Hanoi5

What do you bid holding: ♠AKTx ♥Qx ♦xxx ♣Axxx after: 1♦-Pa-1♠-Pa 3♦-Pa-???

Although it would have been nice to know which club declarer played to trick one I think returning a spade is the best defense. Partner can have spades (Axx, Qxx) and even if he doesn't, clubs have to be played twice in order to be set-up (and spades too when declarer holds AQ).

3♠ & Pass. I think partner should have a nice hand for coming in at the three lvl and we could support at the 4 lvl, so why not name our spades. Partner can't expect too much from us as we passed on our first turn. Pass on the second one 'cause the hand is ugly to compete and we don't quite have a penalty so doubling might be dangerous.

I think the first hand is worth bidding 3♠. We have a couple of aces, 4 nice cards in support of partner's response and a singleton club. I think we could bid 3♣ if we held a much better hand (15). I think I'd pass on the second one. Partner knows we just opened and promised 3 card support instead of 4, he might have a stash of hearts (badly placed but still) and we have 5 nice clubs noone knew about and we're leading that. This might be the hardest, I have short hearts and 5 spades but my hand is so weak that I think I'll pass. The theme? What to do with spades and shortness in their suit?

You want robots to learn the rule of 15?

In all endeavors of life humans encounter things or events which they cannot explain and which they attribute to luck. Say you play this hand against a pair who opens a weak Flannery: [hv=pc=n&s=saqt543h96dt5ckj9&w=s9876haj8732d83c2&n=skj2hkqtda7caqt76&e=sh54dkqj9642c8543&d=w&v=b&b=4&a=2h]399|300[/hv] You stop in 3NT (or 4NT) while they reach 6♠ at the other table. Would't you call this bad luck? [hv=pc=n&s=sakq5ht97dak9c543&n=s643h83dt743cakq2&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=p1np2cp2sp2np]266|200[/hv] Out of 24 tables 19 reached 3NT, 4 stopped at 2NT, and 1 at 1NT. Say at your table they stopped in 2NT while your teammates reached the game. No suit broke 3-3 and QJ of diamonds were not doubleton. Would you call this bad luck? Now, if we accept this exists, can something be done about it? Of course, you might argue that this kind of events don't happen all the time, but what if someone, or a pair, or a team determines that their bad results are ocurring for 'bad luck'? Would you try to do something about it? Would you try to do something to avoid 'bad luck' even if it happens just sometimes? Anyway, I know a lot of people have superstitions and luck charms, what have you heard about it? What have you seen people doing?

What's wrong with 3NT? I would have preferred to double 1♠ but since I didn't I can only choose NT now. Maybe 4NT or just 6NT is correct? I'm not feeling the slam is on with the interventor behind my 3 aces.

Maybe you should pass 3NT? There's not much space for investigation in this hand so 4♥ should not be taken as a slam try but just trying to get to the best strain. If you were interested in slam and hearts you could make a cue-bid or a RKCB over 2♥ (as 3♥ is an invitation) so 4♥ should be like 'I was trying to get to a better contract and I really don't like 3NT'. I usually prefer the North hand to bid 2♣ instead of 2♥ (although in this case it is hard to argue with such a good suit), as the bid is hardly staying there and there'll be time to rebid the hearts again. You could also bid 3♠ over 2♥ in this case to show your great suit and then your partner would be the one asking for advice.

The key to the hand is asking about aces and kings, you have to forget about the queen of trumps, especially if you play 4-card 1♦ opening bids (or have a way of finding out opener has a 4-card diamond suit). For example: 1♦-2♣ 2♦ (at least 5 diamonds) 2♥ (at least 4 hearts and not 5 diamonds unless 6-5) 2♠ (at least 4 spades, not 4 hearts and not 5 diamonds unless 6-5) 2NT 3343 3♣ (4 clubs) Which looks perfectly normal.

I'd double. The suit is not good but I don't want to mis-state the strength of my hand. Doubling will usually show me partner's range in HCP's.

This kind of mistakes are very hard to fix. I don't think the Director should have allowed the boards to be replayed as N-S shouldn't receive scores from a board illegally played. E-W have their scores from the first time they played, but allowing them to replay the boards is just catering for a non-caring audience.

I like doubling with these hands and cuebidding if partner rebids his suit or NT.

It's terrible how some concepts are not well taught (or learned) I'm tired of hearing people say their/partner's double 'promised' 4 cards in the major(s) but this is ridiculous.

Although I'm not very fond of trying to determine interest of opponents in the play, I'm afraid RHO was behind a screen so I couldn't really do that. During the play I thought of playing a small club to the 9 but figured it wasn't such a good idea. Last night while beating myself for losing 10 imps when they made at the other table playing from the other side and receiving a club lead I wondered whether eliminating spades and then playing a heart to the Queen wouldn't be a nice deceptive play, but no one has mentioned it. I believe throwing away a heart on the spade won't be very successful as hearts are the weak suit of the table and if a club is led it would be from the Jack, which doesn't look so interesting.

Wikipedia says: "The convention was devised by Canadian player Douglas Drury (1914-1967). Drury lived in Canada most of his life, moving to the USA in the 1950s."

I thought these laws might be related. For example, RHO is dealer and opens 1NT, but it turns out he took the cards from another board, when we get to play that board I have the 'knowledge' that offender opened 1NT on that hand.

You got to 5♦: 1♦-2♠-3♠-4♠ X-Pa-5♦-All Pass ♠--- ♥xxx ♦AJxxxx ♣ATxx ♠K9 ♥Qxx ♦KQTxx ♣KQ9 They lead a spade, diamonds are 1-1. I rejected the idea of an Ace being underled so I ruffed, enter my hand with a trump and ruffed again, what now?

I posted the hand 'cause at a table it was 1♦-7♦ and at the other 1♦-2♣-...-7♦, eventually. I couldn't really find a way to ask about the cards you need, partner held: ♠Kxx ♥AKQ ♦JTxx ♣xxx and I think there's no scientific way, playing 2/1, to discover it all and get to 7NT, for example. Not even 'clearly' getting to 7♦ and so my quest to prove the 1♦-7♦ wrong was void.

Of course it's legal. What I don't understand is the name, isn't this a normal opening bid in Precision? Oh, and it's a psych, so just call the Director and have it recorded.

16.A1.d What kind of authorized information can a player have about the hand he will play BEFORE he extracts the cards from the board? 17.D2 & 3 The LHO and the Offender have to repeat their calls (the LHO over the new call from offender and offender with the previously wrong cards on probably a new situation), why doesn't the same mechanism that with change of calls applies? I mean, if a call is changed to one with a pretty similar meaning it stays, why can't the same rule be applied to these situations?

Pass, I think we could enter later if neccessary, there's no need to force it now.

I voted North could do a little more since he has great controls. Unfortunately 5♥ might be raised to 6, so maybe 5♠ (or 5NT?) is better. Another thing is that maybe South could be missing the ♣A and then 5 is the limit, so probably no one is to blame. Pre-emptives work sometimes.

In the original hand I was torn between passing and bidding 3♦ and then I see people getting to game in what could be a horrible misfit hand. I'm really confused about a couple of issues: - Is 2♦ forcing? I mean, if partner makes a non-forcing bid how can his hand then transform into a forcing one? - If 3♣ shows extras, what would opener do with a really bad hand and 0544? - How would opener bid with a 0544 and 18-20 HCP's? - Wouldn't getting to 3NT be dangerous on a spade lead? Isn't a spade lead more likely after partner patterned out? Or is this the reason JL (and Ken?) propose 3♠?

I would pass. Partner obviously didn't pass with the diamond stack, they may have a better fit and opener extras (or the hand might just be a horrible misfit).

Air-fares, hotel stays, tournament fees and a little extra is paid for official teams in my country. This is especially true for junior teams.