PhantomSac

double post

I play KI and play 1N is 5+ spades and 1S is 0-4. The reason is it's pretty sweet to show 5 spades immediately, and you can still find 4-4 spade fits over 1S pretty easily playing KI (there are a variety of schemes but we play over 1S that 1N is bal or clubs, 2C is diamonds, 2D is 6+ hearts, and 2H is 4S. Supposedly it is better to play 1N is bal or diamonds and 2C is clubs). To me that is the main reason we play it. When NV I generally say 0-12 (0-11 in a std context but I have only played it in precision). That is because I believe esp white/red it is always right to respond, even moreso true in precision but I believe that in std also.

For people scared of Xing just do it 15 times and report back. I guarantee you will not go back to overcalling.

double all day every day and welcome yourself to the 21st century

Yes, def bid 2H. The main feature of your hand is not that you have 5 spades, it's that you have 3 card support for partner. If you don't show it now, you cannot show it later (unless you massively overbid). It's really important to tell your partner early on when you have a fit, that is basically what bidding is all about, trying to find a fit and when you find one letting partner know. Really the only reason to not show a fit early on is if you are out of range to do it immediately, for instance if you had KJT9x xxx xx xxx you might be too weak for 1H-2H (depending on your style) so in that case you would bid 1S (or 1N KI). If you have AT98x Txx x AQxx you have a 3 card limit raise so if you don't have a way to show that directly you bid spades then jump in hearts. But if you are in range for 1H 2H you should always do that rather than bidding spades.

Anecdotal evidence but the main reasons Kevin and I chose not to go was because it was really hard to get to, it was expensive, and the format seemed super random. So at least in our cases he was right. I love China in general and think it's great to hold more events there since they have such a big and growing bridge population, but the choice of Sanya instead of one of their major cities seemed odd. The whole short swiss to cut a lot of teams followed by very short knockout matches though, that seems criminal. Apparently they did all of this to make the mixed a more prestigious event... sorry but lol at that concept. I believe they also shortened the world open pairs right?

This seems like an example where rebidding 2C works well?

1 double 2 pass Hand 1 is obviously close, hand 2 is not imo.

Sry for my post, was pretty rude for no reason.

X is obv a super accept, if you happen have the hand to force to the four level opposite a transfer (which is like .01 % to happen but possible since it's a freebid eg xx AKxx AQxxx Kx maybe?) you can bid 4H lol

I know this thread is not that serious but that is a serious leak in almost everyone's game. As you get better at bridge it becomes less "fun" because playing good bridge is all about being disciplined. This might seem funny coming from me since I generally play very aggressive styles in my partnerships in most spots, but I am "disciplined" in the terms of what my partner expects and what my style dictates. For instance, I was second seat all vul last week and I had QJT9876 xxx x xx. It went pass to me. My partner and I are quite sound 2nd seat red so I passed. This seemed silly since this spade suit is meant to be bid, but my partner will expect more/better for a 2nd seat red 2S bid. Of course it went 2N p 3D p 4H AP and my partner had Axxx x Qxxx Axxx so that was a double game swing lol, but the point is I was disciplined within my style. I did not just say "you know lets preempt and see what happens," if it was +EV to do so then that would be my style. Opening this hand or bidding in general with light hands to see what happens is more fun and it can definitely work. But if it usually worked it would be normal. Whenever you take an unusual action you really need a reason to do so, most people would be well served by attempting at all times to do what is "normal" because it is normal for a reason. Being disciplined is not that fun, but winning/doing better is also fun. When you have the urge to do something that you know is not correct or normal, ask yourself if you think it is really best, or if you are just bored and want to bid to see what happens. IMO. As you get better, taking actions you know are probably bad but might work will become less fun :(

Great assumption since it is our turn to bid.

Does not exist

This is a very interesting bridge hand

Bidding 1S over 1S is a tough call

Your judgement has become super warped if you think this might be a hand people would open. If you added the SJ a minority of players (maybe not a minority of forumers) would open it. Maybe you watch on vugraph or w/e and you see people opening really light, but that is systemic and it is definitely not normal to even consider opening this hand. Normal bridge with balanced hands is you open 12 or a hand worth 12. Even Jxxxx and an 11 count is an aggressive opener with such a bad suit even with A K K and a T. Opening a 5332 10 count with 5 small is not in the game. You can agree to open lighter than normal but even then, this hand is probably not in the game unless you have extremely aggressive opening agreements that very few people (relative to the bridge playing population) have.

If it was a weak player I would assume they weren't sure what X was. Since it's an expert and we're in 2014 I am going to assume that was not what the hesitation was about. When combined with the in tempo pass of 3H I agree with Trinidad and think that they were deciding between 2S and 3m with 2S and a 5 card minor. Often a slow 2S was considering passing the X of 2H and decided not to, but with that hand he would X 3H so I will rule that out.

Thx mike! I actually told them this and they totally agreed and will have a different system now.

I would have before this thread. It basically blows my mind that you are saying you cannot make a natural 2S bid because partner with no agreements might take it as some weird artificial bid. Have you noticed that everyone in this thread who thinks it should be artificial has had a different meaning? You said 5 hearts game try. Kenrexford said xx Qxxx Kxx AJxx (strong 3D bid) Jinksy said non forcing game try in SPADES. Mrace offers up it's ridiculous to not be natural while giving no suggested meaning. The only people who give the same meaning are the people who think it is natural. What would be better, we never bid 2S ever without an agreement opposite a random partner no matter what because there are 5 possible different meanings, or that we just take bids like this as natural and at least get the utility of that. I know I am just stealing this from Fred but bids that might reasonably be natural are natural is a great way to navigate through the many undiscussed sequences you might have. I also think natural is the right way to play, but that is irrelevant, even if I thought some other meaning was superior I could never bid it undiscussed since as you have seen people who think it should be artificial all think it should be something different from each other, so I would rather have an "inferior" default meaning than never make the bid. I mean come on dude you really think in an undiscussed partnership anyone should be busting out 2S artificial game try with 5 hearts and something in spades? I also don't understand why having 4 bad hearts and not wanting to play a 4-3 with the tap in the (hopefully!) good trump hand is such an unlikely scenario lol. Trump quality definitely matters in a 4-3 fit scenario way more than it does in an 8 card fit scenario because we have to like, try and keep trump control and also score some trump winners + some side tricks.

So what do you think it is? I mean mgoetze wants it to be game interest with 5 hearts, I have a good bid available for that, 3H. Kenrexford wants it to be effectively a game try in diamonds if I understand correctly, we have 3C available when we have that hand. Partner showed 4351, we have made all non forcing bids so far, it is likely to be a partscore hand, why can't I play the partscore I think to be best opposite a known shape? I have a cuebid, I have a game try in hearts, I have whatever else I need.

+ 1 million but doubt we will convince anyone :P

your googling is very bad lol: http://manfromuncle.webs.com/uncleepisodeguide.htm I googled with the search term "country of Querido"

You have a slam force but you have no heart control. I agree with 5S to indicate that type of hand.

In these types of auction I play step 1= you bid my 4 card minor. Others = you bid my 5 card minor.

Well north certainly cannot bid