marcD

I like the idea but it looks more like a 2NT opening rather than a 2NT rebid .The 2♦ and 2♣ are easily confused

if i were to bid , i would double showing willingness to bid 6S but i do not think this is the hand for it . My offense to defense ratio is good but not exceptionnal . Not clear the opponents know what they are doing and even if 5S is actually a 3 suiter with a spade void,it is unclear they have landed into their best contract (for all I know they may be cold for 7C or actually belong to 6D or 6H ).

:) you would think so. Actually, after I have made up my mind on what is being suggested . This was very interesting during the 7S hand : i was following Weinstein and thought about a first round spade finesse ! I do it too when the hand seems to present no problem and declarer or defender (generally Fantoni :))takes for ever to play . Then it is quite interesting to see what Kit has to say about what the declarer may be considering

Agree . Actually, i usually close the chat window (never listen to voice commentary) and choose to kib one of the player . What is most important for me is to have a skillfull vugraph operator who is able to catch the alerts (bionic ear or eye since players are usually whispering or their writing is not legible). A few commentators stand out though : Kit obviously and too rarely Michael Rosenberg.

I used to for many years . However I felt the quality dropped around year 2000 (or may be it was just me losing interest) + I had a lot of problems with missing issues because of international mail .

Not sure what is standard in the US . Here, most people would interpret 5x as an asking bid (the logic being you cannot expect the preemptor to have too many outiside controls and his partner is unlikely to go slamming missing controls in 2 suits). The tricky one is 4♠ over 4♥ (to play or asking bid ?) If 5x positive cue bid is standard where you play, it would seem a better idea to bid 5♣ as 5♦ seems to imply you are missing the club control

You are right ; the hands are supposed to be posted at the end of the session (and yes, i get the same error message as indicated by 32519). Guess my post was not clear; i was watching on BBO and was expecting to get real time travellers at the same time the cumulative score was updated (i will not have time to review all the boards afterwards but was surprised by some actions or actually nonb actions like letting opponents to play not doubled and wondered how they fared) . This is probably not possible for security reasons and/or it is too difficult to run the final barometer style

you are so demanding; posting hand records and more information (travellers, session ranking ...) might make the event interesting and this is to be avoided at all costs .

FWIW I agree with your partner pass . bidding twice with a flat 18 count can turn out very badly . This is the kind of hand which supports opening 2♣ or 2♦ (italian way) with 18-19 balanced . Playing standard, I think responder should bid 2♦ lest partner should have the dreaded 18-19 notrump hand (You may survice dbl then 3♦ invitational but pass seems wrong). Nice hand to discuss with your favorite partner :)

Partner denied 4♠ (I assume SEF or something similar) and while 6NT could have no play facing a yarborough, i cannot imagine stopping below 6NT and i do not have tools to investigate a possibly superior minor suit slam . So at the table i would probably try 5NT asking partner to choose bewteen 6 and 7.

call me chicken but I would bid 4♦ at IMPs (my partner can't be 18-19 balanced if that makes a difference). This is possibly just bad bridge since I seem to be in the minority (or others where preempted by Jlogic answer :)). I have always underestimated the value of 9 of clubs ...

yes happens only with FF (Chrome is ok ) : this seems to be a flash issue . I have seen a few threads around this but no resolution so far

This seems to be a new (unwelcomed) feature : when a player takes too much (how much is unclear) to bid or play he gets booted from the table (after getting a message like xxx please play) and it is a hassle to reconnect him (he seems to need to log off from bbo and the table owner needs to reserve the seat anew) . Note this is not tournament play and just an imp table with all seat reserved . Any way to get around this ?

Fred, thanks for your answer. This is indeed what I meant.

Somehow , i am not able to kibbitz a player (which i find very useful when watching vugraph) in the android version (cannot find the equivalent of right clicking on a name or options/more options) . May be i missed something otherwise it would be a nice addition . thanks for the wonderful bbo experience anyway

I understand pass but this is far from clear cut to me . My hand looks more like a 3♠ bid than a constructive 2♠ . I understand this is MP and partner may compete with a semi-balanced hand not worth a game try (otherwise dbl) and later is trying to protect our 140 but he is more likely to have a 6th trump or a two suiter with H shortage. Pass is sure to win the post mortem but I have a lot of sympathy for 4♠

2 swedish pairs on the winning mind games team actually use this appoach (Bocchi Madala open 2♣ 18-19 or GF which might be even more vulnerable to interference). Not sure how they deal with interference but their scheme of responses seem targeted at constructive bidding when you have 20-21 balanced which looks to be a winner (see the nystrom upmark card which is a bit more detailed). Still even w/o interference, the bidding must be cramped (only GF with primary diamond is excluded) when you have the GF version

welcome to the club ! I find indeed Gazilli after 1♥-1♠ quite challenging as the responder is not limited . I play Gazilli in 2 different partnerships - one partner chose to stick to a basic approach (2♦ over 2♣ 8+ then 2OM GF, 2NT inv, 3x 5-5 or strong one suiter) the rationnale is that the frequency is low and somehow we never had problem with this approach - in my other partnership i started from awm approach. So now , 1NT is the relay , 2♣ natural, 2♦ 3spades medium hand , 2♥ natural , 2♠ mini 4trumps (a tribute to my sef upbringing :)) , 2NT 6H4D medium hand, 3♣ 6H3S medium hand, 3D 5-5 medium not forcing over 1NT : 2♣ shows desire to play 2D or strong hand (opener bids 2♦ unless he has strong version), 2D shows 8-10 other bids are weak would be happy sto share further details . PM me if interested

Nice post on the olympics badminton ruling :)

Pass over 4♥ is extremely cautious. I guess 6♥ the practical bid but 5♦ asking (which i would think is pretty standard) is probably the technical solution (no i do not ever play goulash :) so 5♦ natural is not needed). Here the opener could bid 6♦ to show first round control. cool this never comes up in real life i will double check with my partner if we are (still) on the same wave length

i would have to trust a lot my table presence not to play on clubs at trick 2 : basically playing on diamonds trying to combine chances is better at mp about 20% of the times (dia 3-3 + k club offside ) while we seem to play the field contract and i have no reason to believe that the heart lead is not normal

even though i prefer polish club to precision , i voted 1 since I really think 1♦ to show 15-17 all shapes is flawed. It will require a lot of science and agreements to handle competition .

although i hate opening strong two suiter with 2♣, opening 1♠ is playing against the field and against the odds. If not 2♣,I would rather open 1♣ which is less likely to go all pass and then describe my hand as a superstrong 6-5 which is close to what i have. Tougher problem at imps

I guess one could write a book on the subject . Some people hate the smith echo but so far I have managed all my partners to play it . I like to keep it simple - it only applies when defending NT - applies when opening leader's partner plays an honor and can have the above touching honor (Q after playing the Jack, K after playing the Queen or the highest denied honor J after playing the K, possibly the Ten after playing the Q) - I play reverse Smith by the opening leader in a standard signal context (so small says I like my lead or at least do not want a switch, high says I would like a switch). - Smith Echo has first priority when it applies ; only exception is when partner needs to make a hold up play (e.g. long suit in a entry deprived dummy)where signalling count is paramount - We do not assume that partner can read the lead so the opening leader will still use reverse smith echo after leading the 6 from say 9652 playing 4th best (you may use Top of Nothing in that situation) a a non obvious top of Nothing in 3 cards - Whether to signal count or attitude when you are unable to beat Dummy is not related in my mind to the smith echo (for the record i signal count)

I would dbl with the south hand unless I am worried partner may misinterpret it (game try clearcut at IMP; more difficult at MP especially if oppponents are vul as partner may go for the magic 200). Think 4♥ is premature , better consult partner as he may have only 3 trumps and/or diamond wastage.