badderzboy

I suppose the lead of the J may cause partner to duck his K which means S then cashes out the red suits and also gives up the AJ over declarers Q.... Also if partner only had a dbltn club then the spade can be returned to AJ over the Q leading to 3 spade tricks too The 3 leads to no ambiguity and possibility of 3 spade tricks combining the most chances? Steve(BIL)

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=s8654h6542daj9c64&w=sq73hak109d752c1072&e=sj92hqj87d63ckq85&s=sak10h3dkq1084caj93]399|300|Scoring: MP Both sides playing Acol[/hv] Bidding was 1♦-p-1♥-p-2NT-all pass... Would u bid differently? What would u lead? opening lead is 2♣ to 6,K, How do u play/defend (w'out dbl-dummy)... Assuming declarer takes A♣ and cash ♦'s, what do u discard and why?

Hmmm playing Benji Acol 2♣*-2♦* 2♥*-2♠ 3♥-4♥ 2♣=Acol 2 8 playing tricks+ 2♦ waiting 2♥ - Acol 2 in Hearts 2♠ Natural 3♥ Extra length

Hi all, Is 3♦ rather than 3♣ an awful bid here and quick note to Ben should it score zero lol - if the same as 3♣ I'd have 570 this week lol!. I can easily see the auction going 1♥-1♠-3♣-3♦* and you get to bid 3NT regardless of whether partner has any ♥'s Over 3♦ partner is forced to bid 3♥ to show 2 or 3♠ to show extra length which he is pretty likely to hold 5 or more you can then correct to 3NT or 4♥ which ever appears better. You also may attract a ♣ lead into your AQ... Steve (BILlie)

4♣ splinter too

2♥ seems the simple choice

3♦ I might attract a Club lead if partner bids 3♠ and I correct to 3NT..

2NT too and pray - it should be obvious I have few hearts and I didn't transfer to spades so I must have minors if partner prefers the minors...

I thought this set was pretty tough (just a BILlie). I voted for 3♣ asking partner to tell me more. Slam may be around and I need to get a better idea of the strain. If my partner bids 3♥ showing at 5 hearts - I assume here that 4♣ becomes a cue-bid agreeing hearts or do you bid 5♣ exclusion blackwood given the club void? If my partner bids 3♠ showing 2 spades at least then I need 1 KC o/s of Clubs for slam with the double fit suggested by the double. If partner bids 3NT I'm not sure what I do!! Steve

But this raises the question, would your rather "read' what the experts said before you make your reply known public? I assume those of you posting here, the answer is no... others, the answer is yes Hi Ben, I think it would be a good idea if all and sundry get a day or two to post there views before the panel's views are posted. I don't mind looking a fool 'cos I'm a BILlie :) lol but I find the discussion quite informative in developing my skills. I'm more than happy to receive constructive criticism and see where my thinking has gone wrong :) If we get the expert view first we may just get - I agree with Fred, i agree with Fred etc (lol not that likely given the diversity of responses on the forum), I would feel a tad embarrassed posting a different response to the experts :lol: . Steve

I voted for 2♦ which ought to describe my hand pretty accurately here in 4th seat. If the opps intervene my partner at least knows I have a 6 card suit with the points spread around pretty evenly. Who knows with a 2♥ bid from partner (assuming RONF) we might get to 4... It makes it a tad trickier for the opps to bid spades and it's also true they are likely to break badly for them so them playing in 3♠ may not be as bad as it sounds. Steve K BIL

I think this is much ado about nothing. I would like to win by fair play and not hope our opps get in a mess 'cos it's an individual or a pick-up pair in the MBC. (I've even private msg'd the alert b4 to the partner in the interests of fair-play when I have played these rarely). I suppose the polite thing is to ask the opps first if I may enquire which blackwood my partner uses. In most individuals there is a standard bidding system so u don't need to worry about which systems are in use so the easiest answer is to state BBO Basic or Adv or whatever my card (and load the CC in). To clarify the type of blackwood is not that far out of order here surely? Steve

Sounds like a great idea - Any thoughts on a BIL version too? Steve

I'll have a total guess! HIDDEN] Steve

I would suggest a crueler punishment for 2/1 players , make them play a weak NT ( or ACOL even crueller lol) and you can pass the West hand so easily.... and not miss game... but do u play 3NT or 4♠???

Hi Wayne, Sounds like a great idea. Have u contacted Maureen to have it posted in the BIL bulletin as well. Now if u could convince one or more of the BBO superstars (Fred/Uday/Roland/Ben et al) to make an appearance you're likely to get unindated lol - (now if it was close to a major European Tournament...). Steve

Hopefully people can take advantage of the new functionality in 4.1.9 and beyond where you can cut & paste into BBO from a text/Word doc to try and resolve ambiguity! And you can also paste into chat (using <--> icon) if it's too long for the text box! That way we can all tell each other what our bids mean in different parts of the world. Well at least I can dream... Steve

I'm quite amazed how everyone has jumped on South here as he was misled by West - who didn't alert a non-natural bid (how unusual lol) then when asked provides a misleading description - it is clear that East did not read it as that! South double is sort of reasonable if he assumes West has 10-11 and East <12 for his pass. Big difference in the odds making 3NT with 22/23 pts and 25pts is there not If I was suspicious I might think West thought - partner has a max pass so what do I need to say to induce a double and if I get burned I can blame my poor command of English... The counter argument is South has doubled as he assumes that East has misunderstood the bid when he hasn't... I guess South called the director as soon as he led... Surely the misalert and misinformation should mean the contract is rolled back to 3NT? Steve

I mark people as Enemies to accomplish this as the odds of playing for me again with someone who really annoys me is next to nil these days.

I suppose what I really mean is for an intermediate/other to act as a filter for such questions and then post common questions in the commentary itself. Then for one of the commentators as JLALL says to focus on answering those generic questions within the commentary. I appreciate there is the question of timing and whether it would be practical in realtime or pushing the excellent services the commentators provide It perhaps gives a little scope for us mere mortals to give something back to BBO and the excellent Vugraph service.

Hi all, Would there be any value in having some intermediates able to ask questions to the commentators in the commentary on Vugraph. I believe the commentators do a sterling job but I imagine there are times when 20 watching intermediates would love to ask --- How would the bidding in SAYC go... How would the bidding in ACOL go... I would lead the A♠ from the bidding - why did the player lead the 3♣ Was that a count signal... Why not finesse... That sort of possibly dumb question? Any thoughts? Steve

I think the new version is great! When someone is playing at a disallowed Kib table is it worth putting Kib disallowed msg into the right click option for info? Steve

All, As a matter of interest, when u systemically open 1NT with hands other than 5332,4333,4432 do u alert the 1NT opening each time? Steve

Thanks Justin, Yes thats the correct line to make 11. The Diamond lead could be a singleton or doubleton so u need to cash as u say two rounds - if Spades are 4-1 you will lose to the J anyway unless J singleton. The only additional thing is to win 1 of the two rounds of spades with the Q as you can then ruff a second club if they play two rounds of clubs after taking the A♥. I was hoping it was a useful hand to demonstrate not to cash out trumps immediately but to think a little first. I imagine Adv+ players would do this line pretty much automatically. Ironically I made 12 as they didn't cash A♣ but I'm pretty sure the other declarers cashed 3 rounds of ♠ before playing the K♥ which gives u the two club losers and A♥. Steve

Sorry 4 Spades of course! Corrected!