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As I pointed already out before: this is no objective argument. The confounded players, pro or not, feel anger because they are forced to spend more time for preparation, forced to be more alert besides the "normal" and known, feel pressure to think faster because there is no additional time and so on. The (unproven) background is that the HUM players perhaps count with an advantage because they are a step ahead with unusual methods and they know it and it is the reason why they play it because they perhaps could not stand the competition without that. People feel cheated in a way and therefore raise their voice. Another example: in Germany it is forbidden to alert DBL and PASS at the table (I am not sure at the moment if that changes behind screens). I know a pair which built up a kind of system using right that, they covered these bids with special meanings which are different from the common meanings. So you have to ask what PASS or DBL shows and perhaps you risk "illicit information". People who never ask will never know what they play, I also found out by chance. Is this fair? This is a pure question, no statement, no complaint! Can chess really always be compared with bridge?? Isn't it easier to be a single combatant than to play in a partnership? The decisions to study or to play in a special way is only relevant for a single person who gets his personal result and title, in bridge you are responsable for the whole partnership or team, you take good and bad results of your partner / teammates as they take yours. You could have been playing like a machine but your partner was in heat no. 3 and the final result does not mirror your personal skill. Preparation is also easier alone, or? No need for compromises, no need to convince another one. What would happen if a chess opponent says before the match that you are white but have to play the black chessmen, the Q is the K in this match, tower moves like runner? Don't mix it up, please: all my points in this thread here are just thoughts that I like to discuss, no complaints, no statements. My personal opinion is: it is bothering to prepare and play against HUMs, the game is already tough enough, but if I must I would do (and --> joke <-- beat them <_< ). Developement and the many different aspects of the game, especially the communication within the partnership, are why I love to play it, it is never boring, therefore I am not for restrictions to the technical point. What I hate is cheating and unfair behaviour. Caren

Some additional points that I would like to mention: There aren't many players in our leagues who live from bridge or have the time to occupy themselves only with bridge. Most have a fulltime job, not to speak about duties or interests besides bridge. Their bridgeskills may be excellent, they might feel that the HUM is only played to destroy the normal performance (who can say it is not?), and this is more a psychological aspect. The argument may be that there is no competition of bridge skills but nerves. Ok, people who play high level bridge must deal with this all, other players are not responsable for opps feelings :rolleyes: HUM players force the opps to spend a lot of time before the competition. I don't know anybody who gladly accepts a foreign determination. It is again an emotional matter of fact. A few players have fun and feel an advantage using unusual methods, the majority has to deal with that. Unjust? Time is restricted. There is much more pressure because decisions take a longer time (you have to "translate" the meaning of the bids, remember the defence, etc.) I personally think it is ok that everybody plays whatever he likes and feels comfortable with his partner, I also find it interesting to learn as many aspects of the game as possible. But I must also admit that I was a bit sour to get 120 pages (might have been a bit less... *hehe*) that I had to go through instead of a 2 pages CC. It is much easier to create a defence against something "natural" or known. But there is no developement without unusual or unknown methods... Caren

I am collecting opinions what is best to do in 4th hand. I am not sticking on 2-suiters, I am free to change the whole meaning in this position, although it would blow up the system. This problem exists for all openings which are preemptive in 1. and 2. seat. I cannot remember that this theme is mentioned in books, or is it?? Recently I was witness when 2 players had a big quarrel about the 1NT opening in 4th position (they play 10-12 being nonvulnerable). Imo it makes no sense since this opening shall preempt opps, and that was what the one player said, the other mumbled that they have 10-12 written on their convention card :rolleyes: And this is an experienced long time partnership... Caren

Hello again B) I find it interesting whether it is allowed to play Forcing Pass systems in your country. The story: a team plays Forcing Pass in the highest league. They have to send their oponents the whole system for preparation what to do against it and usually send 3 "packs" with slightly different notes (in the end they all play the same...). It takes a lot of time to prepare, and it is tiring to play against them. Many players complain, more and more demand that this system should not be allowed any more; in their opinion the Forcing Passers want only to confuse their opps, bridge skills don't play a role. I cannot say any word to the playing strength of this team, I played only once against them some years ago (that time they confused themselves more than us...). What is your opinion? Caren

Hi Alain! Sorry, I forgot to explain that we changed the requirements for the 2♣ opening in our version because we found that the standard precision 2♣ opening is a wound of the system. We play now that it shows 6 ♣s with at least 2 top honors when 12-14 (rebid 3♣), or 6 ♣s 15-17 (rebid 2NT), or 5 ♣s + 4 M, 15-17. Garbage is in 1♣. It works fine so far.

Hi! In Polish Club the 2-level openings are defined as 2♣ = 6+♣s or 5+ ♣s with 4crd M, 12-17 pts. The only "normal" opening with chances for game, therefore it keeps its meaning in all positions. 2♦ = w2 in ♥ or ♠ 2♥ = ♥s + any, at least 55, 6-10 pts, 2♠ = ♠s + minor, at least 55, 6-10 pts, 2NT = minors, at least 55, 6-10 pts. What does each opening (except 2♣) show in 4th hand since a preempt is useless? Bonus question: would you open this hand in 4th position? It's an important team match against strong opps and you want to collect every little IMP, no gifts for the bad ones! [hv=d=w&v=e&s=sak862hj9873d3c93]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Thx :( Caren

My fantasy is turning somersaults on this.... It is known that smells support memory. You forgot a convention? No problem anymore: *ffffttttt* :mellow: (sorry, I could not resist) I think ladies prefer a big mirror for placing the paper pieces :(

Hi all! I am interested which techniques you use for learning and memorising. Let's say you played SAYC over years and now you and your partner decide to switch for example to relais precision. You have a lot of material like scripts of other players or books. Reading comes first, of course :mellow:, understanding comes next, perhaps you discuss with your partner. But then? How do you keep that stuff in mind? ===================================================== Reading and reading again and again is a possibility, writing down another one. A technique which works pretty well is to write down bidding sequences on cards, solution on the backside, putting all cards (mixed) in one box. Then pick a card and when you know the right answer you put the card in another box, if not, you read the solution and put the card back in the first box. Do this until the first box is empty :( Unfortunately this takes a lot of time (and who has it??).

Indeed Homer was the the first who came in my mind, too :D March plays bridge, but for attracting Bart and Maggie and Milford it needs perhaps Crusty as idol :P Another idea for "educational software" --> bridge raps with common themes, for example: "hey man, if y'r missin' the f...g Q, finesse when 8 trumps in both hands are seen" (a cool rapper can of course do better than me...) What about SMS services with not too hard problems and a chance to win something fancy like tickets for a pop concert? :)

Hi! It is very generous to donate so much money for a bridge project, in which way shall it be spent? I don't know the American school system, here in Germany we had discussions about bridge in schools, too. There are several problems: - bridge can only be taught after the "normal" school program, - the pupils feel they are tired and think they need their time for other things than training on their brain, they want to relax (in which way ever...). A school day is hard (I am far from discussing the nonsense of the German school system on this place, there is a lot that can be said), - the teachers feel they do already enough, they are tired, too. The willingness of offering time or knowledge or so for free decreases against 0, all suffer on a high level ("living is so expensive these days", and the needs are numerous), - you need a teacher who plays bridge and is willing to teach bridge besides his normal teaching time. That has to do with insurance. It is not easy to go to school and and offer lessons for free for a non teacher here (I tried that), - a room problem: many rooms are used in the afternoon / evening from other institutions (courses for adults in pc programs, languages, painting and so on). My theory is that something must be "en vogue" and chic, then more and more people want it which enlarges the pressure. Only when the pressure is high enough, things change. But I have no idea how to make bridge "chic".... Perhaps some videos showing a bridgeclub where Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Angelina Jolie and Bratt Pitt, Paris Hilton (.....!??....), Prince William, Madonna and so on play together in harmonie (...) will help. And the background bridgesong should become a no. 1 hit, then I see chances :)

Yesterday (we do not want to discuss the bidding here :) ): [hv=d=w&v=b&n=sakqhj65dq10cq9532&w=s9hk93dk752caj1064&e=sj1087653h84da96c7&s=s42haq1072dj843ck8]399|300|Scoring: IMP 1♣ Dbl 1♠ 2♥ pass 3♥ 3♠ ---[/hv] South led ♥ 10!! It was tricky and the cumulating arguments (in no special order) for underleading the A may be: - lead goes through the strong hand - opener did neither support ♠s in any way and therefore will not have a singleton in ♥, nor did he double 3♥ - when opener has the K, nothing is lost, A is onside, but a lot can be gained: declarer might misguess (and did so) - doubler may have the K and it doesn't matter - declarer has only a few points, given from the bidding and chances increased that he has not the K The general fears what underleading an A in a trump contract would do: - opps make a trick with the stiff K, - declarer scores his K - partner might be confused and not take his K because he thinks that declarer has the A --> partnership trust might suffer - the lead sets up at least 1 trick for opps Of course the hand here was not played in an expert's match, but after the board I wondered why undeleading the ♥A worked well. Funny that this posting arose today... Caren (Best wishes for 2006!!! And thx for the fish :))

Hi! Thx for your answers so far! I don't see any problems due to opener's strength. The 1♦ opening is limited to 17 pts, 1♣ is 12-14 NT or 12-17 with clubs (we have also a 2♣ opening and therefore the 5°♣+ 4°M with 15-17 is excluded as we play it, as well as some 6°♣ hands) or 18+ with any distribution. A 1♥/♠ answer creates already a gf when opener has 18+ . We also play 2way checkback (or xy-NT), so the memory load isn't so heavy :) I have another question: Do you play some kind of checkback after the auction 1♠ (pass) 1NT (pass) ?? 1♠ = 12-17, 1NT = 7-11 (a 2♥ answer shows 9+ pts with 6+ cards or 11+ with 5°, 2♣/♦ is nat. and either gf or 9-11 with 6+ cards). I once played that 2♣ by opener showed 15+ pts and asked for a 5° ♥ --> 2♦ denied 5 ♥s, bidding went on nat. then.

Hi all! I would like to use the xyz-convention also in PC (WJ 2005). Am I right when I say that it appears only after the following sequences (and are the steps correct?) or did I overlook something? 1♣ 1♥ 1♠ > 2♣= inv. --> opener bids 2♦ (Relais) unless he is strong and fears a pass > 2♦ = gf > 2♥ = 6+ ♥s, to play > 2♠ = to play > 2NT = inv., bal. > 3♣ = signoff > 3♦ = gf, 4♥s, 5+♦s > 3♥/♠ = gf, 6+ ♥s/♠s 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ > 2♣= inv.--> opener bids 2♦ (Relais) unless he is strong and fears a pass > 2♦ = gf > 2♥ = 6+ ♥s, to play > 2♠ = to play > 2NT = inv., bal. > 3♣ = signoff > 3♦ = gf, 4 ♥s, 5+ ♦s > 3♥/♠ = gf, 6+ ♥s/♠s ? Thanks for help! Caren

You have 2 possibilities: 1. trump the missing A with undoubtable emphasis and play the rest of the cards in superhighspeed mode, or 2. keep the opp with the missing A off from lead (using Luis' army sunglasses and rejecting the lead from the other side in the above mentioned manner), after Murphy's law his partner leads the only suit that guarantees the grand. But before you decide for the appropriate safetyplay (keeping in mind the ASL-rule), flip a loaded 70g silver coin 3-7 times (depends on whether you are born in the year of the ape or not, ask Dr. Ruth!) with putting back and be sure that you hit the TD 3-7 times on the same place of his temple. Treat both opps between all that flipping to a.) if male: 3-7 big glasses of fine Rum and a big Havanna (wellknown as Fidel-Coup), and 100 pictures of Nikki Diamond, b.) if female: expensive narcotic Parisian fragrance, the latest COSMOPOLITAN plus BEAUTIFUL LIVING and pruning shears, c) if mixed and longtime couple: a small silver pistol with a guide for Russian Roulette together with some rat-poison in a beautiful wooden box (can be used later for jewelleries or bolts and nuts, depends...), d) if mixed and fresh in love: a first aid packet for lovers and a credit note for a weekend in a nice hotel in Venice plus entry fee for the local 22 boards bridge tourney. That makes in total 99,999period% (the missing 0,00000.....1% can definitely be neglected, serious studies proved that). GL!

LOLL Luis!!! Great story! (*psssst* where did you buy those glasses?) In Germayn it is strictly forbidden to wear "mirror"sunglasses --> these glasses where you cannot see the eyes of the owner. There once was a time when I thought that ALL bridgeplayers are intelligent...

:) I feel better... Thx friends! ♥ Caren

For me it is neither a 1♥ nor a 2♥ opening, but when I MUST open it, I would bid 1♥. For a w2 I dislike the overall strength with 8 pts. outside my long suit and with Qxx in the other major. I may be completely beside the lane but I would pass and hope to get a 2. chance.

The insurance uses pure data and knows how high the contribution of every client must be to ensure the constant plus for them, even when they must pay from time to time, because they exclude the active brought out ensurance case like committing suicide or so by their clients, or some risks that cannot be controlled or would ruin them with one strike like a war. They try (try because there might be some creative cheaters and the detectives of the insurance company don't find it out) to exclude the human being as a risk that they cannot control, they just work with it as a factor. That is the difference to bridge. One cannot control the partner or the opps (and sometimes oneself ;) ). But one tries to "manipulate" them (I don't mean cheating!!): the partner by delivering the best information under the given circumstances, and opps by creating problems and traps. Think of expert falsecarding: it pays sometimes against good opps who watch the cards whereas it is more or less useless against a palooka who does not pay attention. And one tries to get as many informations as possible, including those things described as table presence. In the example with coin, may it be loaded or not: one flips the coin and it is assumed in the experiment that the same single person does it under the same conditions. Again the possibility of a manipulation is excluded. What I think is that pure mathematics and statistics will not make the perfect bridgeplayer, but I don't know.

I like this site! You are asking the Oracle and get a wise answer. :lol:

We tried this from the very first minute on but had no chance, it didn't work. The first day some who know me were friendly and asked why I so rarely come to play in one of the clubs (I mumbled something of too less time), that I look good and so on. That changed after we won. Perhaps they think we take something away from them, but I have no idea what. Masochists, I invite you for a game or 2! You will not need one of those reality shows on tv! I offer a place to sleep and I will pay the entry fee!

1) and 2) are what I will do (should I ever go again to play there)! 3) :) is what I would like to do (so I just imagine that they sit naked at the table, nobody sees/hears that). I don't want to go down on their level just because I am angry and feel ashamed for them and that I took a new player to such a club. What they understand is a zero ;) 4) Sad but so true....

I use this place to get rid of some frustration... Some weeks ago a good bridgeplayer moved to my hometown after he has been away for many years, working in a very high position in a very big company, now retired. There was a vacancy in a higher league team of my local club and we both were asked to build up a partnership and join the team. We did, decided for a system and worked hard. Since the system is not all, we went 2 times friday afternoon to a local club. It was not the club we are playing for because they play on monday evening until midnight which is too late for me, I am too tired during the week when I must go to work and the like (mimosa :) ). We were friendly to everybody, saying "hello" and "goodbye". It happened that some ladies started to teach my partner that he must use this and that pen and use that and not this base for writing. He remained friendly and did what they told him. Another lady told him that, when putting down the dummy, he must sort the suits like "♠♥♦♣", she allowed the trumps to be on his right. I intervened that he can put down the cards except trumps in the suit order that he likes, but she had still another opinion. Who cares... We won very high. The following week the ladies were even more grumpy. After my partner opened a 2-suiter and my RHO bid my 6° suit, I doubled (in the same way I always make my bids) and she was down for 1400. A big lamento started: he made her dizzy with his weird opening, she thought he had ♥s and a minor (which he indeed had), and her partner said "let them have their fun, they enjoy and need it". I know that lady and said that this was not the case, we just play normal bridge and I don't feel any malicious joy, how could she say such a thing? A new pair, 2 males this time. Again a bad action by opps. The one player is from Iran, and he started to claim that especially my partner has something against foreign people. My p did nothing!! Next pair, 2 ladies: 1♣ (nat.) pass 2♠ 1NT by me = 2-suiter in the reds. They asked my partner who explained my bid after he thought perhaps 45 seconds before his explanation. Bidding stopped at 2♠ and again: TD! We made them dizzy and they are damaged because they didn't bid game. ;) Score stood and they still abused at the next table (their opps were of course on their side although we never played against the other ladies). At this state I went to the other table and said that I can hear them and that it is highly unfair what they were doing. She said "not YOU, your partner...", but he did nothing!! All this besides the "normal" education how to hold the pen etc. At the end of the tourney, which we again won high, an unknown lady came to me and asked where I normally play and in which group, it was the tone of "go back where you belong". The advantage of "my" club is, that we have playing strength groups and a ranking for attaching the players to the group they belong to (here in this club we played in 1 group). But once per month we have a Mitchell tournament where the groups are mixed, and those ladies (the same as in the friday club) talk like this:" the better players play Mitchell because they want to have the points", or "the better players don't play Mitchell because they are arrogant and don't want to play against weaker. How can we learn from them?". So, what you do is wrong! Today our team captain called me and told me en passant that one lady from the friday tournament told another lady who never saw my partner before that he stinks! I am really sensitive for smells, that is simply untrue, the dot on the i. What I learned from this again is, that going to the club is not my world. Remain private team matches. Or trips to nearby Denmark (Italy is a bit far :P ): there the tourney atmosphere was always relaxed. No wonder that new bridgeplayers are shocked, when already we are! I thought that those things only happen here but I heard it already, too, from other countries. Sorry for the long posting (should you have read until the end...) Caren

Interesting topic! Do wc players and experts at the table in a long hard match against equal level players guard against a 5-0 break when the bidding was quite normal (let's say: uncontested, or non jump or 2-suiter interventions) and the contract is expected to be the same in the other room? Bridge is also a game of probabilities and it is more likely that a suit breaks 4-1 or 3-2 than 5-0. We've all seen matches who were won (or lost :( ) by 1 IMP, why should one assume that it will be important to make the safety play in a "normal" board when it is not the "practical" action? The board is not yet decided until the player in the other room chooses a different line for some reason, but why should he? So it may not only be a question of technics or mathematics but also of psychology. The players we talk about have shown their will and ability to win, I think they do not have to explain in detail why they didn't play for the 5-0 break when it would have been the winning line; and I do not think (or I hope...) that a single 11 IMP gain or loss has any influence on the moral of any high level team, in opposite perhaps to weaker teams or short distance matches. I remember that when I read a book about endplays or so, I tried to use my new knowledge in nearly every board and that did me no good :P It is an art to do the right thing at the right time against the right opps... One question still remains: what IS right?

Just heard it in the radio: Red Hot Chili Peppers' Under the Bridge: Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner. Sometimes I feel like my only friend... :)

Hi Steve! I used to change the suits or cards within the suits when it did not influence the bidding or play. A bit fishy perhaps... For compensation I recommended books or programs in the course and I know that some baught those :P Caren