benlessard

2H WTP Its surely possible that 4H in a 4/4 fit is a worse contract then 3Nt but i see no reason to bypass a possible H fit when i have a void in my hand. Also even if partner doesnt have a H stopper 3Nt may easily be the only spot. PS just in case 2H isnt GF and doesnt guarantee a 4 card suit.

I dont like 2 level overcall with bad suit but here its MP and you wont get rich defending 1Nt/2M. Since passing all the way seems bad youll need to bid clubs and its better to do it on the first round.

Playing for an endplay here seems really bad. You are going to lose 5D if you exit with a D and LHO has 6D but doesnt have both K Give LHO Kxx xx AKxxxx x He will discard 2H and a S, you will endplay him but still be down 1. So playing for an endplay will only work if hes got both K and you guess wich one he bare, against strong experts i expect them to be able to discard deceptively without too much difficulty since he can see the endplay coming a trick 2.

Ive played on about 20 game servers from money backgammon, GO,shogi and dumbass high luck games, I can assure you that ratings rarely pose problems and bring significant benefits. In low/NO chance games rating are a most, slaughtering beginners isnt fun and intermediate players simply dont like getting crushed vs top players. Fighting vs a player slightly above your strenght seems ideal if you want to imporve (ladder) In games with high luck factor rating are cool because the rating tend to be close anyway and its a still a fairly useful scale. Anyway numerical ratings can be put in fairly large categories so if we got 5 categories people wouldnt care that much about their ratings. Ratings could also be hidden (can be used for automatic matchup etc) Its possible that bridge is an exception because its a partnership game but im pretty sure ratings would be a nice plus to BBO. What is way more important however is setting up a partneship room a room for already formed partnership. Starting a TM is a real pain in the ass on BBO, i dont know any game server where you have to write opponents name to play against them.

4D leaping M. When opps make a natural bids in partner suit you dont need splinters nor fit jumps nor raises. Since 3D is forcing 4D show a 2 suiter for us. PS im disgusted by the idea of playing takeout doubles here.

I think 2C art showing a fit and 10+ or huge balanced hand is better. Instead of bergen raise and jacoby the rest show different clubs GF hands. What you want is to avoid balanced & clubs hand in the same spot.

Great hand. Im wondering what happened at the real table. Im also thinking about making a software that create double dummy problems of 6-9 cards endings. Computers can create unusual endgame positions with a double dummy analyser easily but its the rules that pull out the interesting hands or rules that discards the uninteresting hands that arent obvious. Any ideas where i should start ?

Is 1D followed by 2H showing extras ? If so I guess that 1D followed by 2D is any minimum with possibly 5 crappy diamonds (so this seems to be the smaller lie). Opening 1Nt ,showing 5H or passing are terrible ways to play bridge.

After a good night of sleep...and reading declarer hand

HIDDEN

To suggest to pass 3Nt is a joke and partner pass of 4C is worse.

Most expert today play that a neg X at the 3 level is forcing to game or to 4m or at least guarantee another bid. So partner will only bid 4S with a 65. 1C----(3D)------X-----(P) ??? Here with a good hand and a 4 card M, you dont need to jump. If you play that 3M is minimum and 4M is maximum than partner need to have both majors to X wich is a too big drawback.

Ive said that if 2S is showing 6 i would bid 2S. If not 3C is surely better then 2S the hand clearly has enough values to bid 3C.

This is a very classic problem. Surely you understand how bad is to pass when the auction is 1H----(2C)-----??? and you hold. xxxx xxx Kxx Axx Here its the same thing but it depend on the likeliness of opener having 5D In a weak Nt setup its clear that you have to bid 2D on first turn and its not close. In a strong Nt setup partner is still favorite to have a 5card D suit so 2D is probably a better bid than pass. The reason is that if partner got a minimum balanced hand you want to play in 2D anyway (expecting to make vs a 15-17 and making a save facing 12-14) and if hes 18-19 pts hand he will make a balancing X but wont raise you. If hes unbalanced he will be glad to hear you bid 2D and you wont have further problems about showing strenght. Its the same thing with Qx xxx AKxx xxxx and the bidding goes 1S-----(2C)-------??? Bidding 2S or making a negX is way better than passing. If you pass and partner reopen you will be stuck.

Also i think that 2Nt should show positionals values and is rarely a catchall bid. Here however you are a bit screwed since both 3C and 3D are misbids so 2Nt is probably correct.

I play that 2S is a catch all bid, so its an easy 3C rebid (and 2S is a poor bid). If 2S show 6 Ill probably rebid 2S followed by 3H. I think that Qx in partner suit is a more relevant feature for slam or for COG than showing my 4 card minor. If my hand was stronger ill bid S+C+H but here its not clear that 4H will always make so bypassing 3Nt is a bit dangerous (slightly i agree).

Usually partner minimum holding to think about passing is Hx. So XX show at least enough goodies that 2H redouble (making 8 tricks) is possible.

You are not trying to set 2Hx you are trying to make 2Hx So usually you need to have them nutted to play 2Hx in a 4-2 fit.

Very annoying, i think passing or X are both ok.

With the strenght behind me and a 4333 I dont mind passing at all.

No, remove the T of clubs and ill make a neg double for sure. I dont mind if partner bid 3S since ill bid 3Nt wich show doubt of strain without 4S. Of course, balancing at the 3 level without extra values is a sure way to lose imps in the long run.

Weast has the perfect hand to double 2H IMO. Enough values to have a shot at 3m. While not enough minors or pts to X on first round. Its a bit of a 2 way double. weakish 4144 or stronger 51(43) shapes

If partner strong enough to reopen The times we make 3Nt minus the time we fail 3Nt will probably be higher than the times we can nail them for 800. If partner isnt strong enough then 3Nt will still make more then 50%. So 3Nt seems better than passing. My Heart suit isnt good enough for 3H (partner will often raise me with Hx) X might work but i doubt its better than 3Nt.

Board 1 i think passing and taking whatever save is necessary make sense. Bidding 5D/6D against good opps will pratically forced them to bluff you and all you can do is pay the insurance. 2nd option seems to bid 4H hoping it will stop them to reach 6, if they do youll still have a tough choice between defending and sac. Usually i hate making them guess and saving afterward but here I feel a bit uneasy about defending since the sacrifice will probably cost only 500.

3 is surely the most important not close at all. 1 is very important and a must if your nt range is a bit wider like 11-14 7 is probably the next important 1. 6 is mostly when the opps intervene but over a 1 Nt opening your options are limited. 4 is a follow up of 3. Some hand allow you to have a fair shot of trying for 4M in a 4-3 fit instead of 3Nt, some hand allow for 5m, some dont. Shape is important here. Having Jxx xx KQxx KJxx and knowing partner cannot have 5S showing the weak doubleton is a bad % move. The downside of showing weakness is higher than the upside of reaching 4S/5m when partner has a magical hand.