Hanoi5

I would use this to check if pd really has the ♦ stopper. Though if he HAS to have it, then it is just a cue-bid showing a strong hand.

Yesterday two of my best students (yes, I teach bridge, believe it or not) were sitting east as me and this happened: Second in hand white vs red: ♠AK9xx ♥J9 ♦Q ♣J98xx We all opened 1♠! All red, after Pass-1♣ we all overcalled 1♠ on: ♠AQJx ♥xx ♦QJTx ♣K9x White vs red, after two passes, we all pre-empted on: ♠9 ♥KQ9xx ♦T9xxx ♣xx Here there were some differences: one of them open with a multi 2♦ (they played 4♠ +2 against him), I opened 3♥ (they 'helped me' go down 3 on 4♥x) and the other student opened 4♥ (they arrived to 6♠ making against him. Now, are these actions 'normal' or am I a bad influence/teacher? Or am I good? hehehe, I hope jjbr won't tell me to go learn canasta or something.

I think 1NT 3♠ showing a 4=1=4=4 with GF+ and no limit upward is very bad. I think responder is interested in knowing where is the 4-4 fit (if any) in order to try and look for a slam there. It'll be great to play minor suit stayman over normal stayman (which shows a slam interested hand as this one is), like: 1NT-2♣ 2♥-2♠* 3♣-4♣ and take it from there. Of course this would work best at imp's as in MP's you don't want to have to stop at 5m instead of playing 3NT +1. Anyway I wouldn't stop as responder once I know of the club fit, but I would probably bid 3NT if my partner could only have 10-12 HCP.

Well, I started the second session against a difficult pair and was caught in this situation: ♠KQT9xxx ♥x ♦T98 ♣Q8 All white, South opened with a gambling 3NT, Pass by partner and RHO. What would you have bid? After deciding, what would you have bid if Then I got to 3NT on this layout: ♠KJxx ♥Jx ♦KJ ♣KJ8xx ♠ATx ♥KTx ♦Q9xx ♣Axx I received a heart lead (the 3, and no 2 in sight) won with dummy's J and should have played... For those who decided on Finally another bidding situation: ♠Kxxx ♥Kxx ♦T8 ♣AQ9x They were red and we were white: Pa Pa 1♣ Pa 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ ??? What's going on? What do you bid? I went sort of crazy in this one: so advice will be greatly appreciated.

Well on the first hand: ♠Jxx ♥KQ ♦AT ♣KQT8xx I just bid 2♣. I think this is one of the bids you do with the hope of surviving (i.e. partner won't pass) so that you can describe your hand better. 1NT or 3♣ would have also been good, my REALLY bad bid came afterwards when I responded 2♥ to 2♦ and passed partner's 4♥. She held: ♠AKQx ♥ATxxx ♦Qxxx ♣Void And 6 was made for a good score via a squeeze (hearts behaved, ♣AJxxx and ♦Kxx were in opening leader's hand) I lebensohled on the second hand: ♠Kxx ♥Txx ♦Qx ♣QJ7xx For -200 when my partner had a not so fitting hand for the 3 level (she opened on 11). I'm still not sure it was a bad bid, though. On the final hand: ♠KTxxx ♥KTxx ♦Qx ♣9x I bid 3NT and went four down when South led from ♦AJxxxxx to her partner's ♦Kx. My partner held: ♠J ♥Axx ♦Tx ♣AKQJxxx And I now think I should have doubled 1♠ looking for the heart fit. Maybe we would have gotten to the same contract, but still, my hand wasn't that good for penalizing 1♠. On to the second round.

First of all it is amusing how men are told to sit East/North and women West/South, hehehe, isn't that sexist? So, I was trying to play 5-card Majors with weak no-trump and I think I blew two hands in bidding: ♠Jxx ♥KQ ♦AT ♣KQT8xx I opened 1♣, got 1♥ from partner and should have rebid??? Later I held: ♠Kxx ♥Txx ♦Qx ♣QJ7xx Partner opened 1NT (12-14) and RHO bid 2♥ natural, what's your action? Another I couldn't handle properly: ♠KTxxx ♥KTxx ♦Qx ♣9x Bidding goes: 1♣ 1♠ Pa Pa 3♣ Pa ???

I made a mistake. Would your answer change if they are white and you are red?

♠x ♥AJTx ♦QJ9x ♣AK62 You are red, they are white, partner deals and: 2♦ 2♠ 4♥ 4♠ 5♥ 5♠ ??? 2♦ is Multi. Vulnerability edited.

1NT by pard would be strong balanced. Not a nice agreement but there you are.

♠9x ♥Jxx ♦Qxxx ♣AJxx Both Red, dealer on your right: 1♣ Pa 1♠ X 2♠ 3♦ 4♠ Pa Pa ???

4♣

Happy birthday and stop ducking tricks so much, please.

So the country where Bridge somehow originated won-t accept it as a sport. How nice. As someone else mentioned it is the BUSA whom you have to pressure the most. You should probably try a newspaper or something, try to use the media. Maybe appeal to patriotic feelings, too. Write to the WBF, too and see is they can convince EUSA, but the problem will reamin in England so give your best shot to change BUSA. Many countries have accepted bridge as a sport and being in one that has I suppose the problem with accepting bridge as a sport is that you accept you will have to give them money from the budget some time.

3♥. If I had the 10 and 8 I might open 4, but I think this is enough.

Or is it somewhere else? Link me please, I'd like to have a look at the books before ordering from Amazon.

4♠, too. But definitely having hearts is not a good sign, what would have partner done over double? Anyway it's not normal, 4♠ should be clear.

5♠. And Pass 6♦.

I definitely liked the more explained version better. Yes I agree that mistakes 1 and 2 are not bridge but, who isn't human? The ♦Q unblocking is applying a rule to the wrong circumstance, but is it that bad? As stated after it should be solved by learning the complete rule (convention). In fact I'd rate it as a slip of the mind, a sort of a lapse. Unless, of course, it occurs again. And it's a mistake bound to happen if people just hear the rule (convention) and are not properly explained when to use it. The second mistake I don't like at all. It shows lack of flexibility in my opinion. Lack of 'judgement'. Doubling 2♠ is blindly following the system (partner has to pass when spades is his/her suit, bid hearts when that's what s/he has or NT in case of holding the strong hand); the redouble could be unexpected and so opener passed (which is a mistake, for partner would expect him/her of having the spades) and then doubler is faced with the prospect of playing a redoubled contract at the 2 level and either partner forgot the system or RHO is psyching and out of control. Isn't 3♥ now saying partner is dumb? On other note, I agree double was bad, but I think Pass is not that good either... The third mistake I would cathegorize as falling in love. I suppose all of us have fallen for a hand and over-bid it till the end. Same with a line of play or defense. Or is that not normal? You get an idea fixed in your head (trumps are not breaking, partner has declarer's suit covered, etc) and it's hard to get away from it. Yes, it's a sign you're not concentrated or thinking about all important aspects of a hand, but again I think it can normally happen. So, failure to count or plan is a cathegorised mistake but, what about forgetting? Is that a mistake? Should it go together with lack of concentration? What about the mistakes in bidding?

I remember this topic once where people spoke of their mistakes in bridge or the reasons behind them, can anyone link me to it, please? Now, about classification: can mistakes be classified depending on how much they cost or is it better to classify them in terms of how bad they are? let's take to examples here: Defense: Say East holds QT93 in the suit in which partner led the Ace (against a club contract). He plays the Q under the Ace as he was discussing with his partner about unblocking honors under the Ace leads at No Trump. Contract is made. With an overtrick. Partner is amazed and a little angry as he underled the King giving declarer an impossible trick with the Jxx. And you were on vugraph. Bidding (2 mistakes?): North holds: ♠876 ♥J432 ♦86 ♣Q852 Partner opens 2♦ (which could be weak in a Major or a No Trump type of hand (22+) RHO bids 2♠ (Natural) and you have the agreement with partner that X means pass if you hold spades bid hearts if not. LHO redoubles, partner passes, RHO passes and you pass(!). Contract made with 5 overtricks. Play: ♠98 ♥QJ87 ♦73 ♣AKQ97 ♠AQ6542 ♥A965 ♦T ♣T6 Say you arrive to the normal contract of 4♥ and receive a diamond lead and continuation. You decide trumps are 4-1 and start maneuverng, ruffing, etc and wind up going 2 down. At the other table they finessed in trumps (which were 3-2) and made the contract without complications. So where are the mistakes in the examples above? Which could be considered worse? What kind of mistakes can be made in bridge?

I'm not very familiar with precision but I'd double after passing on the first round.

I see many people getting killed before their time if this happens.

I do not think I remember complete hands unfortunately. But I do remember situations: I learned to play bridge in a rather weird way which I might tell you one day about, but let-s say we played with certain weird rules: cards could be changed with the elbow, dummy kept count of trumps for declarer, etc. I had a friend who played from the -4 level up- as he never played a contract lower than that. Once I received the lead of a small trump with 4 missing including the king. The lead was from Kx and I lost the king to a second round finesse. In my first tournament bidding went 1♦ pa 1♥ pa pa and I reopened. They had game. And they reached it. Once I held 5 cards in the major my partner chose to bid at the 5 level over a pre-empt after my negative double and so I took him to 6. He sweated but finally he made it. He had only 3 hearts... Once I paid 2000 in a doubled contract at the 2-lvl. I still overcall on garbage but I-ll never forget that 2000... And many like this. I can-t say there-s a hand I remember complete un less I specifically set to remember it.

I held (R vs W): ♠ ♥Axx ♦AJxx ♣AKT9xx It went: 1♠ Pa 4♠ ??? 5♣ looks very clear (!?) but I bid 4NT (some people doubled). It continued: 1♠ Pa 4♠ 4NT 5♠ Pa Pa ??? This time I doubled. What would you have done? Card taken away, 0346

w vs r: ♠ ♥AK7 ♦AQJ9xxxx ♣xx It goes: 1♠ 2♦ 2♠ 3♦ 3♠ 4♦ 5♦ ???

Yeah, Brazil was not convincing in May in Chile either.