nickf

I don't really understand the problem here, mike. Presumably X is negative, which, of course, partner can pass if their hand is suitable. So in that sense it's not forcing. Are you suggesting opener's simple response of, say, 3S to the double should be forcing? If I suggested X should be forcing in my favourite partnership I'd quickly be in the market for a new partner. nickf sydney

I want to commend Justin's blog http://squeezingthedummy.blogspot.com/ to everyone. There's some seriously good thought in there. And from the number of comments in reply to his posts, it looks like he's building up a sizable audience. nickf sydney

This is not a tough decision. You have a 7-4 with a good main suit. What are you waiting for? To balance after LHO raises to 4H passed back to you? nickf sydney

Double Dummy implies knowing the position of all 52 cards. Try Deep Finesse but it's not freeware.. I believe William Bailey, the guy behind Deep Finesse, is working on a single dummy application. nickf sydney

How ironic this feature was released the week Deep Throat was unmasked. nickf sydney

Absolutely typical of you Ron. You want your cake and to be able to eat it too. nickf sydney

Food? - don't get me started. I was in Shanghai last week and the food ranged from damn delicious to there's no way I'm going near that. For fun each meal my wife and kids played Fear Factor with the menu items. Who amongst you would sample any of the following: Ox tongue, Boiled Pig's liver, Goose lips or ox tripe? To their credit, the Chinese believe all parts of the animal are consumable, which is probably a sobering lesson for most of us. On the whole, though, eating from some hole in the wall on the street was the most satisfying. Sometimes you're not sure what you've been served but then again, sometimes it's best not to know. nickf sydney

don't believe everything you read on the internet mickey. nickf sydney

sorry folks, I gotta lay my cards on the table here. There aren't many of us around, but I make my living out of selling bridge books, software etc. As far as I'm aware there are no bridge authors that have published e-books, so it would seem to me that books available in .pdf might be an infringement of copyright yada yada. If bridge books arent available at your local bridge store, google bridge shops or bridge books and you'll find plenty of reputable on-line traders. nickf sydney

I received a review copy the other day. 2 DVDS. 6 episodes. 4.5 hours. Watched perhaps 2.5 episodes out of six. That I havent finished watching the DVDs in about 10 days is a reflection of my feelings about the program. It starts promisingly with lots of interesting shots of the venue, players and some good interviews. But the programme bogs down when it displays some hands and commentary from David Burn is dubbed in. The suits are 4-coloured coded, and the Hearts and Diamonds are adjacent in the north and south hands and difficult to differentiate. Burns' commentary is OK, accurate as ever but sometimes you get the feeling he knows he talking to himself, sort of. The series starts in the second week and I was astonished at the accuracy of Sabine Auken's "pre-tournament" predictions, until I found out these were made in the second week. Zia is entertaining as the main host but someone should have told Chagas that when you are being filmed in full body shot you dont stand with your hands deep in your pockets. The interview with Duboin is great and the drama of the Hungary-Russia match is well captured. They also caught probably my favourite piece form the two weeks, when the Vugraph theatre cheered so loudly that the players heard and knew somehting was up. I was lucky to be in the theatre in Istanbul that day and it's always been the one story/ dramatic event I relate. All up though, I suppose I wanted more interviews and fewer actual bridge hands but as ever you cant please all of the people all of the time. Would I buy it? No. Will I watch the rest of the series? Yes. Will I stock it for re-sale? not likely. Would I recommend it? Probably. Bridge gets so little mass media exposure that it is interesting to see our heroes in the flesh and blood, so to speak. nickf sydney

Hi, I'm on the organising committee of the 2005 World Junior Bridge championships to be held in Sydney from Aug 8-17 this year. We plan to broadcast the event via BBO, 4 tables per session but we could do with more volunteers to act as BBO operators. Here's the carrot. I can offer one person a bed in a shared 3 or 4 star hotel room plus 3 meals a day for the duration of the event depending on the extent of their committment. I'm more likely to offer this to someone who doesnt live in Sydney already. The tournament is being held in Sydney Olympic Park (where...of course... the Olympics were held). There is plenty of free time and no one will be expected to work two full days in a row. All genuine offers will be gratefully received. PM me on these forums. nickf sydney

Conditions: You are playing with an international player, in a once-off partnership, in small country town tournament. You have had 45 minutes system discussion none of which included the situation described below. You did, however, have a prolonged discussion about which doubles are for penalties and which doubles ask partner to do something intelligent. You agreed that almost no doubles will be for penalties unless it is a penalty double. You are dealer and open 1C. LHO overcalls 1S, Partner bid 2H (one round force) and RHO ups the ante by jumping to 4S. [hv=d=s&v=n&s=sh64dkq932cajt762]133|100|Scoring: MP in a really bad field[/hv] You have several available options. You need to answer this in the context of the conditions given above (that means that despite you and regular partner having 617 competitive bidding agreements, 4NT will not be for the minors). Over to you. nickf sydney

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=s6haq76dt8763ck54&e=sq85hj9dkj52ca972]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv] Playing in a weak field, partner (South) deals and passes. RHO opens 1S (5cM), LHO raises to 3S (limit) and to your surprise, all pass. You lead a diamond, declarer plays low from dummy and partner's 9 forces the Ace from declarer. Declarer plays a spade to dummy's queen and partner's Ace. Partner returns the H3. Playing matchpoints, how do you defend (and why)? nickf sydney

I agree with everyone who thinks my 1C opening was ill-judged. I realised the ramifications as soon as the 1C card hit the deck. Still, the issue is how do you best catch up? I bid 1S at the table and still think it's better than a 2C rebid. nickf sydney

[hv=d=n&v=e&s=s ak9h8daq53c98542]133|100|Scoring: IMPs vs median[/hv] You are sitting South and play a weak NT with 4 card majors. Two passes to you and you open 1C, partner bids the expected 1H. Now what? What is the least of all available evils? Conditions of contest: You can't answer "I would have opened 1D and rebid 2C". nickf sydney

[hv=d=n&v=n&s=sqj9872h973d53cq6]133|100|Scoring: IMPs vs median[/hv] You're playing 4-card Acol, minors before majors and partner deals and opens 1H. Your call. nickf sydney

I'm proud to say that I was one of the first people to see Bridge Base in its very early form. In fact before it was even public knowledge I believe. My company has been a re-seller of Fred's software since a long time ago and as I recall Fred emailed me and encouraged me to download his BBO software. I was dumbstruck at the ease of use and its potential as a partnership aide from the first time I used it. What was particularly cute was discovering new things all the time - like the chat box opening as soon as you typed on your keyboard, or the way a hand would appear in a chat room when you typed (I think).. eg A432, 432, 432, 432. When was all this? If I were to hazard a guess - I'd say 2001 but Fred could confirm all this. I also recall Fred telling me to keep it all hush hush and him rapping me on the knuckles for telling an American mate about it. nickf sydney

No, no, no. You have missed the whole point of this opponent's complaint. He was aggrieved because Mark described *the agreed meaning* of his 1NT as 13-15 yet turned up with a solitary King. So he believed Mark had lied to him. Who knows, he may not have been as unhappy had Mark still opened 1NT but privately told his opponents he was psyching. Sadly, misconceptions about psyches abound in all forms of bridge. But the best advice is in this case is forget it, and if you're so inclined, don't play in that TD's tourneys again. nickf sydney

There's another issue I've detected from the broadcasts from Japan. If one room finishes ahead of another, the Vugraph operator must keep the room open until the room finishes its last board in order to properly finalise the .lin files. nickf sydney

I was the 2S bidder on this hand and one of our leading players on my left (the 1NT opener) bid 3C. He surmised that he had some safetey bidding 3C as his partner (who passed his 1NT opening) was marked with club length. His rationale? If his partner had a really bad hand with short clubs, he'd have bid 2C Stayman and passed his partner's response - even with a 4441 or various (34)51 hands. nickf sydney

[hv=d=s&v=n&s=sat3hkj4d65cak842]133|100|Scoring: Butler IMPs (vs median)[/hv] So you deal and open this a 15-17 1NT. Pass, Pass, 2S from RHO. The opponents play Landy so 2S only promises a spade suit. Are you a bidder or a passer? nickf sydney

Over the weekend, there was a wonderful World Championship bridge game on BBO between garozzo-du pont and a pair of reisigs. At first we had no commentators which made the match a bit dry, then (I believe) the organisor enabled kibbitzer chat and nothing short of mayhem ensued. Every man and his dog felt compelled to make trivial jokes and comments, of which less than 1% were either funny or relevant. Sanity was re-installed after the participants crashed and re-opened a new table where only roland and ben, being yellows, could commentate. As for the optimal number of commentators, I've worked at tables solo (a lot of work...not unlike talking to yourself) and also with between 2-5 other commentators. I'd say 3-4 is best but you always get your quiet ones and then those who talk too much which compensates. It's very hard to follow commentary when two pairs of commentators are having separate conversations or anlaysis. You can't really tell which comment someone is replying to. nickf sydney

I wouldn't teach bidding for at least the first 3-4 lessons. Beginners need to get cards in their hands to maintain interest not this theoretical bidding bulldust. nickf sydney

Interesting comment. what about singleton 3s in different hands on the same deal? Phil - what's your sample size and how rigidly have you been keeping records of all the hands you've played? nickf sydney

shoot west