rwbarton

Since I happen to have a sample of several million hands played on BBO handy, I thought I would do a study of how defenders play from QJ in real life. Of the first 66000 hands my program looked at where a defender held QJ tight, the defender played the Q first only 52% of the time. However, this includes situations such as the opening lead and when partner is leading the suit, and does not take into account the contract. Suggestions for better parameters for the study are welcome. I think I'll try only hands where QJ is in the trump suit next.

Another hand from the sectional Swiss Teams, flight B. [hv=d=e&v=e&n=saqxha9xdk9xcqjxx&s=sjxxhkq8xdaxxcakx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] You have an uninterrupted relay auction in which South opens a strong club, North shows 3334 with 13+ HCP and 5 AK controls, South makes a natural quantitative invite (5NT!) and North raises to 6NT. Trick 1 goes ♠x-x-x-J. Clearly, something strange has happened on this trick. If LHO underled the ♠K, we now have at least 12 tricks. Or maybe RHO ducked the ♠K, which might have been necessary if we held Jxxx KQx Axx AKx, but on this layout, gives us extra squeeze chances if he also has long hearts. How do you judge the relative likelihood of these errors? How do you proceed?

(A/E hidden text please) [hv=d=w&v=n&n=s953haj8dt974cq84&s=sa6hkt973dq52ca75]133|200|Scoring: IMP (P) P (P) 1♥ (P) 2♥ AP[/hv] The play begins ♦K-4-6-2 ♠4-3-Q-A ♥3-5-A-2 ♥8-4-9-Q ♠7-5-K-6 ♠2-♥7-♠8-9 ♥T-♣3-♥J-6 ♦T-J-Q-A [hv=d=w&v=n&n=s953haj8dt974cq84&s=sa6hkt973dq52ca75]133|200|Scoring: IMP (P) P (P) 1♥ (P) 2♥ AP[/hv]

http://tinyurl.com/yd87ubh Whatever you think of the subsequent bidding, isn't ♠A6 ♥K65 ♦KJT ♣QT632 enough for a 2♣ response to my 1♥ opener? GIB bid 1NT.

OK, maybe it is normal and I just never learned how to bid properly :ph34r:

1♣ - 1♠ 2♥ - 2♠ Apparently GIB thinks this is forcing; is that normal? GIB was responder and held [hv=s=skq863hq93d8cat87]133|100|[/hv]

In Josh's first example, it is even better if you can show an invite and still stop in 2♠ (+1.5 IMPs versus 3♠ at the other table). It's not so much that you need to be bidding 35% games vul, but that the cost of exploring for game and stopping in 3 is substantial. So you would need to think that you had a big gain in bidding accuracy to make a game try rather than blast or pass.

It makes a big difference whether the scoring is IMPs or MPs, since at IMPs you need to make two more tricks in the major to show a sizable profit. This can easily happen if there is singleton around or an unstopped suit. On the other hand 4M and 3NT might be making the same tricks if both hands are balanced, especially if the major happens to be breaking 4-1.

Just because LHO bid 4NT and then 6♥ doesn't mean they can't be off two cashing aces; maybe LHO would have signed off in 5♥ if we hadn't bid 5♠ but wants to bid 6♥ as insurance now. I would have just bid 6♠ the second round. I'll do that now, I guess.

If you decide to play this make sure to discuss auctions like 1♠ - 2♥ 3♥ - 3♠ frivolous or ♠ raise? For those who play frivolous 3♠, what does this 3♠ mean for you?

1) rwbarton 2) Last Saturday (3/27) between 1 PM and 3:30 PM Eastern Time (UTC-4)

I was playing in a tournament using the flash client, and in one round, the first board was played slowly, and the second board was skipped (automatically, it seemed) with both sides assigned Ave. When the clock ran out and the next round started, something strange happened in my client. I no longer recall the exact details, but I think it looked like I was in the next round, with new opponents' names on the screen, and a new hand. However, there were no buttons for chatting to the table/kibitzers/opponents/tournament, and I was unable to bid despite being dealer, I think; either I had no bidding box, or clicking the bidding buttons did nothing, I forget. Partner had the same (or at least a similar) problem, which is why I assume the fact that the previous round ended with a skipped hand is relevant. Eventually we both logged out and back in, which resolved the situation.

Oh, excellent. In the future, I will experiment more with trying to sign off in non-agreed suits or NT in slam auctions.

We all know that when GIB thinks we have a fit in one suit it is loath to let us play in another suit, even correcting to the 7-level over a 6-level signoff attempt. What I don't understand is why this sometimes doesn't happen. Here is an example hand: [hv=d=n&v=n&n=sa75ha98dk8742cq8&s=skq942h7daqj63ca6]133|200|Scoring: MP[/hv] At my table the auction was 1♦ - 1♠ 1NT - 2♣ 2♠ - 4NT 5♥ - 5NT 6♦ - 7♦ P At another table the auction was the same until South bid 6NT instead of 7♦, and GIB carried on to 7♠. What I want to know is: why did GIB bid 7♠ over 6NT but not over 7♦? Does anyone have enough experience to predict when GIB will do this kind of thing?

Since you denied 3 hearts in the previous round, 4♥ shows control (A or K) not 3 hearts. Alternatively, (edit)by agreement(/edit) it could be an offer to play with ♥Hx and no diamond stopper. I think that is how my partnership would play it, since we have the crude agreement that if you want to insist on clubs after 1♥-2♣-3♣, you must raise to 4♣ immediately (but for us, 2♣ was GF clubs or balanced).

this is lost on my feeble brain. The auction is up to 4H now, and I seriously doubt anyone suggested bidding 5C after 2C is dbl'd. I think jjbrr was referring to my comment that I might open 5♣ on AK7th of clubs and a side AK. I wouldn't do that with AK x xxx AKxxxxx, but I might with xx - AKxx AKxxxxx.

considering the crap people open 2C with when it is strong, forcing, and artificial, I would think 1C would be allowed with that example. As a point of reference, in this seat our 1NT opening is 15-17 and we usually open 1♣ with a decent unbalanced 16. Styles may differ, but I don't like to upgrade shapely hands into 1♣ often, except spade one-suiters; too difficult to get my suits in if the auction becomes competitive and our relays over 1♣ are less effective when opener is very unbalanced. I would probably open 2♣ or possibly 5♣ with jjbrr's example. For us it would be very rare, maybe on a J-high club suit with lots of stuff in the other suits? Usually 1♣ or 5♣ here.

First, the auction. You deal w/r at IMPs: ____ ____ ____ Pass (Pass) 2♣* (Dbl) Pass (2♥) 4♣ (4♥) * 2♣ was ostensibly 11-15 with 6+ clubs, might have a side 4-card suit; but in 3rd w/r anything goes 1. What kind of hand do you expect opener to have for 4♣? Now, your hand. [hv=d=s&v=e&s=s64haq32dt9763c87]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 3♣ was a possibility at your second turn, but you chose to pass. 2. What do you do now? 3. How close is it? For instance, if you would pass here, what smallest change to the hand would make you double?

At the table I applied gnasher's logic and passed. This was not a success as the full deal was [hv=d=s&v=n&n=sakqj87hkqj7632dc&w=s2ht9dakj64c96432&e=st953ha84dq52ck87&s=s64h5dt9873caqjt5]399|300|Scoring: IMP __ __ __ P 2N 3♣ P P P[/hv] Understandably, partner expected to get another chance to bid, presumably raising my major to slam. On the N/S cards, 6♥ seems hopeless if W's bid was truthful, since E/W can either get a spade ruff or have two natural trump tricks. 6♠ is not a great spot, but it survives when W is 1255. On this hand, West did well not to double. If W doubles, partner should maybe settle for 4♥ after my pass showing a misfit.

I didn't ask, but I'm pretty sure our opponents didn't have an agreement on that point.

Thanks everyone, lots of good discussion. To be honest my partner and I had never encountered this situation before in real life, so "takeout with better hearts" was the entire extent of our agreement. The treatment of using 3♣ for hands with equal length in the majors, with a 3♦ ask in response, is clearly an improvement (even if perhaps not optimal). This is what I was actually wondering about. Anyone else have an opinion about pass?

None vul, IMPs, casual game. You deal and hold [hv=d=s&v=n&s=s64h5dt9873caqjt5]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] You have no preempt showing the minors so you pass and the auction continues: (2NT) [1] - 3C [2] - (P) - ? [1] 5+5+ minors, 4-8 HCP [2] Takeout for the majors with better hearts What now?

In a robot race GIB W bid 2D over my 1NT opening, allegedly showing the majors, holding [hv=d=n&v=e&s=skt954hkj2d74ckj6]133|100|Scoring: Total Points[/hv] (Naturally GIB E picked ♠ with 33 in the majors for +140.)

Sounds like you are missing the font Arial. I had the same problem (missing text in the places you describe) on my Debian Linux system and solved it by telling Debian to substitute a different font for Arial. I'm not sure, on a Mac, what might have happened for Arial to disappear, or how you might go about fixing it, but hopefully this points you in the right direction.

In the windows client only the host can see previous boards. But I believe any player or kibitzer using the flash client can see previous boards as well.