benlessard

agree When a non-Gf reverse is possible then of course the reverse is better but with Kxx x AKJxx KQJx 1D---1S ??? Some might consider this hand strong enough for 3C others will bid an heavy 2C but in MP i like my odds in 3S.

Happy 2S bid here. In MP im one of the few player who doesnt mind to bid 3S with only 3cards support. Just make sure your partner agree and is on the same wavelenght because its quite uncommon. This hand is a king short for a 3S with 3 cards.

In pair in a weak field. 1♣==1♦ (15+ , relay) 1♠==1Nt (5S 15-17 or GF, relay) 2♦==2♠ (4H, 2S is 0-9 preference) 2Nt==3♣ (2Nt GF 5422, 3C is keyc in S) 3♥==3♠ (3H=03, ask for Q♠ 4♥== ??? (4h= Q♠+K♥+K♦ no K♣ opener is showing a Gf hand 5422, 3 keycard, Q of S + K♥+ K♦ no K♣ [hv=d=n&v=n&s=sktxhxxxdqjxxcqxx]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] your options, 4S= sign off 4Nt ask for Q of H 5H ask for a club control. 5S ask for extra.

Id usually prefer optionnal X (enough points to play in 2Nt but maybe no stoppers and 2/3 cards in their suits). But here we were playing standard so south 2nd X is 100% take-out there is no doubt about it. South could easily be void for the X. Like ive said in my last post i think West is going to have a limit raise with 4 trumps the majority of times, East with a 7-9 hcp hand shouldnt be to fond of overcalling with only 4♠. So there is going to be a LOTT of 17 more often then 16 or 15. And passing with KT7x and 12 hcp facing a passed hand (and a limit raise by opps) is something i would not consider at all. If south bid 3something instead of X and the opps would compete to 3S would you X with the North hand ? Also what do you think partner is going to lead if you pass the X of 2S ? North has to do a safety bid & maybe south could have done the same by raising to 3D or passing. Maybe south was greedy hoping to make a 3level contract with such crappy values but North could easily be 3154 or even 3145 giving a fair shot to go plus on the deal. Often in similar postion North is victim of sunk cost fallacy. Having the chance of an all pass north wasnt ready to conceed a minus score. Its the same when you make a penalty X and they run in a contract where you are not sure to set anymore, the fact that you had an easy plus score will clouded your judgement and you will X a 2nd time.

I was South and my reasoning was that West 2D (limit) inviting vs a passed hand was probably based on a 11 hcp with 4 trumps and some ruffing power, Its rare for me to have a 3 trumps raise worth a limit vs a passed hand. Maybe some do limit raises facing a passed hand to show values without game aspiration. As west holding 3 trumps i would almost always bid 2S. PS If partner X 2D what do you play ? 1- longish D with desire to compete to 3D 2- lead directing (D or not D) 3- support X (3H) I play 1 but i think 3 might be a better treatment

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=skt7xhkjdajtxcxxx&s=sjh98xxxdkqxcqjxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] (P)==P==(P)==1D (1S)=X==(2D)=P (2S)=X= all pass 2D was limit raise -470

agree I think you are on the wrong track. In theory if a bid is forcing the subsequent bid can/should be forcing since the 1st forcing bid can be used to show the subsequent non-forcing bids & that way you can get the most forcing bids possible & are able to show more hand type. In practice its a different story since you dont want to hog all the bidding space (partner need some space too) & sometimes 1 bid for all nf hand isnt enough. Also you dont want to give lead directing X for no reasons. 1 thing im sure is that 1D----1S 2H to play 2H as true reverse is just plain bad. The cheapest reverse is a much too valuable bidding spot & in standard it is used less then 5% of the times. Also using 3S as INV is dubious. Why go down in 3S when you can play 2S ?? An easy & effective solution is to play that 2H is a weak S raise or a GF raise (maybe 3 cards) or a 18-19 bal (dont worry if partner bid 4S expecting you have 4♠ 12-14) your extra strenght will allow you to bid again) and that 2S is a 15-17 raise. That way you will never play 3S for no reason. You need to find other way to show the H reverse (2Nt & 3S are free now) Another solution is too allow more flex for the reverses (even into a 2 card fragment). Of course if you reverse into 2H with AQx,KQ,Axxxxxx,x then partner shouldnt go to 4H at the 4 level without a D fit. Its easy to make intelligent continuations after a semi-natural reverse. Those who want to avoid fake-jumps shift are simply overloading 2Nt instead of using the full potential of the cheaper reverses. Even Strong jump shift are better played as fragment then "true jump shift" IMHO. As for opening a non-forcing 1C with (43)42 shapes is something i dont recommend especially red since the chance to passed-out is fairly high.

Clear pass for me If 4S had a play partner would have already bid it (we are in imps and we are red). Our hand isnt a dead minimum but with Jx in ♥ we can safely say that our hand has no extra. I expect -1 in 4C will be the most frequent result.

The feeling i get from reading your post is that when when you play in a 4-2 fits its a bidding accident and you are probably going to lose 10-12 on the board. But i can tell you that when i play in a 4-2 fit its usually because its a better contract then a 3nt with a suit wide open and ive got some chance of winning 10-12 imps. I can assure you that my 4-2 fits contracts are quite different then your 4-2 fits contracts.

If by some gadget your are reffering to 2Nt (artGF) you are going to bid that on more then 50% of all the GF hands. Lets say 1D----1S ??? your forcing bids are 2H,3C,3H,4C,4D & maybe 2Nt Most of the TOUGH GF hands will be based of a 3 card support for partner or hand unsuitable for a splinters. 3163,3361,3262 & many 7er carder. The 2nd group is very long D. The 3rd group is true strong 2 suiters The 4th is balanced hand with lack of stoppers honnor concentration. EASY hands like splinter or 64 hands with fit with partner are discarded. So do you think it make more sense to use 2NT as catch all bids ?

Advances after overcall are often undiscussed. The simpler way i suggest is same level forcing 2/1 not forcing. (1C)---1H---(P)------??? 1S is forcing but not 2D (1C)---1D---(P)----1H (could be 4) (P)---??? 2H should be minimum overcall 2C should show a opening hands (1C)---1D---(P)----1H (tend to show 5 cards) (P)---2H---(P)-----3D (INV not forcing tend to show only 4H) (P)---3Nt

Im quite fond of fake jump-shifts (even in 3/2 cards majors). They usually are the cheapest forcing bid available so it make sense to used them to the maximum. However you need some common sense agreement to not go ashtray. When to make JS in a fragment 1-GF 3 cards raises (are the more frequent) so its clear that 4S should be natural. 2- Long solid suits 3- balance hand with a wide open doubleton. What i suggest is that any bypass of 3Nt is showing a raise or tolerance in partner 1st suit just a fit in 2nd suit isnt enough. 1D-----1S 3C-----??? 3D im stuck, no h stoppers or fit in m without D tol 3H nat 3S nat 3Nt nat 4C clubs+ D tolerance 1S-----1Nt 3D-----??? 3H im stuck 3S = H 3Nt nat 4C+= D fit +S tol Playing standard method bypassing 3Nt without spades tol & even with 5 cards support for partner 2nd suit often lead to terrible results.

I consider 4H to be an underbid. I would jump to 4H with Qxx KTxx x Axxxx So the south hand is 1 trick + 1 control stronger. Its clearly deserve a 4D bid (with a correction to 5C over 4S to show H+C slammish. Of course if you play that 4D 100% guarranted both maj you are stucked. I would have overcall 1H but i have no problem with X. But after the X an a proper 4D its hard to miss the slam Ps does any1 play 4C here as forcing ? Im wondering because the 4C as natural non-forcing rarely come-up and isnt super useful.

I really think the traditionnal 3 pts range is bad. Invitationnal hands are too rare and blast or pass strategies isnt working that well. So i prefer a wider range (10-14 or 12-15) or a shorter range (2.5 pts is best IMHO). Handling half pts isnt fun i admit. Also you have to understand there is a big difference between INV sequences that allow you to play at a safe contract and INV sequence that lead you to 2Nt or 3M. In imps reaching a poor 4M is about the same then to stop in a risky 3M.

Some math just for the fun of it. Hearts will be 50,05 4%. Spades will be 32,23 68% Spades will be 41,14 28 % partner will have the T♠ or T9♠ 3/8 partner will have the 9♠ but no T♠ 15/56 so S are friendly when partner got the T♠ and ♠ are 41 (4 for LHO) 14% X 3/8 =84/1600 partner got the T♠ and and S are 14 (LHO have a stiff J♠) 14% X 3/8 X 1/4 = 21/1600 partner got the 9♠ and S are 41 (4 for LHO) but with J♠ or T♠ stiff in RHO 14%*15/56*1/2= 30/1600 S are friendly 68%+ 135/1600 = slighty over 76% but if we discard time where H are bad we get 73%. 73% is the number when partner doesnt have the JS. Now if the opps are in 6H 18/20 (90% of the times) & in 6S 1/20 (5%) and not in slam 5%. (i consider their chance of being in 7H to be nul) So lets see the Imps diff between 7H & 6H 7 make vs 6H= 11 imps * 90% * 73% = 7.2 7 is down vs 6H = -14 imps * 90% * 27% = -3.4 7 make & they are in 6S making = 11 imps * 5% * 73% * 1/2 =0.2 7 make & they are down in 6S = 3 imps * 5% * 73% * 1/2=0.05 here we only make 3 imps profit & not 17 because in 6H we would have won 14 imps anyway 7 goes down & they are in 6S going down = -14 imps * 5%* 27%= -.02 7 make & 6S is going down ! = 3 imps * 5% * 73 *1/2 = 0.05 7H goes down but 6S is making is negligeable 7 makes & they are in game = 2 imps * 5% * 73% = 0.07 7 goes down & they are in game = -22 imps * 5% * 27% = -0.3 here again we only check the imps difference between 6H & 7H. The profit between 7H & 6H is 13 imps -11 imps =2 imps The loss however is between losing 11 imps (7H down 1 vs game) and winning 11 imps 6H making 6 vs game for a total of 22 imps ! After all the calculation being in 7H instead of 6H when you dont have the ♠J seems to yield 3.5 Imps per deal wich is a lot. This is assuming game has 73% of coming home and opps will stay away from slam 1/20 and will play 6S 1/20. The biggest danger for a grand is when opps might be in game, making the grand instead of a small will wield only 2 extra imps but risking going down instead of making a small slam is a swing of 22 imps, however if you feel the opps are going to stop in game less then 10% then dont worry too much about it and bid the grand. In this case the 73% chance of success is quite higher then the usual 56% threshold so that why its bring 3imps per deal.

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=saqxxxhktxxdjcqxx&s=skxxhaqjxdaxxcaxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1S (12-14 or 18-22 unbal)-----1Nt(6+ relay) 2D (4H)------2Nt (gF) 3C (5413)-----3H (h keycards) 4C (2key no Q♥)------4S (asking for the K of clubs) 4Nt (no)------------5C (Q♠ ?) 5S (yes+Q♣ but no J♥)--------??? 5Nt would be pick a slam (as suit is concerned not 6 or 7) 6C would ask for the J♠ 6H & higher would be to play The other team is B+

awful

Clear pass for me. Partner already know 95% of my hand. The only extra i have is the Q of H. Bidding 3Nt with a xx AKQJTxx (even 8th or 9th) xxx is in a way useless because you will rarely buy the hand. Solid D + S stop + some outside strenght is my definition for a 3nt bid. So therefore i have an easy pass.

I have no problem with 3C (GF JS) or a 2C rebid. If you tend to respond light then 3C is probably an overbid. 4D instead of 4S isnt only a bad bid its an atrocious bid. 5C is natural to play since 3D is a catch all bid (doesnt show D fit in my book and could be false preference)

I prefer X to 4H (this im convinced) and im not pulling 3nt (this im not convinced). I agree that NLM is much better then playing natural 4m and its not even close.

Dont be overly agressive when they use their strong 1Nt. Its a small range unbalanced hands so theyll know when they have game or not. If they decide to X instead of bidding game its usually very bad news. For the rest i agree 100% with awm

3rd and 4th seat 1S. 1C or weak nt otherwise. Passing is losing bridge imho.

First of all Smith is mainly useful when there is no signal or when there is ambiguity about the signal. Ex You lead low from J9xx and partner put the Q and declarer win with the A. Partner didnt have the chance to make a signal. So there its a smith echo. If my holding is K97 and we play UDCA i know my 7 can be misread so its SE. But if my holding is K975 in not afraid my 5 will be misread. Echo there should show ruffing potential or 2nd suit pref. But if you lead A and dummy hit with a stiff. Then partner is surely able to signal so its surely not an echo smith per se. It should serve for something else. In your example the echo should be for the 2nd suit or for something else but its surely not for the suit lead. The 2nd problem need the full hand+ bidding judgement. Partner lead is either AKx or AKTx+, with anything else he will probably lead low. So playing UDCA with a side entry ill play the 9. With no entry ill play low unless i feel the Qx might give the contract. An echo after that is suit pref or vinje or count in the suit lead or count in an entryless dummy dangerous suit.

maybe not, but its worth buying/checking the the books just for the problems. Le Squeeze au Bridge Tome I: Le Squeeze Simple, 1977 Le Squeeze au Bridge Tome II: Le Double Squeeze, 1978 Le Squeeze au Bridge Tome III: Squeeze A L'Atout Squeeze A Retardement La Desqueesification, 1978. I think these are close or the same book ive read since they add up to 450 pages. Just the section on how to break a squeeze is worth the price of the book. Putting them in 3 tomes make sense since an average player will have no use for the 3rd book and an accomplished player can bypass the first book.