Quantumcat

quiddity - an excellent explanation of why a jump shift has to be gameforcing! Thanks.

In Australia we use the CARDS rating system. Everybody who is a member of a club supporting this system has a rating usually between 40 and 60. In every session, the field's strength is calculated and each pair has an expected finishing position and score. If they do better than this, they get a plus to their rating (usually between +0.01 and +0.5), and a negative to their rating if they do worse. The stronger member of the pair gets a smaller plus than the weaker member, or a bigger minus if they do poorly. People only get a rating if they have played over 13 times in 12 months, so it is reasonably accurate even when you only first get your rating. This system adjusts for your partner and the field strength. For instance, if you play with a world-class expert and finish first with 60%, you will probably get a minus. If however you play with the club simpleton and manage to wrest the decisions off him and finish 3rd with a score of 55%, you will probably get a plus. If the room is full of old ladies who can't count to 13, you will probably need 70% just to avoid a minus, while if it is a national pairs event with world class players, you could get a hefty plus just for finishing in the top half of the field. In any case, while you are debating the merits of overall average or best ten scores, the above knocks both approaches out of the field :-) Not every club is signed up to the system, and many of our top players haven't played enough games that use the rating system to be placed where they should be. It may take a few more years before the top ten rated players really are the top ten Australians. The official website is here: http://www.bridgecentral.com/

I play a 10-12 1NT in 1st/2nd non vul. I absolutely love it. The pre-empting effect is fantastic, and has the side benefit of making it easier to bid games/slams after other openings (opener can't have a crap balanced 11-12 count anymore). We have also abandoned transfers and invented our own methods, which have the extra benefit of getting us in & out of the auction as fast as is possible. The opponents now don't get two chances to make a takeout double, and they don't get the chance to make a takeout double of a transfer knowing they don't have to risk it getting passed out. They get one shot to make a bid and if they choose not to, no second chance I'm afraid! I have also been playing a 12-14 1NT in 4th seat which I think makes so much sense that I don't know why it isn't universal. Your partner is going to have 8-11 pretty much every time and you are going to end up in 1NT 3/4 of the time. Why let them overcall at the 1-level and either tell their parter the best lead, or else find out they have a fit and end up declaring at the 2-level? The 1NT opening bid means opening leader will be in the dark (can't make inferences from partner's failure to overcall 1♥ or whatever) and if they want to declare at the 2-level, well they have only one shot to figure out if it's right! I can't tell you the number of times we've made 90 and every other score has been 110 to the opponents.

Since this is a beginner's forum, I would say to them, never bid 5-over-5 unless you want to invite slam. Don't bother trying to land on pinheads. Exactly the same as the advice, don't try to improve the partscore (if you know game is not a possibility, just accept the semi-fit instead of digging yourself even deeper into holes). In this case, West has a lovely slam invitation holding four-card support and only one club loser, but East says no thanks. Perfectly stopped (shame about missing the ace of diamonds, can't have everything. Good on North for pushing them to 5).

Playing in spades, you will be in a 4-3 fit with a 5-1 split or a 4-4 fit with a 5-0 split. Playing in a minor, if pard isn't imaginative enough to respond 2NT with equal length in the minors, you will be playing in clubs with a 3-3 or a 4-3 fit. There's very little upside unless you find partner with five diamonds or an excellent defending hand. And don't forget, partner has the same vulnerability as you. With five diamonds he stood a decent chance of overcalling 2♦ over 1♠. Also with five bad clubs and four diamonds, he would surely have bid 2NT over 2♥ if he wasn't in favour of defending. Partner's automatic lead is a heart against 2♥ (South probably has 0-1 spades and 3 hearts), which you really don't mind, if he leads away from an honour you have the trusty jack to back it up with, and some high cards to get in with to lead your second one. I would be quite looking forward to the defense on this hand.

You seem to have the agreement that pass shows an ace of king, and bidding anything denies this? Possibly a better agreement is that used by 2/1 players when a 2/1 response gets interfered with. X is penalty, pass is takeout, and a suit bid is a suit worthy of being trumps (after a bit more interference, pard needs to know whther he has to be holding lots of middle cards in the suit to make it a trump suit, he could be facing a high-level decision at this point). If you pass, then pard's (opener's) double just shows a balanced hand without a particular desire for a trump suit. Then when you are holding 2-4 cards in the suit each you can still penalise even though neither of you have a trump stack. Bidding a suit is a suit that wasn't worthy of independently being a trump suit in the first instance (but now that you know pard is balanced, it is a possibility).

A reverse is a rebid that is higher than the same level in your first suit. The reason reverses have to show extra values, is that if partner is very weak, and prefers your first suit, he has to bid it at a higher level. e.g. 1♦ - 1♠ 2♣ - 2♦ If partner is weak (5-9 HCP) he can go back to ("give preference to") opener's first suit at the same level the second one was bid at. With 12 HCP in the opening, and about 6 in the response, the pair are reasonably safe at the 2-level with a minimum of 18 HCP total in a fit. BUT 1♦ - 1♠ 2♥ - 3♦ Because 2♥ is higher than 2♦, if partner prefers the first suit, he has to give preference at a higher level than the second suit was bid at. To make a reverse, you have to have enough values to be safe at the three level when partner has 6-9 HCP. This is usually agreed to be about 16 HCP. This gives you 22 HCP total if partner has a minimum (6 HCP). Now, if you have two suits in which the higher-ranking is longer, you will naturally not be making a reverse when you bid your second suit. It is a common agreement that responder is allowed to pass the second non-reverse suit if they have a very bad hand and a fit with the second suit. However, if you are holding 19 HCP or so, you don't want your partner to pass, because you know you can make game opposite 6 HCP. This is the time that you make a jump-shift, which forces your partner to game, however weak they are. Now you can bid slowly and naturally to continue the search for a fit without fear of being dropped below game. e.g. 1♥ - 1♠ 3♣ Opener has about 19 HCP or the equivalent and still wants to be in game even if responder is very bad. Whatever bids are made from now on are forcing even if they are not jumps, until a game-level contract is bid.

I would recommend very, very strongly the one by ACBL. It explains things in JUST the right order. The person who wrote it understood what is happening in the minds of the beginners reading it. Plus, it has play problems embedded inside it, which help illustrate what it is teaching as it goes along. Learning by doing is best! It is usually impossible to learn by doing from books, so it really is a perfect tutorial. Also what I like is that it teaches the play FIRST rather than the bidding, and bidding seems very abstract and incomprehensible to beginners if they don't know what the play is about first. Yet most beginner's books talk about the bidding first. So anyway, download the ACBL 'Learn To Play Bridge' program as fast as possible :-)

Here is a basic principle. If game is still possible, keep bidding. If it is not, pass as soon as you are in some semblance of a fit (or you are in notrumps if it is unlikely you have a fit that it is possible to find at a low enough level). Your partner showed about 6-10 HCP with his 2♣ raise. For game to still be possible, you would need to have at least 15 HCP (15 + 10 = 25). If you have any less than this, then game is not possible and you will pass (since you are in a fit). Reverses do not really apply after you have found a fit. Changing suit has the purpose of locating a fit, and if you already have one, there is no need to show genuine suits that you are willing to play in (you already know what suit you are playing in). So your 2♥ bid just said that you have something in hearts, you are interested in game, and you can't bid 2NT yourself (which partner will realise means you don't have spades stopped). With a 13 point hand, partner knew there was a game on (12 + 13 = 25). He should have either changed suit (which is forcing), and bid game later, or else just bid game right away. 2♣ showed 6-10 HCP, probably with 4 or 5 clubs and 3 or fewer hearts (double by him would show 4 hearts, or a weak hand with five or more).

Possibly after opening 1♥ and getting interfered with, rebid 5♥? That should say to pard, "I have 11 tricks, please raise if you have an ace". I think it is better to keep the 2♣ openings for when you have an actual strong hand, not just incredible distribution and loads of tricks. This is cause if you have distribution, so does everyone else, and you are very unlikely to get passed out in your 1-level opening. My current partner (let's call him Alice) raised a one-time casual partner (let's call him Bob) to 7NT after he opened 2♣ with something like the hand mentioned and Alice had something like 18 HCP, of course Alice went down some and Bob yelled at Alice, but after a consultation with Peter Gill who in my opinion is the best player in Australia and worthy of awesome respect and admiration, said Alice was perfectly right and Bob had nothing resembling a 2♣ opening. If Peter Gill says it, I am happy to take it as law (plus it helps that it makes sense logically).

You've got it thr wrong way round. We need to know very particular things about responder's hand to know that we are better off in diamonds than notrumps whereas almost all of responder's hands are just as good in notrumps as diamonds (or slightly better if you count that trumps breaking awfully is not the end of the world). The way the auction has gone (my auction that is) opener knows we have 32+ HCP (he has 16, responder showed about 16+) plus a long suit, and we don't need security of trumps to get enough tricks, we have the power of high cards for that. You only need to be in a suit slam if you need the power of trumps to have enough tricks. If you have the full 33-36 HCP you can probably get away with a 4333 opposite a 4333 and still make 6NT. Same as deciding to play 3NT instead of 4M, once you have about 27-28 HCP you may as well play 3NT rather than 4 of a major, as you are likely to have the same number of tricks, and aren't at the mercy of the opponent's distribution.

Well, your shortness is in the long hand so unless it is a dummy reversal hand, you are probably making the same number of tricks in 6NT as in 6♦. (Actually on the hand, if we were missing the ♠KQ, you could make 7♦ with trumps breaking by drawing 2 trumps, then ruffing three spades in your hand, with ♣AKQ, ♥AK and two long diamonds in dummy that equals 13 tricks :) If the trumps don't break you can still make 12 on the same line. When they ruff in with the ♦Q they can't draw a trump.... unless they are 4-0, in which case I'm not sure what to do!) But we're not missing the ♠KQ so no reason to play in 6♦ since it's not giving us any more tricks than 6NT.

I think it is a good agreement to make an inverted raise limited, e.g. 10-15 (if invitational+) or 13-15 (if GF). Then slam auctions are not so cloudy. E.g. 1♣-1♦, 1NT-4♣ is a serious slam try, 16+ whereas 1♦-2♦, 2NT-4♦ is a more mild slam try. This is analogous (spelling??) to limited splinters. This is so once you are at the four-level both parties know what their values are, and know what they should be doing, cause they certainly don't have any more room to find out. Most people have the agreement a splinter has about 11-14 HCP and any stronger you have to do something else, and splinter later.

If he is passing you probably don't have game, and at least you are in a fit. He probably has 3-5 HCP and 4-5 clubs or three clubs and 0-1 diamonds. If he has 7-8 HCP and 0-1 diamonds and 4 clubs, this is a bidding forum problem, whether to raise, bid 2♦, or pass. (In the forum you actually have 6 HCP) See www.australianbridge.com, the December-January forum, Hand 3. http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/6215/15803822.png Yeah, if responder is not going to accept the invitation, you might miss a heart fit. BUT it is only a heart partscore you are missing. If he is going to accept the invitation, and he has four hearts, he can bid 3♥ along the way.

It could go 1♠ - 1NT 3♥ - 3♠ 4♥ - Pass

Very simple, natural auction: 1♦ - 1♠ 2♣ - 4♦(1) 4NT(2) - 5♦(3) 5♥(4) - 6♦(5) 6NT(6) - Pass (1) Invite to slam (2) Keycard (3) 3 or 0 keycards (4) Do you have the queen (5) No, I don't (6) Diamonds are an integral part of this hand and it is unlikely to be able to make 13 tricks outside of diamonds, so 6NT is the spot. Partner would have pretended to have the queen if he had five diamonds.

Seems funny that no one mentioned that he might have passed after he didn't get a 5♦ bid, after his 5♣. If responder had the ace of spades he probably would have found a 6♠ bid after the 5♣. The 6♠ bid would be becauses he has no cards in clubs and opener says he has 2 rounds of control of clubs, and opener is still cuebidding so he must be missing a control somewhere, thus 7♠ is not in the picture, but 6♠ is, and also he has no more cuebids to add. (and it should be the responsibility of whoever knows the right contract to bid it immediately and save his partner any heartaches) So, opener should know they're missing one of the ♦AK and the ace of spades, and pass 5♠. He can place his partner with pretty much those exact cards. Slight variations which are still possible give very slim odds of making 12 tricks and even an extreme optimist would pass (most rely on the opponents making a mistake e.g. not holding the spade ace and ducking the ♦A or failing to cover the ♦Q or pard having doubleton diamond AND doubleton ♥Q and them not cashing the ace and also failing to lead a trump). I think the auction was fine (opener didn't overbid) until the last round when he failed to think about what his partner must be holding, and count up his losers. Edit: I found a post that agrees with me but a bit shorter:

I think it is fairly standard with 1444 to open 1♦ and rebid 2♣. If you were planning to invite game anyway why not bid 2♥ instead of 2NT? Now partner has a fairly good idea of your shape plus or minus one card somewhere. You might be 0454, 1444, or 1354. If partner has four hearts he can raise, with the 1354 pattern you can bid 3NT, or with one of the other two bid 4♥.

The above is quite important for beginners to read. You always want to think about what your options will be later in the auction. If you are strong enough for two bids, you will be showing more about your hand by bidding 1♠ then double. If you double first, you have to double the second time too, then partner doesn't know anything other than you have a decent hand with a takeout. If, however, you are NOT strong enough for two bids, you want to make a takeout double right away. This is because if you overcall 1♠ then it comes back to you, you are not strong enough for a second bid, and partner doesn't yet know that you also have hearts. This is the same principle as when responding to partner's 1♣ opening when you have five diamonds and four of a major. If you are strong enough for two bids, you bid 1♦ then can rebid the major at whatever level is necessary. However if you are NOT strong enough for two bids, you bid the major and forget about your diamonds, because if you are only strong enough for one bid, showing the major should take priority. Even if you get the opportunity to bid 2♦, you can't because that would be shoing five of your first bid suit (the major).

To come in when they have both made a bid, you need to think about the following: 1. Am I giving them a better score than they might otherwise get? (e.g. 500 against their game, or just a positive score if their contract was going to go down) 2. Am I helping my side get to game if we have one? In answer to 1. you have nothing defensive whatsoever, so you are probably not saving against something that they are not making. Also your suit is decent, so you won't be losing too many trump tricks. Your second suit is also one they have not bid. If you are going down, it would be quite unlucky if it were more than their contract. If partner raises, you would be unlikely to have more than one trump loser (e.g. he might have Jxx). In answer to 2. if we have a game on partner will probably know it, since he will value club cards and devalue cards in their suits. (if you have cards in one of their suits, you might WANT him to have high cards in that suit, which would mean partner may not know it if you have a game. Not the case here). Even if dummy has only, say, a doubleton heart and the club queen, you have a half-decent chance of making 2♥. The king of hearts may drop doubleton. If dummy has the ten of hearts you can have a go at dropping the doubleton jack, too. And this is with them having 27 HCP between them! There is therefore not one single downside to bidding 2♥!

1. Plan to make an endplay in clubs and diamonds. Ruff out spades, cash a club, then finesse a club, and either you get the king of diamonds, or three club tricks, or a ruff/discard on a spade. 2. Can't just lead out clubs to find out if they are 3-3, or else on the third club, West might win and play a diamond through before you've had a chance to discard one. So, purposefully lose the first spade and discard a club on the ace, then ruff a club and if they are 3-3 you are still on lead to discard a diamond before they can lead one through. It would be funnier if you didn't have the two of spades, then you would have to carefully play the five on the four so that East couldn't play the two and leave his partner on lead to switch to diamonds. (Maybe if the 5 of spades was led, and you had A64 in dummy and the 3 in hand, and you have to play the 6 so East can't play the 2)

It would be interesting to re-do the simulations with all hands that have one 8+ card fit that aren't 4-4, and all hands that have a 5-2 fit, and all hands that are 4333 opposite 4333, and see what points you need for making in each of those situations. The ones with really big fits probably won't make because of lack of stoppers in short suits, but the fairly balanced ones with a 5-3 or 6-3 fit will probably make 50% of the time with 23 HCP.

To all you chess gurus out there, I want to learn to play well but have no one to play against. Can one become a good chess player just by doing puzzles? My old phone used to have a chess-puzzle program on it but my new one doesn't :-( Also how long did it take you to be able to read chess-code and understand/visualise it without having to draw a diagram of a board to follow sequences of moves?

Do we get to defend/declare double dummy? Declaring, on a spade lead, can duck the first spade and discard a diamond on the second, discard another diamond on the ace of spades, then run the diamonds and ♥A for 9th trick. And if defense don't attack spades then I don't see where they are going to get any tricks from. If they start with a non-spade, win in dummy and cash one diamond or play a diamond to dummy, take spade finesse and discard any remaining diamonds in dummy, and take nine tricks as before. edit. They can just exit a diamond, and they haven't given up a trick in clubs or hearts so I think we are beaten. We have to duck the 1st spade otherwise diamonds stay blocked. I change my vote to Defense. edit once more. Since they can exit passively after winning the ten of spades and beat us, say we take it. Then play 2 diamonds and the jack of clubs. If West takes it and plays say a heart, we duck his queen. He can't play a spade cause the diamonds are running now, so he plays a heart, we win and play a club through the king, East has to take it or else we run lots of tricks. He's run out of hearts and anything he plays lets us run lots of tricks! So, say instead of West winning the jack of clubs, East wins it. Say he plays a heart. We duck the queen. West has to play another (spade gets us to hand) and we take it. We drop the ace of clubs. Win the next heart. Come back to hand with the queen of clubs and run plenty of tricks :-) So maybe I change my vote back to Declare. (Unless I have accidentally missed letting the defense take five tricks at some point)

I think I have this implicit agreement with my partner too, except we never discussed it! Never thought about it till now, but if he did rebid 3NT, that is exactly the hand I would expect him to have. Speaking of this sort of thing, I had this hand: ♠AKQxx ♥xx ♦JTx ♣AQx and unfortunately in the seat I was in, 1NT was 10-12, so I couldn't open 1NT. After 1♠ partner bids 2♦. What do you think my rebid should be? I thought maybe 2NT, then perhaps if partner bids 3♥ I can bid 3NT and if he bids 3♣ I can bid 3♦, but then he might not delicately want to find out whether we have all the suits stopped, and with a balanced hand he might just bid 3NT. Luckily I had three diamonds so I bid 3♦ (he then bid 3NT and I passed - made 12 on bad defense), but what if I had had two diamonds and three (small) hearts? I guess it is just a matter of having some agreements on what we rebid with a 15-17 bal when 1NT would have been 10-12? What would you do? (2♠ for us shows an unbal hand - either 6+ spades or a second suit lower than partner's bid suit and no extras) Also I had another problem rebid with this hand a few weeks ago: ♠AKQJxxx ♥xxx ♦- ♣Jxx After my 1♠ opening, partner bids 2♥. Splintering has the negatives that I should have better trumps and I'm hiding my spades, 2♠ has the negative that I'm hiding a lovely hand for hearts. I tried 3♥. Maybe this is worse than the other two! What do you think is the right rebid? (Or perhaps opening 4♠ to start with) We ended up in 4♥ and made 13 tricks on a diamond lead, pard had x/AKQxxx/Kxxx/xx