jmc

Could you provide some examples about what things you found you didn't like? I thought he made some good thought out points. jmc

We play a weak NT and its nice to remove the 18,19 balanced hands from the 1m openings. It makes things simpler to expect partners 1m opening to be 15-17 bal or unbalanced with a minor. jmc

Awm, what method were you considering? A partner of mine has recently suggested an artificial 3NT and so far it seems artificially complex to me. jmc

I am looking for the best structure over a 2D bid showing a balanced 18-19. Our structure is really hodge podged. Please post yours if possible. What I'm playing is below but it is not so good. 2D- 2H-transfer to 2S 2S-transfer to 2NT either to play or to be followed with 3C normal stayman 2NT- relay to 3C to play or 3D to play after 2d-2nt-3c-3d 3C-puppet stayman 3D- xfer to H, could be drop dead 3H- game forcing xfer to spades 3S- MSS 3NT- 4-5 major hand balanced (our pupp stayman responses are wierd, dont ask) 4C- gerber 4D, 4H- texas 4S- really big weak minors 4NT- quantitative We play leb over interference over 2D if possible. jmc

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=s652h873d108765c42&w=sq874haq105daca975&e=saj9h96dq943ckj83&s=sk103hkj42dkj2cq106]399|300|[/hv] Auction is as follows starting with South. 1NT 11-14 DBL 15+ RDBL requests S bid 2C so N can show a 1 suited hand P awaiting developments, shows values, else runs out with a bid 2C as requested by rdbl P 3+ c, would dbl with C shortness for t/o depedning on E length in c 2D norths suit p E has 3 or more diamonds, with less dbl for t/o depedning on W length in D P Dbl W has 2 or fewer diamonds and dbls to show length in the other suits p P Let’s play here and thank you for the take out dbl partner

The defense below is roughly based on that suggested in "The Weak NT: How to play it, How to Play Against It" by Andy Stark. My regular partners and I adopted it as below to give some definition to our defense of weak NT's. Please take a look and tell me what you like and dislike. If you have a more comprehensive system or other suggestions, please post. jmc Constructive Defense over Weak NT using Cappelletti Double of a weak NT opener (in either direct or balancing seat) shows about 1 point better than the top of the opponents’ 1NT range. The double could be one point lighter with a VERY easy lead, say from KQJ10 or AKJ10. If the opponents pass after 1NT - dbl, then partner should pass with some values (5+) and can run using the same system as if partner opened 1NT (4 suit transfers etc.). Two-level Cappelletti overcalls (see below) show the same point range as the opponents’ 1NT. Partner cannot have a hand that was good enough to double if he overcalls. Advancer will invite game with a good fit and 11-12 hcp and generally force to game with 13+ hcp. After a weak 1NT by the opponents, our direct and balancing seat jumps to the 3 level are normal 7-card preempts. After making a penalty dbl of 1NT, we cannot sell out to an undoubled contract by the opponents below 2S. Passes are forcing until this point. That means when the auction goes 1NT – dbl – 2H that our side will either dbl 2H, play 2S or higher, or let the opponents play 2S or higher. Once we have entered this forcing situation, doubles show shortness in the opponents run-out suit, 6+ points, and are for take-out unless partner can pass holding some length (3+cs). A sample hand follows.

I have really enjoyed many posts here over the last few years. I wanted to suggest that newcomers try and kibitz (watch) some of the posters here play online at BBO. Anyone can post and act like they know what they are saying. Sometimes it can be difficult to separate out the wise and the seemingly wise. This is especially hard for me when the discussion is at a level I barely understand anyway. (winkle, stepping stone squeeze, finesse) Before you decide someones advice or post is "the bomb" learn who they are and what kind of player they are. You will soon develop some favorite posters and figure out who they find credible and who is not. If you read something that sounds dumb. YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT. There is no exam recquired to post here. BUT YOU MAY BE WRONG! Find people who post who have bridge skills you respect from first hand experiece or trusted sources. May you find many interesting, enlightening posts in the future, jmc

I think something important is being missed here. South had a hesitation (long pause) over 2C and then chose to pass. This is the first possible source of UI. After the 2D call is pass a logical alternative for North? Clearly his partners hesitation pass hass indicated he has some values. Without the pass North may reason, " I have 15, opener has 13-15. E has some values. My partner could be broke." Based on this the 3D might not be allowed BUT IF IT IS, I don't think North can move over 3H. North more than bid his hand. South should be going to game on his own if he has more than his pass promised. 4H seems bid on the hesitation. I think the hesitation pass is way more important here than the UI of the alert. jmc

I think your idea of removing the lower ranged balanced hands from the 1C bid is very interesting. I can see how this might ease some problems that occur over the big club when the opponents have highly distributional hands. These auctions would become more comfortable and systems for dealing with interference over NT's are fairly good. Telling the nature of our hand (ie balanced) also makes the interference over the big balanced hands easier to handle than over a "normal" precision club. I'll admit that the downside to this is that I would have to give up playing weak nt's and a preemptive opening 2NT showing the minors. I am not playing high level events and I find these are "fun" things to play. My experience is that weak nt's have helped us far more than they have hurt us. You mentioned the "Mexican" 2D showing a balanced 18, 19 in an earlier post. Do you have a favorite set of responses? jmc

Thanks awm. Very good point. jmc

[hv=d=w&v=b&n=sakj1085hdaq52caqj&w=s742hj8765dj876c6&e=s96hkq10432dck10832&s=sq3ha9dk10943c9754]399|300|Scoring: IMP p-1c-2h-3c-3h-3s-4h-4s-p-4nt-p-5c-p-5d-p-6d-p-7s[/hv] Here are all 4 hands. Partner won the h lead pitching a club. Pulled spades and played a small d towards the K. As the diamonds were 4-0 and rho didnt vover the lead of the 10d, partner fell back on the finesse. 7s-1. This was worth -14 imps. This was imp pairs and only 1 pair was in slam making. Most played diamonds dbld for +500. I think this grand is so good I'd want to be in it even at swiss teams against a bad team. The diamonds breaking 4-0 is nomaly 10%. We can handle 4-0 with lho. We also make when the club hook is on which is 50-50. I think this is at least a 95% slam. It may be a bit better. Would you want to be in this against a poor team in a swiss? jmc

Cherdano, in your answer you forgot p has one key card for spades. This must be the AH. This eliminates your need for the ruff. jmc

[hv=v=b&s=sakj1085hdaq52caqj]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] RHO is dealer and makes a pass. We begin the bidding with a Precision 1C. LHO bids 2H, a weak jump overcall, and partner bids 3C showing 5+ D 8+ HCP and a game force. Now RHO bids 3H. We can bid 3S and show our good major, 4D ostensibly setting D and asking controls, or 4H kickback for D. Whats your call? If we bid 3S, partner will bid 4S. Over our 4NT RKC 1430 p bids 5C and over 5D he bids 6D showing the D king denying the club K and showing the Q of spades. What is your call? What do you estimate the odds are for the grand? jmc

I have really enjoyed your book. It has helped me think a lot about the system I play and ways it could be improved. Thanks for all your hard work. I was wondering how much you have played the system. It seems like making many game forcing responders bid 1D after opener's 1C goes against your general colors and shape first philosophy. My worry would be that weak hands get to describe their shape but stronger hands are vulnerable to preemption. In practice how has this worked out? I really dislike the 16-18 range but would you be more apt to describe this as 15+-18-? Do you feel playing the range 15-17, 18-20, and 21 + would be a big minus? I think your idea of taking all but the biggest balanced hands out of the 1C is very interesting. Thanks again, jmc

After I play IMP pairs online I would like to figure out an approximate equivalent MP percentage. I keep track of my stats and its nice to have a number in the percentage column. I found this website http://www.ycbc.co.uk/scoring.htm but they did not really explain the methadology and they dont easily let me figure for 12 boards. Any help anyone could give would be appreciated. jmc

O.K. I am an idiot. I did not realize that in the 1000s of files of hands saved under my nick, there are different files for normal hands and tourneys. I found all the tourney hands there. I am still curious about the lin files, but at least I have one now with all 12 hands. Ty all in advance. jmc

I would like to save "hand records" from the online tourneys I play. I can download the individual .lin files for ech hand but I'd prefer to have them all in one file. I can't find a log of the tourney files I've played on my machine. I can downloard the .lin files for each hand but I do not know how to nicely combine them all into one file. I tried using Richard Palicek's converter to change all the .lins to .rbns so I could just cut and paste them into one text file but the converter gives me the error "Invalid Line Endings" I am tracking all my bridge results and would like to save the equivalent of the hand records and personal score. Any suggestions are welcome. jmc

I am also curious in what software people are using for hand generation and then analysis. I have often wondered how to see what shape is more likely in order to make system choices (ie unusual positive vs. 7-card semi-positive) and I would welcome any suggestions. jmc

I previously asked if anyone on the forum new anything about The Precision Club Newsletter. It is available at http://www.carlritner.com/acblmags.htm but I had never viewed one before and was concerned about the quality. Carl Ritner was kind enough to send me an issue and it looks like it had some decent backers: Kathy Wei, Terrence Reese, and Ron Andersen to name a few. It was published 6 times a year from about 1974-1980. If you'd like to check out a few pages, I scanned in 1-4 and 15,16 for you. Page 16 has a mini-table of contents. You can find them at: http://sio.midco.net/JJJAPrecision/precisi...%20sample_1.jpg http://sio.midco.net/JJJAPrecision/precisi...%20sample_2.jpg http://sio.midco.net/JJJAPrecision/precisi...%20sample_3.jpg http://sio.midco.net/JJJAPrecision/precisi...%20sample_4.jpg http://sio.midco.net/JJJAPrecision/precisi...20sample_15.jpg http://sio.midco.net/JJJAPrecision/precisi...20sample_16.jpg In the following post Hrothgar inquired about buying a chunk of Bridge World back issues and placing them online. The BW wasn't interested but maybe Kathy Wei would be interested in having this magazine repository online. Interested in checking it out Hrothgar? Scanning the issues would be fairly trivial. http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?sho...e+world+license Hope you all find this of interest. jmc

This hand comes from Match Point Bridge by H.W. Kelsey. It can be found on page 129 in my version. It is one of the later hands on "Dummy Play". I posted the hand because I kept thinking that ducking the H twice seemed to make sense. Sure, we were behind the field that recieved any other lead but such is life. We could still make the contract when the hook was off if RHO only had 3 H. Anyway I get now why my thinking was wrong. Kelsey had this to say, "The contract is normal but the lead unfavoarble. At pairs you can not settle for 11 when 12 is there, so the hold up is out of the question. If the club is right the JD or QS could drop or there might be a squeeze. The only chance of sharing the match-points with those who got a different lead is to assume the club finesse is right."

I am looking for someone to play bridge with at the Las Vegas Sectional on Friday the 19th of January at 10 AM and 2 PM. If you are interested drop me a line at jonathan.cohn@gmail.com or post a response here. I am happy to play your system and carding. I can answer any questions you have about my own quals etc. If you know anyone in Las Vegas who plays pass the word I am looking! Thanks, jmc

Bidding was uncontested. Sorry if this wasn't clear. Ops Passed throughout. jmc

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=sak6h93dk8caqj763&s=sj52ha102daq104c1095]133|200|Scoring: MP Pass-1♣-2NT-3NT[/hv] The lead is the 6 of hearts and RHO plays the Q. How do you plan the play? What are your mp considerations? jmc p.s. if you recognise the hand please don't "give it up" yet.

Al_U_Card gave me permission to post a link to his sheet. It is well done and has lots of space for different information. You can find it at: http://sio.midco.net/JJJAPrecision/score2.doc jmc

In face to face bridge I am rarely playing in a field that is all good competition. I often will look left and right and decide how likely that pesky 3H or 4H call is from these people. I might lean slightly towards 1S against better opponents and lean towards double against palookas. jmc