luckyloser

how can you be sure to hold 8 cards in ♣? p has promised 3, not more!

your bidding shows exactly 3 spades. probably to an honor. and 13-14 hcp. also you are probably short in c. with a bare minimum or (even worse) 3 c there is no reason to bid now. therefore you hold 8 (most likely 4-4) cards in the reds. i think your bidding describes the hand very well. also p has enough information to make a good decision. dbl would be nice if available as takeout or to show a maximum....

you hold vul playing mps: ♠KQxxx ♥KQxx ♦xxx ♣x you are first and pass! (normally you open 12hcp-hands) p opens 1d, you respond 1s, p rebids 2c and you bid 2h. now p raises to 3h. opps pass how strong is partners hand? what are his possiblbe shapes? what do you bid?

mps, all play sayc, lho opens 1h, p dbles, rho raises to 2h you hold: ♠xxx ♥Kxxx ♦xx ♣A10xx what do you bid. is there a difference whether vul or not?

what if RHO bids only 1♠?

true, P will know we are short in ♠, but a singleton is a lot better than a void enabling a finesse against opener!!! the void will be a disappointment! consider this hand: ♠AQTxx ♥KQxx ♦xxx ♣x I would be very lucky to make 2♥. Any higher contract has practically no chance! This hand is surely worth an overcall.

what are the conditions? MP or IMP, Vul? at MPs i would just bid 3♣ showing a fit, a ♥suit and about 10-12 total points. true, my hand is slightly better but I dont want to commit to game. any bid, that rules out 3nt is very bad. 2♦ is a possible alternative though on the agressive side. at IMPs (especially vul), we belong in game. 2♦ is best but continuation is difficult.

Matchpoints, you are vul, all play SAYC (opps unknown, possibly weak) P deals and passes RHO passes you hold ♠KT ♥KJ87 ♦A75432 ♣Q and open 1♦ LHO dbles an P rdbles (normal: no d fit, at least 10 HCP, may have a 4-card major) RHO bids 1♠ (not 2, sorry, correction) Do you pass and wait or do you show your long ♦suit or even your ♥? If you pass, what would be a hand to bid 2♦with?

Matchpoints, you are vul, RHO is dealer, you play SAYC with michaels (no special agreement as to strength) you hold: ♠- ♥T742 ♦AJ64 ♣KQJ73 and pass. LHO opens with 1♦ and P bids 1♠ :( after pass by RHO you bid 2♣ (nonforcing) praying that you dont hear 2♠ from P :angry: after pass by RHO P bids 2♥ :) do you go on or are you happy to have found a fit? P did not bid michaels 2♦, he therefore has only 4 cards in ♥ P did not dble, he therefore does not have an opening bid or lacks ♣ or most likely both ♠ is P´s primary suit, his values there are doubtful opposite shortage in ♣ my values are doubtful any ♦ finesse will fail, ♦ will be led do all these thoughts convince you to pass or do you go on (you have a maximum and a fit)? remember, it is matchpoints and you are vul!

hello i totally agree! 2♥ shows a little something with 3 cards in ♥. the Q is wasted ( in a suit P is not interested in), the K is nothing to write home about and you have nothing in both suits P is interested in. i think any other bid except 3h is an overbid. 3♦ should show a good suit with at least KQ, 3♣ probably some honors that work. one can also view from another point: if the 1♥bidder had bid 2 or 3♥ instead he would be looking for a fit or one (half) honor trick in your hand. but he bid only one so he needs more for game, i think he needs about 1 1/2 tricks plus a mild fit! you dont have that!

Matchpoints, no one vul, RHO dealer You hold: ♠54 ♥875 ♦K9853 ♣Q83 After two passes LHO opens 1♣ (Sayc) and Partner doubles. You bid 1♦ and P now bids 1♥. No special agreement, so expect at least 17 total points (with a onesuiter even stronger). 1st question: Is this hand worth a courtesy raise to 2♥? Now assume you raise to 2♥ and P now invites with a trial bid of 2♠ (not short, P asks about strength and values in ♠) 2nd question: Do you show minimum with 3♥ or do you show further interest with any other bid, if so which? 3rd question: What can P expect (examples please) if you bid 2NT, 3♣,3♦?

MPs both pairs play SAYC, both red ♠xx ♥Axxxx ♦Axxx ♣Ax you open 1♥, LHO bids 1♠, P passes (he could have bid a new suit nonforcing) and RHO passes. do you reopen with a DBL or 2♦ or sell out?

MP, you play sayc, opps too. LHO opens 1♦, p overcalls 1♠, RHO passes, you hold ♠ KQJx ♥ xx ♦ Axx ♣ QJxx and bid 2♦ showing at least a game-invitational raise (good sup, 11 HCP or better). P now bids 2♥ showing ♥-values and not a minimum (whatever that is). has your hand improved or not? and do you offer a further invitation (if yes, what do you bid?) or leave it to P to move on and bid only 2♠ for now (do you then bid 4 if P makes a further move?)?

if p has an entry, it may be better not to lead a h since this could give dec his 9th trick. if we can hit partner´s entry we may well run the h-suit. or dec may have only 8 tricks. however dec may have 9 minor suit tricks but is unlikely to run 9 tricks with s and only one minor suit. so i lead a top ♠. if this is his entry, fine; if not dec may not have 9 tricks.

Your hand: ♠KQJxx ♥- ♦AJxx ♣Qxxx you open 1♠ and the bidding goes (opps silent): 1♠ - 2NT (4 card supp, gameforce, maybe slam) 3♥(sing or void) - 4♣(cue) 4 ♦ - 4 NT ??? partner has shown a strong raise with 4-card support and a ♣control. he has denied the ♥A (no cue after 4♦) and has slam interest; he now asks for Aces (roman keycard), it seems Aces are his main concern now. your correct bid now is 5♠, showing 2 Aces (♦A and the trump K) plus the trump Q (you haven´t agreed upon how to show a void). partner knows you are short in ♥ but not that you are void. your 4NT answers show (5 Aces): 03,14,2,2+Q do you bid 5♠ or something else and why?

Your hand: ♠KQJxx ♥- ♦AJxx ♣Qxxx you open 1♠ and the bidding goes (opps silent): 1♠ - 2NT (4 card supp, gameforce, maybe slam) 3♥(sing or void) - 4♣(cue) 4 ♦ - 4 NT ??? partner has shown a strong raise with 4-card support and a ♣control. he has denied the ♥A (no cue after 4♦) and has slam interest; he now asks for Aces (roman keycard), it seems Aces are his main concern now. your correct bid now is 5♠, showing 2 Aces (♦A and the trump K) plus the trump Q (you haven´t agreed upon how to show a void). partner knows you are short in ♥ but not that you are void. your 4NT answers show (5 Aces): 03,14,2,2+Q do you bid 5♠ or something else and why?

pass, 5 ♦, 4nt or dbl 4nt should show eqaul length in the minors. i dont like it 5 ♦ shows a one suiter dbl shows at least to places to play (not three at the 4-level!!). so if p bids 4♠ which is likely i can bid 5♦, showing a 2 suiter with better ♦ than ♣ ! this is surely better than a direct 5♦. i dont like pass bec 5 ♦ may be makeable or a good save! it is DBL!

no messing around! if p has the s K (he has shown it with 5 ♦) chances for 7nt are very good: p may have the ♥Q or the ♦K if LHO has the ♠ guard a squeeze is assured if RHO has the ♠ guard a triple squeeze may develop correct discarding will be very (!) difficult for opps playing imps one may consider 7 ♣ (♥ ruff), so ask for d K with 5 NT) playing matchpoints i think 7 NT now is correct

you and p hold the following hand: ♠Kxxx ♥Kx ♦x ♣AKQTxx ♠ATx ♥Jxxx ♦Kxxxx ♣x opps remain silent. do not consider the bidding which may vary according to system. just tell me your choice of final contract playing MATCHPOINTS (IMPs should be easier). if this helps, it is the last board after a nearly perfect series of 7 boards (you are first, ahead with about 75%)and do not want to ruin the result, an average plus (better than 50%) will be fine. you should not shoot for a top but want to avoid a disaster. what contract do you think the field will play? is there a clear best one or are the alternatives all feasible (c,s,nt), do you want to be in game? COME ON FOLKS: VOTE and POST! just reading isn´t enough, we want your opinion!

thanks for the quick answer! i really appreciate that! let me explain a few points: *) my name is Martin, did a false name slip into the database? *) i registered several years ago and now gave the robot tourneys another try, it is oftne that inexperienced users find some bugs that nobody notices anymore bec one is used to them. however i did not want do shine with suggestions made many times before, i only did not have time to read all forum posts. sorry about that. *) i am not sure but i think some years ago seats where switched so that the human player became declarer instead of GIB....?? *) it can well be that i wound up as dummy very often... this is because of my bidding style offering a contract instead of immediately bidding it. for instance: i hold AQxxx,Kxx,AJxx,J. the bidding goes: 1s - 2c, 2d - 3d,? i bid 3 h to ask for a partial stopper and to make the hand with (the hoped for) qx declarer. apparently many players simply bid 3nt when playing with robots to make sure they become declarer and to avoid any misunderstandigs. this i think is not a good idea bec one ruins good bidding. while i understand that a robot may follow different paths when playing a hand there should not be a different bidding strategy else playing with robots will not improve but destroy your game! let me stress the last point (i hope this has not been suggested too often... :rolleyes: ): while GIB makes some good decisions slow bidding is not best. especially probing for 3nt does not work particularly well; sometimes GIB raises on two small even though it can supply 2 stoppers in the suit in question.... maybe this can be fixed some time. regards martin

in robot-tournaments it makes little sense to let robots play a hand as declarer. why not switch sides and let the human play the hand. if you think this would interfere with the structure of the game then maybe at least in some robot tourneys this would be a nice alternative! :rolleyes: this can hardly be difficult to realize, can it? :angry: :angry:

i noticed several times that GIB takes a finesse which succeeds but it does not repeat it but simply cashes the A. while this may in some cases be correct in a MP event it is rarly correct techn ic to obtain the maximum number of tricks. since this has happened several times I consider it a bug.

i suggest the following scheme: dbl is weakest only if the partnership is in a forcing sequence. here this is not the case. so pass seems to be best. do you agree?

suppose the bidding goes (both red, matchpoints) : 1h - 1s - 4h - ? you hold Txxx,QT,Axx,xxxx I think the first answer is easy, you bid 4s (dont you?). after 2 passes RHO bids 5h and you do not want p to encourage but also you do not want to dbl because opps may easily make. is a dbl now weaker than pass or is pass weakest and dbl promises defense? the main problem here is that 4s is not defined. it may be very strong, just a shade short of a slam try and the 4h-bidder is weak; or it may be just the other way round. what do you think?

thanks for your opinion! i can now give my own and maybe we can all learn from the problem. what i learned is that 3♠ might be understood as michaels. that never occurred to me. i do not think it should be, because *) michaels is a convention, not just a treament and should therefore be agreed upon (which was not the case at the 2-level) *) only very few partnerships play it after a preemptive bid at the 2-level *) it makes sense only with a gigantic 2-suiter (the contract must be at the 4-level), that hates to dble opps at the 2 or 3-level *) a TOX serves the same purpose. since opener has a 2-suiter and we are unlikely to play in one of his suits, thus by dbling only ♥ and an unknown minor are offered. *) in the rare event that we have a 2-suiter and opps get dbled after a TOX it is almosst 100% that partner has the other 2 suits, therefore a total misfit. can 3♠ be just any very strong hand with short ♠? i think not, because *) very few play that way after a 1-level opening (it is a treatment from the days of yore). *) almost any strong hand can be discribed with a TOX and later continuation. *) 3♠ is very dangerous because bad breaks are likely. what about a western cuebid? *) 3♠ may be the only way to arrive at 3NT with a running minor but no ♠ stop. *) after a 1-level opening almost everybody would understand it that way *) bad breaks (likely after the opening bid) do not interfere with hands of this sort, therefore the bid is not dangerous with an appropriate hand (♠x ♥AQx ♦XX ♣AKQxxxx) *) such a hand is quite likely (gigantic 2- or 3-suited hands are not)