vuroth

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I don't get downgrading spades to bid NT here. Sure, if I was 5332 with 65432 in spades I'd probably hedge to NT, but with a void outside my spade suit seems much stronger. V

I think the point was "SAYC" but no transfers. I've read the ACBL SAYC bulletin 50x, so my expectations for SAYC are pretty specific. If you're not playing SAYC, what ELSE don't you play from the standard? As for cardinal rules, how about "never save partner"?

Dying is far from the worst thing I can imagine happening to me, or to those I care about. I wasn't aware that being Christian was supposed to make you immune to moral ambiguity. Or moral imperfection, for that matter. I'm also not aware of a single proven way to stop a person determined to do violence short of violence. Granted, we've worked at creating more civilized forms of violence. I, also, am completely against torture. I am not, however, completely against violence.

I'm 100% behind Fred on this one. I'm also glad that I've gotten to witness yet another emerging chrysalis realize that disappointment is endemic to life. Also, the explanation of +++ gave me a chuckle.

1♠, prepared to bid 2♥ over 2♦. I think this might be a tougher question if I was weaker, and might be forced to pass a 2♦ rebid.

I admit, favourable I might have tried an immediate 5♣. Opponents finding a ♥ fit is bad news, in comparison to if they had found a ♠ fit. My ♠ holding looks weaker than it did last round. 5♣ now seems fine.

Nice. I hadn't even thought of the club entries to hand. I just knew that I could eliminate my club loser with a single finesse, but that after a successful spade finesse I might still have a spade loser.

Pass. Fwiw, I highly doubt that the bidding is over, and if it is, then they're probably making at least 3♠ anyways

If things work out, I have 2 entries to the board. Of course, diamond switch means it might be only 1. If I truly only have 1 entry, I'd rather try the club finesse.

I would absolutely be bidding with south's hand. My goal is to keep bidding 65s aggressively until I get burnt, but so far that hasn't really happened yet. What I don't get is, if you're going to bid 4NT anyways, why not bid 4♣ on the way there? What's the difference between the immedaite 4NT and splintering first? (Also, the probability that partner is 4432 distribution probably increases greatly for B/I - A/E opponents probably aren't going to sit on a 10 card club fit...)

My hidden stab at the answer: V

Ok it took me a while to puzzle it out, but here's my thoughts. I think a better example might have been [hv=d=s&v=b&n=sq9632hdc&s=saj5hdc]133|200|Scoring: MP 4♠ 2♠ T♠ ? No outside entry[/hv] Here, Ace first costs me nothing, and my only hope for more than 2 ♠ tricks is LHO incorrectly covering the J.

Mostly, I was hoping for 3 ♠ tricks. The full hand was: [hv=d=s&v=b&n=sq732hj64dk83c754&s=saj5hkq3dq954ca82]133|200|Scoring: MP[/hv] So I need a 7th trick from ♠ or ♦, and in ♦ I think I'm happier if they break the suit. Not really a puzzle hand, and maybe not even an interesting hand, it just occured to me at the table that there might be times when taking the ace would be clearly better than playing the Jack.

I opened 1NT, passed out. LHO leads the ♠4: [hv=d=s&v=b&n=sq732hdc&s=saj5hdc]133|200|Scoring: MP 4♠ 2♠ T♠ Outside entries to dummy doubtful or non-existant.[/hv] I couldn't decide if playing the J or the A was better, and I rushed my play rather than think it through. If the J is better here, are there ever times where the A is better?

TLAs are your friend. :)

All I really see is that ducking trick 2 is clear. It can't cost - we can always trade a club loser for a ♦ loser. If RHO has only 1 ♦ it's essential that we duck. If RHO has 2 ♦s then he's about to drop the T♦, which would give us K9 over Jxx. We're not even afraid over overruffing RHO on trick 3. Even so, it looks to me like we'll need the heart finesse, though if the Q♥ is singleton, we'll be ok. If trumps split, we can always try eliminating the minors before the heart finesse, in case the A♥ is single.

I think the 3 answers given are all pretty clear. Does partner know what "resulting" means?

I understand why people are bidding, but I'll continue to pass tyvm. At this point, I think bidding would upset partnership trust. When I get to the point where the main source of IMPs/MPs won/lost is NOT ridiculous bids/plays on one side or the other, maybe I'll revisit this.

aye congrats, and thanks to both for the diversion! :)

This is the attitude the B/I forum needs. :) I found it a tough problem.

Partner is asking for a heart switch. 4♥?

I would have doubled instead of 2♥. Not unreasonable, though, given that the Q singleton shouldn't be completely useless. Lead: Q♠. I'm often guilty of trying to hit the ruffing home run. Then again, declarer can probably guess we have the K♦, so getting in now would be good.

Thought about it some more - perhaps I have lost my mind :) Fred Gitelman Bridge Base Inc. www.bridgebase.com If it makes you feel any better, if I could declare like you, and playing against my usual foes, I probably would bid 3NT straight off. Ok, maybe that didn't come across quite as supportive as I might have hoped. :) :D :D

If you want my B/I opinion, south. south already showed the ace with 2♥. After 3♠, I think south needs to limit his hand with 4♥. 3♣ should promise SOMETHING more than he's already shown, and all he really needs is the AQ of clubs to make the slam a decent one. (EDIT: Admittedly, xxx xxxxx xxx AQ kind of sucks...)

Even with no hands, just scores-in-progress, it would be an active vugraph for sure. :(