Quantumcat

If he has a normal takeout double, if we thought we should be in the auction knowing that, we would have bid. Why should he repeat himself? That would be like a 1nt opener rebidding 2nt over interference with responder passing throughout.

Phil is getting closer. We don't play last train, didn't think to mention that.

If you don't ask, you will end in a small slam when pard has three keycards and the queen of trumps. If pard has three keycards you will end in a small slam no matter what you do. There is no harm in asking, at worst you turn -50 into-100 when pard has the queen and no keycards, and at best you gain 500 points for the grand slam bonus when you have a grand on. There is no gain to bidding 5♠ except saving a measley 50 points when pard has no keycards and the queen of trumps. Freely bid slams don't often get doubled so you shouldn't assume this possibility (if the same opponent has two tricks it may not be obvious to them {e.g. A bad finesse plus trump trick} and even if both tricks are obvious the gain is so low that it is not worth the risk it tells the opponents how to play the trump suit or they change to a more successful strain.) Edit: I was trying to politely say that you were resulting but you didn't pick up on that, so here it is explicitly.

2♠ invitational, if pard has a fit/max pass he can raise.

I am not defending any of the auction except asking for the queen and redoubling. Asking for the queen will cost 50 points if pard has zero keycards, and gain 500 points if there is a grand slam on (if you don't ask you will end in a small slam) and break even if he has three keycards but no queen of trumps. So shouldn't you ask if there is a one in ten chance of him having three? The numbers are closer for the redouble, and the double would make it more likely that pard has zero, but the redouble still deserves thinking about and that's all I wanted to say.

I agree. If you have your nine tricks but in a weak shapely hand, there is absolutely no way the auction is going to get passed out at the one level (the cards in your short suits have to be somewhere)

4♦ would be plain keycard, if 4nt was asking for keycards it would have a void diamond. That's why i said in the op that 3♥ being a splinter for clubs seems the most obvious meaning, but then 4nt makes no sense. Partner's bidding did make sense after the fact, and probably was the most accurate way to bid his hand. I didn't understand during the auction and said he should have chosen something less accurate that would definitely be understood. He says the meaning is obvious and anyone would get it right. I started this thread to see what proportion of people did figure it out (always nice to know how dumb I am) but no one has yet!

Way easier to remember is pass = 1st step, double = 2nd step, and step = 3rd step. Over pass, opener can make a double to ask the same thing as his next step would have asked (e.g. to ask about the trump queen).

I didn't think it could be a splinter with diamonds, I thought it might show diamonds the same way 2♥ does, but maybe he wanted to say he has the gameforce version and extras in case of a 4♠ bid. But partner isn't mean enough to invent a bid on the fly like that - if he had long good diamonds and void heart he would have started with 2♥, then 4NT. I didn't truly believe that's what he had at the time because I know he doesn't do things like that, even though there didn't seem any other possible meaning for 4NT.

If North has zero keycards, then 5♠ is not making anyway and he may as well use his bids in a productive way. Also the redouble costs 300 if North has zero keycards and gains 510 points if North has three (and 410 if things go badly and you only make 6). So it's not clear cut to pass the double, hoping to minimise losses.

I will try an ace and see if pard encourages or not (I lead kings if it's my own suit, aces if I want pard's opinion). They probably have plenty of tricks and I won't be hurting anything if I give them a few overtricks. If it turns out pard has a few stoppers, and the king of the ace I led turns out to be their ninth trick, I will apologise. (edit: this is because the 3nt bid may have a suit unstopped, and he may have nine tricks to cash if this suit is not led)

You like bridge songs? A friend and I wrote a couple one Youth Week a few years ago. Turned "Every breath you take" into a song about kibiters watching all the mistakes you make and sniggering behind their backs, turned "Can't buy me love" by the beatles into "Can't do a squeeze", where it lists all the mistakes you make that could cause a squeeze hand to go down; and there were some others but I've forgotten them.

This is an entertaining way to present GIB's mistakes!

Partner should have about a 17-count or better with 4144 or 42(34) (maybe the opponents are playing Acol, or responder raised with honour doubleton). He won't have a five-card suit or he should have overcalled it since he has the values to make a takeout double on the next round. We don't have any fits that should distract from defence (an 8 or 9 card fit might mean partner's AK does not cash). It is way easier to take six tricks in a contract in your suit than 8 in a non-fit. I can't find any reason not to pass.

NV/NV teams 1♣ (2♣) 3♥ (P) 3♠ (P) 4NT (P) ? Agreements: - At this vul 1♣ is 13+ balanced or 14+ natural - X would be penalty interest, 2♦ would be natural invite, 2♥ diamonds either GF or weak, 2♠ club cue-raise, 3♣ weak club raise I have: ♠AJ9 ♥Q93 ♦AQ76 ♣765 I thought 3♥ was probably a splinter and I can't bid 3NT over that, so I tried 3♠ (showing values) to see what would happen next. If 3♥ showed diamonds (maybe trying to show a super good hand with diamonds in case they bid 4♠?) then 4NT would be exclusion for hearts. If 3♥ was a splinter for clubs, 4NT makes no sense as it would be exclusion for diamonds! What would you have bid over 3♥? What do you bid over 4NT (you can assume he will bid 4NT no matter what you do)? What do you think partner has? Partner is way better than me so you can safely assume he hasn't done anything stupid (like forget our agreements over michaels for instance).

What about all the times you get to a stupid contract because you had to lie about your HCP or shape? That has to be a loser at any scoring?

lol me too. Also If I have values in only one suit I like to put all the others down first. Really, anything that can give pard a heart attack is fun.

In NT contracts I like to guess what will be led and put them down first. If partner is of the same mindset we keep a tally and whoever wins over the session adds one beer to their tally of beer cards. Otherwise, long suits or suits partner has bid go on the left. If I have a jackpot I like to put that down first. In trump contracts if pard has bid his own suit with no encouragement from me, I like to sometimes put those trumps in with the suit of the same colour, possibly along with a comment "you'd better have a bloody good suit" to give him a heart attack.

Except when you have bid 5NT, then you would really really like GIB to do a simulation and bid 7 if he thinks it is making, rather than woodenly replying with his number of kings.

I don't think that was what he was thinking. He probably just thought, "I have a bad hand and want to get out as quickly as possible". He didn't think about the fact you should probably play in your fit if you have one. An auction from my club that happens sometimes: 1♣ P P 1♥ 2♦ P P P. Dummy has one diamond and three clubs.

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I was going to write a scoring app a few months ago, for a uni project. It was going to be mainly for teams games, and would cross-score when both sides had finished play. But I decided people probably wouldn't trust it and didn't finish it.

I don't really understand having a personal score in the actual system card. Won't you have to fill out a brand new system card for every event you play? (and every match in a teams event?)

Anyone who plays a weak notrump will have an easy 1NT - 3NT auction. How is that amusing?

Only joking :)