bid_em_up

I think we can rule out any shape that has a singleton heart unless it is the stiff Ace. The lack of a 4H cuebid makes it impossible that partner has continued on while also missing the A or K of clubs which can be inferred by the lack of a 4C cuebid. This eliminates 3-1-4-5, 4-1-3-5, and he absolutely cannot have 3-2-2-6. (Side note: 4-1-3-5 should have splintered over 2S). While some people do not like splintering with a void, I am not one of them and would have splintered on 4-0-4-5 and 4-0-3-6 as well and then continued with one more try over the 4S signoff, so for me, these two holdings are also eliminated. This leaves only 3-0-4-6, or 3-0-3-7 as the only two reasonable remaining distributions, imo. I'm inclined to believe that he is 3-0-4-6. I think partner is looking for one of the top clubs, either the A or K. If I have either one of them, then that has to be what he needs, and I will show it by bidding 6C. If I don't have either, it's a moot point since his bidding makes no sense and I will just sign off again in 5S. jmoo

1♥ - (2♣) - 4N?

Hopefully none. I'd much prefer that they lead out to the bus stop, and not directly into the bus route. ;)

I think I would rather be in 6N than 6♠. 6S is subject to going down on a 4-1 break (with the spade A offside). 6N will make if either black suit comes in. I will get either 5♠, 3♣*, 2♦, 2♥ = 12, or 6♣, 2♠, 2♦, 2♥ for 12 again. Even if both black suits break badly, there is also the additional chance of scoring 4♣, 2♠, 2♦, and finally some justice when hearts are 3-3 and the Q is onside, 4♥. ;) * That you can reasonably count. It's fairly simple to construct an auction to get there. I will be perfectly happy if the rest of the field is in 6S, though. :P

You are missing that the clubs broke 6-0 so you only have 3 club tricks (after the Q♣ was led at trick 2), and not 4.

Given that a WJS should show 6+ cards, <6 hcp, and you have a hand that is described perfectly by that bid, then that's what you bid (3♣). The "what if's" should never stop you from making the call that best describes your hand. If you are going to play this kind of "game", then you may as well remove the damn bid from your card. jmoo.

Then trees would not grow in a forest that no one visited. That is not the issue. The issue is whether those non-existent trees would make a sound when they fall (hypothetically). Don't forget to consider whether or not the little brown bear would do what little brown bears do in the (non-existent) woods. That is, if the bear actually exists.

Why? Because I hate the letter "D". :lol:

Look closer Oh. I stopped looking at singleton jacks a long time ago, which explains why I think it's the same! (I swear I looked at the hand 3-4 times initially trying to see the difference, even after you said look closer, it still took me another 2-3 attempts before I finally recognized the difference, stiff J, stiff 2, they all look the same to me!)

natural, reverse. In the future, please use X to signify double when listing an auction and not "D". Thx.

You got that right!! In fact, it's exactly the same!! :) I would not open 1H, so I don't have this problem.

1) No. 2) No.

I would be very unusual to see at least two of these players there. I will infer that you mean that two of them are now deceased (unbeknownst to me) or no longer live in the area. Even so, that was the "caliber" of player that attended that particular club on a regular basis, the names listed were for examples only.

I never made it down into the actual Miami area other than for local tournaments, so can't offer much help there, but if you can make it up to the Ft. Lauderdale area (approximately 30-45 miles to the north depending on where in Miami you will be), there are two very good clubs. The Ft. Lauderdale Duplicate Bridge club, and the Tamarac Duplicate Bridge Club are both excellent clubs. If I could only choose one, I would pick the Tamarac club. Atlhough it has been years since I played there, it would not be unusual to find the likes of Richard and Mabel Pavlicek, Bernie Chazen, or Helen Shanbrom playing there. Helen, to the best of my knowledge, only plays at that club (2 sessions/day), and it is almost worth going there simply to meet her. In case you don't know who she is, Helen Shanbrom has been the ACBL Ace of Clubs award winner in the 10,000+ masterpoint category for something like the last 14 out of 15 years. This award is given to the player winning the most points in club games each year. She is also a fine player, even at her age (she's 90 now). http://www.district9acbl.org/SBN/2007_09/S...l4No1_22_43.pdf If you can make it even further north to Boca Raton, Jourdan's is/was the place to be. It's possible this club has been renamed by now, try the Boca Raton Duplicate Bridge club.

If partner is a competent declarer, 4♥ game try. Otherwise 3♥ will suffice.

Unless the bet was how bad pass and/or 1N are compared to choosing XX or 1S. :)

On BBO, the only two smiley faces that work are :) and :) On the forums, the other ones work.

I really think the Ace of clubs stands out by a mile. This is matchpoints. Assuming the opponents are competent and actually have their bids, partner will be broke and we have absolutely no reasonable expectation of being able to defeat this contract (imo). We can expect them to easily take 5-6 spades, 2 hearts, 4-5 diamonds and at least one club. Thats 12. Our objective here should be preventing any possible overtricks, and not worrying about beating the contract. The fact that the opponents have bid ridiculously and the club A lead sets them is just icing on the cake. jmoo

And just what did she do before she retired? More of the same? :P

Because what do you do about 13-16 year olds who decide to "experiment" with their boyfriends and end up pregnant? I assumed you were referring to adults, not children.

[hv=n=sakj2ha1075d106ck84&s=s53hkqdakj9cq10932]133|200|[/hv] None of the above?

Why require them to have an abortion? I'd much prefer that such people be required to have a vasectomy or their tubes tied before ever either getting someone pregnant or getting pregnant on their own. Preventative methods rather than post-coital methods would work wonders for this world. Oh, I forgot. The church refuses to discuss birth control, but instead prefers to insist that these unwanted children be born into lives of misery because abortion is "wrong". Go figure.

I completely disagree with this statement. Given partner's choice of overcalls, I think your actions are 100% reasonable and you shouldn't blame yourself entirely, if at all, for this result. I would expect the 4th seat vulnerable overcall to be more substantial than this hand is. (I would choose a 2N bid over 1H, but only if all of the pass cards have been removed from my bidding box). Additionally, if you had managed to beat 4S x'd by 2 tricks and come back to the table +300, everyone would be happy.

Oh, I dunno. Maybe it's because when partner is 3♥-2♦, they will always choose 2H and we are probably better off playing in 2♦. Likewise when he is 3-3 in the reds, he will choose 2H and we should still (probably) be in 2D. It seems to me that offering a choice of red suits only gains when partner has 4 hearts and fewer than 3 diamonds. This target is too small for me, especially after 1N has already been doubled for penalties. I want to escape to the fit that is least likely to be doubled, and that is going to be diamonds the majority of the time. This doesn't even factor in that by concealing the heart suit the opponents may balance in 2H. ;) No?

Given an uncontested auction, getting to 6S or even 7S should be a relatively simple task. How likely is it that this auction is going to be uncontested though? My opponents are rarely that friendly. Everyone appears to be assuming that LHO is going to be silent over 4C or 5C. I think this is a poor prospect since LHO is looking at a weak hand with 4 card support after his partner just preempted. His next bid is likely to be 6C, or given the favorable vulnerability 7C, in which case we have told partner absolutely nothing about our hand. I prefer to bid 3♥ over 3♣. There is too much potential for a grand and nothing says spades will be best as we do not know about partner's extra spade length at this point in the auction. How we proceed from here will likely depend on LHO's next call. He may well further the preempt. He almost certainly will if we bid 4C or 5C, but he might just pass over 3H as he cannot be certain that we are heading for slam yet. If LHO does pass, getting to 6S should be relatively simple. In fact, I am not sure you could keep me out of 7S on this holding if I can find out partner has the heart A and the spade A. If LHO furthers the preempt with 5C or 6C, I will just bid 6S. If LHO bids 7C initially or over 6S, I think I am forced to double and take the money. jmoo.