TylerE

Pass for me. For any sane 4♥ opening, I can't see us avoiding 2 red suit losers.

1♦, but not for the reason you gave. This is an opening hand, period, full stop, exclamation point.

I'm also not really liking the scoring very much either. Doesn't seem to write to reward being half a continent off with 2000, while a direct hit less than 0.1km away is only like 5800

I wish it were more random. It's obviously clustered around certain areas. In 25 or so rounds I've had points in the Florida Keys 3 times. Considering the entire keys is maybe 10 square miles, the odds of that happening at random are about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 1. New Zealnd, and Australia also seem to come up WAY more often than you would expect. The Norwegian coast too, come to think of it.

I was dealt ♠AKQJTxxx ♥ ♦ ♣AKJTx in a hand-shuffled club game once.

How does this auction cope with ♠AKJ ♥xxx ♦Qxx ♣KQJx

Here are a few of my sets... all done no "cheating" - no moving and no searching the web These are "challange" links that will let you play the same set without spoliers http://www.geoguessr.comcnNpb24iOjEsInJvdW5kcyI6W1sicm91bmQiLCJsYXQiLCJsbmciLCJnTGF0IiwiZ0xuZyJdLFsxLDU0LjIwOTAzMywtMTAuMDY2ODY5OTk5OTk5OTk0LDU2Ljg0ODk3MTk4MDI2OTc1LC0yLjI0MTIxMDkzNzVdLFsyLDQ2LjUwODA2NywtNzUuNDA0NTkxOTk5OTk5OTgsMzQuMDE2MjQxODg5NjY3MDE1LC04Mi4yNjU2MjVdLFszLC00MS4wMzgyOTMsMTczLjAxNjcxMjk5OTk5OTk4LC0yNy42ODM1MjgwODM3ODc3NTYsMTUzLjEwNTQ2ODc1XSxbNCwyNC41NTgzNDIsLTgxLjgwNjU0MDk5OTk5OTk4LDI0LjU4NzA5MDMzOTIwOTYzNCwtODEuNTUxNTEzNjcxODc1XSxbNSw1NC43MTMxNDQsLTEwMS43NzcxNzk5OTk5OTk5OSw0Ny4xMDAwNDQ2OTQwMjUyMTUsLTkyLjkwMDM5MDYyNV1dfQ%3D%3D http://www.geoguessr.comcnNpb24iOjEsInJvdW5kcyI6W1sicm91bmQiLCJsYXQiLCJsbmciLCJnTGF0IiwiZ0xuZyJdLFsxLDQwLjAwMTEyNywzLjgzNTc1MDk5OTk5OTk1OTMsMzkuMzY4Mjc5MTQ5MTYwMTEsMi45MDAzOTA2MjVdLFsyLC0yNC4yOTk2NDksLTUxLjMyNTY2NDAwMDAwMDAyLC0zNi4zMTUxMjUxNDc0ODA1MSwxNDYuNjAxNTYyNV0sWzMsLTMxLjA5NTU0NiwxMzguNjc4NTgxLC0yOS41MzUyMjk1NjI5NDg0NTUsMTQyLjczNDM3NV0sWzQsNDMuODg1NDg5LC05NC41NDkyODYsMzcuNTc5NDEyNTEzNDM4Mzg1LC05MS40MDYyNV0sWzUsNDMuMDYyNDI1LDE0MS4zNTQ1NTIsMzQuODEzODAzMzE3MTEzMTU1LDEzNS42MTUyMzQzNzVdXX0%3D

My best so far is 15,000ish, including 2 off by less than 20km.

Uh, no, you didn't. I think 2♥ on those cards at MPs is f'ing terrible bridge. Partner will not be able to bid intelligently opposite, because he will be downgrading xx and stiff honor trump holdings too much, and is likely to get the defense wrong for the same reasons. There are certain situations where I might consider opening a weak 2 on 7, but none of them include AT8xxxx.

And this is why opening 2♥ on the hand is dumb. 3♥ > Pass > 2♥

No, 25A absolutely does not. It always a substituted call to made IF AND ONLY IF the original call was unintended AND the substition was made, or attempted to be made, without pause for thought AND the player's partner has not made a call.

What's your agreement? If partner's X is responsive I bid 4N (Pick a minor), and if it's penalty, well, there's really only green cards in my future.

[hv=pc=n&w=sak6haqj9765d5c54&e=sj932h2daq964caq6&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=1hp1sp4hp6nppp]266|200|IMPs[/hv] Last board of a 12 hand IMP set, you're doing ok, but not good. Right around average through the first 10 boards. Hearts were onside, but KTxx, so the slam didn't come in.

That's what I call the "find a new partner" convention. Seriously. Playing with someone that clueless is worse than not playing, as it'll only give bad habits you have to train out later.

For me, with my 2/1 partner this is a totally plausible auction for us, ignoring the alert and the 1♥ opening. 2NT - strong 3♦ - xfer, GF 3NT - exactly 2♥ N, presumably having no UI, can now bid 6♦.

Weak or poor? There is a difference....is partner a novice, or is partner a lifetime C player with fully-activated bad judgement circuits? Actually, in either case, I *pass*. Double looks obvious at first glance, but do we _really_ expect partner to have 4 of a major here? If anything I'd wager he has a minor two suiter and it goes 2♣ - X - float, scoring an area code.

LOL Kokish wrote a book on Montreal Relay? Must have needed the money... They're an even stronger signal than "Stolen Bid X" or "15-18" NT of a poor player.

Around here (NC), among decent players, it is fairly common to play systems on over X/2♣, X of 2♣ as Stayman, and Lebensohl from 2♥ on up, as well as Lebensohl-style penalty/value doubles of bids that aren't 2♣. I do not believe basic lebensohl is an excessive memory burden, even for a beginner - the bids are overwhelmingly natural, or "obviously" non-natural (e.g. cuebids).

Modern style (ala Precision Today) seems to be shifting towards 2♣ always being a six-bagger. I think this is generally a good move. Good responses can go a long way, and I'm not at all sure the classical natural responses are best. A key point is wether the 2♦ bid actually promises values (at least inv, say), or could it just be a scramble. I think if 2♣ could be 5, 2♦ has to be much more wideranging, but promising 6 it should always be values, as a minimum misfitting hand can just pass - even a 6-0 isn't that bad. Given 2♦ as inv as better, something like the following could perhaps work 2[he]/2[sp] = Natural, minimum, NF 3[di] = Natural, slam try 3M = shortness ask cheapest bid of suit = singleton 3N = no shortness 4[cl] = Unknown void, 4[di] asks 2NT = Maximum 3[cl] - relay 3[di] - No major 3[he] - relay 3[sp] - Unknown singleton 3N - no shortness 4c - 2=2=2=7 4x - Void 3[he] - 4[he] 3[sp] asks shortness 3N = none 4[cl]=unknown void (4[di] asks, 4x = void suit, 4N = [di] void) 4x = singleton 3N - to play 3[sp] - 4[sp], no shortness 3NT - 4[sp], shortness 4[cl] asks 4x = shortness 3[cl] = Minimum, no major 3[di] = shortness relay 3M = singleton 3N = no shortness 4[cl] = [di] singleton 4[di]/[he]/[sp] = Void 3[di] = 5[di]-6[cl]+

ANYTHING in balancing seat is legal? What about an agreement, of something like: X = 0-4 or 16+

As a long time Kindle owner, may I try to dissuade you? If you want to read, the tablet Kindle (Fire) is 100% not what you want, as it's a normal LCD screen, and not e-ink.

I can play this Saturday, if I can get someone to play with me. I can practice between about 6PM-Midnight (EST) on Friday as well.

The director call was on the basis of West waking up after hearing the explanation.

[hv=pc=n&s=st5htdqt32caqt982&w=saqj6hj63d54c7653&n=s743hq852daj76cj4&e=sk982hak974dk98ck&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=1c(Precision-style)3cpp3hp4hppp]399|300|ACBL Sectional[/hv] After 3♥, South asked if pass over 3♣ showed anything special, and was told "0-4, when we remember it" South called the director to reserve rights after dummy hit. Result on the hand was 4♥-1, on less than stellar declarer play, so no ruling was sought. Thoughts?

It's always bugged me that the hand viewer used "10" instead of "T", so I fixed it, with a Chrome extension. Free download at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bbo-forum-handviewer-t-if/holbaancpajpbjfefdinfbcikkgfcfdp?hl=en-US http://i.imgur.com/meBGGWv.png