benlessard

I wont pass this for sure. Partner 3d isnt cheese. Hes definitely not bidding 7 of my pts. I think i would X (show cards bal type) if partner bid 3s ill bid 3nt showing d tol and unsure stoppers. if he bid 4s ill bid 5d. and over 4c or 4d ill pass. 5d or 5c could easily be the best game. Partner could pass with extra value and 2 baby he knows i woulndt X with a stiff♥ hearts. W vs R its far from sure they have a 9c H fit. Ben

Did anyone thought about giving a spades preference by bidding 2♠ Not sure i would do it instead of passing but i think ill bid 2s before bidding 3h. With weakish hand its very unlikely playing in 2♥ will yield an extra trick compared to 2♠ If partner do not pass i guess he will understand when i rebid 4h. Ben PS bidding 1nt was non-sense IMHO

3♣ what kind of bid is this ?? partner by passing 1s show a very minimum opening that should obey the rule of 15 or close to it and spades tol (3s for me but ive seen decent players pass with only 2 non-sense IMHO) so forget about game forget about playing in clubs. The contracts possibles on that deal is 2♥, 2♠ and rarely 2♥X or 3M So 3♣ is an complete non-sense. Pass is clear cut bid. After passing even kibbitzer in the other room will know you have 4s close to 10 pts and no stiff heart. Each time it goes ---n----e----s----w pass-pass-pass-1Y pass---1Z-pass- PASS east rate to have his 9-10 pts. So for west to X he need reason to believe 2♥X is a possible contract and for me it showed a good 10 pts 3H or rarely 4 with 5 bad spades reason to believe the ♥ are badly placed for declarer KJT or AQ9 or AJT no spades lenght. West hand is far from a X Of course its possible that the pts are split 11-6-11-12 and its their hand. But its a law of total trick decision anyway. so pass and if your partner have stiff h or a 4th ♠ he will bid 2s. Rarely he might also X with a maximum and 4 good ♥. There is no competive X when both player have limited their hand and found a fit.

Disagree with that 2nt is not really a better contract then 3nt in IMPs even with 23 pts and no major fit. with a 2pts range there is no need for invitationnal seq for me this is obvious. Even playing 3pts range its possible to have no inv sequence and do fairly well with blast or pass (in IMPS of course). Reevaluation of nice fitting hand is very important but on the long run its better to blast or pass then play 3M or 2nt. (IMPs of course). With 3 pts range and in IMPs the only inv hand worth showing are those with 5cM... if you can stop in 2M and not in 2nt. Its mostly because you can make an invitation and play in a contract you are making and you can find a 9 card fit wich is reevaluation nice enough to bid game on thin hcp. As for playing wider NT range of course its a good idea... like ive said in the beginning of the thread wider or narrower ... anything except 3pts range.

In siege you have a 2.5 range for minimum opener do you need invitationnal sequence... my feeling is no. Does anyone with bridgebrowser could find out .... What i would like to know is the % of hand in unconsted auction when responder is invitationnal but the contract is below game (mostly 4m, 3M or 2NT contract.) . I think this is quite a low % And does these contract goes down often or do they make overtricks (meaning you missed game) Its very possible that by reducing our range a little bit we might get rid of those inv sequences once for all at least some of them. For extra clarification. I dont really care what is the actual HCP count in hand and im sure most players feel the same. What we are talking is the playing strenght of the hand. Traditionnally 12-14 meant a hand that contain 12 HCP up to a hand that contain 14 HCP. But since i was born 12-14 mean a hand that is worth similar to most hand containing 12-14 HCP. People still counting HCP by the books add or remove a pts depending of the playing strenght. That is fine by me. But you have to know that You can have a hand worth more then 14 pts and open it 12-14. But you cannot have a hand that is worth less then 12 pts. Therefore the common weak nt 12 -14 range -----is [12-15[ meaning all hand worth 12 up to 15 (15 not included). Think about it ...is it possible a hand worth 14.5 ...of course it is for me it look something like this AJx AQJ T9xxx Qx ajT8 kjT kjx T9x QJT Kx axxx axxx None of these hand is closed to being open a strong NT (15-17) but they are worth more then axx qjx qjx aT9x wich is a hand that nobody would downgrade to 13 pts. So if you have those 14.5 what do you open 12-14 15-17 ?? so 12-14 isnt [12-14] its [12-15[ a 3 pts range not a 2 pts range. 12 being the worse possible 12 count that is not downgraded while 14.75 is a 14 count that is closed of being upgraded but its not enough . 14.5 is the middle 14 count Hope you do understand. Im french speaking so my english writting is a bit poor in style. If somebody understand clearly what im talking about and could sum it up more simply and elegantly please feel free to do so. It would be greatly appreciated. Ben

1-- at imps you cant really pass this hand. Mp its a 50% -50% guess IMHO This hand show the biggest flaw in the standard bridge universe. To transfer and invite with 2nt ----pulling from the best partscore to the worst partscore is just plain stupid. You REALLY REALLY need to invite and be able to stop in 2M. and the 9-T♠ are important card on this hand. They can sometimes save you a trump loser. 2-- Can your partner bid 2h to say hes got a bit of extra ? If so pass is clear otherwise it depend on how light your Drury response and opening can be (both tend to be very light these days). With no special agreement or style ... i think every lead might help me so ill bid 2nt (forcing or not) 3--- Ouch ...passing with that is a lack of concentration or lack of experience. not close at all...luckily for you its was MP. You should bid game rightaway 4-- With no systemic contraint I can see no intelligent reason not to open this hand. showing a reasonnable lead, a 11-13 bal or some clubs lenght some defensive potential how can this be wrong... your partner could have 5M or 6M and be easily shut off of the auction. I would hate being in the balancing seat if i were your partner. I hope for you to this conservative week will come to an end. Ben

Double i like my Q♣ and the ♠T and my Q♥lead And i wont bid 2h over 2d. But even if i do bid 2h I dont think partner should raise you too often when hes got an 15-18 overcall to his left. and i do think that playing forcing pass there is outdated but at least you had agreements wich is better then 99% of the partnership. IMHO the 2 main pts are 1---can we set them 500 ? or more in (1nt or in 2d or 2s.) 2---can they got down in 1nt but make 2d/ wich is trading a + for a minus. (reaching and making 2s in 4-4 fit while 1nt was going down is very unlikely ). Both case is yes but i think case 1 is more likely so I X Im not expecting 500 often but once in a while is enough because i stand to loose little. I think they ll go down is 2d or 2s. im not afraid of 1nt X making (only 90 pts swing) or XX to play (its never happens.) im surely not afraid of doubled overtricks. ??????? only if i was psyching i would pull the double. IMHO this is the most penalty oriented X you can make.... i never seen or met anybody who doesnt play this 100% penalty. Of course if partner is a LTC addict and open all shapely 10 pts then X is out of the question but for sound semi sound opening bid x is my bid. Also do you play open best minor ? AQx Kx J9xx ATxx this is a 1♣ opening for me. Ben

The difference is that when we say 12-14 Hcp we think ...12......13......14... in this case a bad 13 is the middle hand (not average hand) but in reality its 12......13........14........ meaning its from an ugly 12 that you dont downgrade up to a very good 14 that you dont upgrade. in that case a average 13 is the medium hand (not the average hand). When its 14.5 or 1450 its a plain in the middle 14 count not a 14 count + half a jack (extra). At first it might be confusing that why i tried to introduce the 1200 to make people realise the difference. In reality we say 12-14 and 15-17 so the hand between 14 and 15 doesnt exist :) so its really 1200--1499 and 1500-1799 :)

You play that the next bid is always a relay ? So 6clubs isnt to play ? 1♣ (1) 2♣ (3) 2♦ (2) 2♥ (4) 2♠ (2) 2NT (5) 3♣ (2) 3♦ (6) 3♥ (2) 4♣ (7) 4♦ (2) 4♠ (8) 4NT (2) 5♥ (9) 5♠ (2) 5NT (10) 6♣ (2) 6♥ (11) 7♦ so after 5♥ is you want to stop in 6c you have to bid it now... and after 4d you cannot skip to bypass cards you have in your hands ? Seems a bit akward but i have almost no practice with denials. Also does a stiff k of s count as a control if so the hand could be K kxx xxxx aqjxx Ben

Well im gonna use +14 and - 14 for example so -14 is a weak NT +14 is a strong NT If you say between 14 HCP and 15 HCP there is more 14 then 15 ur right... but between a good 14 and a bad 14 its 50% -50% because half of my 14 in consider them below average (so bad) and 50% above average (good) its a judgement call not an HCP quanta. Take your last hundred bal 14 pts count and split them in 2.(14 HCP count upgraded to 15 or downgraded to 13 are not there) i dont think you need to be a genius to play that. Often holding a bal 16 count we know if its a good 16 or a bad 16 before even bidding 1nt...so its completly natural to evaluate ur hand like good 14 or bad 17... or 13.25 I think what is bad is playing a 3 pts range. Even though its been done since the beginning of bridge. either you played a smaller range and have no inv sequence or play a wider range so that your inv seq at least come up sometimes... I also think transfer and bidding 2nt as inv as completly atrocious ...your pulling yourself from the best partscore contract to the worse contract. and inv with a 6M should endup in 2M not in 3M. And i shouldnt be 4 or 5 Keri style... My experience tell me that playing 3m, 3M or 2nt in uncontested auction is a big losing proposition and ways to stop there are waste or bidding space. I agree that a lot of player upgrade good 14.. but that doesnt mean they play 3.2 range ? axx QT9xx AJT Kx this 1 is clearly worth 15... its not a good 14...IMHO. But i must admit that most player upgrade much more then they downgrade. Me I strive to downgrade as much as i upgrade but im not sure i manage to do it :( Ben

when you played 15-17 in reality your playing [15---18[ meaning if the hand is a good 17 lets say 17.7 you open 1nt. akxx aqjx kxx xx a very good 17 but not a 18 count. 1200-1499 =12-14 1500---1799 ====`15-17 This is the standard 3 pts range. a 2.5 range is 1200--1450 1450---1699 playing weak NT meaning half of the 14 count are too strong to open 1nt playing strong NT half the 14 pts you will open 1nt and all 17 pts are too strong. Im wondering if there is some people who play this and if they do are they making invitationnal bid or just blast to game ? Also im wondering about thos who play wider Nt rebid range like in Romex for instance do they think its better to find the fit instead of finding the level. i mean rebidding nt with 12-16 seems to need a lot of psychics ability from your partner. Ben

Yes textbook X not balancing when stiff in opp suit cost too much in the long run. i would prefer to X on the first round. Ben

i would bid 2nt but i have the feeling that database or simulation will tell us that 2nt or 3nt in that situation goes down often. Because close game with 13 pts to the left of the strong hand usually dont make. It mostly depend of the endplaying opportunities. and on that side i dont like the hand too much.

-200 wont be a good mp result. So i pass. bidding 3d will only work when it make and they go down in 3s. Or when you play against a weak pair and they sell out. Against a tough pair you wont play 3d non-doubled often enough to compensate for the risk of -200. Ben

its not really strong clubs really just that our 1c opening is forcing 15+ and we dont use positive negative response (we dont need it :) ) 1 --15-17 bal or 20 + bal 2 clubs 16+ 3 any GF hands. except 1 suited with a long minor 4- 15-17 with 5 cM unbalanced. So basically 1d is always unbalanced natural 12-22. unless if 18-19 bal The first plan was to play 1d---------1h relay GF or nat 1s nat NF. 1nt nat NF 2c nat NF and over the 1h relay 1s nat 12-18 1nt---clubs 2c --- diamonds 2d at least 3h 2h at least 3h 15-18. 2s GF with 4s relay type 2nt 18-19 bal 3c GF with 4s relay type the rest is all 4s GF Basically its the same tructure on our 1M opening. with opener 2nd bid as forcing we prefer to open 18-22 pts hand naturally instead of 1c. But since the relay on 1d need to be different im expecting a lot of mistake in my casual partnership i figured it might be better to play 1d as omnibus. Like since our 1M or our 1c-1d-1M are all unbalanced. our nt rebid could have 5M. opening 1d with 5M balanced seems interesting. especially if we could canape style bid the maj at the 2nd level. 1d--1nt bal 2h 5h bal to play. just that our 1d isnt limited so its annoying. There is no invitationnal bid anywhere in our system but on 1d there is so im expecting a lot of bidding mistakes. Having a 3rd nt range seems cool. rebidding 1nt to show 4h seems a bit tame. minimum with both minor are just not important enough to warrant a precious bid at the 1 level. IMHO this is imp. Ben

Empty spot to fill out. playing 1c 15 + forcing 1d --1 M ---1nt ? Could be used to show C+D with longer C. Seems much too tame for me. Could be used to show 2 pts range Nt openings like 1nt 12-13 1d--1M--1nt 14-15 1c---1d---1nt 16-17 Red we could switch playing 12-14 red is a bit annoying for me. White we could use mini-nt Any other options ? PS our 1d opener is natural could be 2 card if 18-19 bal.

unless partner could be super light. i can see no intelligent reason to not bid 3nt. partner is either balanced (we have probably 2 clubs stoppers). is 4351 .. worse hand for us. or hes got 1336 pattern in wich case we want to be in 3nt. Of course 3nt could go down but bidding 2nt partner can pass and you make 4. Plus the field will be in 3nt. So unless i need to finish 1st ,2nd,3rd in a 500 pairs field im not going to take an underdog anti-field decision. ben

You must be on heavy medication to bid 3nt on that 1.

Difference of tricks between Double dummy analysis "Deep finesse" and between real play. Using Bridge browser is it possible to see the difference of trick between Double dummy and real play. Double dummy greatly help declarer even if defence can make some killer leads. My guess is a bit less then half a trick (0,4) per deal.

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5s exclusion followed by 6nt (clearly pick a slam) if partner show 2 keycard. If partner show 1 ill try 6h to play. This is i the best i can get : ill play 7 when it right and in the right suit. But ill play 6h when 6c is maybe better. i cannot conceived a clear and simple auction where i can endup in 6 or 7♣ or 67♥ or 7♦ Ben

100% ---2d and nothing else much too good to bid 2♠ suit much too lousy to bid 3s. opening 1 nt with a 6 card major ? I realize im throwing tons of MPs each year by opening 1nt with a 5cM. So im sick to still do it but im not mad enough to do it with a 6M. 2d could be fairly strong and could be 3 card anyway so whats the problem ? If partner pass he probably got 4d/5d and a stiff spades and you should still gonna get a decent board because of all those who went overboard (2nt can go down even if partner got some good values). x kxx axxx qJxxx wont surprise me if 2nt go down despite our 26 pts. for those who bid 2♦ what do you do over 2♥ partner rebid ? guess ill bid 3♥ Ben

Easy pass. If my left hand bid 1s ill be happy to have passed if he bid 1h or pass partner will be well placed to introduced spades or rebid his clubs. If partner X ill bid just 1s . Not enough to pass nor bid 2s Defending or playing a 1 level contract isnt a rare disease.

To play this as light take-out X is a mistake. Whatever partnership agreement i cannot visualize the perfect 0445 that is enough to X on 3s but not enough on 2s. So if my "one-time" partner pull this one out hes gonna have some explaining to do... after the match of course. Why does the opps cannot fall into a bad trumps break ?. Even if playing 2 level X as penalty i can see some hands that wont X 2s but that will X 3s. So since its our only time we can do a penalty X and with today preempts giving away penalty (sometimes juicy) is definitely not the way to go. In fact im expecting no expert to go wrong on this. And if i asked my regulars partners about this they will say "Ben do you feel allright ? are you on medication ?" Responder with 3 little didnt pull and they make. The doubler had a weak 0445 and thought my partner cannot go wrong on this cauz he will have 3 trumps and he will figure that is must be T-O. beside why not 3nt for 2 suit light T-O

Duplication of information is when both players knows the same information. 1d 1h 1♠ playing natural both 1h and 1s show natural suits. Therefore the frequency of 1d-1h-1s is low and the information is duplicated all the kibitzers know East has 4h and know west have 4s and 4D (or rarely 3). But if 1h si natural or artificial GF. If opener have a very good he will know that the 1h is nat while if he had a weak hand its possible that the 1h is !art! GF. The amount of information of a bid is limited by the alternatives availables. The more the info is duplicated the less alternativess you got and the info you got is duplicated therefore this is far from optimum if you're playing relays. The fact is playing natural method the sharing and duplication of information is crucial because both player will exercise their judgement based on all previous info to place the final contract. However in relay since the key is sharing the minimum of info so you have more space= maximum alternatives so the the relayee bids have maximum meanings. Another way to look at it is that at the end of an auction the amount of information is limited by the the possibility of alternative there was if the contract stop at 4S There was enough space for a certain amount of info it is not infinite. So there is 2 pattern west gave a lot of info ---east very little west gave 50% east 50% and all in between especially when you swithc capitaincy. So each time the relayer give info you're losing efficiency if you want to relay all the way. So for example 1C (show strenght) ----1 Z (show strenght youre duplicating some info) 1d ( show a suit)----1Z show a suit youre duplicating some info 1c (show streght) -----1Z (show asuit) your are duplicating info but its less annoying since one will sthere are not on the same categories. 1c (show streght) -----1d (show nothing) youre are not duplicating info. The previous hand was one that ive just bid earlier that day and is 1 that would show a revaluation of the hand. It aint no tough slam to bid. bidding could also go 1c-------1h (5h unbal) 0+ 1s !-----2c (mean 5h+4D) 0+ 2s (GF)---3c ( B ) 3d forced!-------3h 3541 3s H keyc-------3nt 1 4c Q♥?--------4h yes but no K♦ 4nt Q♦?-------5d yes but no Q♣ At the end we check the all the info available West bids 1 show a better then minimum 2 ---nothing 3--- GF 4--nothing 5-- heart tolerance 6---show he doesnt hold the Q♥ 7-- show he doesnt have the Q♦ (and that hes not interested in the K♣) 8-- to play 1---5h 2---4d 3--- a !art! shape showing 4--- 3541 5--- 1 keyc 6--- Q♥ no K♦ 7-- Q♦ no Q♣ now you make the list of duplication of info. WEST Showing a h tol is duplication since you bid 6h to play. showing a better then minimum then showing GF. By asking for specific card we tend to show disinterested in other. EAST none No you try to find alternatives maybe asking for aces instead of keycard is better... but later you'll need a way to stop in H opening 15+ then showing GF is duplication but having a GF opening at the 1 level is unpractical By asking for specific card we tend to show disinterested in other. yes but asking for card you have or dont need is worse. Hope that is clearer for you. Try to bid the hand natural way and you'll see the duplication of info is huge. And that the info is split between the 2 players. Ben