BillHiggin

My first year in college. My new roommate had 2 bridge buddies in the same dorm. They clearly had a need and decided that it was my role in life to fill that need. It took nearly 6 months of intense study before I started whupping them :lol:

How many of you "experts" will confess to being club level players? Not quite equivalent to "when did you stop beating your wife?" but close.

In 2/1 there is a "hole" involving invite strength responder hands to 1♦ when not holding either major. This "hole" is kind of like the lump in a bed - no matter what you do to fix it, the best you can really do is move it around. Note that one can fudge the 1♦ response to 1♣, so the "hole" does not become a problem over that opening. Often, one of the choices made is to minimize the occurances of the 1♦ opening. Opening 1♣ with 4-4 or 3-3 minors is common enough. The Italian style of opening 1♣ with 4=4=3=2 shape also takes pressure off the "hole". Using 2N as an invitational balanced response is common (but few really like that). Making 2♣ be less than game-forcing over 1♦ is used by some (or making 1♦ 3♣ natural and inviational). Still, the lump just moves around. Making the 1N response be extra wide is simply another choice as to where to "stash the problem". While the convention card may list that range for 1N response to 1m, in practice you will likely find that the range shrinks over 1♣. Yous pays yous money and yous takes yous chances.

What is the name for "fear of forgetting to try to win the last trick with the beer card". One must focus on the important things in life :P

Nah! He gonna get you cuz you pooh-pooed minors in another thread ;)

I would consider that appropriate and correct assuming this only happened for the hand during which the switch occured. Charlie started the hand and would be considered "responsible" for the outcome (if that had any real meaning). If kibitzing the actual table where the substitution takes place, one should see "sillafu" on the seat and "weedo" heading the appropriate bidding column. I believe that at BBO, it only really matters in the money bridge games (which have no spectators to see the anomaly) - a player abandoning a disaster hand will have a substitute bot finish it, and the player does not escape. At other sites which have active rating systems, this behaviour is needed to slow down hand abandonment issues (which certainly is not involved in this case - but the software does not know that).

Never pass up a chance to kick someone when they are down ;) Those 7 good looking ♠ cards look a lot like hearts to me.

Cry Because I skipped an opportunity to make a bid that described my hand quite nicely. Since I never include methods to show that I made an error earlier, I have no real way to deal with this (well, I can - but partner will never understand that I was dealt a 2H opener and failed to make that call).

You use this sort of information in both the bidding and in the play of the hand. Just yesterday, after a 1C opening I overcalled 1H with Ax KQTxx Axx Jxx. When the auction continued (p) 1N (p), I raised to 3N based largly on the assumption that almost all of the opponents strength was in opener's hand and that player would be essentially endplayed at trick one. Partner held 3 kings, and had little trouble making the very skinny game simply because my assumption was correct. The situation may not present itself very often, but you cannot take advantage of it if you are unaware. The advice in these books has made you aware. Take advantage of your new knowledge when the opportunity presents itself.

I must disclaim actual "Walsh expert" status, but I have devoted some considerable effort into investigating the techniques used by players that I would consider true Walsh experts (i.e. Benito Garozzo and others). As best I can determine, Papi uses a less restrictive rule for rebidding 1M after 1C (p) 1D (p). He always rebids 1N with 2 or 3 clubs (the Italian style being to open 1C with 4-4-3-2). A 1M rebid promises 4+ clubs (rather than 5). With a 4 card major, 4+ clubs and a balanced hand, he chooses between 1M and 1N based on judgement and hand character. A quacky balanced hand will often rebid 1N. A hand that is "aces and spaces" will rebid the major. Many hands are neirther fish nor fowl, he just instinctively (or so it seems) makes the best choice! The xx holding in a major is merely one factor in the judgement process. I strongly favor using some full version of xyz (by full version, I mean that two way checkback applies to 1C 1D 1M, 1C 1D 1N or 1m 1H 1S auctions as well as the more universal 1m 1M 1N ones - 1H 1S 1N is much less important). With that agreement, the strength limitations for a 1D response when holding a four card major can easily include invitational strength hands - with the caveat that the 1D bid must guarantee some checkback if opener rebids 1N. Perhaps there will come a day when I feel my judgement to be good enough to claim "Walsh expert" status. I estimate that I will be approximately 160 years old on that day. I can hope.

The appropriatness of the "overcall then double" to emphasize your real suit while showing tolerance or better for the others was published by Robert Ewen in "Doubles For Takeout, Penalties and Profit in Contract Bridge" first published in 1973 (and easier reading than Robson-Segal). Hardly counts as hyper-modern stuff. The actual sequence chosen by South on #38 was not well thought out (I am trying to be kind - but it is hard when shown such an auction).

Apparently 2/1 agreed must not have included "inverted minors agreed". 1!H is not a bid designed to produce a sane result. I do not know what it is, it just is not a valid choice.

The worst single decision came when they decided to sit opposite each other.

Are all languages as sloppy as Dutch? Large numbers of people are as sloppy with their use of language as the ones you know. I don't think it reflects on the language itself. At one time, SAYC meant something more than "5 cad majors other than 2/1". Anymore, that is about all you can reliably assume from the statement "We play SAYC".

Kleinman's suggestion summarized: With no suit to raise, cheap-cheap: use the cheapest cue of their suits to show a good bid in the cheapest of their non-suits (and he used dear as the opposite of cheap - so dear-dear also applies) When partner has bid a suit, he suggests dear-old (words chosen partly to make a pun as in dear old danny). This allows one to use the cheap cue to show the 4th suit while preserving the option of returning to partners suit. This situation is handled very poorly by cheap=raise. He specifies an exception (which logic clearly supports) when their two suits are non-touching - return to cheap-cheap even if partner has bid a suit. In the specific case of unusual Nt, cheap-cheap (hear the birdie) is equivalent to low-low. The more general case is better described by cheap-cheap.

Bad bid made worse by UI? Nope - bad bid!

cheap = raise is somewhat outdated. BWS specifies cheap = cheap, which is easier to remember and applies equally well to auctions where there is no suit named by our side. Danny Kleinman has a better suggestion in the March TBW He suggests dear = raise unless the opponents suits are non-touching (then cheap = cheap works best again). cheap = raise is the least efficient of all.

I consider that asking 1♠ to guarantee an unbalanced hand is too extreme for strong no-trump systems (fine for weak though). A more reasonable agreement (stolen from Benito) is that 1♠ confirms 4+♣ and shows suitability for suit play (Aces and spaces versus quacks). This works quite well in a system that includes xyz (without that, you may need to agree that 1N denies 4♠). Of course, the OP must not include xyz since then the spectrum of ♠ raises is almost too great (immediate single raise, immediate jump raise, 2♣ then single raise, 2♣ then jump raise, 2♦ then single raise or 2♦ then jump raise). I do like xyz a lot.

To me, this sequence clearly shows a trap pass of 1S and is now a penalty double. I agree with Ken that take-out does not make sense here (but the trap pass is a real possibility).

It seems at least somewhat strange that this many replies have been posted without mentioning the most obvious difference: Roth/Stone used a strong 1N opening Kaplan/Sheinwold was(is) a weak 1N system. In the late 60's I noticed a lot of advanced partnerships in the Seatle area with "Western Roth/Stone" as the system description on their convention cards. When I returned some 6 years later (there was a fairly significant military thingy that interupted many of our lives), most of these partnerships were proclaiming "Western 5 card majors". On that flimsy evidence, I would speculate that R/S could well be considered the parent of modern 2/1 (but few have ever been as adamant about sound openings as Al Roth). In it's earliest phases, the solid opening style advocated by Roth/Stone was really needed to protect their systemic psyches. Bulldog was another similar system developed at around the same time as R/S and K/S, but at least the western advocates of that system pretty much abandoned the systemic psyches because they were opening much more aggressively and found it hard to distinguish between a systemic psyche and a light opening. Of course, all that has been rendered somewhat moot as the ACBL has forbidden psychic controls at the GCC level. Note that Al Roth is still an advocate of super sound openings.

While it shows very odd results initially, I have found that if one simply saves, closes and reopens that everything is exactly as one intended. Beware - the fact that is has seemed to work for me several times (always at first appearing to have failed miserably) cannot be taken as a guarantee - save a new copy and verify before deleting the original (which is always a prudent practice). The initial results usually look like bids out of turn and the entire bidding box may be just messed up. Have some faith (but careful faith) that things really have worked.

Other than 4 lines beginning 1S P 1S (corrected to 1S P 1N) and a note about an apparent error for the point range on 1H P 1S P 2C P 2D P 3N this includes both the original Italian and English *00{Gazzilli}=NYYYYYYSystem standard BBO ITALY. Gazzilli convention.\\Sistema standard BBO ITALIA. Convenzione Gazzilli. 001H=NYYYYYY0585+!H, Nat. not stronger than 4 losers\\5+carte; Nat. max. 4 perdenti 001HP1S=NYYYYYY548Nat\\Nat 001HP1SP2C=YYYYYYY508Gazzilli convention. Either normal strength 5!H - 4!C or some reverse excluding 6-4 shape\\Convenzione Gazzilli. Può prevedere o una mano di dritto Cuori-Fiori o una qualsiasi mano di rovescio ma non 6-4 001HP1SP2CP2D=NYYYYYY508Relay, 8+ Game forcing if opener has reverse strength hand\\Relè, 8+ FM a fronte di una mano di rovescio dell'apertore. 001HP1SP2CP2DP2H=NYYYYYY2585!H - 4!C, not reverse strength\\Mano di dritto Cuori-Fiori 001HP1SP2CP2DP2S=YYYYYYY638reverse strength with 3!S\\Mano di rovescio; 3 carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP2SP2N=YYYYYYY0Relay for distribution\\Relè per la distribuzione 001HP1SP2CP2DP2SP2NP3C=NYYYYYY0483!S - 5!H - 1!D - 4!C, reverse strength \\5 cuori - 4 fiori - 3 picche - 1 quadri mano di rovescio 001HP1SP2CP2DP2SP2NP3D=NYYYYYY0483!S - 5!H - 4!D - 1!C, reverse strength\\5 cuori - 4quadri - 3 picche - 1fiori mano di rovescio 001HP1SP2CP2DP2SP2NP3N=NYYYYYY25-3-3-2 with 3!S, 18-19 HCP \\5-3-3-2 di 18-19 punti con tre carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP2SP2NP3S=NYYYYYY6335-3-3-2 with 3!S, 16-17 HCP\\5-3-3-2 di 16-17 punti con 3 carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP2SP2NP3H=NYYYYYY6683!S - 6!H, reverse strength\\6° di cuori, mano di rovescio con 3 carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP2N=YYYYYYY65-5 reverse strength or 5-3-3-2 no 3!S, 16-17 HCP\\5-5 di rovescio oppure 5-3-3-2 di 16-17 punti senza 3 carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP2NP3C=YYYYYYY008Relay\\Relè 001HP1SP2CP2DP2NP3CP3D=NYYYYYY0055!H - 5!D, reverse strength\\5-5 con le quadri 001HP1SP2CP2DP2NP3CP3H=YYYYYYY0585!H - 5!C, reverse strength\\5-5 con le fiori 001HP1SP2CP2DP2NP3CP3N=NYYYYYY25-3-3-2 no 3!S, 16-17 HCP\\5-3-3-2 di 16-17 punti senza 3 carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP3C=NYYYYYY648reverse strength with 5!H - 4!C, no 3!S\\Mano di rovescio con 5 cuori, 4 fiori, ma senza 3 carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP3D=NYYYYYY648reverse strength with 5!H - 4!D, no 3!S\\Mano di rovescio con 5 cuori, 4 quadri, ma senza 3 carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP3H=NYYYYYY668reverse strength with 6+!H, no 3!S\\Mano di rovescio con almeno 6 carte di cuori 001HP1SP2CP2DP3S=NYYYYYY648reverse strength with 5!H - 4!S\\Mano di rovescio con 5 cuori e 4 picche 001HP1SP2CP2DP3N=YYYYYYY25-3-3-2 no 3!S, 16-17 HCP (wah note should be 18-19 HCP)\\5-3-3-2 di 16-17 punti senza 3 carte di picche 001HP1SP2CP2H=NYYYYYY108less than 8 points, signoff\\meno di 8 punti, riporto 001HP1SP2CP2S=NYYYYYY258less than 8 points, Nat.\\meno di 8 punti, Nat. 001HP1SP2N=YYYYYYY56!H and another 4 card suit, reverse strength\\6 cuori e quarta laterale; mano di rovescio 001HP1SP2NP3C=YYYYYYY508Relay for side suit\\relè 001HP1SP2NP3CP3D=NYYYYYY0486!H - 4!D\\6 cuori e 4 quadri 001HP1SP2NP3CP3H=YYYYYYY0086!H - 4!C\\6 cuori e 4 fiori 001HP1SP2NP3CP3S=YYYYYYY0086!H - 4!S\\6 cuori e 4 picche 001HP1N=NYYYYYY2Natural not forcing, it excludes 4+ spades\\Naturale non forcing, esclude 4+ picche 001HP1NP2C=NYYYYYY508Gazzilli convention. Either normal strength 5!H - 4!C or some reverse excluding 6-4 shape\\Convenzione Gazzilli. Può prevedere o una mano di dritto Cuori-Fiori o una qualsiasi mano di rovescio ma non 6-4 001HP1NP2CP2D=NYYYYYY008Relay, 8+ Game forcing if opener has reverse strength hand\\Relè, 8+ FM a fronte di una mano di rovescio dell'apertore. 001HP1NP2CP2DP2H=NYYYYYY2585!H - 4!C, not reverse strength\\Mano di dritto Cuori-Fiori 001HP1NP2CP2DP2S=NYYYYYY644reverse strength, 5!H - 4!S (17-18 points); (with hands of advanced force one declared 2 spades on the answer of 1 KNOWS of companion)\\Mano di rovescio, 5 Cuori e 4 picche (17-18 punti); (con mani di forza superiore si dichiarava 2 picche sulla risposta di 1 SA del compagno) 001HP1NP2CP2DP2N=NYYYYYY65-5 reverse strength or 5-3-3-2, 16-17 HCP\\5-5 di rovescio oppure 5-3-3-2 di 16-17 punti 001HP1NP2CP2DP3C=NYYYYYY644reverse strength with 5!H - 4!C\\Mano di rovescio con 5 cuori, 4 fiori 001HP1NP2CP2DP3D=NYYYYYY644reverse strength with 5!H - 4!D\\Mano di rovescio con 5 cuori, 4 quadri 001HP1NP2CP2DP3H=NYYYYYY668reverse strength with 6+!H\\Mano di rovescio con almeno 6 carte di cuori 001HP1NP2CP2DP3N=NYYYYYY05-3-3-2 of 18-19 points\\5-3-3-2 di 18-19 punti 001HP1NP2N=YYYYYYY56!H and another 4 card suit, reverse strength\\6 cuori e quarta laterale; mano di rovescio 001HP1NP2NP3C=YYYYYYY508Relay for side suit\\relè per conoscere il colore quarto 001HP1NP2NP3CP3D=NYYYYYY6446!H - 4!D\\6 cuori e 4 quadri 001HP1NP2NP3CP3H=YYYYYYY6666!H - 4!C\\6 cuori e 4 fiori 001HP1NP2NP3CP3S=NYYYYYY6446!H - 4!S\\6 cuori e 4 picche 001S=NYYYYYY2585+!S, Nat. not stronger than 4 losers\\5+carte; Nat. max. 4 perdenti 001SP1N=NYYYYYY2Natural not forcing\\Naturale non forcing 001SP1NP2C=NYYYYYY508Gazzilli convention. Either normal strength 5!S - 4!C or some reverse excluding 6-4 shape\\Convenzione Gazzilli. Può prevedere o una mano di dritto Picche-Fiori o una qualsiasi mano di rovescio ma non 6-4 001SP1NP2CP2D=NYYYYYY508Relay, 8+ Game forcing if opener has reverse strength hand\\Relè, 8+ FM a fronte di una mano di rovescio dell'apertore. 001SP1NP2CP2DP2H=NYYYYYY658reverse strength with 3!H\\Mano di rovescio con 3 carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP2HP2N=YYYYYYY0Relay for the distribution\\Relè per la distribuzione 001SP1NP2CP2DP2HP2NP3C=NYYYYYY0485!S - 3!H - 1!D - 4!C, reverse strength \\5 picche - 4 fiori - 3 cuori - 1 quadri mano di rovescio 001SP1NP2CP2DP2HP2NP3D=NYYYYYY0485!S - 3!H - 4!D - 1!C, reverse strength\\5 picche - 4 quadri - cuori - 1 fiori mano di rovescio 001SP1NP2CP2DP2HP2NP3N=NYYYYYY25-3-3-2 with 3!H, 18-19 HCP \\5-3-3-2 di 18-19 punti con tre carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP2HP2NP3S=NYYYYYY6336!S - 3!H, reverse strength\\6° di picche, mano di rovescio con 3 carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP2HP2NP3H=NYYYYYY6685-3-3-2 with 3!H, 16-17 HCP\\5-3-3-2 di 16-17 punti con tre carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP2S=NYYYYYY2445!S - 4!C, not reverse strength\\Mano di dritto, Picche - Fiori 001SP1NP2CP2DP2N=NYYYYYY65-5 reverse strength or 5-3-3-2 no 3!H, 16-17 HCP\\5-5 di rovescio oppure 5-3-3-2 di 16-17 punti senza 3 carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP2NP3C=YYYYYYY508Relay\\Relè 001SP1NP2CP2DP2NP3CP3D=NYYYYYY0055!S - 5!D, reverse strength\\5-5 con le quadri 001SP1NP2CP2DP2NP3CP3H=YYYYYYY0585!S - 5!H, reverse strength\\5-5 con le cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP2NP3CP3N=YYYYYYY25-3-3-2 no 3!H, 16-17 HCP\\5-3-3-2 di 16-17 punti senza 3 carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP2NP3CP3S=YYYYYYY6555!S - 5!C, reverse strength\\5-5 con le fiori 001SP1NP2CP2DP3C=NYYYYYY644reverse strength with 5!S - 4!C, no 3!H\\Mano di rovescio con 5 picche, 4 fiori, senza 3 carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP3D=NYYYYYY644reverse strength with 5!S - 4!D, no 3!H\\Mano di rovescio con 5 picche, 4 quadri, senza 3 carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP3S=NYYYYYY668reverse strength with 6+!S, no 3!H\\Mano di rovescio con almeno 6 carte di picche senza 3 carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP3N=YYYYYYY25-3-3-2 no 3!H, 18-19 HCP\\5-3-3-2 di 18-19 punti senza 3 carte di cuori 001SP1NP2CP2DP3H=NYYYYYY644reverse strength with 5!S - 4!H\\Mano di rovescio con 5 picche, 4 cuori 001SP1NP2CP2H=NYYYYYY258less than 8 points, Natural\\meno di 8 punti, Naturale 001SP1NP2CP2S=NYYYYYY202less than 8 points, signoff\\meno di 8 punti, riporto 001SP1NP2N=YYYYYYY56!S and another 4 card suit, reverse strength\\6 picche e quarta laterale; mano di rovescio 001SP1NP2NP3C=YYYYYYY508Relay for side suit\\relè per conoscere il colore quarto 001SP1NP2NP3CP3D=YYYYYYY6446!S - 4!D\\6 picche e 4 quadri 001SP1NP2NP3CP3H=YYYYYYY6446!S - 4!H\\6 picche e 4 cuori 001SP1NP2NP3CP3S=YYYYYYY6666!S - 4!C\\6 picche e 4 fiori

With the master suit (and a hand that is clearly outside of our agreements), I might well start with PASS. I may have a reasonable idea of where the hand is going next time around (and clearly am gambling that the opps will not have exchanged too much information). When I do enter the auction (at a high level), the opps will be sure that something wierd is happening, but they will be as unsure as my "first time expert" partner as to exactly what it is. I do not engage in frequent tactical exploits, but this is a hand that rates to have everyone else guessing, and I have had good success with trusting my late auction judgement on freak hands. The worst that can happen is a bottom. This partnership could die in birth :)

My opinions on "no agreement" (and these are just opinions): If you really were completely unsure of how your partner would interpret a bid, you would take the prudent course of not actually making that ambiguous bid. The fact that you do choose to make the bid seems to indicate that you feel the odds are at least tilted towards partner interpreting it as you intended. A qualified explanation is usually appropriate "it ought to mean ... , but I am not sure". Of course, this is not always the way we behave. Some players will double in the mere hope that partner will interpret it in the manner that matches their actual holding, and for them "no agreement" is indeed accurate.

Silly me :rolleyes: I bid 3N (12-14 4333 no CoV) the first time. Let partner decide - he might actually have some information on which to base a decision. I know - odd concept that "trust partner" thing. And of course, he usually mucks it up, but if I keep showing faith, eventually he will do something wise (When your name is 'iggins, you must have faith in the Pygmalion principal - if you treat her like a lady she will be like one but treat her like a flower girl and she always will remain so).