joshs

Sigi is having sour times...

1. No 2. There is not universal agreement on this. In NMF as presented in Washington Standard, the Answer is No (because of question 3). In Root's book on modern bridge conventions the answer is yes. Personally, I think yes is a terrible way to play .... 3. NMF then bid the minor, if opener jumps this fouls up this sequence 4. In the other minor its either to play, or INV, depending on style, walsh agreements, etc. I think in Wash std its to play. In the major its 6+ INV, In hearts after bidding spades its 5-5 INV 5.Alternate strains 6. Them meaning of 3M when opener bids 2M is contraversial. If you don't jump with a max its an invite, if you do its a slam try. These are the things that accidents are made of. Note: if you bid up the line 1m-1M-1N-2om-2M-2N is completely idle, so that is available as the slam try in the major if so desired (OR just an ART GF). Other bids other than 3M are game forcing after NMF.

Is there a case for opening 2 or 3 diamonds and then bidding again??

Marlon Brando Emily Watson

Why is Franka Potente out of the business?

Miles Davis Crowded House/Neil Finn Over The Rhine Dar Williams The Innocence Mission Rush

As to the bidding, while I am a big fan of opening 1S on min 5-6's, the spade suit is a bit thin for that here. I would actually pass the south hand (playing a std system) and hope to give a better description later. Playing a limited opening system, I guess have to open 1H or 1S and would probably open 1H and then reverse if not conventional.... I open about 90% of dog minimum 5=6's with the higher suit since I would rather show 9 or 10 cards than 6, but I just can't stand playing in a 5-2 with that spade suit....

In my opinion, taking away a low cue-bid is always a good idea if they are in the slam zone, and with you having 3 trumps and a void, they are unlikely to be defending, and if they defend, is it really that bad for you? If you can't tell if defending 4S is a good idea for the opponents (and you have a good idea about your sides combined assets) how can they? Thats the level you want to raise to...

1. This is a clear pass. You have only a moderate suit (for a 2 level bid), a bare min opening hand, partner is a passed hand, and you are vul. If the auction goes all pass I assure you that you have close to a bottom, and getting xed would be worse, and getting raised to 3C and then xed is worse still. 2. Again pass. White vs White you might consider bidding 2C (it pays to overbid W/W at mps) but what do you think LHO's longest suit is for his 1N bid? He has at least 7 minor suit cards (since no major), will often have 8, and will very often have 4 clubs. I would guess that his average club length is about 4 and would be even longer than that if they didn't play inverted raises. At equal white, when in doubt bid, at equal red, when in doubt pass, especially when you have no singleton in your hand...

2D is not forcing. If partner's bid had shown values (e.g. 1N or if it was a free bid or a jump) then a new suit would be forcing, but 1S here didn't promise anything, and 2D showed about what you have, a hand that is still interested in game opposite 0-8. 4S was a massive overbid. 3S is perfect (2S wasn't forcing either). Your partner should bid 4S over 3S with his hand (its only a 5 count but the KTxxx of spades and the Jxx of diamonds are known to be good cards). If he had much more than this 5 count he would have done something other than 2S at his second bid (maybe jump to 3S maybe Q-bid, maybe raise diamonds). I actually think his 2S bid was a slight underbid....

There are lots of versions of x-fer walsh. Marc Umeno and my system (Supernatural) has one treatment (available at Dan Neill's web site, I think). There are lots of possibilities for what hands go into the complete the x-fer bid...

Over 1N, I would have just bid 4N quantitative with that hand. Now I am: a. just guessing b. helping the defense out with what to lead My estimate was that we had a 60% slam before the cuebidding started, and now we are down to 50% having pinpointed a spade lead. ps. 6N is probably almost as good as 6H because of the minor honors in the pointed suits. 6H only gains if you need to ruff out the clubs (which is possible). On the other hand, we probably want the lead coming up to partner's hand. So I would still vote for 6N as the best contract, but the cue bids really hurt you.

As you know, this all depends a lot on a. can 1N have a stiff b. what exactly 2C then 2M showed When playing my usual methods, 1N can't have a stiff (on rare occasion you might, but, we don't cater to it since it will be rare). 2C then 2M says I am only interested in game if you are max AND have a fit (relative to the class of hands that would rebid 1N instead of raising the first time). Yes its possible to play 2N as a correction, but opener is really not in much of a position to know if 2N will be a better contract. How would you feel as responder, after 1D-1H-1N-2C-2D-2H with Axx Qxxxxx x KJx if opener pulled 2H to 2N with Kxx xx KQxxx Axx? 2H requires a 3-2 trump break or the club Q on (or the diamond Ace on and they take it). 2N requires a lot. The case for a 2N rebid showing a super-max is there are some hands that started as worth 14 but have gotten better on the auction, despite having only 2 card support. For instance, Axx Qx Axxx Axxx is now worth much more than 14 after responder shows a 5 card heart suit. Again, if you frequently rebid 1N with a stiff, you have to change a lot of these things...

For good, or for ill you open 1N (15-17) on A6 xx KQJx AJTxx partner bid 2H(x-fer), RHO bids 3H, You pass, Partner bid 3N a. what do you do now? b. assuming that you bid 4S like my partner did, this gets xed by your LHO A low heart is led and partner has QJ843 AKx Txx xx Plan the play.

I just like the idea of picking up the stiff 9 on your left with "play the A" and then when you see the 9 run the ten. God gave you the 8,6,5 for a reason, right?

I think its playable. It trades: a. sometimes getting to the wrong part score b. sometimes wrongsiding NT (what exactly are you going to rebid with xx Ax Qxxxx AQJx after 1D-1H? It would have to be 1N or 2D if 2C shows extras) c. describing hand type (letting partner know he is facing a balanced hand) [sometimes you can catch up on this, since you do have 2 levels between 1N and 3N] for d. better definition on game invitational hands. Another way of playing is have the 2C rebid be muti meaning, and allowing all other bids to be natural and limited.

Adam is guessing. I am sure that adam is right.............. By transitivity, that means I am guessing. ?!

Yes a famous hand. I think paul bid 2S and they never found there big heart fit...

My list of top movies (that I have seen) from the 90's, in order: 1. The Sweet Hereafter 2. Silence of the Lambs 3. The Shawshack Redemption 4. Resevoir Dogs 5. Pulp Fiction 6. Before Sunrise 7. Contact 8. Goodfellows 9. Hoop Dreams 10. Hilary and Jackie Not a great decade for comedies.... Chinatown is one of my favorite all time movies, and ranks higher than all but 1 movie on my 90's list. Thats the movie I most wish I made, even if its not my absolute favorite. I never liked the screwballs comedies from the 30's and 40's that much....

Is there somewhere that fits your job description other than KBR? Royal Dutch Shell is noted for the quality of its strategic planning group... Ifs often considered a rather plum assignment Oh, are they in surray also? there probably are a few companies that fit this discription.

For good or for ill, I didn't Q for the BR finals because of a similar hand, where I bid 3S and partner took a save in 5S over 5H because it was mps, and he had a very distributional hand (thought it was -300 against 650) with little defense. I still don't know what's right. I know I am "suppossed to" bid only 2S on this and then pass throughout, (unless partner invites me back in) but I still am not sure what is right....

Well the auction was fine until they xed 5D. The first x was automatic, west has a tweener between 3S and 4S. I think 3S will work best whenever partner has signficant extras, but poses a risk when partner has only slight extras. Here they have a greta mesh and slam is cold, but I would be happy to make my game. 4S was automatic. West made a forcing pass (he has 2 small diamonds (argues for defending) but lots of extra shape (argues for bidding on). East had no business xing 5D if west didn't want to.... Note: west probably x's 5D about 90% of the time when you hold that east hand, so when he doesn't....

Is there somewhere that fits your job description other than KBR?

This auction represents a fundamental philosphical issue in bridge bidding. The question is: what is more important, finding the correct strain or the correct level The dominant opinion, at least in competative auctions, is that strain is more important than level, since: a. if you are in the right strain but get slightly too high, you probably will have play for your contract, so only have a slightly negative expectation b. if you are in the right strain and end up slightly too low, you at least will go plus, so again only have a slightly negative expectation c. if you are in the wrong strain, but the right level your expectaition is probably very bad, if the contract is no good, and slightly negative if its a playable alternative contract d. getting too high in the wrong strain can be a disaster e. even staying low in the wrong strain can be a disaster at MPS or when vul (did you say down 4!) Vulnerability, and how playable your possible landing places are, always effect the exact calculus. The negative x auction, is an important one to know what your default "scramble" agreements. The way I see the auction 1H-(2D)-x x says "I would have bid 1S and I think we should bid on over 2D, but I can't bid 2S" In general, responder should have some idea what to do next if opener doesn't like spades, and also what to do if opener "likes spades." The quotes are because in some people's style's they will bid a 3 card spade suit in preference to rebidding a 5 card heart suit, or going to 3C but this is not universal. Its good to know your partneships defauts, especially in that you don't tank so long, and partner might then pull you out of that strain if you make the wrong bid... Opener's rebids: With 4+S you bid some number of spades With 5+C you bid some number of clubs With 6+H you bid some number of hearts With 4 reasonably good diamonds you usually pass After that, there is no universal agreement about: a. what to do with 4 clubs and a min b. what to do with 3 spades c. what to do with no good bid (2533 for instance) d. when exactly do you bid 2N Personally, I think bidding here has to be flexible. You can rebid a reasonably good 5 card suit, you can rebid a 3 card spade suit (just do it fast please!), you can bid 3C on 4C's and a min, you can make speculative penalty passes. You just try to do the best you can. You don't want to bid 3C on 4C and a min (in general a partnership should try to stay off the 3 level without extra shape or a majority of the values) but its better to get to a playable strain, even if its too high. With the hand in question, the very strong heart suit (KQT9x) and minimum values should argue for a 2H rebid (bid it fast please), but if you opened xx Qxxxx Ax AKxx you just have to rebid 3C even if it gets you too high. I think rebidding a non-forcing 2H is just silly on Qxxxx. You can't handle a 5-2 heart fit very well and a 5-1 fit can be a disaster, at least if vul. When partner makes a negative x they should be prepared for most of your bids, but its an imperfect world. Just like when you x 1S holding Ax KQxx KQxxx xx, you are hoping for the best and will suffer sometimes when partner bids the suit you weren't ready for, the same can be said for negative x auctions. Bridge is a game of probabilistic risk assessment, at every bid/play you are trying to minimize the cost of being wrong, given the scoring and match conditions....But sometimes, anything you do can "be wrong" in that it gaves you a less than optimal result. You just need to be philospohical about it...

Hand 1: I am not sure about all the partnership implications here. I am assuming that partner's pass of 3S was not foricng, so partner has either: 14-15 balanced (would partner pass with that?) or 3451'ish (on a bad day 2452 12-13, but might have opened 1N with that) min. The 3451 hand gets me really excited. The balanced hand would have to be perfect. The final problem is, if I made a slam try, what would it be? Supposing I cue bid, which does not unambigously establish a heart fit, to learn more about partner's shape. If partner bids 5C I am only worth 5H (actually, can I go back to 4H then?). If Partner bids 5D, I am probably good enough to bid 6H since I think partner would have passed 3S-x on a 3451 hand if there was spade wastage. Hand 2: Pass. yes I like my cards, but I am not pushing for this one. I expect a 12-14 count with 4 spades or maybe a 14 count with 3 spades. I might be able to make game opposite a 14 count and 4 spades, but I will just go plus here... Hand 3: This hand is easy if you play roman JS's or raptor (hi fred!) since overcalling 2C denied a 4 card major. here you need to bid 2S, and hope to survive... Hand 4: I would pass with 4H as my second choice. Partner's cards don't mesh with my cards all that well, and I can only count 8 sure fast tricks in 3N opposite xx Kxxx Qxxx xxx, but I think I will find a way to take 3 heart tricks. Hand 5: It seems like someone is making game here, and since they don't think they are, I will assume I am. 4H and prey I am guessing right.... This is total brinksmanship Hand 6: Partner has shown 4+H and 5+S? Is that what you meant by anchor to shorter major? I am happy here, no need to xx, I don't want them running.