Old York

Does BBO have a Facebook page (or similar)? ACBL has a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Con...2.1326991888..1 Many other respected organizations have pages on Facebook etc, so why not Bridgebase? Network sites are big business and attract thousands of hits and fans Tony p.s. Any Vampires out there? (Bite me! - Snowgoon - Vampire Wars on Facebook)

How is that winning when we end up with 5 losers? The only layouts that matter are:- 1/ ♥Ax(x) with West (Including AQ3 and AJ3) 2/ ♥QJ3 with West (and West correctly refuses to play an honour - else the ♥8 is promoted) all other layouts lead to defeat, or am I missing something? Edit.... yep 3/ ♥Q3 or ♥J3 or ♥Q93 or ♥J93 with West (again, the ♥8 will be promoted) Hard to spot the 8 of Hearts getting promoted :) Tony

I am a simple soul and I feel lucky. West has opened the bidding, so figures to have ♥Ace rather than playing low from ♥QJx so I play the King If we allow East to win ♥Jack or ♥Queen he switches to a trump so the heart ruff is an illusion. The odds seem better than 2-1 that West has ♥Ace Edit: playing ♥10 will only gain if West has ♥QJx(x) (about 14%) Playing the ♥King gains whenever West has ♥Ace (over 50% [ignoring AQJ]) Tony

I would be much happier showing my 4 Aces and King to partner than asking about her Kings and trump queen with no idea about source of tricks or final strain. With a fistful of Aces, it is better to answer Blackwood than to ask. If you could make a forcing, slam invitational raise to game, then partner may be in a better position to bid 4NT and your responses will get you to 7NT. I use 3NT as a serious slam invitation here, if partner tries to sign-off in 4♠ then I continue as you did 1♣-1♠-2♠-3NT* etc or maybe 1♣-1♠-2♠-4♣ or similar However, as I suggested in a recent post, it is often a good idea to "follow the herd" and just bid the grand slam anyway :) Tony p.s. If your partner had ♣KQJxx then it was her responsibility to bid 7NT as she can count 13 top tricks, or with ♣KQJx bid 7♠ counting 12 top tricks and a red suit ruff

One of the advantages of a 12-14hcp notrump, which is frequently overlooked, is the effect it has on suit openings. All suit opening show a 4+ card suit and a hand which is either too strong, or too unbalanced, to open 1NT. This makes all suit openings more reliable. All students should be taught to consider their rebid before choosing an opening bid. :) Four card openings are freely made in Hearts and the Minors, but better players tend to be reluctant to open 4 card Spade suits, so 3 card Spade raises are common and safe. Acol is a very good "starter pack" because all gadgets fit well and can be added as the student progresses, and you can experiment with strong-nt and/or 5cM without straying from the basic structure of the system. Quote: "on the other hand, opening the major with 4-4 your killer sequence is 1M - 2M when you've got a strong NT. can't really move but you can be cold for game" 1♥-2♥-2NT(invitational and non-forcing) shows this hand type, np Tony

...... or play Benji-Acol and have the added luxury of playing weak twos in the majors and strong twos in all 4 suits ;) 2♠/2♥ = weak 2 2♦ = Game Force 2♣ = 8+ playing tricks in an undisclosed suit (rule of 25) Tony

I am alergic to EBU, but might have a look at their software ;) Mr Bridge has a lot of Acol based software and articles http://www.mrbridge.co.uk/ http://www.mrbridge.co.uk/library.php Tony p.s. Can we have an Acol Forum, please?

I don't see the problem. If you open 1NT (strong) with this hand, it would be very easy to reach 3NT and oppo cash the first 6 heart tricks. Opening 1♦ or 1♣ with a strong hand is much safer than opening the same minor with a weaker hand imho. Any minor suit opening is an invitation to opponents to bid a major at the one level, and they always will do so. Opening 1NT (weak) is more likely to keep opponents quiet Tony p.s. I hate the term "weak nt". It is 100% natural to open with 13hcp, and with a balanced hand no-trumps is the natural strain. Opening with 13hcp, you have a mathematical expectancy of finding partner with 9hcp. This gives your side 22hcp and oppo with 18hcp - 4hcp advantage equates to an extra Ace = 7 tricks

"If EAST ever wins a trick, they return a small spade" "3 rounds of CLUBS and then a HEART is not good enough, since any continuation can be defeated if the cards lie badly" After cashing 3 clubs in hand, lead Heart to Queen or Ten, East is endplayed in 3 suits after winning ♥King or ♥Jack and must give dummy the 9th trick 3NT by North seems to be a better contract. Any non-club lead gives 9 or ten tricks (maybe 11) 1♣-3NT ;) Tony

Acol contains far fewer forcing bids than Sayc. Beginners tend to have difficulty remembering forcing sequences. Also, all Acol opening bids are natural 4+ card suits, so it is easy to support minors etc. Basically, Acol has less rules to remember There is no proven reason to teach weak notrump, as beginners get frustrated when contracts fail maybe a strong or variable notrump to start? However, the weak no trump wins on frequency of use and pre-emptive value Tony

Historically, any jump bid in a forcing situation shows a solid, self-supporting suit I vote for 2♠, or open 4♠ Tony

Your only forcing option seems to be to bid the enemy suit, but you could also pass. The re-double seems odd and can serve no purpose? Partner's 4th seat double could be quite weak, but I would treat a jump to 2♠ as invitational Tony

Very few people play a 1NT overcall in 4th seat as 15-18hcp. some play it as 9-12hcp, 11-14hcp or even 13-16hcp. This means that stronger hands must be shown by bidding 2NT Natural, or by doubling first. 2NT should never be UNT in the pass-out seat. If the bidding had been:- (1♠)-p-(2♠) then 2NT would show 5/5 minors I don't know whether GiB plays 2NT as 17-18, 19-20 or higher, but Gib-North obviously thought a slam was a good idea, holding 3 Aces and 2 good suits. GiB does not just count points, it creates likely hands for partner and bids appropriately. Tony

experiment using the "quote" button to see how others have done it Tony

I heards that BBO Groups with more than 3,000 friends are entitled to form "Private Clubs" With more than 3,000 Enemies perhaps BBO will allow you to set up a "Private Hermitage"? Tony :lol:

FD is an important tool for online bridge. The manual alerting procedure is a minefield. I agree that many FDCCs contain errors. The BBO Standard Acol FD is riddled with many mistakes, especially in 4SF sequences. I have no serious objection to players monitoring their own bids, and correcting or alerting manually. No player should ever be able to see explanations of his partner's bids, especially in Tournaments, Team Games or any "serious" game. I can only assume that this was allowed for the purpose of teaching etc and any other situation is misuse of FD. Tony http://www.bridgebase.com/help/3/common/te....html?fdoptions IMHO options 1 and 3 should never be used outside of teaching tables etc

By using the Options Button, players can already make these explanations invisible to partner. They are strongly encouraged to do so in serious games/tournaments Tony

I guess the real question should be: Is your 2♣ overcall limited? Your 2♣ bid seemed to hide a great deal of extra strength. It is normal to play a 2 level overcall as 10-15hcp. Double or bid No-trump with a stronger hand (unless playing strong jump overcalls etc). An immediate 3NT shows a long, solid minor with a stopper in the enemy suit (Gambling 3NT Overcall) With this agreement, your partner's 2♥ bid is non-forcing but constructive, showing 8-14hcp. This way, your 2NT rebid is non-forcing and shows about 12-15hcp. If your partner has a strong hand, she should bid the enemy suit, jump shift or bid no-trump at the appropriate level If you need to create a Game Force, it is normal to double first and then bid the enemy suit. Tony

I was just trying to show the other side of the coin. There are real risks here. However, I think that I would probably bid 4♣ Natural With a useful trick, my partner would raise, and I might even get doubled Tony

Wow! Your extreme good fortune is almost unbelievable, partner had the perfect hand. The last time I played this hand this was the layout..... [hv=d=w&v=e&n=skjt872hj3d763ct8&w=saq964ha9542dqck7&e=s53hkt876djt94c53&s=shqdak852caqj9642]399|300|Scoring: IMP Played on Fantasy Island[/hv] Tony :lol:

Both these bids could work well, I agree totally But there is a danger that any minor suit game/slam could fail if dummy has wasted values in the majors, which imho seems fairly likely Hope to see the complete hand soon Tony

Oh yes it would.... I pass now and pass quickly. I cannot wait to see dummy, and the complete hand. This is a very dangerous auction, partner probably has spades, and opponents probably have a massive heart fit. If I bid now, they will always find their hearts, and a xruff will ensue. they could easily make a heart game, with no guarantee of a good fit for our side :lol: The lure of a minor suit slam could easily be an illusion. Why sacrifice at the 5/6 level when passing now could net a good profit? 2NT in protective seat is not UNT, it is natural - usually showing 17-18 or better Tony

The BBO my-hands is very useful, but all hands are included in the final calculations, and the results are given for the preceding month. but this gives an average for the month which includes many random factors, like unknown partners, social tables and serious events all strung together. For serious (ACBL etc) tournaments, I have another separate ID and this gives me a fair idea of overall performance. If you only ever play serious games with a regular partner then this, I suppose, is not necessary. I recently won an ACBL Indy, playing SAYC, so I am content..... but not complacent :lol: Tony

Could I direct your attention to the ACBL website? Specifically: http://www.acbl.org/play/alertchart.html "Opening Two-Level Bids in a Suit and Responses 1/ Other conventional and/or artificial bids 2/ Natural 2D, 2H or 2S, if intermediate or better" It is also quite conceivable that OP was bidding in 4th seat Could I also thank Blackshoe for his non-arrogant reply, seems quite rare to find a true gentleman on BBO Forums :) Tony

Does anyone use an artificial 2♦ bid to include hands like this? or a strong 2♠ opening? (8+ playing tricks) Tony Not in the SAYC + 2/1 section of the forums they don't. I may be no SAYC or 2/1 expert - but I think I'm on safe ground there. Nick Is this purely because of ACBL regulations? 2♦ as a weak two is not a particularly useful or pre-emptive usage of the bid, so players (esp outside USA) must have other agreements Tony