badderzboy

And if he holds Qxxxxx ♠ and void ♣...

How can it be an apalling bid? Why should we unilaterally ignore partner in the decision process we can describe our strength and shape quite eloquently... ♠ AKT ♥ 7 ♦ Q ♣ AQ987652 What do u bid with ♠ JTx ♥ x ♦ x ♣ AQ987652 for example... 1♥-X Guess I'm showing a goodish hand with either tolerance for any suit OR a long suit of my own with 16+ pts (Oh thats what I have). Over 2♦ I bid 3♣ Over 1♠ I can bid 2♣ Over 1NT (not impossible) bid 3NT or 3♣ not sure which Over 2♠ I can bid 3♣ should be forcing surely and possibly get to 4♠ It also gives us the chance to penalise 4♥ etc as I do have some nice defensive tricks! Steve

Interested why Dbl is a poor option. Partner is still allowed to have 10pts or even 5 spades so we could have game easily in 3NT/4♠/5♣.

Hi all, I'm trying to run the Richard Pavlicek tool and I get an error message invalid line endings against LIN files downloaded from MyHands. Can anyone help? Steve

I suspect that West has no explicit agreement with East over 1NT-x-XX as most mean it as transfer to ♣ or run to something ptr, here with an explicit agreement most would tfr to ♠ surely. It's a slight dbl shot as it can scare the opps into running too (bluff time...) 3NT looks in no way straight forward mind if a spade isn't lead try a club lead and it may be 3NT-1...

A quick thought for BridgeMovie... Right Click creates a text represent of hand in the movie Steve

The movie button could be greyed out for players only so TDs / Kibs could look. To answer Jillys question, normally a minute or two (playing 7 minsish a board) unless you are unfortunate to follow the 'slow' pair and can seem an eternity.. think of golfers with a slow pair in front - unfortunately you can't play through...lol Steve

I'll have a go. Steve

I've read the discussions with interest, the problem for West is he does not know how strong East is and I would take 3♥ as pass or correct to 3♠ showing a weakish hand at least 5-4 in the majors and a club shortage i.e. just competing for the part score. East has a number of options over 2♣ , neg.dbl (4/4+ in majors) or a suit bid which I play as a negative free bid so 2♠ here for me is passable i.e. just competing the part-score. What would 3♣ mean over 2♣ here, I would assume it sets a force and asks West to describe his hand further so West can bid 3♥ showing the 4♥'s, if West bids 3♦, East can bid 3♠ showing 5 Spades and so on. Steve

If I EVER passed the 2♣ or equiv bid deliberately (I'd need 2 more clubs lol) I would hold my hands to my hand and plead vociferously I thought it was 1♣. My partner after spitting feathers, numerous expletives and probably making 2♣ and not much else on the hand in question might forgive me and ask me to clean my glasses in future... I do remember passing and ACOL 2♥ (8 playing and people telling me you can't pass that bid!!! ( It made exactly 8 and I had a yarborough... and got a top!). The moral of the story is don't pass unless you're a damn good liar!!! Steve

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=s6543h87d105cq9542&w=sh1053da987432ca63&e=saq1087haqj96dqjck&s=skj92hk42dk6cj1087]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv] Contract is 6 Hearts by East Bidding was ACOL with N/S silent 1♠-1NT(6-9)-3♥-3NT-4♥-4NT(KC)-5♠-6♥ I was South LEAD IS J♣.... How do u play and how do u defend? Steve

oh dear 4♥ splinter !

Oh dear, I voted for 3♣ then would rebid 3♠ over partners response...

[hv=d=w&v=n&s=sk4hakj107432da2cj]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] Holding this hand what do u bid? What would the hand need to look like to open 4♥ or systemic equivalent Steve

I agree Free :D I'm just guessing but with a 7 card suit do u really expect partner to show a fit and it has a suit quality of 10 (3 Honours + 7 cards) already.

To clarify I was south and so the only bid I made was 2!S and X on hand 1 On hand 1 none of our group would normally bid 2♥ with 3 as it may be a 4 card suit and we can support after partners rebid if necessary. The 2-level bid promises 10+ pts and 7/8 losers so I guess West raised to game on his 7 card suit and 6 loser hand. I personally might have bid 3 rather than 4 Steve

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=sk8752h7da1072c1098&w=sj43h654d93caqj42&e=s6hkj832dkq84ck63&s=saq109haq109dj65c75]399|300|Scoring: IMP Both pairs play acol E- S- W - N 1♥-p- 1nt-p 2♦-2♠-3♥-3♠ 4♥-X - p- p [/hv] 1NT shows < 4spades 2♦ shows weak hand at least 5-4 I was South do u agree with initial pass and subsequent 2♠ (1NT would be 15-17 for us here). followed closely by... [hv=d=e&v=b&n=sk8752h7da1072c1098&w=sj43h654d93caqj42&e=s6hkj832dkq84ck63&s=saq109haq109dj65c75]399|300|Scoring: IMP Both pairs play acol E- S- W - N 1♥-p- 1nt-p 2♦-2♠-3♥-3♠ 4♥-X - p- p [/hv] Feel free to comment on bidding but we play ACOL Fortunately we are all good friends and had a poilte laugh about them but when the gods are against you... Steve

Ben, Great post, The purpose is spot on, I hope that you do not stop running the mgt of the polls as you have done a great job so far, it is natural that people would tweak this and that but they should also remember that missing just one of their favourite bits is irrelevant compared to the people who don't play in the US etc. We could always try bidding using WJ2000 or ACOL... :) (ps I love ACOL honest) The job is voluntary and onorous as just in the game we all have different opinions hence the interesting discussions that ensue. People should remember that you are giving up valuable time and effort free to provide these stimulating polls. I suspect it's a bit like chasing subs at the club, no one thanks the person collecting the money but are happy to criticise when a mistake happens. Answering the polls isn't that painful as I can look at the convention card whilst bidding so there is no memory load to it. I can even look up these conventions if I think the poll MAY need it which might aid my learning process. YOU ARE 100% correct in having a fixed system - even for me there are times when you get the perfect hand for Convention A which u play only with partner B. People can always post after the results, this hand was perfect for XYZ... Your scores are based on the experts responses so fair enough so far, we can always think we are right anyway B) and we are not playing for money or national titles of course! In summary, any criticism is unfair and keep up the excellent work.

Hi all, I'm a BILlie and I don't know Serious NT / LTTC and probably won't recognise the situation when you should use them. Does this mean I should not participate, NO because I'll make my natural bid and if the answer demonstrates why this is a great convention / option then I'll get some expert views in the latter analysis which will support it. One mild suggestion is when people post a 'conventional' bid that the reply is annotated as such and so lesser mortals can make a natural bid who don't know that convention. This will allow BILlies etc to respond with the poll and compete with the xperts... How many people use conventions properly anyway :unsure: .

:) Now just to do that at the table lol

Thx all, I don't feel like a total idiot for opening a weak 2 now. I nearly sent it to you Ben for the next bidding poll, one for another time perhaps...

What do we know? South has the Q♦ as 1 he ducked and partner would lead Q from QJxx and therefore if South has two diamonds then he has 0/1 club so we need to cash A Clubs as previous answers. Partner is likely to be 3-3-4-3 on the bidding and south 5-5-2-1. Lets assume South has 14 points(incl shortage) with Q Diamonds then he might have about 8 HCPs in the majors so we need partner to have Axx or Kxx ♠ and QJx or Q10x♥. So after A♣ holds play a Spade and hope to set up the spade trick and the chance of a heart trick Steve

Various versions of XP all work with it... It's amusing how depressed the PC sounds when you pass (sounds like Marvin from Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy) ... and how double sounds like the PC has perked up... It would be nice if it could read the shorthand in the future as WDP etc sound bizzarre... Steve

I debated what to bid and still not sure what is the right answer. I can bid 1♥ as it meets rule of 20 so 1♥ is borderline and I can rebid 2♥ so seems a better bid than 2♥ here... What chances of a dbl or Spade o'call though by LHO? I could bid 2♥ a better bid than pass here and if partner bids Ogust I can bid 3♥ good suit good hand 2 Honours so I won't miss game. I can pass which seems a better bid than 1♥ as I have 8 losers and only 1 quick trick... which may let opps find a minor fit.. but then bid a jump bid in ♥ showing a max pass if I get the chance... How do u evaluate the other suits HCPs or do u adjust and how? What is the ODR of the hand? Steve

[hv=d=s&v=b&s=sj8haq6432dq3cq98]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Playing weak 2's(6-10) what do you open 1♥ or 2♥? If your range is 5-9 does this change your mind if u opened 2♥ last time... How do u evaluate hands like this? Steve