bluecalm

Right, I forgot this one. I agree, this is quite good. As you reminded me of that one it's good opportunity to re-read :)

I am not a fan of suit preference discards in suit contract It causes more mess than it's worth imo as against suit contracts you usually want to discard from your long suits (as opposed to NT contracts where suit preference is more useful). There is one very important message on this hand: "do I ruff clubs". You need some way to tell partner if you have a trump (or if you are ruffing in general, or if you have trump to promote in similar situation). We play that discarding a high card says "yay" and low card (here in hearts) is just usual encouragement thus denying interest in ruffing. If you just discard A♥ partner is still in the dark as to ruffing potential. Imo discarding A♥ or low hearts denies interest in ruff (partner doesn't know we have 7 clubs). Why not use hearts to give count in hearts ?

And what is it ?

Yup, I even included this in OP saying partner plays 2 from 92. Anyway, do you switch ? :)

This one keeps coming up. I like it, sounds like the most frequent/useful bid.

I played Q♠ and as declarer hand was: J xxx AJxx KQJxx and partner's: xx AQxxx xx Axxx It was +100 for 33% of match points (instead of +500 for all of them). I wondered if partner being short in diamonds (making spade shortness less likely) coupled with his apparent tricks somewhere (for the double opposite non-vul preempt) is enough to make a heart switch. I still don't know, but Hanoi5 won ;)

They are not counterclockwise. It's your imagination failing to adapt :) In original hand you are on the left. Dummy is on the top. Play goes: bottom,left,top,right exactly in clockwise order :) The problem is that sometimes bidding is on the table and sometimes it's besides the table. To discover which case we are dealing with we need to read those letters "WNES" and tell our imagination to adjust accordingly to them. :) As to the play if we haven't unblocked Q♣ then there is not much we can do now I believe. Declarer is almost certainly 4-Jxx-4-2 and we need club communication. If we failed to do so though I discard Q♣ and T♦ hoping declarer is 4-Jx-5-2 and partner missignaled diamond count.

Thanks, that's what I needed :)

Bidding 4H on both strong bal hands and weakish unbal hands is very bad system. If you could have 4-4-3-2 19hcp and 6-4, 15hcp there is no hope whatsover for reasonable slam bidding. If 4H is weakish/shapy then hands with plenty hcp needs to go via different route. I mean, how can you hope for reasonable auction if you don't even know if opener has 3 or 5 diamonds at 4 level ? Responder will never be able to count tricks with any accuracy without knowing about diamond length.

Thanks, but what if I don't want to start the table but just watch other tables ? (which is what I wanted to do)

Hi, I never use web version of BBO but today I logged in and tried to find partnership bidding tables and I was unable to. As I am experienced computer user I think there is a problem with interface design and more people are likely to miss them. Btw, tell me where they are !

[hv=pc=n&s=sk43hk85dkqt983c4&e=saqt8765hj4d6c732&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1d3s5ddppp]266|200[/hv] Random but probably better than BBO avg opps, matchpoints. 1D is generally 5+, 4 only with 5C or 4-4-4-1 (any). You lead A♠ (good/bad ?). The first trick goes: A♠, 3♠, 2♠, J♠ You play UDCA so partner plays the 2 from 92 or stiff 2 :) What now ? (note for people having problems with directions: dummy is at the bottom and we are on the right, the bidding covers the table, green area is outside the table).

Imo game try is enough with opener's hand. Responder went crazy.

I am probably the biggest opponent of "strong reverse" style on this forum but this hand isn't anywhere near what I consider normal reverse :) It looks like easy 2S to me.

I just thought that you might be right about this 6-4 hand. While game, if available is often in spades the 4-3 partscore is silly comparing to 6-1 partscore and that is what we will get if responder is 3-1 in majors.

I can't offer you anything specific. I spent some time analyzing this (doing simuls and observing how the best players play). I feel quite strongly about it but I can't see how I could "prove" it.

It's not perfect but it's right on frequency basis. With 6-4 you gave, especially at imps 2C is mandatory because the most likely game is in spades.

Yes, that's why it's good to have 2C as majors then with 3-2 majors responder bids 2D to ask for longer.

http://www.bridgebase.com/vugraph_archives/vugraph_archives.php http://www.sarantakos.com/bridge/vugraph.html 2nd links is cool because the hands are stripped from comments (they are pain because they don't save correctly and are basically random junk) and sorted via events.

I think this one is difficult to find. Impossible not to find if you have a call showing both majors. 1N - 2N - p - ? I think E could venture at least an invite here opposite vulnerable partner with the best possible configuration in minors. I think it's not 100% but probably N should show major 2suiter after penalty double w/e method he has available for that. I am not sure though, that could be -1700 opposite 2-2-(5-4).

Yeah, right. 2-way multi sometimes causes problems too. Those are very rare though comparing to 4 way multi. The sequence you gave is one example but there way less such auctions than after 4-way multi. Still, sometimes responder has both major fits while after 4way multi he needs 3 of them. Also multi is a bit preemptive while 2C isn't preemptive at all.

Btw, I think "Meckwell" should be added to original list: 2C/2D = nat + major 2H/2S = nat dbl = one minor or both majors I don't know if 2C/2D calls could be either way or if they promise 5cards in a major (or maybe in a minor ?)

We can discuss capp's 2D bid but the real problem is with 2C "any suit". Now, what is the most important thing is that if they bid their major we could compete in ours. This is easy with natural 2M overcall, it's easy with multi overcall (from multi landy) if the double shows 5M-4m for example then again, if they bid and raise their major we know partner has 5 cards in the other (or 4 in case of discussed "Meyerson"). Not so in capp. One example: 1N - something - 2D - p 3H - pass - pass - ???? You really want to know if partner has spades. If "something" is 2S you know that. If "something" is 2D as multi you know that too. If 'something' is capp you are lost. Not only that. The more spades you have the less likely you are to take action and the more you lose if partner has spades. You can easily lose 10 card fit in such auctions. No decent defense to 1N has a call like "any suit". You either want 2M natural or 2D as multi or 2D/2H as transfers. As to 2D call. The only advantage of it is that you play from better hand (less disclosed and putting strong hand on lead) but you often play in worse fit. You are left guessing with 2-2/3-2/2-3/3-3 configurations in majors and it's painful.

I have a feeling we need to cash some clubs and plan the play depending on to how many of them RHO follows but for now I don't see a solution.

Yeah, sry I am stupid. 2) and 3) are similar, just different opponents bidding.