joshs

Hand 1: Well its very conservative. I wouldn't pass at imps but it could work. Passing at mps is not obsurd but will be very anti-field if partner has 15-16. Hand 2: I think pass is clear in my style of drury (starts at a good 8, so this sequence shows about 8-10), I don't know what your drury bids promise. Hand 3: I think pass is crazy. I think you are too good to even only invite with that minor suit shape (switch the minors and you only have an invite). Hand 4: Well NV vs NV at mps, you are suppossed to bid at every turn if reasonable to do so. Here partner expects a balanced 11-13, right? So a 4333 12 count with 2 aces probably wouldn't dissapoint too much. So I hate this pass.

I meant partner might pass on a 5422 14 count.

Hmm, I have a very different view here than many of you. Case 1: Partner has 11-15 Here we are "ahead of the field" in 2H since the standard auction would go 1S-2S-P-P-, although they are likely going to balance. Case 2: Partner has 16-18, now the standard auction goes 1S-2S-3H-4H and it would be very bad not to be there. In case 1, if you bid 3H partner will pass with 11-13 and might bid game with 14-15. I think oppposite 14-15 game is 50% (actually more than that since silent opps indicates things are more likely than usual to break). Partner might pass with 5431 14-15 but will definitely bid game on a good 5431 14-15 and game should be great then. So overcall, I think we partner bids game, it will make 55-60% of the time. Do we get a bad board opposite 11-13? No, since there is very little chance we are going to be allowed to play 2S in the standard auction so the field is either defending 3m or playing 3M. And playing hearts is likely better than playing spades. In case 1, we will get an average+ board on average for raising. In case 2, we get a cold bottom for passing. I think a 3H bid here is clear. Note also that case 2 is more likely than normal since you have only a 5 count and the opponents have been passing throughout. Well thats my 2 cents.

Well personally I felt xx AQxxx Qxx Axx Was more likely than your actual hand, and my 3 dead clubs scared me...but what do I know?

Well if you are trying to get a friendly lead, how about bidding 2H first? Josh's Evil Twin

Well 4H is a bit arbitrary. I remember Hugh Grosvenor's advice to me years ago in some auction where I was not sure if I should support partner or bid game in my own extremely strong suit. His advice was "trust the suit you are looking at-you know its solid and you can only guess at what partner's suit looks like". If you have decided to go to game I think its silly to not at least suggest playing in spades.... Well thats my 2 cents.

Well I would probably negative x the first time, noting that at one point Michael and Zia played a 3m jump as about 7-9 with a good 6 card suit in this situation. Ahh the perfect bid! Anyway, assuming I passed 1S I would pass 4S also, in deference to my stiff heart, but its very close and I am known for not bidding enough. This is probably a hand I would decide based on what I know about my opponent and table feel.

My auction is 2H-x-6H (hard to find out if we can make 7)-x-All Pass

How about this auction? 2N(Bad suit pre-empt in a minor)-3S(A distributional hand with a long minor)-P(I have seen my partner's prempts before, but I am pretty sure he has diamonds since I believe my opponent)-4C(pass or correct)-P-4S(I also have spades)-P-5C(please lets play a minor)-All Pass

1N(routine psych)-2N(Minors or a big 2 suiter)-3H(I want LHO on lead, I think)-P P(LHO is currently on lead)-4H(Spades and a minor)-P(what is partner up to?)-4S(maybe I should bid 4N?)-P(have they stopped yet?)-5C(Too good to stop now)-P(I have a suprise AKQ of diamonds, maybe one will actually cash)-6C(Well I guess I have a trick for you)-All Pass

Here are the fictional Josh Slam Tries (No, no-one uses them): 1S-2C(GF)-2S-3S-3N(Do You like Your Hand?) 4C(I love my hand) 4D Really? 4H Yes Really 4S Well I totally suck, I just asked to be polite P OK I believe you 4S Well I thought it was good, but I guess it could be better P Playing Slams is too stressful 4H Well, Al Roth wouldn't have opened my hand, but I have had worse 4S Well in that case 4S Will 3 kings and a Jack do? P Probably not 4D(Its pretty Good) 4H OK I have a real opener this time, is that good enough? 4S probably not, since you are playing it 4H (Well, I do expect to make game, I think) 4S Sounds Good, sadly I am playing it 4S (Can we go back to 3S?) P Well maybe if we ask the opps nicely

If it went 1C 1N p p to me I would simply sell out. My hand scares me and the risk of going for a number is real since partner is pretty much marked with 5+ hearts. 1C 1N X p to me I would pass. I can't pull unless i have a wild distributional hand (or have psyched). 1C 1N 2H pass I would pass. We aren't Xed yet :) Well, if you were a solid citizen such as myself who hasn't psyched in 1/2 seat in 10 years (I am setting you up for the next time we play!), you might decided that the heart void and 6-4 shape and high card min gives you good cause to rebid 2C as your best guess as to how to go plus. But then again, I like to x 1N overcalls agressively. I don't know, I don't think the pull of the x on hands with a good rebid, less than sound HCP and a void is that abnormal. But maybe thats just me.... Now if the argument is that the club suit isn't strong enough to rebid (or partner's opening leads suck!), well thats another matter.

Well if 1H can be 3 and a weak NT I would not want to bypass 3N with the 2425 or 1435 hands that have been suggested. What would you bid with those hands without the x over 1H? And why don't those hands start with a natural 2C over 1C???

Even moving a club into the spade suit I would still pass. I don't like making light takeout x's as an unpassed hand without convertable values. My hand has no aces and only 1 KQ. Would you be suprised if it went all pass, and my hand took only 1 trick with that hand for making 4 or 5? Even as a passed hand, xing would be marginal. I would rather have a 3451 8 count with 2 aces than these cards. For me, I would need at least a king more (maybe 4 more points if I don't like my diamond suit texture much- e.g. Adding the spade K, I would still pass) with this shape to balance with 3D.

I once played a system called T-REX while visiting New Zealand, where A 1/2 seat pass showed either: 0-4 ANY OR 15-20 with no 5 card major. All Pass was always hysterical. Maybe not ideal for mps, but at imps you can tolerate the occasional Pass Out vs making 120 on 22-23 high.

What ever happened to good old-fashioned blasting? Personally I like the zia-michael style: 1S-2H-3H-4C(slam interest, weakness in SOME minor)-4D(I like my hand and I have a control in SOME minor)-6S Ok its not alerted and explained as such, but everyone knows that this is what the auction means....

got it you prefer 14-37 opening bids :( I try to make everything in my system be 14-30 when NV vs Vul with justin as my partner. With 31+ I pass, wait for justin to psych and then bid a slam. Its a time honored strategy. In fact we should have a system where P then 4N shows 31-32. P then 5N shows 33-34 P then 6N shows 35-36 and P then 7N shows 37. Ok I admit it, I would probably just open 7N directly with the 37.... Now what's the best way of bidding a 4333 balanced 36 count???? Is there an opening bid to ask for specific Q's? :)

There are many styles to cue-bidding. Style 1: Cue-bidding shows Aces and a good hand for slam Style 2: Cue-Bidding is 1'st or second round control. Cue bidding an Ace is manditory. But you only Cue-bid Kings/singletons if you like your hand (usually good trumps and / or good secondary cards in a relevent side suit) Style 3: You Cue-bid everything in site up the line, but have a different mechanism to say good hand or bad hand (e.g. Serious or Non-Serious 3N) Style 4: Finally there is a non- cuebidding style using natural slam tries: E.G.:2C-2D (waiting)-2S-3S(some useful values)-4D(showing 3+ diamonds)-now responder can cue bid an ace in the other suits, raise diamonds with a fitting card, bid 5S with very good spades and no side ace (or some play good spades and diamonds or maybe its just 3 working cards such as the SK and the D QJ) or bid keycard with the world's fare. In General, opposite a limited partner when you haven't yet shown your side suit shape I prefer natural slam tries: 1S-1N(Forcing)-2H-3S-4C I prefer this to be a 5413 17-18 count (or maybe 5503 or 5512) then a cue-bid. Let partner evaluate his cards. There are certainly some other styles. In General, if partner tried for slam and you signed off or bypassed a control (if allowed) to cue-bid something else, and partner tried again at the 5 level you are obligated to show the missing control then (you do show 2'nd round controls in this case). (Showing it then after signing off earlier makes it clear that you have a bad hand). I was personally reared on style 2, but have migrated to style 3 since I think using 3N to distinguish ranges is very powerful. I do think having the first slam try be natural is usually correct when you have not yet shown shape or shortage and the logic of the auction indicates you need a perfect fit for slam.

Well personally, a. I view no cue-bid at your first oppontunity to cue-bid as automatic. I think cue-bidding shows extras, in light of what you have shown already, for slam purposes. Quite frankly I really don't care about specific controls all that much. In general, I want to know if you like your hand for slam. b. If your auction up to 4D was really that wideranging you do have a problem c. In this auction, with no knowledge of how we got to 4D and who knows what, the 5C bidder has either: 1. The Ace of the missing suit and a min for his previous bidding 2. The K of the missing suit, some extras but we are unlikely to have a slam if partner has neither the A or K of clubs Partner bids slam with: a. A great hand, with or without a club control b. A good hand with a club control Yes you might bid a slam off the AK of a suit. You might after 1N-4N also (although that one you might survive since they may not lead it). But more importantly you will bid slams if and only if your hands have some good play for 12 tricks (assuming they do not cash the first 2). I rather that than be in slams with very little play for 12 tricks, even though we are not in any danger at trick 1. Any co-operative sequence that involves both players judgements can be viewed as a "blame transfer". Personally I rather have both players use their judgement. If you don't want to use judgement, why not just rkc? That information is pretty reliable.

Like any part of a relay system, Spiral Scan requires explicit rules regarding which bids are forcing and non-forcing. I've seen two different style of spiral scan used: Style 1: Next step is forcing. Breaks are non-forcing Style 2: The trump suit is set before denial cue bidding starts. Bidding the trump suit (at any level) is non-forcing. Step = denial cue bid. Relay breaks are used to skip suits in the scanning sequence. There are pluses and minuses to either approach. Style 1 seems more popular these days. Its certainly possible to add complexity to the system. For example, you can add special agreements that various six level bids are non-forcing. However, these should be treated as exceptions and not assumed to be in any way standard. Well generally, if you play spiral scan as part of a natural system, you have already set trumps and can use breaks to ask other questions. If you play relay and you haven't set trumps, you don't have much choice. I do play spiral scan in one natural (or Supernatural...) system, although I don't like it that much. I prefer grand slam auctions to be co-operative when both players know something about each others hands. Actually here is an interesting treatment which John Fout mentioned to me. Super kickback. After a 5 level cuebidding auction you can bid one over the agreed suit as keycard. That way you have a co-operative auction showing or denying extras and having 2 levels to show A's K's and maybe even Q's in partner's suit (if thats your style) and then use keycard as a doublecheck that you have everything you need for 7.

The problem with that scheme is that it forces you to bid slam whenever all the suits are accounted for, even if neither player has much extras. Usually the last train bid says "I am still interested in slam (or game or 3N...) but can not bid it myself". That logicaly implies a control (or stopper or...) in the bypassed suit (if their was one) but is not completely specific abount a control or lack their-of in the last train suit. It just says "I am still not sure." As usual, when you have a major suit fit, you do have an extra level to sort things out if necessary, but in a minor, its largely just judgement about how good your hands are for slam purposes.

This is a generic problem with cuebidding. From an information theoretic point of view over 4S there are 4 sequences that do not force slam: 5D 5C-5D 4N-5C-5D 4N-5D So there are at most 4 sets of information that you guys can exchange. One possibility is: sequence 1=No Heart Control sequence 2=heart control and club control but min sequence 3=heart control, no club control but min sequence 4= well partner doesn't have clubs either Another is Turbo with a last train 5C: Sequence 1=No heart control Sequence 2=Heart control, odd number, min Sequence 3=Heart control, even number, min Sequence 4=Heart control, even number, partner's hand sucks

In advance of the match I will provide an overview of Dan and my Methods (TOSR) to the Opps and I can post it here also. Go Team Moscito. To give an idea of the main difference between Moscito and TOSR: Moscito Opens 4 card majors with balanced hands, and raises almost always with 3 card support. TOSR Opens 4 card majors only on unbalanced hands and rarely raises with 3 card support. We opt for 1N with balance/semi-balanced hands without 4 card support over which partner bids a 5 card suit (Rarely he might pass if he is 4441). TOSR is more likely to play in an 8 card fit than Moscito, and when we play a 7 card fit is usually a 5-2 fit. Moscito is more agressive and puts more pressure on the opps with the direct 3 card raise. Moscito will show majors in natural order (with 5S and 4H they open 1H showing Spades) and show 4M 6minor hands in natural order (at least I think they do) TOSR uses the following rigid priority order: BOTH minors (even with a major on the side), H, S, 1 minor. With a 5 card major and a balanced hand we have a choice what to do, but we usually show the major unless its very weak. This ordering is not ideal, but it keeps our relay structure easy. Moscito plays constructive new suit bids, and has to pass the x-fer opener on some really bad hands (which can be very bad if red and the opps work out to pass). TOSR just looks for safety and plays all new suits as non-forcing. Our good hands start with bidding partner's suit or making an ART good raise of partner's suit. As you can tell, I am more of a chicken than Paul is. :) Both systems opening bids are similar: 1D(hearts), 1H(Spades), 2C(6+ Clubs) Moscito plays 1S as Diamonds and uses 2D for something else. TOSR plays 1S as both minors and uses 2D(6+D)

5H. Natural and Invitational to slam. Honestly this sequence probably will not help partner (but nothing else does either), but we should get raised if partner happens to hold 2 aces.... Josh

That reminds me of my wierd regular partnership back in Washington DC with Bob Kerchner. We Played a Weak NT with the following additional agreements: 1.With 18-19 balanced we opened 1C unless we had a 5 card suit (so might be 2 clubs and 4 diamonds) 2. We never passed 1C unless we had 4clubs and 0-3 points and no 5 card major 3. If we had less than 5/6 points (KQxx is good enough) and lacked a decent 5 card major and didn't have 4 clubs, we bid 1D 4. We played walsh style on the 5-11 point hands If responder actually showed a good hand later then retroactively, 1D was natural. After a 1N or 2N rebid by opener, we played x-fers (If responder takes a 3'rd bid then x-fering to a major showed 4 cards and real diamonds). We also played 1C-1D-2M as VERY strong (21+), but the cheapist bid by responder over that is a double negative. I don't really remember all the details. Anyway, must have been the good drugs I was on. :P