gdawg01

Hi all! I recently relocated to Seattle and am looking to starting a fun partnership, since I really playing live bridge and would prefer to do so with a regular partner. I am a reasonably competent intermediate (I think ;) and am quite happy to learn and discuss bidding ideas and the play of the hand. I am looking for someone who's at my level or (preferably) a bit better so we can learn and grow together, and kick some a** ! :-) The only thing I really dislike is at-the-table post-mortems. In a previous fun partnership in Denver, my pard and I regularly went after the game to drink beers and shoot the breeze, which was almost as important as the game itself :P Thanks!

Thanks for the detailed responses, Mat and Adam. Very useful. A couple more questions : 1) Is it better to play 1C - 1N as semi-forcing? Frequently after responder denies a four card major with the 1N, opener will be stuck rebidding clubs (they will almost always have 5 because with 4-4 in the minors and a minimum hand, opener would usually open 1D), so is it better for that 1N to be semi-forcing? 2) Given we bid 1N (15-17) with 5 card majors, consider again the auction 1S - 2H - 2N. 2N should show a 18-19 point balanced hand with stoppers in unbid suits, right? I say this since with a minimum opener, I could always rebid the 5 card spade suit in this auction. 3) After the auction 1S - 1N, what is 2N by opener typically? What would a direct 3N be? I remember Roger saying something about this to me a long time back on BBO chat but unfortunately have lost all memory of it. Thanks!

Hi all! I had a few questions about rebids with minimum hands in 2/1. 1)Assume you have a 12 point opener and 5 spades with 5=3=3=2 / 5=3=2=3 / 5=2=4=2 / 5=2=2=4 shape, and partner bids a forcing NT. Especially in the last two cases where we have a 4 card minor, is it correct to choose 2m as the rebid or to rebid the spades (even though we have only 5)? 2) Again, assume a 12 point opener with the above shapes, but now partner bids 2H. What does 2N by us show? 3 of a minor? Are either of these reids associated with extras in opener's hand or is our primary rebid just showing shape? Thanks for the responses! Girish

Thank you for the suggestions, Jan! I plan to watch the trials for sure and will make a special effort to think through the hands.

Josh, I looked at the GNT C of C and the format is like what Phil suggested. No idea if scores carryover but I do not think they do.

Han- That is the plan. Solve a lot of problems, bid a lot online, and especially make sure everything on the CC is understood. Stephen- Good points. The bit about phantom sacs is something I have been guilty of (avoided that trap somehow in Vegas though!) and that I will be careful about.

Thanks Richard, Han, and Frances for the useful advice! I need to particularly remember the "try not to post-mortem between sessions" bit. The "be way better at bridge than your fellow competitors" is powerful advice but it might be a tad too late to achieve that by July 21 :angry:

dkharty -- Thanks for the advice. The number of times I have said to myself -- just don't do anything stupid - and then done exactly that! Re being well rested, I am going to make sure I arrive the Tuesday evening before the GNTs so I can turn in early and not be tired. CSGibson -- will keep your points in mind too. I was wondering what flavors of systems we might encounter, but from bd71's post, it appears as if it will predominantly be SA(YC) and 2/1. That said, we will make sure we know at least some basic interference structures over precision 1C, etc. bd71 -- Thanks for the comments! Will keep them in mind.

hehe pooltuna, okeedoke!

Thanks everyone for the good wishes! Very useful information and tips too! Girish

Hi all! My team and I won the right to represent District 17 in the GNTs Flight C. This is our first time doing this, so any advice on preparation and tips on how to do well would be much appreciated. Also if someone who has already been there could tell us what the usual format is for the 5 days, that would be great too! Thanks! Girish

Trumpace, Nice problem. I have not given it much thought so I might be way way off! (Maybe I should have peeked at Han's solution :P) That said, I think I would : Draw 3 rounds of trumps. Play off the hearts and on the third heart, discard a diamond. Cash the Ace of diamonds and keep Qx in dummy. Then lead a low club to the 10 or the Queen. If it loses and a heart is returned - I have a spade in dummy to ruff and toss a club from hand. If it loses and they kindly return Diamond king - I am through since the queen is good for a club discard. If a low diamond is returned, I put up the queen and hope it is not covered. If it is covered, back to dummy via the spade to try another club finesse. Ofcourse I am down if all three cards (K of Dia, K and J of clubs) are in the wrong position, but can see no way out of that. -G

thanks Ant! The doublesqueeze site has precisely what I need. G

Hi all! I cannot find a link online that goes through the initial responses and further continuations after a strong 2C opening. Can someone post what they play / think is useful to play? Thanks in advance! Girish

Yea, walk the dog did mean a pass or 2d, followed by bidding diamonds at every (possible) stage. Justin, interesting point about the lots of defense bit. 4D, I must admit, never occurred to me ; I only thought of pass, 2D, and 5D.