skjaeran

Yes, I agree with 2♦. And 6♠ now is absolutely obvious.

2♣ seem obvious first. I misclicked when voting - got a sick 2♦ added to the poll.

I double here. Occasionally I might overcall 1♠.

To me 2♦ as a conventional tool here is standard. Thus 2NT is strongly invitational with at least club tolerance, whild 3♣ is more of a courtesy raise. I'd rebid 3NT over both though.

I'm passing this. Can hardly be catastrophic. Bidding most often will be. I'm expecting them to make, probably an overtrick. Even if they're vulnerable that's only -360.

I'd bid 2♠, 2nd choice 1NT. 2NT would not be natural for me, and I think it's a slight overbid anyway, if natural.

In bridge this is pretty new. Until recently Great Brittain could send only one team to the European Championships. The first time England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales could enter their own teams was in 2003. In football (soccer ;) ) it's a different story. Not quite correct, Harald. First time we saw England, Scotland and Wales as separate entities was in year 2000 (Olympiad in Maastricht, Netherlands). Then we had the same three (bridge) nations at the European Team Championships in 2001 (Tenerife, Spain) and 2002 (Salsomaggiore, Italy). As an aside, Italy Open fielded the exact same team in Salso and won. Team photo here ... http://www.eurobridge.org/competitions/02S...lsomaggiore.htm Roland This is not correct. Irish teams, ( Open and Women's) have played in European Championships for 60 years. Who wrote anything about Ireland? skaeran mentioned Great Britain, then England, Scotland and Wales. Not a word about Ireland, not by me either. The Republic of Ireland is not part of Great Britain. In the Camrose Trophy (open) and Lady Milne (women), the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland play as separate entities, unlike other international competitions where the Irish Bridge Union sends one team to represent the island of Ireland. That's how it has always been. Nothing new there. Roland Uh, I did in fact write Ireland, but that was inadvertent - it should of course be Northern Ireland.

Lead directing for me. Normally showing a top honour, but I play it as denying with some.

1♠ - 1NT (NF) 2♦ - 4♥ (2♦=trf) Without transfers west rebid 2♥, else same auction. Passing the west hand is weird.

Agree with this. And if I can't bid 3NT for some reason, a 4♣ cue is soooooo obvious.

My rebid would depend upon who my partner was (or methods if you like). With my regular I rebid 2♣ - a transfer showing 4c+♦s. Intending to follow up with 3NT. With several others I'd rebid 2NT, conventional GF (I have that opportunity with my regular too). What I'd never do is making a 3♦ jump rebid. This should be 5-5 GF. Playing none of the above conventions I'd probably rebid 2NT natural.

In bridge this is pretty new. Until recently Great Brittain could send only one team to the European Championships. The first time England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales could enter their own teams was in 2003. In football (soccer :D ) it's a different story.

Yes

The bridgemates aren't buggy at all. If they're working they're working perfectly. (A single bridgemate unit might be defect, of course. Then you just excange it with a working unit.) If there's problems, it's with the scoring program and it's interface with the Bridgemate Pro Control Software. We've used the bridgemates at our annual bridge festival for two years now, in our Premier League (and lots of heats of the lower leagues) in the same period. Lots of clubs use them too. I don't think I've ever heard of a problem arising from the bridgemates or the Pro Control Software. They're very easy to use - both as a player and as a TD/scorer.

Dbl

Completely agree.

I'm surprised that you think that needs agreement. Does anyone play that a queen ask below five of the trump suit promises all the key cards? I have never played it this way. You can find beautiful slams with a keycard outside, or stay out of slams when you miss a keycard and the Queen of trumps... I never understood why some would require all keycards for a Queen-ask. :D We have had this discussion before. The position that I take - that the Queen Ask guarantees possession of all 5 key cards - is an old view that appears to be in the minority today. But that was not my main point. Bidding 4NT on this hand is too much. Art - I'm one of the old schoolers here too, but I've never heard of this either. What pray tell do you do with a hand that is missing one key but only needs the trump Q after a 5♣ / 5♦ call? If we have all the keys and are only missing the trump Queen, we can figure out seven later as kings are automatically shown with the trump Q. Having played RKCB for I don't know how long, I've not ever come across anyone playing or suggesting that the queen ask promises all 5 keycards. And I can't envisage playing that. Asking about the trump queen to decide whether to stop at the 5-level or bid slam obviously is far more frequent than the grand slam hands. Besides, there's not a single problem playing it not promising all 5 keys...

I couldn't double since that shows 4+♥ to me... I'd bid 1♥ showing 4+♠.. :D Playing standard I think this is close, I'm inclined to bid 1♠, but don't disagree with 1NT.

This is an easy 2NT rebid, showing your 18-19NT. This hand is a good 18 to me.

I was thinking that as I read the posts... don't know if I would have done so, but it makes a lot of sense... in particular, I think it beats bidding the semi-automatic 4♠ (which I would not take as fit showing unless I were a passed hand), but it actually might cause more difficulty on the actual hand if the opps now bid 6♦. Having bid only 4♠, I think saving is crystal clear. Having bid 5♠ and caused them to guess, it is not (quite) as clear... altho at imps, I think one has to bid it. The main upside of 5♠ is that it deprives LHO of some options... but if rho bids slam anyway, I think you have to trust him. Of course, a lot of good players bid slams here precisely because they trust you to trust them B) Having bid 5♠ I'd trust partner to make the last decision, if there's any.

3♠ 110%.

With my regular, 3♠ sets trump and demands a cuebid. So I have an easy 4♥. B) Playing more standard methods, I'd pass, though I'm close to raising to 4♠.

Dbl post.

I'd have opened 1♣. What I rebid now depends upon agreements. Playing some kind of asking relay, that's my bid. Failing that I just make a natural NF bid of 3♦, showing exactly 4c♥. With some I play short suit game tries. But I prefer 5c trump for that - partner might often have raised on 3.

3♣ would never enter my mind! 1♣ would, though - and I might pull that at the table. But pass has got to be best for now.