PhantomSac

That is a very pessimistic outlook

4C

I would do this about 0 % of the time given your specifications (both expert partners, never raise on 3). That is coming from someone who has done it a lot for the other reason you mentioned and also just cuz I used to do it a lot.

You are "kinda surprised" about a lot of things that are totally normal. Maybe you don't know as much about bridge as you think, and people that you are "kinda surprised" about playing something different than you and being far superior than you at bridge should be a clue about certain things?

Why should partner not play the 5 of hearts from 65 doubleton?

That hand may bid "stop 3D" but it would not bid 3D if it saw the auction correctly lol. I would roll it back to 3D unless EW bid up the line and east has shown at least as many hearts as diamonds.

lol amazing

You only have 17 points though

I would guess 5-5 inv, but natural weak (4-6) and 5-5 strong are also both popular so I would never bid this undiscussed. Never would have thought splinter, you brits are weirdos :P

Ken, I think you misunderstood my post, I think you and I are in 100 % agreement. From my limited knowledge and viewpoint, I think that the supreme court got the decision wrong and overstepped their bounds. But like you, I have no expertise in constitutional law, so I do not think that I am necessarily right. What I feel bad about is that people with that viewpoint have to include "I am not a bigot." I do feel strongly that as a society it is completely horrible to not allow gay marriage, it is bigoted and will be viewed in history like thinking schools should be segregated or that women should not be allowed to vote. There is 0 % chance I am bigoted on this, yet I do feel the SCOTUS made or potentially made a bad choice. For us to have to feel that we should say "I am not a bigot" because we think SCOTUS made a bad choice is a failure of people in general. There is no implication that we are bigoted or anti gay-rights or gay marriage because we think that SCOTUS go this wrong. We might be wrong about that, we might not, but it is certainly not bigoted, it is analyzing a decision in a vacuum. People who say we are "biased" or "bigoted" for thinking that are just as biased as the people who think gay people should not be allowed to be married. I was commenting only on the need (not just in this thread but on the internet/what I have seen in general) to preface this opinion with "I am not a bigot." You should not need to and anyone who thinks that you are probably a bigot for thinking you are for that opinion is probably an idiot.

It is amusing to me that anyone who thinks that is pro gay marriage but thinks that SCOTUS got this wrong feels the need to say "I'm not a bigot." That is a totally reasonable thing to think and does not at all imply bigotry, in fact I would guess as a group those people are less biased and more thoughtful than either of the other sides. As a bridge analogy it would be like if your teammate took the wrong line of play, but it worked so you won the match, being happy that you won the match but thinking your teammates line of play was objectively wrong. That is completely tenable and does not imply that you actually did not want to win the match.

Perhaps 5H should show this hand? We have exclusion and keycard available in every suit so we are implicitly worried about stuff that cannot be shown via those routes like the queen of trumps or a fifth trump or the jack of trumps. IRL I would probably go with the exclusion route unless I thought my partner would bid slam with QJxx or Qxxxx of hearts over 5H.

Yeah exactly, the 2 level is a lot different than the 3 level.

North has a massive hand. I don't exactly like how south bid it but assuming he meant his double as "good hand" north can bid game directly. To pass 3D then pass 3H is criminal with 4 trumps and an ace and a doubleton spade.

I'd pass. It's just one of those spots where if I could bid exactly the right contract it would definitely be right to bid, but we have very little chance of getting there since partner will bid too much or we might get to the wrong strain etc.

Another thing that just occurred to me that is interesting, if you cash the HK and they don't play the 9, they cannot have T9xx anymore. They also probably do not have T9xxx since RHO would put up the queen with Qxx. So one possible play is if you play the HK and they play the 9, play them for 2434 and pitch a club, but if they do not remember to play the 9, then go for 2623 and pitch a diamond. Another good example of playing the card you're known to hold reaping rewards. Ofc this depends on how often you think they play the 9 from Q9x remaining.

Rainer touched on the endgame but it has some highly instructive points. For starters, Rainer says LHO probably does not have only 4 hearts since they pitched a heart. That is not really true, as with 2434 they were squeezed on the spade and would probably be forced to pitch a heart. However, that is the main gain of cashing the heart, you make on any club layout in that case (cash the heart pitching a club and play a diamond). You were probably trying to endplay LHO if they had the CJ, however consider this position: [hv=pc=n&s=s82hkd2ct2&w=sh2dqcj943&n=shdj9cakq8&e=s9hq3dc765]399|300[/hv] Say that you erroneously exited a diamond without cashing a heart. It seems like you are OK since LHO is endplayed, except he can exit the JACK of clubs. Now you will be forced to lose a club or a spade in the endgame since your tricks are tangled up. So the endplay does not really work. Let's say LHO has 2533. If RHO has the CJ you are dead, and if LHO has the CJ it looks like he can do the same trick of exiting the jack of clubs right? [hv=pc=n&s=s82hkd2ct2&w=shq2dqcj43&n=shdj9cakq8&e=s9h3dc9765]399|300[/hv] Well no, actually the CJ does not work here. After winning in dummy, you cash the diamond and RHO is squeezed in the blacks (if they pitch a spade, club to your ten claim and if they pitch the club run the clubs). So your line wins when LHO has specifically 2533 with the CJ. That is much less likely than LHO being 2434. Also, cashing the HK always wins on any club layout when LHO is 2623, RHO is just triple squeezed. But you have to make sure to pitch a DIAMOND not a club this time. Interesting is if you are going to play LHO for 2533, another possible line is to cash the heart king and pitch the diamond, and exit with a spade. This endplays RHO while setting up your spade, who is more likely to have the CJ since they have 4 clubs. Except... [hv=pc=n&s=s82hkd2ct2&w=shq2dqc643&n=shdj9cakq8&e=s9h3dcj975]399|300[/hv] By now you probably guessed it. RHO exits the jack of clubs and your communications are too messed up. I think that the right line in the endgame is to cash your heart pitching a club and exit a diamond, which would fail. I also don't think you have any reason to believe LHO has the HQ, usually especially gibs do not lead from queens, T9xx is a perfectly normal lead and it's perfectly normal for RHO to duck with Qxxx since they don't know if their partner has T9x or not. Your line was extremely bad though, the other line should be to cash a heart pitching a diamond.

I played this game for like 1 week but spent like 16 hours/day playing and reading about it. Consumed my life for a week, I only played ladder though never arena. Might get back into it but I get a little too obsessed with these kind of things. I think Roger (clee) was quite good at one point.

Odd even leads probably refers to odd even leads... confusing

bidding 3D instead of 2N makes absolutely no sense to me as a passed hand in a system where we open "a majority of 11 counts."

Totally agree, 5D is the money bid. Might put LHO in a tough spot with a lot of spades, might put RHO in an awkward spot (they have opened and made a 2/1), they might double you not knowing that your hand is so good etc.

he is lol because you said you doubt you could find anyone who played 1C 1S X p 2D as forcing, so he posted a link that contained 6 links to threads discussing whether or not 2D is NF in that auction. It is one of the most asked about auctions of all time on this forum, with a large majority of the top players here IIRC preferring forcing.

FYP

Wow. Maybe cuz it might be our hand for a spade contract? CHERRY PICKED EXAMPLE ALERT but if partner has say Axxx xxxx xx Kxx game is pretty good, I don't think he will be bidding. At some point someone has to bid, a good time for that is at the 1 level with a 6 card suit. I wonder if people who pass with hands like this just never realize how much they're giving up because they never even notice it was their hand.

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