benlessard

I agree 100% with So Tired 2d shouldnt show extra here is why. when its 1c--pass--1h opener can bid 1s or 1nt. when its 1c---1s---X With all the hand that you would have bid 1s or 1nt that dont have a spades stopper you are stuck to bid 1nt. either you bid 1nt with or without out a stopper or allow 2d to be minimum. IMHO bidding 1nt without a stopper and with a minimum hand is a much worse bid then bidding a 4 card suit at the 2 level. 2 3d is a natural jump shift 3 3d is a cue bid slammish. or looking for half a stopper for 3nt.

Hand 1 opp shapes probably ?? ??? KQJT9 K?? partner shapes ??? ??? 873 ???4 partner has 5-7 pts (opener has 5 diamond kqjt9 so hes more likely to have 14-16HCP then 15-17HCP) partner cannot have qjx in ♥ otherwise he would have lead them. So if partner have Kxx xxx 873 Axxx return clubs to hold to 3 if partner hand is kqx jxx xxx xxxx return spades is best if partner hand is xxx jxx xxx Axxx heart switch declarer make 6 on a h guess. if declarer has bare KQ of ♠ and 3 lousy ♥ he will always cash them before playing diamonds. final conclusion in MP i will return clubs its safer.

[hv=d=s&v=n&s=sqjxhaxxxdjckjtxx]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] south---------------north 1♣----2♦(weak)----X neg----3♦ 3♥------pass-------3nt----pass ??? do you agree with the 3♥ call ? are your looking to play 4♠ or you pass hoping partner will make 3nt. Will you try a "i hope my partner understand" 4D call. opp are white so they could bid with cheese.

judgement alone is sufficient to keep you away from bidding 4s. But if your tempted to bid 4s read i Fought the law by Mike Lawrence. Not that i agree entirely with the book. But there is some interesting elelments in it.

with our 2245 shapes Partner most probable hands are 5422 or 5431 or 6421 or 6412. but each time hes got stiff clubs 4s is a much better contract then 3nt. even if hes 5422 4s should come home quite easily. this was the NS hands [hv=n=saqtxxhaqxxdjxxcx&s=skxhkxdakqxc8xxxx]133|200|[/hv] 6 d is also a fair contract but its pretty much unbiddable. on slamish hand (where opener has extra) like 3 aces + a Q or a 6th spades or 4d. bidding 2d work much better then bidding 3c. and when partner has a minimum. bidding 2d seems to work better then 2c. because its allow you to play 4S instead of 3nt. this hands was played in pairs and the result were all over the map. some table received a clubs leads some didnt. most pairs were in 3nt. but i believe both in IMPs and pairs 2d is the correct bid.

Next partner bid 2h. 1s----2c----2h----??? over 2nt or 3d he will bid 3nt. over 2s he will bid 3s. 1s----2d----2h---- ??? over 3clubs or 2nt or 2s he will bid 3d....now what ?

If they play 1nt forcing 3rd seat (wich i think is a bit useless) its probably because they play constructive raise if so its possible responder has a weakish 5-7 with 3 trumps. its really a mather of what will partner X with IMHO there is 2 main option (a hand that goes for the big number opening hand and positionnal clubs and some spades length. in wich case you must X with your hand and the spades lead is mandatory.) or a hand that might want to compete to the 3 level (my choice ) something like 5 clubs and 10-11 pts. partner is telling us that its possibly our hand and that opener may have bid a lousy suit hes inviting us to play 3 clubs. same thing as 1d----X-----1s------X The 2nd X doenst show the world (nor does it implies diamond lenght) and youre not looking for number your just telling your partner that they might be psyching up. and that 2s is maybe your spot.

1s isnt forcing. playing that as forcing put too much pressure on your partner when hes got a weakish hand with no stopper in the 4th suit and 3card support. qxx jxxxx ax xxx 1d---1h----1s---- ??? 1s is your only plus score ... opps can make 2h but cant bid it and 2c fail on h ruff. Why not reverse in the minors instead. open 1c and rebid 2d. something like 1c----1h----2d-----2s-----3s this is the way to show 4144 IMHO.

pass----1s----pass----- ??? Kx Kx AKQx 8xxxx what is your bid what is your follow up.

first of all its possible for the doubler to have less then 10hcp. In standard balancing X tend to be 3pts weaker then dircet X. 2nd i dont think 2s is game-forcing at all. Its too dificult to find a hand not worth an overcall (or a take-out X) and strong enough to force to game after a balancing X. Even after a direct seat X a cue-bid shouldnt be GF. 3rd The balancing X can be more off-shapes (5422) then a direct take-out X so responder with a good hand playable in 2 suiter or in NT can cue-bid to end-up in the best spot 4th The cue-bidder shouldnt have 4h unless hes 6-4. Or hes got a huge hand. These are pretty clear to me. What is less clear is does the cue-bidder show h tolerance ? I dont think so. Its really possible for the cue-bidder to have 54 or better in the minors or a long minor goodish hand with half a stopper not quite worth an overcall. So my pick is that the doubler 2nd bid are 2nt half a stopper bid his best minor with all minimum hand bid 3h with a hand too strong for a 2h overcall. so for me 3H is forcing but over 3c or 3d the cue-bidder can pass. 2S isnt self-forcing (doesnt promise another bid.) Ben

4♦ is natural but could show an advanced cue-bids (facing expert partner) X is penalty what else ? 4h show at least 2 spades and extra values. (not necessarely H controls if got some nice extra imho)

Pass is best. X is 2nd best and very reasonnable as long as you pass 2 or 3 clubs ...or play same level conversion. (or exclusion over take-out X) 2♥ is the kind of bid you make when you play too much matchpoint or you dont get doubled enough. IMHO no expert player will make that call. 1nt deserved major punishment. if the hand goes 1♠---pass----2♠---pass all around ill have no regrets. Ben

1♠---p----p---X p----2♠---p---3♥ is 3H forcing what is your expectation for the 2♠ bid ? does it guaranted a 2nd bid ? Benlessard

Pass 100% forcing I knew most people wouldnt play forcing pass here but im sure theyre wrong and its not a close decision at all. This is where they get it wrong your partner 4♥ bid mean and can only mean 1 thing ... he think you have a fair shot of making 4H. red vs red hes surely not taking a sac over 4♣ nor setting a sac over 5♣ Anyway this is IMPs nobody is thinking about sac over 5 in a minor. So if your partner think you have a fair shot at 4♥ then you must play forcing pass because he could have values only for the 3 level but took the push cause he felt that it could make but he could easily have 5 level value and took the conservative approach. If they make 5♣ X (unlikely IMHO) then so what...its only 150 pts ? its so much more important to aim for the 650 instead of 200 or to avoid the -100 instead of collecting 200 or 500. Forcing pass is the most important tool for 5 level decision how can you live without it ?? Most people will tell you in doubt there is not forcing pass.... what i suggest you is in doubt its forcing pass. Anyway once you aknowledge that parter is expecting you to make 4h then ---the forcing pass is on--- become obvious. Now is it pass or X i think its fairly obvious for everybody that your opponent have 11+ trumps. You know you partner is probably void and your partner know you have a doubleton or a stiff. So how can you guide him in making the right decision ... At first it might make sense to x with 2 and pass with 1 clubs but since i have a full fledge opening bid and a 6th heart and the penalty inst going to be juicy ... ill pass and im expecting partner to bid 5h most of the time. if partner has a weakish 8pts and a clubs void and decide to pass despite that its a probable FP auction (from his point of view) it wont bother me but i hope he understand my pass means its possible we make 5♥. Ben

Mp are fun for people who like them so we should keep them. Just that having a rating system on the side would be cool. A chess rating is basically the result of your 8 to 12 last game not that big a deal for the computer era. For example strong rating could be indicated while low or medium rating could be hidden so almost no prejudice for weaker player and a cool indication for someone being on a winning streak. Mp as a marketing tools and a rating of 10 last session rating or IMPs per deals indicator. How can this be wrong ?

The main criteria is this Do you allow partner to pass with 7h and badly located honnors ? ak xxxxxxx Qx xx if no... do you allow him to open super light ? if no then 3h bid is the correct bid. I like to play that we rarely pass a hand with 6 or 7M. So if its not strong to open at the 1 level then its a preempt. only etreme off-shapes distribution are passed and hand with no high-card are opened 1 level lower. jxxxxx akq xxx x xxxxxxx xx xxx x i have no problem opening 2s with both of these hands. So discuss with your partner if you allow passing with 7 long suit. discuss how light can your opening be. and youll get your answer for most case.

I have a good knowledge of games and how they are played around the world and why some are more popular then others. Bridge suffer from many handicap for mass distribution and televison coverage. 1-Rules are quite complicated 2- not an elitist system 3-Very few $$ opportunity for expert players. 4-level of competiton very low. 5-Very few career players 6-Not really a prize structure system. 7-Partnership game 8-A bad --luck vs skill ratio.

Well the game i see these day is all doubles are take-out preempt are "1 step higher" because they never double us anyway. 2 suiter could be 4-4 and even a balanced 4432. 2 level preempt is likely to be 5 cause with 6 we will bid at the 3 level. 9 high preempt. cheesy lead-directing bid or X cheesy opening bid mini no-trump cheesy overcall. white vs red you can bid anything. off-shapes light take-out double bid thin game instead of taking an easy plus crazy 4 over 4 bids. cheesy overcall after a preempt. X and bidding a new suit with less values then it used to be. super-light balancing The more room you give them the more they will take. When good players think that 2h--2s---X should be used for other thing then penalty 1d--1nt---X can be pulled i understand why we bid with very little values Years of everybody playing take-out X and almost no business X everybody are in overbidding mode now. The answer is easy purely take-out double don`t lead to enough doubled contracts. purely penalty X are too rare co-op doubles are the way to go. Me ive started collecting what is mine by doubling. And they give me more IMPs and satisfaction <_< then purely take-out X Ben

The biggest upside of walsh is that 1c--1d--1h-- suggest an unbalanced hand with 5clubs+4H or 4414 not playing walsh how would you respond holding jxx xx aqxxx xxx bidding 1nt with ♠jxx when its the unbid suit seems poor. rebidding 2♦ is nonsense. supporting in 2♣... seems like the least of evil until partner hand is xxxx AQxx xx AKx and you play a super great contract of 2c in a 3-3 fit. A good and easy read on the subject is Better bidding with Bergen uncontested auction. one of the early chapter is about Walsh over 1♣. Ben

These are really specific and somewhat rare auction. So i dont think any method is better then the other. But i know some expert players will bypass a 4 card majors with 6 solids clubs. kqjx kx xxxx xxx xxxx xx a AKJTxx 4S is better when played by north then played by south. 3nt is a poor contract. So if you never rebid 2c with a 4M that is fine by me im just saying that to do otherwise is possible and that some do. So for responder its somewhat dangerous to bypass a 4M. Ben

Not sure what are 2/3 doubles. Could you please post a link on the subject. I know Italians teams used to played exclusion over take-out double the responder of the take-out bid his worst suit and the take-out doubler bid his longuest of the 2 remaining suits. it allowed them to double with off-shapes take-out hands (2-suited hands) Ben

♦Lets make a quick summary of take-out X at the 2 or 3 level. 1s---3d ---- ??? perfect hands for a X (shortness in the opps suit good support in the 2 unbid suit tol for your partner) ♠xx ♥aqxxx ♦x ♣kxxxx ♠xx ♥aqxx ♦x ♣ kxxxxx ♠xx ♥aqxxx ♦xx ♣kxxx decent take-out X (2 out of 3) ♠xx ♥aqxx ♦xxx ♣kxxx ♠x ♥aqxx ♦xx ♣kxxxxx ♠xx ♥aqxxxx ♦Kxx ♣xx ugly take-out X ( 1.5 out of 3 but extra values ) ♠xx ♥aqx ♦qxxx ♣kxxx ♠x ♥aqjxxxx ♦xxx ♣xx ♠x ♥aqj ♦qxxx ♣Qxxxx 1d--2s---pass----pass ??? perfect hands for a X (shortness in the opps suit good support in the 2 unbid suit extra values) ♠x ♥aqxx ♦akxxx ♣qxx ♠x ♥aqx ♦akxxx ♣kxxx ♠x ♥aqx ♦akxxxx ♣kxx decent take-out X (2 out of 3) ♠x ♥aq ♦akxxx ♣kxxxx ♠x ♥aqxx ♦akxxxx ♣kx ♠ax ♥aq ♦kjtxxxx ♣kx ♠xxx ♥aqx ♦aKjxx ♣kqx ♠x ♥ajx ♦axxxx ♣kxxx ugly take-out X ♠xxx ♥akqx ♦akqxx ♣x ♠xx ♥x ♦akqjtxxx ♣ak etc... as a general rule the more trump in opp suit you have the more pts you need to X. doubling with a void is dangerous since you cant lead a trump nor lead trump throught declarer. doubling with a doubleton in a unbid suit is a flaw since partner is likely to bid that suit. doubling with a trump stack is useless since partner will pull it off 99% of the time. doubling with a stiff in partner suit is dangerous since partner is likely to rebid his suit if he doesnt have a 2nd suit or not enough trumps to pass the X. doubling with a balanced hand is annoying since partner is unlikely to have a stopper in their suit and you gonna endup in a 4-3 fit often. Now if we look at the standard take out-X converted in penalty 1s---3d ---- X ----pass pass or 1d-----2s-----pass-----pass X -----pass----pass number of trumps in overcaller suit opener ----overcaller-------partner 0,1,2 ---------5,6,7------------4,5 4--------------5,6,7------------0,1,2 IMHO punishing the opps work when they go down at least -800 or you have at least 6 trumps in their suit or you have no game on your side or passing lead to your only + score. (if partner pull he will go down) so standard strategies are ... Having a real penalty X hand you have to pass hoping partner can reopen. If trumps are split evenly (3-3) you cant really punish them with a penalty x you sometimes have to bid game since if you passed partner is unlikely to reopen to reopen with a X agressivly since partner can have a penalty pass. to lead trump if partner passed the take-out X. to lead trump throught declarer to stop him for making his small trumps. To tap declarer to avoid passing a take-out X with 4 small or if declarer is behind you. To avoid take-out X with a void So why do i think standard approach is lame... because youre not likely to be short in opp suit. Most hand are balanced or semi balanced instead of being the perfect 4441 or 5431 shapes. So why not reversed the meaning of the take-out X. X = partner i have some extra strenght are you short in their suit ? if yes please bid if not PASS they are in trouble. instead of punishing the opps when trumps are split 5-1, 4-2,5-1 we punish them when its 4-2,3-3, 3-2 when trumps split badly declarer can often end-play of make trump reduction. Often he can ruff with his small trumps sometime you can lead trump throught declarer only once sometimes you cant. Balanced hand have a better defensive vs offensive ratio. So 2 balanced hand are good in def poor in offense. At first glance declarer with akqxxx he seems happy the trumps are 3-3 but when he will go down -200 to find out they was no game making in the other room. when trump split 5-1 and you get a juicy penalty most of the time game was making anyway. but when trumps break more evenly often the opps gonna get a ruff or a trump promotion. overall balanced hand play better in defense and shapely hand better in offense... take-out double do just the opposite. Perfect X become the worst take-out worst take-out become the perfect X. Example standard ------reversed 1c----2h-----??? 5233----------------5323, 3253----------------3352 4243----------------4342 5143-----------------5314 3262-----------------2362 4144----------------no 4054----------------no 6133----------------6313,6331,1363 no or 3nt------------4333,3343, etc... First time ive saw something around those line was Marshal Miles take out style after 1nt---3??----X he said that he prefer X to show a balanced hand and that with 5s and a stiff he prefer to bid 3 or 4s. Also those who play power X and use the cheapest nt overcall as take-out. reversed take-out strategies Having a real penalty X hand you have to pass hoping partner cannot bid. If trumps are split unevenly (5-1) you cant really punish them with a penalty x you sometimes have to bid game since if you passed partner is unlikely to reopen to reopen with a X with extra values and trumps since partner can pass with limited values and trumps . to lead in your partner probable shortness or in your shortness if partner passed the take-out X. no need to lead trump throught declarer unless there is a ruff probable on dummy. Tapping declarer seems unlikely. to avoid passing a take-out X with 2 small or with 3 and sub-minimum values if . declarer is behind you. To avoid take-out X with only 2.

My system philosophy is quite is quite different from standard limited opening. our suit openning are 12-14 or 18-22 always unbalanced or 6322. All our 2+ level X are bloodthirsty semi penalty (partner can pass with 3-4 in their suit) must bid with a stiff or 2 . as for opener ... with a stiff he bid or pass (showing 12-14) but cant double. With 3 in the opps suit and 18-22 he X (again semi-penalty) responder can make many NF bids. and make wide range preempts (bid 3M with 6-11. bid 3 1 step under our M with 0-5.) 1h----2d---??? here he can X (optionnal with a 3 trump 9-12 knowing we dont have game and opener can have 3 trump and a stiff in clubs or spades) 2h (0-11) 2s is to play (0-11) 2nt power take-out or clubs 3c take-out non-forcing 3d preemptive without value 3h preempt with values 3s forcing 1h---2d-----pass-----pass ??? here X show a big hands with 3d. 2h 6h 12-14 2s not a reverse 2nt h + C not suitable for a X 3c h+ C weakish Ben

Yes but if you are in marginal values auction and may have 2 quick loser youre not even safe at the 5 level so cue-bidding seems risky anyway. akqxx axxx xx xx Jxx kqx akxxxx Qx 1h (5s) -------- 1s(6+ rel) 2c-(4h) ----------2d GF 3c (5422) ------ 3d keyc 3s (3 keyc)----- 4c (q ?) 4h (yes no K H)-- now what ?? partner could be aqxxx axxx xx ax kqjxx axxx xx ax the only hand wich give a fair shot is if opener is playing the hand (wich is not the case for us) AKQxx Jxxx xx Ax The standard approach is cue-bidding before game and ace ask after. but with minimal values both approach are flawed with minimal values missing a keycard or having 2 quick loser is dangerous. But i prefer losing 2 quick trick then missing a keycard and the Q of trump. Ben

could partner be 5242 with 17-18 and no ♥ pts ? AKTxx xx Axxx AQ not strong enough for a jump shift. i dont think ill pass 2s. so 2nt, 3clubs or 3d seems plausible. partner surely think there is no slam possible and game in a minor so unlikely that hes probably shopping for 3nt or 3s or 4s. Ben