yellow light (must have more outside for double), and when 3+fit then think about bidding or pass to hear P's decision. The Law of Total Tricks (LOTT) is very useful when borderline decisions needed. In continuation of Lenze's and Ben's words we have old bulgarian saying: "At MP's if Opps make 3 of 5 doubled then you're doubling too much, if they make 2 of 5 then you're doubling not enough" LOL Best regards, Rado

Hi all, Just to complete the structure quoted by Ben: 4C/D (+H when 1S) are decent minimum without singleton, decent minimum was explained in the book as King more than the absolute minimum. I've played this structure+ all detailed continuations for more than 4 years and it worked very well, although needed much brain work. Regards, Rado

Hi Luis, Congratulations on this well bidded Slam. This hand proves the statement that it's better to have some agrreemants than not to have:-))))))) Just in case such specific 2 suited overcall not available then what about: 1Sp-2He-3Sp-4Di=Values+ fit pass-4Sp.......and the same way to this lovely slam. of course if the fit was in Cl then the natural approach might fail: let's give Psimilar hand: S:xxx H:x D:KQxx C:Axxxx now after 1Sp-2He-3Sp-DBL= responsive (no He fit, usefull values) pass-? 4 or 5Cl? or maybe 4Sp ? just another example how interesting the game of BRIDGE is Best regards, Rado

Hi Luke and all, 1) I suppose P bid 2C= limit raise or better not 2D but anyway:-))))) Might propose following idea, applicable in many similar situations: DBL= balanced Game try 3Di = any non-balanced Game Try 3He=Competitive Note if our fit was Sp at same action then there would be place for both 3Di and 3He natural non-balanced game tries. With actual hand my bid will be 3Di non-balanced game try and opposing Partner's: Sp:Qxx He:QJx Di:Axxxx Cl:xx (and I'm not sure whether this will be everyone's choise for 2Cl limit or better or just calm 2He bid :-))))) our side may produce even 11 tricks at He contract 2) Although I prefer 4Cl (since 3Cl was intermediate) direct at favourable and pass untill 7He then Lightner DBL, as the bids were presented, I think that immediate 6Cl over 5He worths enough (P has 4+CL with He shortage and our sacrifies seems reasonable). At 7He Lightner is compulsory (at least for me) :-)))))) Regards, Rado

Hi Luis, In view my previous post on this topic I must vote for e). Actually with most of my live partners we play : g) DBL= pure penalty or pure light take-out 2NT= any 2-suiter (4+4+ up to bad 5-5 for direct bid) suit=natural Another interesting topic in connection with our discussion is how the 4th hand act: 1Sp-p-2Sp-? 1He-p-2He-? Marty Bergen and Larry Cohen proposed OBAR bids which stands for Opponents Bid And Raise where the 4th hand actions are with balancing strength as minimum (preliminary balancing) . The idea is worthing especially when 4th hand has 1-2 cards in opps suit and may see that will be hard for partner to protect if 4th hand passes with less than normal overcall strength. Regards, rado

Hi Junyi, Thanks for the useful proposal. Just one additional opinion: after 1S-p-2S-p-p-?, or 1He-p-He-p-p-? DBL might be played 2 way- either heavy penalty, either very light take-out (e.g. 1444 with 8-9 points or similar). Partner looking at his length in opps suit will know which type of double you hade) giving the opportunity 2sp contract to be penalized by both defender (especialy with today's aggresive 2Sp raises with Tx only :-))))) This will free the Fishbein for hands with 3-4 cards in opps suit (usually small) as per your original exmple. Please note that such 2 way double positions may appeared in many other sequences, which may worth a separate thread for discussions if enough people interested. Best Regards, Rado P.S. will be great fun if opps opened 1SP with 6 cards and raise to 2Sp with 5 fit :-)))))))

Hi all, Very good proposal Rain. Will be useful to post at the rules/conditions of BBO some list of standart abreviations. I think that WBF and EBL have adopted such. For exampe: NF= non-forcing F1= forcing 1 round FG= Forcing to game SI= slam interst TRF= transfer SPL= Splinter INV= invitational INV+=invitational or better S/O= sigh-off T/O= take-out OPT= optional P/C= pass or correct W= with W/O=without and so and soo The above will be useful for short descriptions when explaining the alerts Regards Rado

Hi all friends, Congratulations for the great idea. Please find herebelow some suggestions: 1. Please post the methods of all 4 pairs involved (or maybe 6 if 128 boards match) 2. Let Fred invite experienced master TD (I’m sure he knows many of them personally 3. Match segments might be arranged at different times of the day/night in order bridge fans from all over the world to have the possibility to watch some of them. Please post match schedule some days before the commencement. Best regards Rado

Hi all, The key is that P bypassed 4Di, which means that his values in DI are AJ(10) or KJ(10), but not KQ or more. After 4Cl cue, denying Sp cue, P did well to bid his Sp cue (but he may bid 4Di-4He-4Sp too) since on other layouts Sp cue will be the only one thing needed for slam. So with normal 2He raise: Kx AJxx AJxxx Jx our 6He is down, even switching Ksp+Jcl to Ax in Sp and still very bad 6He. My advice is quietly to return to 5He, preparing in mind brief humorous excuse if suddenly 12 tricks found to be easy:-))))) Regards, Rado

Hi friends, When leading 2nd/4th best and using reverse count (UDCA) when returning the suit must be given the original count. Example in 3NT Partners lead 5 through 67 doubleton in dummy. You have A92.Winning the A the nature of bridge play requires to return the "9" As GENERAL RULE: when reversed count (and 2/4 leads) - always signal the original count when standart count (and standart or 3/5 leads) - always signal the remaining count. Together with keeping high "intermediates" when encouraging - this is the main advantage over standart leads and count. Regards, Rado