badderzboy

Magician by Raymond Feist Daughter of the Empire Series by Feist Drizzt D'Urden/Menzoberran books by Salvatore Mote in Gods Eye - Niven & Pournelle Anything by Robert Heinlein Foundation & Dune Series ( although both get wacky by the end!) Legend by David Gemmell ( some of the others are great too). Dragonlance Chronicles by Weis/Hickman. Steve

Please Please when you add NFL Football , call it American Football not to confuse it with the real Football played by the rest of the world :P ie FIFA the international body does not mention soccer also a game played with a ball and your foot unlike the american version where u use your foot 6-10 times a game at most as a team :P which is more akin to Rugby League / Union Football just a bit weedier ( we don;t wear body armour and helmets!) ;) and we also pass the ball backwards to make it a little harder. favourites Sports to play. Rugby Badminton Table Tennis to Watch Football Rugby American Football! Cricket Golf ( Ryder cup especially when Europe win lol) Pool ( Mosconi Cup unfortunately Europe don't win) Just kidding Steve

Playing Acol, if my partner bid 1♠ then I would simply rebid 3NT which promises a balanced 13-15 count and no 4 card major and implies 2♠ as I would temporize with 2 Minor with 3♠s looking for 5-3 fit. If you don't bid this way you are stuffed by 1♠-2♣-2♠ and even a 2 red suit bid is damn scary if he is 5-4 which says pls lead the unbid suit ptr! to the opps!. Steve

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sqjxxhxxxd1098xxcx&s=saxhadakqjxxxcaxx]133|200|Scoring: MP[/hv].. How do u bid this in your favourite system? We bid it 2♦(G/F 23+) - 2♥(neg 0-7) - 3♦ - 5♦(weak as water) - 6♦(punt) Thx Steve

There was an interesting article in the English Bridge Union Magazine about looking at your historical results to see where u needed to practice your play... As BBO has a nice DB of your played hands it should afford some estimate! However, what would u anticipate the normal values to be for the following Games Bid Declared with Avg Imps gained and % made Part Scores Declared with Avg Imps gained and % made and the reverse in defence... What would u consider good scores for the above? I was surprised that on avg only 60% of games in a sample of 500 were made (includes sacrifices too)! Steve

I've corrected it now oops! Also how do u play it single-dummy as well as Double dummy?

My guess would be... 1. [hv=s=sxhaj10xdqxxckqjxx]133|100|[/hv] 2. I'd be in 6♥ grr but 6♣ looks sweet if this was the case... Steve

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sajxhxxxdjxcj98xx&w=sxhqj1098d10xcq107xx&e=skqxxxxxhxxdkxxxc&s=s10xhakxdaq98xcakx]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] We played in 3NT making on Q♥ lead.... (2NT-p-3C(baron)-p-3NT-all pass) Would u rather declare or defend? Steve

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=saq8xxhajxxxd98xc&w=sjxhqxdq107ckjxxxx&e=sk9xxh10xxxdkxxcxx&s=s10xhkxdajxxcaq1098]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] When we played it South played in 3NT on 7 ♦ lead.... finishing 3NT-1. Would u rather be declarer or defender... Steve

Asking and not asking questions is a dangerous topic. If u were really shifty you could ask a question about a bid when u are interested in that lead during the auction and so on. I've had it done to me - my favourite one was - is that natural (aghast) and then shaking head when answered yes - guess who had 7 cards in that suit... The most common UI situation is the 1NT - what's your range - weak - ok pass ... opposing ptr finds a bid with nothing and of course u set the director on them ! Also done over weak 2 and numerous others! so called French defence... I've seen a lot of this in the few years I've played and I used to as a beginner be intrigued enough to ask about every alert just about and so partner had no idea if I had anything. Now I find out what system they are playing first and NT etc and then either ask only if there is a likelihood I'll bid and trust partner not to consider it ie your bid must be reasonable for that hand. Alternatively wait until the end of the auction when u need to know to formulate the defence and also do that if I have nothing too to be ethical. Rule of thumb is if they are a beginner fair enough but experienced players should know better (and probably do) and that includes most club players so when they do ask and pass consider reserving your rights! Steve

[hv=d=s&v=n&s=sqxhaj109dcaj10xxxx]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] if u bid any no. of hearts ptr bids 4NT (RKCB) how do u respond? (do u play 5NT = 2KC + useful void for example )? if u bid 5♥ Partner bids 5NT then 6♥ after u show no Kings do u bid 7? Partner holds [hv=d=s&v=n&s=sqxhaj109dcaj10xxxx]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] Do u get to 7♥s? Steve

[hv=n=saqxxxxhqxxdkxxcx&s=sxhxxxdqxxcakxxxx]133|200|[/hv] 1♠-2♣-2♠ all pass anyone...bear in mind too North may have just 5 ♠s...

Hi John, I agree totally that aggregate is not the best way of finding who the best pair is as yes if u bid / miss the slam and others do/don't your night is over. The same is true if your opps don't bid the 94% slam everyone else does and it goes off lol... For example I played a session last week that was aggregate scored and we finished 13/25 NS and behind the leaders by something like 2000pts! We didn't miss any games or slams that were biddable or on (some made 12 tricks on a board where basic defence takes 3 tricks!) opps bid 1 tight game that was rarely bid but the other EWs were making aggresive game tries that were not paying off! just not against us :). For Fun I matchpointed it in Excel in a few mins and we scored 59.5% as we regularly won an extra trick or took an extra trick in defence! Also playing aggregate u should have a N/S winner and E/W winner... It is fun and allows anyone potentially to have a good night and win and therefore attract people back so there is a place for it at Clubs just don't take a good / bad score to heart! Steve

Partner has doubled so why not help him by describing our hand to him.. We have ♠s double stopped, we don't have 4♥s, we don't have a long minor and we're better than 6-9 oh 3NT accomplishes all in one bid guess I'll do that then... If partner has a big hand then he can go further ( I suspect not as RHO didn't continue the barrage in 3rd seat)... Steve

Easy pass for me as 1♠ promises 5 for me here but it depends what your agreements are I play negative free bids here so dbl ( values doesn't promise both majors)/cue or my only forcing bids... If partner dbls I can bid ♠'s next or NT to show my hand Steve

In my view , what do I want to know in this hand? And what game do I want to play in 4♥,3NT,5♣/5♦'s or higher? (i) How strong is partner? (ii) Does he have 4 ♥, if so 4♥ is no.1 choice (iii) he hasn;t 4♥s then does he have a ♠ stop if not we a minor game looks very promising but which one so? (iv) Does he have 4♦ or 5+♣? Bidding 2♦ lets us know if partner has 4♦'s but the opps as the opps are likely to bid 2 or 3♠'s then we may lose the chance to find out and is 3♥ showing 4♥s or asking for a stop over 2♠ and promising a ♠ stop etc. Bidding 2♦s here should deny 4♥ as look for the major first then plan B 3NT then plan C 5 Minor Steve

Double is absolutely fine you are showing 4 ♥s and 8+pts. Partner has bid 1NT showing a ♠ stop I hope! and denying the ♥ support so over 2♠ you have a simple bid 3NT. If u want to try for a minor game then 3♠ would be forcing and asking ptr to describe his hand further ( sounds like he's 2335 shape assuming he bids 1♦ if 44 in minors) Steve

If u do pause , you can always play the 'oh sorry is it me' line to prevent any accusations - just have a blank look b4 you play :blink: The other advice is practice counting online as the pace can be slower... Steve

In the English Bridge Union, The orange book which contains allowable systems / conventions etc states you cannot pysche a strong 2 opening or Game/force opening (6.1.3 I believe) . Is this unique to EBU or applied elsewhere? (ACBl/WBF etc). Steve

How about certain bids appearing with a clap of thunder and bold font to show partner he should think about it, it means something...! Should replace the direct stare and emphasis some club players use lol Steve

Oh well, I have a feeling its a Stevie 0 pts here but but I bid 5♠ to suggest a slam somewhere but I must be showing shortage in ♦s here and the other suits...? Steve

I'm trying to create a Lebensohl FD file - what does a direct 3♣ mean over 2♦♥♠? Thanks Steve

I've also found that if undo is used then Gib needs to be reset to start showing the values. (set to hide - set to show) PS It's great for vugraph too :lol: Steve

When I played the hand, I took the view that (i) I had shown hearts with the stayman bid and (ii) if the opps know what they are doing Ptr has no wasted spade values so we have a 34pt deck we were missing at most 5 AJ or KQ so I felt slam was very likely. I considered 5♠/5NT as pick the slam but decided that 6♣ best described my hand.. The full hand [hv=d=n&v=n&n=s84hak76dj74ckq43&w=skq109762h2d6532c6&e=sj53h9853dk108cj95&s=sahqj104daq9ca10872]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 6♣/6♥ makes with 6♣ the most comfortable Steve

[hv=d=s&v=n&s=sahqj104daq9ca10872]133|100|Scoring: MP Your Bid?[/hv] You settle thinking of a maybe slam and bidding is at 4♠ by the opps before it gets back to you and partner didnt get the chance to bid his response to Stayman! Bidding 1NT - p - 2♣ 3♠ p -4♠ What do u do? What's your thinking - what does opps / partners hands likely to look like? Steve