vuroth

[hv=s=sa2hqt742dq4caq96]133|100|1♥ 1♠ 2♣ 2♦ ??[/hv] Ok, I'm just getting familiar with the ins and outs of FSF. The big two are: 1. Bid 2S with 3 spades 2. Bid 2NT with a diamond stopper Obviously, I have neither. Next choices would be rebids, I guess, but neither of my suits is precisely worth a rebid. I'm thinking 2NT here, hoping to catch partner with Jxx or better. Trade the Q♦ for round suit jacks, I think I would bid 2 spades as the smaller lie. Give me xx AQJxx AQJx xx, and I think I would bid 2H. In general, am I on the right track with this? This hand lies in the middle, so pick the smallest lie? V

I am greatly enjoying this book so far.

The bidding confuses me a bit. Seems like they should be a bit light on points for 3NT. That said, south almost has to have KQJxxx in ♣. From partner's lead, south also has AK♠. Ok, so that 5♣, 1♦ and 2♠. South only needs 1 more trick. That trick could come from leading the T♠ through me. However, south has at MOST 1 club entry to dummy (less if partner had the 73 and is giving me count), and only has a heart entry if she has the Qxx(..). South can't have more than AKx in ♠, so no entry there. If south has the Q♥, then we need to take some tricks very quickly indeed. (The 9th trick can come from hearts, and not spades.) Clearly, those tricks would need to be in ♦. If partner has the Q♥, south will not take a (visible) heart trick. Leading spades gives up a trick if south can duck. Leading hearts gives up a trick period. Leading clubs is impossible. Ergo, I need to play a ♦, and hope. If I play the T♦, and it goes J♦, A♦, 2♦, then I've just blocked the suit. So, better to cash the queen, then lead the ten.

The OP throws out the word "improbable" fairly often, without really, I think, thinking through or understanding the implications of the word. Look at the recent, famous, E Coli experiment. The 2 necessary mutations were incredibly unlikely, but once the second occurred, the new THING dominated the environment in a very short amount of time. V

I think Echognome means 60 below....

iii) never play against Frances ;) Nice, Frances. Now, I'm afraid to play rubber bridge even! :P

I had the same analysis. I got to this point and thought "Yeah, no wonder it's not a beginner hand. I wonder if the declarer play would have been more a beginner hand". :P Since partner simply must have the Q♣, and I HAVE to let partner lead spades, K♣ as well.

From a very basic level of analysis, playing against B/I opponents, I might pull something wacky like the queen lead, if opponents had stalled in 4NT/5NT looking for a slam (and thus, it looked like partner was really, really broke). Partner may very well have 4 points, which sounds a lot like an entry to me. In a B/I field, I'm betting T♣ will do fairly well in IMPs or MPs, most days. V

Brilliant. I love that, as I get deeper in to this game, there are still horizons a long way off to be conquered. Thanks, J. Great post. V

The forums really need to show the table when 2 hands to up like that. Always takes me a moment or two to puzzle it out.

I like 3. nobody should be making game, not even us, and 3 should be enough to buy it.

Ok, if double isn't right the first time, I really don't know what to bid. I considered 1NT, but I really don't want to have to explain to partner how I felt my heart queen was a stopper in that position. Second double, I just didn't believe they were making. My only concern was clubs blocking, but I felt like hearts would be their only source of tricks. Turns out partner had 9 points and the minor suits covered. My heart queen was finesseable for 5 tricks, partner did not have a spade honour, and dummy had something like QJ9x in diamonds and declarer had Jxxx in clubs, so we couldn't run anything. In retrospect, given the flaws of my hand, I think pass is probably superior than the second double, but I really, really did think that my opponents were way over their heads. It wasn't so much short term memory loss as much as, in the case of the 50 point deck, I prefer to believe partner and disbelieve opponents.

[hv=d=n&v=b&s=sjt9xhqxxxdtxxcak]133|100|Scoring: MP P P P 1♥ X 1♠ X 1NT 2♣ 2NT X P P P[/hv] EDIT: I'm the bloke who doubled twice.

Yeah, that's what I thought looking at the hand this morning. :D At the table, I won with the diamond ten. A diamond to the king, then back to the ace showed the 9 had been single. LHO discarded the 5 and 2 of hearts. I had decided that, with a heart entry assured, I would knock up spades for the tricks. A low spade to the ten held, and when spades split 3-3, I had all 13 tricks. Afterwards, I wondered if I wasn't better ruffing out a spade or two. Alas, with entries so limited, I'm not sure if either of those two lines can even handle a 4-2 spade split. The first thought I had at the table was a black suit crossruff, but dummy's spots are too poor, and the likelihood of short clubs on the right too good. In the end, I really didn't have a very strong idea, so I just randomly picked a line. Maybe, in the end, that was ok here. V

11th hand of a 12 hand tourney. 9 of diamonds is led, and suddenly the phone rings - and the person on the other end simply won't leave a message [hv=d=n&v=n&n=sakt985h4dk542cq9&s=s4ha3dajt87ca8532]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] West North East South - 1♠ Pass 2♦ 2♥ 2♠ Pass 4♣ Pass 4♦ Pass 5♦ Pass Pass Pass Is there a line that's clearly better than the others? I just picked one, but was pretty frazzled, and may have flubbed this one badly.

In answer to jlol:

[hv=d=e&v=e&n=saqt5hkj9da76ca72&s=sk98743h62djtckj4]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] West North East South - - 1♦ 1♠ Pass 4♠ Pass Pass Pass 5♦ led. Apologies if I have overlooked something, or if this hand isn't as instructive/interesting as I hope it is. V

Wow, Oleg - that was a fantastic story! I started filling in when my parents would play my godparents at 6 or 7 years old. The younger kids would be in bed, and I would watch. Sometimes, they would let me defend a hand - generally when the younger kids were up to no good. I taught some friends to play in high school, and for a while we played every day at lunch. Some of them, I still play with on a weekly basis, though we live thousands of miles apart now. I didn't play at all in university, which I regret to this day. I didn't start on duplicate until my late 20s. After a while, I got up to about once a week, but then we had another baby, and so did my partner, so the bridge just...stopped. I started playing online about 18 months ago, and have been back at the club 3 or 4 times in the last 3 monhts ...and I have so far to go. B) V

I think I'd be really annoyed if partner opted to bid Michael's with 4 hearts, missing the AKQ. That said, the point about finding 9 no matter how clubs break is really significant. I'm fairly certain that, at this point in my development, I wouldn't adequately consider the very real possibility that clubs are breaking poorly (given the bidding). So much work to do. :D V

B/Is are in 2♦ or 7♣ :)

That book is sitting on my nightstand, waiting for its turn to be read. V

Bah, I wasn't trying to diss you. You just seem to find some...amazing...partners, sometimes, jb. :rolleyes: V

At the table, I bid 3 clubs with: xx Jxx Kxx QJxxx I'm nearly positive that we were NV. Not so sure who the dealer was, though. Somehow, this pushed opponents into a non-making 4♠. None of this gave me a clue whether or not my bid was right, aggressive, or insane. Fwiw, this was my first game against serious club competition in over 6 years, and I was mighty intimidated. As it turned out, this particular pair might not have been A listers (nothing against them, but 4♠ took my by surprise for sure). V

As an inty, I'd probably pass. I can see 1NT being ok, though. If I pass, do I pass partner's double? Does that influence whether pass or 1NT is better?

Maybe someday we should have a charity BBO tournament, featuring all of jillybean's ex-partners. I'd probably even pay to watch that. Comedy is fun. :) :) :P