joshs

Great place to live. Excellent Pizza. Awesome Apple Pancakes (Walker Brothers). Lots to do. Evanston has its own pocket of cultural stuff and resturants, and its lovely near the lake. Just be prepared for the bad winters. Do you have a job at Northwestern?

Thats what happens when you mix Havarti Cheese, Danish Ham, and Key Lime. :D

Here are the books I listed at my amazon site: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin Political Sophistication, Sociolological Insight, and a main character who would rather be with his beloved, but needs to change two worlds instead... This Is My Beloved by Walter Benton Best love poetry ever written. Get Never a Greater Need also. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut My favorite author. His best book. Witty and brilliant. We are what we pretend to be... The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran All the wisdom one would need. Speaker for the Dead (Ender Quartet) by Orson Scott Card My other favorite author. Both Ender's Game and the more sophisticated Speaker for the Dead are great. I think the best treatment of religion in literature. Ten Poems to Open Your Heart by Roger Housden Get all of Roger Housden's poetry anthologies even if you are already familiar with the poems. His essays on the poems are incredible. This book contains my favorite poem, Saint Francis and the Sow. Letters from Prison and Other Essays by Adam Michnik His letter, Why I am not Signing, is the most "moral without being judgmental" thing I ever read. I re-read this every year. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter Brilliant. Got me interested in mathematics and convinced me of the possibility of AI. The Assistant: A Novel by Bernard Malamud Heartbreaking! White Noise (Contemporary American Fiction) by Don DeLillo Quirky and very funny with great insights into modern america. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Another funny and brilliant book. The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (Vintage) by Rainer Maria Rilke My favorite poet. New and Selected Poems : Volume One by Mary Oliver My favorite contemporary poet. 1919: Volume Two of the U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos I can't tell if its a novel, or the best social history ever written. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Well I am still a hopeless romantic at heart. I hope life is not this tragic... The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Another source of great wisdom. The Grapes of Wrath : (Centennial Edition) by John Steinbeck This had a great influence on me politically. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond A facenating look at human history.

Oh dear... Let's clear out this myth. Walsh is only okay in two situations 1. You play a system in which 1♣ - 1♦ is some kind of catchall, like Polish Club. Notice that by taking out the Precision 2♣ hands you reduce possible problems later on. Even so, this "majors always first" style is one of the weaknesses of the Polish Club. 2. You play Transfer Walsh. Otherwise, no thanks. By responding 1♥ on hands like x KJxx KJxxxx xx you play some kind of anti-bridge in my opinion. Maybe, but I also think that opener rebidding 1H (after 1C-1D) on AQx Qxxx Qxx Axx is also anti bridge, but sure works well here over your 4-6 hand. Keep in mind, the main benefit of the walsh style is that opener's rebid can describe his hand type (balanced, unbalanced) instead of having neither player describing their hand type. When you play walsh and start with 1H on the 4-6 hand you often can back into 2D later (playing good methods). Weak 4-6's are always a problem. What do you do with KJxx x KJxxxx xx over a 1H opening bid? You respond 1S of course, and if that does not find a fit you just hope to find an adequite part score when partner rebids 2C.... The reason you bid 1S and not 1N or a weak 3D, is it gives you the best chance of getting to game. In the walsh sequence, there are additional benefits as well, since as I mentioned, it gives better definition to openers rebid.

Unless 2S implies more values than 2H would have, I am bidding a whimpy 2H. I know we have a 7 card heart fit, I know I have a ruffing value, and I know my space ace will be good in a heart contract. I don't know if partner's heart values will be good in a spade contract. Now if bidding 1S then 2S actually showed a reasonable hand (for instance if 2S over 1H was 3-6). I would try 2S to, as jessie jackson would say, keep game hopes alive. This is a hard hand. I would expect votes all over the place in the MSC. On the second hand, I am just bidding 4H. Yes partner might have the correct mesh (HK, No HQ, AND Spade AK or SA and CQ, or SA and Kx of diamonds). But anytime partner has the trump KQ, we will not have slam since thats wasted values. I don't think there is any way to discover how good the mesh is below game.

Where I come from 3S asks shortage, and 3N is a spade cue-bid (or long suit slam try, depending on style). Do people seriously play Serious 3N opposite a hand with a 2 point range in value? What is a non-serious try, cue bid if you have exactly 11 but not if you have exactly 10???? Hmm.

I think you either misunderstood something or there was a typo somewhere in the notes you were reading: 1H (4+S)-1S(ART, Good Hand)- 2D(5+S, 4+ C, sound opener) Over the 2H relay, 2S would then show 5+S and 5+C. The main point of symmetric relay is that the same "residue" sequences always show the same hand pattern, so no matter how the auction started (unless there is a shift in the steps do to interference or a negative), if you show a major, then 2D and then 2S you always have a 5 card major and 5 clubs. In 2 suited auctions (again, if there is no shift do to interference or a negative response to the first relay): 2H always shows 4 cards in the higher suit and 5 in the lower (and shows 5+C if you hadn't designated what the lower was already, and 4D if you hadn't shown the higher suit either) 2S always shows a 5-5 hand 2N always shows a singleton/void in the higher of the other 2 suits 3C always shows a 5422 hand 3D always shows a 5431 hand 3H always shows a 6421 hand etc. this is what makes the system easy. :P

In my most regular partnership, passes are always to play except for the one normal case: 1suit-Dbl-xx-P. We play all the others as penalty passes, although passing 1N-xx is more a statement that we are balanced and think we are better off here than running, than a strong statement that they are going down. I think 1N-x-xx(strong)-P and 2M-x-xx(strong)-P can be played either way, but players frequently misuse the xx's in these sequences (especially over 2M), so that so far I am about 4/4 passing on the 2M sequence, but only about 1/3 passing on the 1N-x-xx(strong) sequence [both times I was red vs white and flat, so was in trouble no matter what I did, even if I had a good runout method]. In general, on the 1N-x-xx sequence either player will run out with a 5 card suit, but we sometimes have to take our medicine here when vul vs not. On the example hand, I bid 4D. If they bid on, I might try 5C next. If I was convinced they had game I would bid 3N then xx for rescue but I don't want to volunteer a -150 or so here. Probably, this plan is inconsistant, but this is one hand I need to be at the table for so I know what is really going on....

I would rebid 3D. Of course nothing is perfect. A tactical underbid of 2N isn't totally rediculous (I prefer that to 3N). IF I had to guess what the right game was, I would bid 4S, but 3D is a reasonable attempt to get to 3N, since with 6 spades and a heart stop partner can bid 3H to flex back at me.

I must be missing something. You have an invitational hand, no fit, and a stopper in the 4'th suit. Isn't 2N automatic?

I think 5H in your auction is a major overbid. And thats why its such a hard hand...

In my one real attempt to play "ACOL" in a real tournament (Australia's Summer Nationals) we opened 4 card suits, usually a minor with 4-4 unless the major had about 5 HCP more in it, with some discrecion to open 1C on 4333 or 3433 hands and a bad major or with a 17 count (tough guess about what to do over 1M-2M in our style, since we played SAYC style 2/1's (promises a rebid), so the raise can be 9). So many people do different things under the "ACOL" banner. Personally, I still think: "ACOL- its not a system, its a street."

Indeed, but weak NT and 5 card majors works just as well (actually, slightly better) in that regard, whereas strong NT and 4 card majors is very different to any of the other three combinations. Weak NT and 4 card majors work better than weak NT and 5 card majors, when the opening bid is a minor. Which is one of the many reasons, I prefer to "generally" open a minor with 4M and 4m even if I have to bid:1C-1H-1N(15-17) suppressing my 4 card spade suit, as any self respecting KS player would do (although I don't mind opening a strong 4 card major here). Do all acol players open the major with 4 cards, a balanced hand, and a 4 card minor? The way I understood it, the styles really varied here.

Which proves what precisely? I know any number of 5 card major players who disagree whether that 2!S rebid necessarily shows a 6th Spade. We have no way to know why Hackett chose the 4!S rebid. Maybe he preferred to blast to 4!S to minimize the information vailable to the opponents? Maybe he forgot system? Labeling a system as flawed because you dislike a rebid could be deemed a somewhat selective/biased presentation I play 5 card majors and play that this bid does not guarantee a 6'th spade. I will not rebid 2N without at least a partial stopper in both unbids. A hand like KQxxx AKx xxx xx is a 2S rebid for me.

I think there are pluses and minuses here. 4 card majors and a weak NT handles competative auctions much better than 4 card majors and a strong NT does, because you know that either partner has a 5 card suit, or extra values, so you can compete on 3 card support and moderate values (given the level) much more easily....

Strong Jump Shifts are still a modern bidding tool but they are most useful when made at the 2 level (1m-2M for instance) but can be used at the 3 level also. The way most people play, a strong jump shift shows a hand that a. wants to play in his own suit, partner's suit or NT (you don't have enough room to start looking for a new strain b. A good slam invite or better (in fact it works best on a hand that is exactly a slam invite, so you can make a SJS, stop in game and let partner decide if he should go on) I would never make a SJS with this hand since you might want to play in spades, or even in clubs and you can't get there after 1H-P-3D. This is an extremely difficult hand. I would recomend the following start: 1H-2D-2H-2S-2N-3C-3D-? Here responder likes the 3D bid and can probably just gamble 7D over it. If you are still not sure then the auction might continue: 3S-3N-4D-5D-and you are still guessing whether to bid 6D or 7D. Or 1H-2D-2H-2S-2N-3C-3H-? here it should continue: 4D-5D- and again you are guessing. Note: I think 2N over 2S is a much better bid than 3H since you have a club stopper and its a cheaper bid than 3H, which leaves partner room to rebid in the minors and you room to rebid 3H later. In general, when in doubt between 2 calls, make the cheaper bid!

Will Jessica find out about Corinne and Peter? Will Corinne find out about Jessica and Peter? Will Benson make fish? These questions and many more will be answered in the next episode of soap. Classic.

I'd really love to have a combination of the English rules 1-3 with WBF rule 3. This would make a lot more sense that what we have at the moment in Germany. The German bridge authorities apparently tried to adapt the WBF regulations and failed due to incredible sloppiness (that's my impression when comparing the two). I think it makes a lot of sense having to alert lead-directing non-doubles, as these are usually missed by the opps if they are not prepared to ask for them (or know about them anyway). --Sigi What you suggest is basically the US rules, except some non-artifical calls might be alertable if there is something unusual about them that the opps might not realize (for isntance 4M opening when a 4m would have shown a better hand). All "supressed" ALERTs have to be expalined at the end of the auction if your side is declaring. These are all called delayed alerts. E.G. 1C-P-1S-P 4D(Delayed ALERT: Splinter-X(Immediate ALERT: Don't Lead a Heart)-4S-All Pass After the auction and before the lead 4D is alerted and explained. In this auction if Pass meant "Lead A heart" then its an immediate alert. If its non-comittal, but you usually expect a heart lead, its not an alert.

How will partner be well placed to know what to do? Or does 5H show this hand? 5H is a pre-empt, this hand is on the defensive extreme for the bid (since I have a side ace). Just as I overstated my offense to defense ratio (I didn't promise any defense), your splinter overstated your defense to offense ratio (a game level splinter promises ownership of the hand and sets up a forcing pass). Both tactics can work. Yours by making them less likely to bid 5 over 5 later (if they beleive you) and mine by making them guess immediately.

In Bridge World Standard, Washington Standard, and most flexible bidding systems, responders will bypass 1D a decent amount of the time, but bidding 1D doesn't carry the implication that they have no major. I call this treatment "standard". :P Seriously, If you have xxx KQxx Jxxx xx, I think you should bid 1H over 1C no matter what method you play. I have nothing against diamonds, but there is not much point in bidding a weak 4 card diamond suit when you have a decent major to mention. If the opps bid spades you will be glad that you already bid hearts. Switch the red suits so you have xxx Jxxx KQxx xx. and now a 1D response is completely sensible. You prefer a diamond lead, and dont want to play a 4-3 heart fit. If hearts get lost in a competative auction you may survive anyway.

5H. Then respect whatever partner wants to do. 4H is a x-fer to 4S and I will have to bid 5H next.

This is a common mistake that people make. You are right, LHO had a choice of spots to play if he had Q9x. However, RHO had a choice of spots to play if he had Qxx as well. Restricted choice does not apply, or to put it more accurately cancels out. You are right never mind. Fuzzy thinking today <_<

Maybe, but as it is I think RHO made a bad bid with 2353 or 3253 shape. With 1453 shape 2D is a really really bad bid. Yes I know he wants a diamond lead, but with 3 card support and a stiff he really should be boosting the level before the strong club can start describing his hand. Also LHO did not have to play the 9 from Q9x. I know that with the T in dummy it can't blow any position, but unless you think he would always play the 9, there is at least a resticted choice argument that he doesn't have another spot to play.

2♣ - 2♠ 3♣ - 4♣ 5♥ - What ever response tou have to shwo TWO KEYCARDS or just 7♣ Easy. Not so easy. I can easily have neither minor suit ace for my 1S response. KQxxx Axx xx xxx is a relatively good 4C bid. In fact it would be hard to stop me from bidding a slam with that hand. You just hope you can stop me if I hold KQxxx KJx xx xxx. 5H is a major major overbid.

Isn't Heart Ace, Heart to K DQ pitching a heart close to 100%? If LHO ruff's in he is endplayed unless he started with Qxx (E.g. his shape is 2326 or 2227 if the former a heart return sets up the 3'th heart for you and you have a trump entry). IF LHO doesn't ruff in take the trump hook. again endplaying LHO. This only loses if LHO has 3 trumps. Nice falsecard then <_<