elwood913

Isn't this precisely when I want to pass, when both sides can make a high partial? If 3♣ or 3♥ is the max then I most definitely do not want in on this auction. Yes, we will have some games. But when? When partner has some useful values. If he has these, won't he bid? If he has his fair share or more of the HCP, about 12+, won't he be looking to bid? His bid won't likely be much fun, but it should turn out okay: It's not impossible he'll X. Yes he rates to have about 3 ♣'s, but that dosen't prohibit him from having a distribution he'd X with. Remember, the preemptor doesn't likely hold many ♥'s so there are still some in the deck for pd to have a X. If he has long ♦'s and bids 4♦, won't you happily bid 4♥ over it? If he has long ♠'s and bids 4♠ we have an 8 or 9 card ♠ fit. Often our ♥ fit will be better, but ♠'s shouldn't be a disaster, and at least we're there when p has some values. If he doesn't have long ♦ or long ♠, shouldn't he have a X? Yes, sometimes he'll be 3244 or 4243and you'll wish you'd bid. But how often? If p has the points for you to make 4♥ and just about any other distribution, isn't he in there with a bid that will get you to 4♥ or 4♠? Also, I agree with The_Hog and fear the risk of us getting too high more than most have mentioned. Pd rates to have 12 HCP on average. When he's got AKxx xxx KQx xxx shouldn't he be excited? That's what you need to find just to make your bid, and that's with no ♥ loser, or ♦ ruff. When p has this you'll be in 4♥ after his X. Take a small ♥ and make it a ♣ or ♦ and you might miss this game. But if p decides to explore over 4♥ you're down. Thanks, Bill

Hi, Thanks for the replies. Nobody seems to want to pass this hand. What's wrong with the thought that there are a lot of high cards out there and when partner has his share of them he will find a bid? Sure, it might not be an easy bid for pard, but I don't think your bid in this spot is easy either. I guess what I'm hoping to accomplish is to take advantage of the fact that the opponents have just announced they can't make the contract they've bid. Why should I stick my neck out and bid something I have very little idea if I can make? I hear you that scared bridge is bad bridge, but I don't see this as scared. When partner has his share of the points he'll find a bid. When LHO has more than his share of points they are likely down a trick or two when we can't make 4♥. Partner will surely have a rough time with his bid, but if he finds one it should work out okay. Over X or 4♦ you can bid your ♥'s, and you have a reasonable to good fit if you hear 4♠. Maybe you'll miss a slam when p is surprised by the quality of your suit, but if you make the direct 4♥ bid you'll certainly get to some slams taking 10 or 11 tricks when p is surprised by the lack of high cards. What if you pass and LHO gets in the mix with 5♣? Maybe that makes it that much tougher on pard and is a reason you should get your bid in. But how much does the early bid help? Can it help your pard know whether to bid 5♥ or X? How can he know you have this hand and not ♥AKJ9x with several tricks in the other suits? If he can't decide and lets it slide around to you how much more do you know than you would have known if you had heard (4♣)-p-(5♣)-p-p-? I don't want to play scared, but the chances we would make game but p fails to re-open don't seem so high to me. Is this wrong..am I putting too much faith in the balancing seat? Thanks, Bill

Hi, I don't have a lot of experience to tell me which honors it's better to underlead. But in reading this post it feels like sometimes underleading an ace might work well, if only partner knew... So how about having an agreement with partner that you will often underlead aces at times that seemed warranted. Then not only would partner hopefully know what was going on and you could benefit from all the times that the underlead of the ace was a winner, but also declarer would often be caught unaware. (If you had such an agreement would you have to note it on your cc?) Just a thought, Bill

Hi, I checked out the links here including Stephen's link to the recent forum post on this topic. All great stuff. Thanks all, Bill

Hi, I just read in a recent post that somebody "ran a hand through a simulator." I don't know anything about simulators, but I think I would love them! Can someone give me some info on them? What types of functions can they perform (in the example the poster knew his hand and the opening bid and ran a simulation to see how different actions would turn out--I think). Are they readily available as software for my computer? If there are options, can you give some recommendations? Thanks, Bill

[hv=d=e&v=n&s=s876hakj9743d653c]133|100|(4♣) - ?[/hv] Do you pass because the opponents have preempted and they may be in trouble when you can't make anything, confident that with your few high cards partner will have enough to re-open the bidding when appropriate? Or is this suit too good to let go undisclosed, and a bid now passes info to partner so you can better continue in the face of more interference? Does your shape suggest that partner is not likely to re-open in a way that gets you to the right place if you don't bid your suit now? If this hand isn't good enough to venture a bid, how about if it held another side Ace? If this hand is worth a bid, is it a minimum--what would you have to change or remove to cause you to pass?

I see what you all are saying, that 2♠ can't confuse pard, so is a fine bid. 3♠ is a little more adventuresome, and might also work well. I'll try them out and see what happens. Thx.

Srry..should have said: sayc - 2/1 is not game forcing and 1nt is not forcing

Mike, I understand your confusion...I don't like either call. I'm saying 2♠ is out of the question for me because it will misrepresent my hand to my p... 3♠ might then be reasonable becdause at least p will know what to expect..5 trump winners and nothing else, and can then intelligently decide whether or not to compete. My p likes 3♠ so I'm asking to see if it has some merit. it's starting to sound like 2♠ has the same force as 3♠ but with more safety...should i just assume my p won't take it as a big bid in the face of the auction and make it as the best descriptive/safe/interfering bid I have available? Thx :)

[hv=d=n&n=saqj92hatd6ckj653&s=shqj975dkj9832ct9]133|200|1♠ - 2♦ 3♣ - 3♥ 3NT - 4♥ 6♥[/hv]

Hi, Thx, I don't like 2♠ because i think my p will expect more from me, if not in high cards then in distribution...in that auction there's a bunch of distribution going around for everyone to have their bid, and I sure enough don't have that distribution so i'm the one who's lying....so, if you want to bid 2♠, okay...but i don't... so if you have to bid 3♠ or pass, your partner expecting 3♠ to show the ability to take 5 tricks with spades trump, what do you bid? ....or am i wrong about 2♠?

HI, NV vs V Opponents open and respond 2/1 (srry, don't remember if it's 2/1 game force), do you preempt with this hand? 1♥ - p - 2♦ - ? [hv=s=skqj752ht52dq7c92]133|100|[/hv] I can reasonably but not surely count my hand to 5 tricks so would like to preempt with 3♠. However, am am worried that: 1) I can't surely count my hand to 5 tricks...i can lose 2 trumps if the opponents have the A and 4 to the 8, 9 , or 10. 2 ) the opponents have shown great strength, so I am more worried about suffering a big penalty. 3) They haven't shown any evidence of a fit so I am worried they will be happier to X and take their penalty against me, and that my p is less likely to hold a lot of spades. 4) The preemptive value is less because they have already conveyed a lot of information. I'd like to preempt to tell my p about my hand, but am worried about the above. So, what should I do? Thx, Bill

1 ) Play low from the dummy and win the first trick with the ♠A. You now have a guaranteed entry with a spade, though it might take you 2 tries, but you can suffer 2 heart leads as long as you don't put up the A til they play an honor. So start clubs at trick 2 until the A is played, and then a spade when you get back in. If you lose to the ♠K you'll get back in a second time with a ♥ before they can run them, and the next ♠ will get you to the board. 2 ) On the club lead, if you are worried about your winners getting ruffed, and worried about the end play (you want a ♦ lead when you eventually lose a trick) just cash the ♣A on the first trick. E is not void. Then trumps and ♠'s and you can still exit with the ♣ loser and get the hoped for ♦ lead.

Hi, I'm ready to take the plunge and learn lebensohl. I'm wondering what source I should use. I have learned most of my conventions from Modern Bridge Conventions and would be happy to learn lebensohl from this, too, but before I got started wanted to make sure it wasn't out of date. Though Root and Pavlicek do make some mention of systematic interference, I think at the time of their writing they were still dealing mostly with natural bidding as interference over your NT, so their discussion of lebensohl has this as its basis. Is there a better source for lebensohl, or something extra I can look at, or is MBC's treatment still good? Thanks, Bill

Just a guess at the obvious, but how about: Hxxx Hxx Hxx Hxx

Hi, My partner and I are relatively new to duplicate bridge and I have a few questions about alerts. I understand that if my partner fails to alert a bid I do nothing until: after the conclusion of the bidding and prior to the opponents making the opening lead if our side has declared, or until after the play has concluded if we are defending, at which time I call the director and bring up the omission. 1) Is this correct? 2 ) Am I under the same obligation if my partner has alerted and has been asked for information and has replied incorrectly? (or, similarly, if he has not alerted but has been prompted for information by the opponents) 3) If I am to wait until the end of the bidding in the case of my partner giving incorrect information, how do I respond to my partner's bid? For example, say we at some point switched from 2NT-3♣ asking for a 5-card Major to asking for a 4-card Major. Partner is asked the meaning of the 3♣ bid and states it is asking for a 5-card Major, explaining our old method. I hold a 4-card Major which would clearly be bid in the system we have agreed to play, but equally clearly not be bid in the system my partner just described: am I obligated to show the 4-card Major as our agreement would have it, or obligated not to show it as his explanation would have it? (It may be unavoidable, but I do not intend to bring up the meta-question "what system are we playing?" or "can it be said to be agreed upon if we don't remember it?" I mean more simply that partner knows full well what we are playing but just goofed on this call. Perhaps a better example would be: partner knows we use splinter bids and generally applies our agreements covering their use correctly, but has just alerted a particular jump shift as a weak jump shift when in fact it is a splinter--must i now continue to bid as if I expect partner to show me a singleton or void and a handfull of high cards, not QJxxxxxx xx x xx?) We use preemptive re-raises and new suit game tries where the new suit suggests but does not guarantee length in the suit. 4) Does 1M-2M-3M have to be alerted as non-invitational? 5) Does the new suit game try have to be alerted? If not generally, does it change if competition has limited your choices so that your bid clearly can not convey any information about your holding since it is your only available game try bid? For example: 1♥-(2♣)-2♥-(3♣)-3♦, where you may hold 2 or fewer diamonds [ex. from Root and Pavlicek's Modern Bridge Conventions]. 6) If the sequence were instead 1♥-(2♦)-2♥-(3♦)-X, the X would be a game try since no new suit game try is available. Alert the X? Thanks, Bill

Hi, I have a few questions about inverted minors. 1) Do they apply equally well with or without competition (a direct overcall or X)? 2) What about over weak jumps? 1♦-(2♠/3♠)-? Holding 5 diamonds and a weak hand do I jump to 4♦ or even 5♦ over a weak bid?--that doesn't sound right. But other bids are unlikely to be attractive and passing with 5-card support in a competitive auction can't be right either. I'd like to show my support but don't necessarily want to get that high, especially since the opponents might not be able to bid any higher. Also, I might like to jump with my good hands to force the advancer to guess a little in deciding whether to continue the preempt on a higher level before he hears what opener might rebid. But then I would wonder how many points I'd need to be happy about jumping as high as the 5-level on my first bid, and if I require a few more points than normal, what will I do with the intermediate hands? So- keep the conventional treatment or not? 2) What do you bid with an unbalanced hand and 4 small in the minor and 6-9 points? Assuming you want 5 trump (or 4 good trump) for the jump raise, this holding looks like trouble when partner opens 1♦: Qxx x xxxx KJxxx. 2♦ or 2♣ is too strong, and 1NT doesn't feel right. A little more balanced (change a club or even a spade to a heart) and 1NT starts to look better, but what to do with this mess? If I bid 3♦ and catch partner with the wrong hand (4432 or something like Jxxx in diamonds) we could be in big trouble. Even if I catch partner with a good hand he might overestimate our trick-taking ability in ♦ and bid on and get us too high. Do I just bid 1NT and hope partner has some serious help in hearts? What if the diamonds were T972, should I call these 4 good trump and bid 3♦? Can I pass? 3) Partner opens 1♣ and I have 3244 with 4 weak clubs and 6-9 points. Do I bid 1♦ or 1NT? What is the minimum club holding (if any) you'd want to bid 3♣ with this distribution? Thanks, Bill

What about the opening lead? Isn't the Ace ♦ a better lead? Red vs. Black partner must be counting 7 tricks. Surely he doesn't have any aces. He very likely has 8 hearts. That leaves only 3 hearts for the opponents. Declarer is likely to be trumping one of your Aces, so how often will that A♥ not get trumped? Then declarer is in and can likely get rid of his other losers if he has them, and you might never get your A♦. Isn't it better to lead the ace that is less likely to get trumped? Then if p has counted another trick for a long suit or a king, you might get the king of diamonds or a diamond ruff before declarer ever gets in, or successfully switch suits depending on p's signal.

HI, My partner and I play SAYC with 1NT overcall range of 15-18. I'm having trouble with hands like the following: I'm sitting south with this hand and East deals and opens 1 Club.[hv=s=sk832hk1063dqjckq8]133|100|[/hv] My inclination is to double for takeout, but I am constantly winding up in trouble in diamonds. But I feel I am too weak to overcall 1NT. The considerations I see against the X are: I do not have shortness in the opponents suit, I have wasted strength in the opp suit (or perhaps better stated I am not very strong in the suits I am doubling for), I have a doubleton in one of the suits I am doubling for. The considerations I see for the double are: I have a decent number of points, and I have 2 4-card majors my partner could bid. In favor of the 1NT overcall are that it describes my hand fairly well and will allow us to find a fit in the majors, against is that I am a point or two shy of the requirement. If both of these bids are flawed what else is there? I can't pass this hand, can I? So what's best?

I posted this thread a few days back and got only one reply (thanks Bill), which gave me some useful tips but left me still a little confused about some of the basics of the limit raise agreement. Again my basic question is this--Playing SA (2/1 not gf, non-forcing NT) if a double raise of a Major requires 10-12 points and 3 trumps to an honor, what do you do with 10-12 points and 3 small trumps? If J2NT and splinter bids are used to show game forcing values and 4 or more trumps, what do you bid with game forcing values and only 3 trumps? The first step in each of these cases seems clear--you should bid a new suit to force the auction and then show your support later. But how do you then show that support? Partner deals and opens and you hold: [hv=d=n&s=skqxxxhxxxdaxxcxx]133|100|1♥-1♠-1♦-?[/hv]Does 2 ♥ here show 10-12 and 3 small trumps? If so, how does opener know it doesn't show something like Kxxxx Kx xx xxxx? [hv=d=n&s=skqxxxhxxxdaxxcxx]133|100|1♥-1♠-1♦-?[/hv]Does 3 ♥ show 13+ and fewer than 4 trumps? If not what does? Also, I suppose a fundamental question would be: Are the requirements I listed for the various responses good ones? 1M-3M= 10-12 and 3 to an honor; 1M-2NT= 13+ and 4 trumps; Splinter= 13-16, 4 trumps, and a singleton or void. Thanks again, Bill

HI, I play standard american and have just shifted from forcing raises to limit raises. I have a few questions about how responder should treat the various situations in which he wants to raise opener's major given different point count ranges and trump suport. My general understanding of limit raises is this: Limit raises show 10-12 and 3 trumps to an honor. In conjunction with limit raises I play J2NT, showing 13+ and any 4 trumps, and splinters, showing 13-16 and any 4 trumps and a sing or void. My basic question is this: How do you show support for partner's opener when you have sub-standard trump support to make one of these bids? That is, what do you do with: 10-12 and 3 trumps without an honor, or 13+ and only 3 trumps, with or withour a splinter. Also, I have a couple more questions: What do you think of the point count ranges and trump support I have suggested for the various bids? What do you do with a splinter and more than 16 points? What other conventions would you suggest as good complements to the bidding system I have described? Thanks a lot! Bill

Hi, Fairly new here, intermediate-ish bridge player. Playing standard american (but not 2/1 game force) a 2/1 response is forcing and promises a rebid. But how does an enemy overcall following the 2/1 response effect the forcing nature of the 2/1 bid? I think it is correct that now the opener may pass with a minimum and nothing constructive to say since the responder will have the opportunity to bid again, but what about the responder? If it is now passed around to the responder may he pass or must he fulfill his duty to rebid? That is, does opener's pass imply minimum values and allow responder to judge if anything useful will come from further bidding, or should the responder still be forced to bid, allowing the opener to pass some stronger hands that don't have a convenient rebid if he wishes to hear more about responder's distribution/strength? Opener's hand might be: [hv=d=s&s=sajtxxhkqxdkxxcqx]133|100|1-p-2[D]-2[H]-??[/hv] I might not have created the best example, but the idea is that opener would like to know if 3NT or 4♠ (or somthing else) is a better contract and his rebid is not likely to help responder decide, but he might hear something from responder that helps. Pros for allowing the responder to pass in this situation (thus forcing the opener to rebid his stronger hands) include avoiding continued bidding when both partners have a minimum and no good fit exists, enabling responder to bid more accurately knowing opener's strength, and avoiding a situation where further interference from the opponents causes difficulty in later bidding that could have been simplified if opener is forced to rebid his stronger hands. Any comments appreciated, Thanks!

Hi... I'm new to ACBL bridge and to BBO... i've been playing the ACBL tournaments that award masterspoints and have been fortunate to place high enough to reciecve poins in many of them. But at the ACBL site they say I have no masterspoints. I have checked and am sure i have the correct ACBL number registered with BBo. Is there something else I have to do to get my msterspoints eraned on BBO recorded with nthe ACBL? Thank You, BIll

Thanks for the thorough comments. One more question, though-- With the given hand: ♠A972 ♥K ♦AKQ95 ♣J92 After 1D - 1NT is it possible for opener to make some rebid other than 2S?... Reasoning the HK and CJ are less than full value, and spotting no major fit and having no real indication NT will make a good contract can opener underbid a little and rebid 2D? Or is the hand too strong in high cards for such a week bid despite the possible problems? Is 3D a possibility, or are the diamonds just not good enough (and/or the spades too good)? And is it wrong to think that NT should look remote to opener, so too many NT games will be missed by not showing the spade length and strength? Thanks again.

HI..my first post. Playing std am, non-forcing NT. Opponents pass throughout. Is a reverse bid by opener always forcing? Even over a 1NT reply? If so, is a new suit bid by responder forcing e.g. 1♦-1NT-2♠-3♣? Does the following auction make any sense: 1♦-1NT-2♠? with a 5-4 in diamonds and spades--that is, why bid a 4-card spade suit when responder can't possibly have 4 spades? Here's the hand I'm considering, how would you bid it? dealer: ♠A972 ♥K ♦AKQ95 ♣J92 ♠853 ♥J97 ♦62 ♣KQ764 If the answer is for opener to rebid something other than 2♠, okay. But give opener a few more HCP--say the Q of spades instead of the 9--now what? Thanks!