bluecalm

Ok, I get it. I was just overthinking this one :)

From what I saw (and it was like 3minutes of browsing played hands) gambling mood dominated this friendly game of bridge ;) My guess is this is the explanation of 3H bid, not some kind of super deep sophisticated trap set for opponents...

Just out of curiosity, if you play that: 1D - 2H = 5S-4+H below invite 1D - 2S = 5S-4+H invite Does it change for passed hand ?

In Poland, from my experience, most people lead 7 but many good pairs lead a 9. Leading a 9 goes very well with polish style of leads though where 9 is either H9x exactly third or T9x+ or H987, you could easily tell which one it is about always. I think there might be some advantage of leading a 9 (trapping T in dummy when 7 would be unreadable) but those don't come up too often.

We discussed it too. I thought double should be for penalty while my partner wasn't sure. The idea of the double is that it looks like we have at least balance of points and all the honors lay good for us (diamonds behind diamonds, spades behind spades) so it looks like they probably won't make. This being polish club also gives a chance for 4-4 club fit (partner couldn't "raise" clubs after 2S). Anyway I passed and we score +100 worth 59% of matchpoints (declarer lost a trick along the way). Partner had: QJxx ATxx Jxx xx.

This is interesting question I regret I have nothing of value to offer here, just wanted to thank for that thread :)

I am completely lost on this one: Matchpoints, decent opps. [hv=pc=n&s=s83hk87dkq94cajt7&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1c1sd2dp2spp]133|200[/hv] We played polish club on the occasion but that shouldn't concern you that much. In standard (in version when you open 1C with 4-4) the situation would be the same. So, here our double would be t/o. Should we double ?

I recommend you this hand I played today: http ://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?myhand=M-26193417-1331489034 To find out how to cheat in style ! I don't know what opps said after this one but there were a lot of words and all in Turkish. You really need to be careful with cheating accusations as you could easily find many hands like that played by honest players who just lucked out, especially if they are weak and do many random things (like us). I think reporting/detecting/investigating cheating in online bridge is futile effort, at least in settigns where full names and other personal details are unknown. Once we have some kind of verification process and tournaments for verified players then it would make more sense.

I am still probably doubling as it seems like normal action but recently it seems to me more bad things comes from it than good ones. Partner could have bid 5card suit at 2level, he didn't. He doesn't have heart support either and is apparently too weak for 1NT call. It seems the only case when we win is when he was trapping which is unlikely, much more likely is some 5hcp with 4-2-3-4/5-2-3-3 distribution after which we either play something hopeless or let them improve their contract. Actually I am so convinced by my own reasoning here that I really want to pass :) (btw there were some great post by Fred about reopening the bidding and why you sometimes should pass in seemingly reopenable spots; anybody has a link by any chance ?)

As this forum is always great when it comes to lingo issues I hope someone chimes in and gives us some history of the term. It seems impossible to understand for someone who didn't hear it before. Why not: "prepare a squeeze" or something ? :)

As usual in this kind of situations: If you have good system which allows you to establish 1 suited GF at reasonable level it's easy 1♠ opener. If you play vanilla standard it's easy 2C opener as bidding space will not be useful for you anyway after 1S because you either make jump shift on 3 cards after which bidding is pure roulette or you jump to game anyway. It must be better to open 2C and have all the benefits in comp auction and some hope for reasonable constructive auction too. Btw I think opening this hand with 4S has merits. Sometimes you miss a slam, sometimes you nail them hard. I wouldn't be surprised if such style wes very profitable.

In standard with 18+ you play better minor with one suiters so 3D is clear. I have learnt that here on bbo forum !

Is it really that clear 3♠ ? I would bid that as nothing good ever happened from hiding majors 6 carders but I would feel a bit worried about going for a number there. Invite+ shouldn't set force imo, especially in situations where both sides could have a lot of distribution.

What is "advance cue" ? It's either cue (thus agreeing hearts) or it's not a cue. Natural doesn't make sense though so what else could that be ? What was 3H btw ? GF or invite ?

I these kind of sequences it's important for responder to show min/max in 12-14range below 3NT. It's more important than exact shape if there is no space. Anyway, it's easy 3NT.

Nah, with side singleton I am raising. In Poland people usually don't have that problem as 1C opener promises 2 in any other suti in weak variant and after 1D opening the only problem shape is 3-4-5-1 (with 3-1-5-4 you could bid 2C) and with that problem shape most people here would raise I believe. Now raising with 4-4-3-2 is completely different thing and if you raise on 3 with that here you would get a lot of suspicious looks if it worked and pitiful looks if it didn't :) With 5 spades partner bids 2S in style when you routinely bid 1NT with 3-4-4-2's/5-3-3-2's that's the whole point of that style. I guess for people who routinely raise with 3 it's more common to pass 1NT with 5 spades. This is similar to argument against support doubles. They make life easier for you but also easier for them. Most people prefer to play them these days it seems.

My intuition is out five things which we would like to be able to show: a)range b)shortness c)degree of support in other major d)suit quality e)feature The most important are a) b) d) in that order. I am yet to see the point of playing "feature" or a hand when it won imps but some pretty good players recommend it so I stay open minded on this one :)

Doesn't standard bidding works that way that if partner bid 2C now he won't force to game after our 2H ? As we reject invites anyway (we could have 10 here and this is shitty 8) argument about games is very weak one imo. The question at MP's is how often 140 makes and imo not too often so I pass. Those problems in standard are very difficult. Both 2H and 3C are very wide ranged here which makes bidding a guessing game to some extent as the ranges in practice are always 2hcp wider than you want them to be. That said, it's inconceivable to me that we play a partscore on 26hcp without even trying for game. In my country people playsing 11-21 openers limit 2C to 17hcp so it's 11-17. If your style is to bid that even with 18's then I don't pass.

Imo UI doesn't suggest any action here so you are free to do w/e you please. I don't have law book nearby but I think I remember something about "LA's clearly suggested" there. No matter exact wording it seems TD's give players a pass in general in such situations (when both weaker and stronger hand than average is possible).

I checked my database and I was wrong about Italians. While almost all 3card raises are with 5m, there are some 4-4-3-2, for example this one: QT6 KQT5 43 AQ74 from Versace, which is exactly what Helene_t described (LV don't play Walsh). Some other examples: T94 9743 A7 AKQ6 A87 K973 AQT3 95 AK4 AK98 9863 42 QT2 A762 KQJ4 72 All from Lauria-Versace As to disasters I think, slam bidding is crippled if you don't very detailed agreements in this spot and might result in ridiculous contracts. I will search my db later to find some examples from real experts :) Btw, if you raise with 3, then: 1m - 1M 2M - 3m should promise 5card major.

Depends on agreement and place in the world. Some people routinely raise with 3. Some almost never (like Meckwell and Polish pairs). Some only with 5card minor suit (like Italian pairs, it seems to me). From what I read on this forums I would guess that "American Expert Standard" is to raise with 3 quite often but it's a wild guess. The hand in question is imo clearcut 1NT. although I like Helene_t point about Walsh, I haven't thought about it. Still, you need good system after raise to 2S if it's routinely with 3cards and if you start including 4-4-3-2's there it's difficult to handle imo. If you are looking for advice, mine is: never raise with 3 without 5card minor, that way you will be in world class company and avoid disasters which may easily occur from 3card raises.

I think W should double. Not because of some distant slam but to have a chance to find hearts 6-2. After: 1H 1S 3N p ? Opener will have hard time converting to 4H with mediocre 6hearts as 3N might be based on source of tricks and a stopper. Give W KJ9x though and 3N becomes clear (er?) while slam is still laydown.

There is very useful bidding idea that if you have only 4♠ and GF hand you don't bid 1S after 1H but you start with 2/1. You need good system after 2/1 to make it work probably but it save you tons of trouble and benefits are there. For example: 1H - 1S 2H - 3C/D now promises 5 spades and: 1H - 1S 2D - 3C = promises 5 spades again Which is very useful for game/slam exploration purposes. After 2/1 it's good to play that: 1H - 2C/2D 2S - 5-4 majors, any strenght and then relay for pc/shape follows. It's even better to reverse it (or in other words play symmetrical as in 1S - 2C/D): 1H - 2C/2D -2H - 5-4majors -2S - one suited hand with hearts This way after 2H you have two relays 2S/2N. You could use 2S as promising H support and 2N as denying it (again symmetrical with 1S - 2C/D - 2H). This way you have a lot of space for exploration. One additional bonus of this agreement is that: 1H - 2C/D 2H/S (depending what you agree) - 2N Defenders don't know if declarer has 4 spades here and spade is what they lead on those auctions so you could be waiting there with your AQTx. 3C should promise extras so now you have basically grand slam force depending on keycards. With 5H-4C in 12-14 range you bid 2H and after 2N from partner: 3C - 4clubs (then relay for shortness) 3D - 3clubs (then relay for 6th heart) Enough of improving 2/1 for today :)

My view is that pass shouldn't be forcing and W should've bid 5♥ by himself. As E I would pass 4♠ no reason to double it imo. If pass is forcing then E has obvious double.

Were the opponents playing strong twos or something ? :)