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Thank you all, your replies are very helpful for me, especially Frances'. I work for mathematicians and I understand some "principles", but it is still hard :P Cooking a fancy dinner is much easier :P Caren

How do you define the DBL when opps intervention shows a 2-suiter like "2♦ = both majors" or "2♠ = ♠ + minor"?

I don't know whether it is standard or not, but with such a GF 2-suiter for responder, I JUMPbid naturally the 4th suit (3H over opener's 2C rebid). I know a jumpbid to 4th suit as Splinter for the 3rd suit. But neither have I an idea whether this is standard or not.

I think Raptor was part of WJ2000, I know for sure that it is not anymore in WJ2005.

*hehe* just a mistake in typing, correct is "expart" :lol: Please don't think that I made it wrong, when they asked ME how the suit should be played :P And thx Hannie! Which is the step-by-step WAY to work a suit combination out? Especially when time is money? One takes into account the missing honours and the most likely suit break, or? I would, with a piece of paper and pen, write down all possibilities and do some counting. That is easy when I have 9 cards together, ok with 8 but more difficult with only 7 or less, at least for me :( Again easier when I need a special combination (both honours onside for example); but when both opps were silent and nothing happened so far, and I need to draw trumps... *phew*

Wouldn't it be a good idea to have a button with the BBO logo and BBO nick? I know that such buttons are expensive and someone must be there to organise that all which is perhaps too difficult. Everyone who is interested in meeting other BBO players could prepare his button at home and wear it then...? And a meeting point could be anounced here and on BBO (like "we meet in front of the nearest-to-entrance bathroom" or so ;)) Just an idea...

Hi! This suit combination caused some trouble among 3 experts (you see, I was not really involved...): Contract is 6, reached in an uncontested auction, and the trump suit comes down: A7xx Q108x (you must make 3 tricks, the rest is easy). Do the 8 and 7 make a difference? Normal play with small cards instead of 8 and 7 is A and then low to 10. That is what 1 expert said, the other argued that running the 10 is correct, the 3. was indifferent. ______________________________________________________________ In general: I find it extremely tiring trying to learn from books how to play a specific suit combination, I cannot really focus for a longer time :) So I read as much as I can and try to figure out principles. How did you experts learn this stuff? Did you go the mathematical path and counted out all possible suit layouts? This would take me a lot of time and at the table it is impossible without a piece of paper and a pen.... Thx! Caren

Good morning :P Did anyone of the BBF members already decide to go to Verona to play or kib the World Bridge Championships? I know it is early for this question :rolleyes:

Happy Birthday! :lol:

I strongly recommend a toilet paper roll; one is well prepared for each and every situation...

Ken, are you ready with the reflections about 2♦? Take another cigar (or what a bong is :blink:) and let's start with 2NT: strong opening; both minors weak // Lebensohl, Scrambling, Jacoby,..... ;)

That is what drives one crazy: how can a simple soul decide which opening or convention is best? What is good for one situation is bad for another. One partner likes this, the other that. In this case I feel that knowledge does not clear the smoke, new fires start to burn :blink:

Scroll upwards, Frederic, 4♣ is a weird bid ;) Crazy C.

ehhhmmmm.... I know that the ♣-suit is too weak for a fitshowing jump, I posted this hand because it caused my thoughts in general, whether it is possible to introduce a good side suit in this situation: weak jump overcall and one has a fit and a good side suit (sorry for my mistake! Please pretend that the ♣-suit is stronger!); and how to distinguish beween different types of hands with fit. :) Caren

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=saj8hq7642dackq108&s=s3hj953dkj10caj962]133|200|Scoring: MP 1♥ 2♠[/hv] I kibbed this hand; the expert on S bid 4♥ and said to me:"what if they bid 4♠?" A fitshowing jump was not possible anymore after 2♠ but ♣ was the key suit. Is there any solution in general? Actually the opps passed and the result was 450 for 60%. Caren

Hello Mike :) Perhaps that is why you are a star and we are not...? I always appreciate your postings but I have some problems with this one because I miss more arguments. When I would be interested in 3NT, I would bid a major, showing feature(s), perhaps a natural suit. Bypassing 3NT is in my partnership(s) strongest slam interest and that is what I have here imo. Perhaps it is, like so often, a matter of agreement. But weird? Even for me 4♣ is not Gerber.... Caren

yo ;) The same here...

...me too...

I pass

*hehe* I wait long enough and there is already someone who found the right words for my thoughts... I also chose 5NT. At least we will not die as chicken...

Hannie described already different hands for t/o Dbls. Some additional words: it is not good "to lie" about the majors since the goal is most often to play there. So, if you make a t/o DBL over a minor opening, you should be 4-4 in the majors, perhaps 4-3 with a stronger hand (14+), but not 3-3. If the opening was in a major, you should have 4 cards in the other major, the rest-distribution can be imperfect. The less cards you have in the unbid major(s) the more cards you have in opener's suit OR you can overcall with a suit to show length. The more cards you have in opener's suit, the more you are interested in a penalty DBL, you sit behind the the strong man and the gain might be higher as if you play yourself. With a NT distribution you only want to play in NT when you have chances to make it, therefore you need to be stronger than only 12-14 pts. You cannot yet expect much from your partner since it is not clear what 3. hand has, therefore your partner should "know" where you belong, even with a weak hand because you want to minimise the risk for your side to go down doubled for a million, the weaker you are, the more trumps are needed ;). With an imperfect distribution and HCPs nothing is lost when you pass because your partner will reopen the bidding if he has something to say or when he can see that you were not able to take some action before (--> 3. man passed, who has all the points? 4th man is short in the opening suit etc., etc.) For some players it is hard to pass because they are so excited about their points and want to show all their jewellery, even when it is too early. Better be a tiger and wait for the victim to come along than to become tiger food yourself! I hope I didn't mumble too much confusing stuff (in this case my fingers are guilty, they were in typing mood...) Caren

To bring this thread back to life again... It's league time (at least here), so may your opps say this: The winner takes it all (ABBA) I don’t wanna talk About the things we’ve gone through Though it’s hurting me Now it’s history I’ve played all my cards And that’s what you’ve done too Nothing more to say No more ace to play The winner takes it all The loser standing small Beside the victory That’s her destiny... ... and may you be the Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits) :lol: Have a good time! Caren

I bid 3♠, too, with Matt's reasoning.

Hi! What do you think of the idea to make a collection of famous coups? Sometimes people talk about the Vienna Coup, Morton's Fork, Scissors Coup, etc., and perhaps the one or other never heard that before and therefore does not know what is meant by this and how it works. Yesterday a Crocodile Coup was possible: [hv=d=n&v=e&n=sk2hq643da83cak42&w=sq107hkjdj10765c1085&e=saj9ha752d42cq973&s=s86543h1098dkq9cj6]399|300|Scoring: MP 1NT pass 2♥! pass 2♠! all pass [/hv] 1. ♣ 3, J, 5, 2 2. ♠ 3, 7, K, A 3. ♥ A, 10, J, 6 4. ♥ 7, 8, K, 3 5. ♣ 10, A, 7, 6 6. ♠ 2, >9<, 4, 10 East must rise with the ♠J and give his partner a ruff in ♥, scoring his 9 later. The Crocodile Coup works like this: like a crocodile opening his jaws, a defender in 2. seat wins a trick with an unnecessarily high card, preventing his partner from being thrown in.

Hi! I would really appreciate to participate and follow the lessons but I live in Europe and the timescedules so far didn't fit for me :rolleyes: Unfortunately I must go to work for 20 more years and they want me to come in the morning :lol: My favourites for lessons would be: in the field of competition --> to distinguish better strength and distribution slam bidding; to find slams that don't have many HCP Doubles Caren