vuroth

So confusing. 2 over 1 promises: Sorry, but I'm just not buying that 3♥ was forcing. Ok, maybe the intent of SAYC is to force you to game with 23 combined HCP and a 7 card fit, but I doubt it.

I would have guessed 3♥ was invitational. I would also have said that it set trump as hearts. Ergo, if you can find a way to stop below game in hearts after 3♠, go for it. :D

Gosh, I wonder if my parents got my birthday wrong. :) Go along with it. The more analysis they put into the reading, the more they'll be telling YOU about what's going on in their subconscious. Maybe they'll let slip an assumption or understanding they have about someone that you didn't previously know. V

I can't fathom a world where it wouldn't be 50/50. I also can't fathom a world where a 20 year old woman would ever ask me out. :)

Thanks for the link!

Ahh, if only I could tell the dealer to stop giving me those hands, until I have more experience. :) :) :)

Hardly fair. Even though I don't get most of these puzzles "right", I still do far better here than "at the table".

You are definitely on the right lines. One question to consider is whether to guard against 5-0 clubs (play the queen of clubs before taking a spade ruff) or 6-1 spades (take a spade ruff high). It may depend on your line. Maybe the safest way to play clubs is ruff low, cash the queen, then return to hand using spades. Of course, if you just ruffed spades, you can't do that. I could try returning to hand in diamonds, but is a 1-8 split MORE unlikely than the club split? Lacking an outside entry to hand, I felt that ruffing with an honour (or ruffing low, and overtaking the queen - same deal, more risk) was the way to go. V

I figured it would come down to partner reopening. One of the mental hurdles to overcome as a B/I is trusting partner to reopen, espcially if I'm not always sure that I'd reopen myself. As for failing to pass when I should? Tell me about it... ;)

Easiest thing to hope for would be ♥3/2, but after I ruff the third heart I'll be stuck in my hand. Another option would be hoping [sP ]are 4/3. Not the most likely of outcomes, especially with 7 diamonds on my right. With transportation issues, I'd need ♣ to be 4-1 or better. If this line fails, I would actually have a second chance - if someone holds Qx of ♥, I can make even if ♠ don't split. Up til here, that's as far as I feel comfortable going. The rest is just madness. I have 11 top cards - 6 clubs, 2 hearts, 3 spades. If I ruff a spade high and hope for a 4-1 club break, that would give me 12 winners. One winner short, and a very good chance LHO holds the queen of hearts and spade length (I doubt RHO bid 3♦ with a 4 card major, although I got burned by that assumption last week....). So a squeeze, then? Diamond ruff, Ace of spades, spade ruff high, run trump. AK spades, if not all spades are gone, AKJ hearts?

How strongly is all of this tied to length to your length in their suit? With 3 or 4 in their suit, and I pretty likely to double? With say a void in their suit, am I odds on to bid on? Or should I pass, hoping partner can slam in a double? Obiviously HCP and especially aces will be key if I'm looking to defend, but how should I be swayed if I have say, 0, 2 or 4 of their suit?

Probably something that would be nice to see in a sticky'd thread, someday.

It's one of those parts of the SAYC booklet that I've never seen anybody play.

Maybe just over-shuffling. Maybe a small sample size. Would you consider this a 1NT opener? ♠QJ2 ♥AK7 ♦QT965 ♣A4 V PS - I second Frances' advice of reading a few replies before deciding. For example, I am personally wrong around here fairly often. :)

Almost certainly others will have better answers than me. 1) I like 26 for a major/notrump game. I bet a lot of advanced/experts would go on 25, or even 24. I wouldn't really sweat the difference. As for 1NT, a lot of people grew up on 16-18, but it seems that the modern way is 15-17. I don't think I've seen anyone play 16-18 at the club/online level. One advantage of 15-17 is that the range that bids 1X (1y) 1NT is 12-14, which is smaller and more precise than if you played 16-18. 2) What I learned 3NT 26 4Major 26 5Minor 29 6any 33 7any 37 Of course, distribution will affect these numbers, except for notrump. If you can't make game level (3NT, 4Major, 5Minor), there is NO advantage to bidding any higher than you need to. There is no difference in duplicate in the rewards for 1♦ or 4♦, or 1NT or 2NT, except of course that one is easier. 3) Sounds like you may be doing something wrong? I, personally, would open 99.9% of 5332, 4432 or 4333 hands in the 15-17 point range as 1NT. While some would disagree on certain contentious issues, I'm sure at least 90% of those hands would be widely consensus 1NT openers. In fact, some players EXTEND the range of 1NT openers, taking certain 5422 or even 4441 hands as 1NT, just because the responses are so well defined. (I'm sure by now, some of the better players are rolling their eyes at what I've said....) ... As for the last, I can certainly sympathize with being a professional and struggling to find the time to learn. BBO has some excellent resources online for learning, some of which may be available at odd hours, due to time zone shifting. V

It's probably easier one way than the other. If partner doesn't play splinters, will he really respond 4♦ to your 1♠ bid? Probably not. Of course, if you pull a splinter on a pickup partner, they may tank then pass or something. Still, if they've even heart of it, I'll bet they're more likely to interpret a splinter bid as such than as natural. That's probably one advantage that splinters have over most other conventions, for the purposes of this discussion.

:) Given how outstandingly kind the masters I've seen have been in the 2 R/M games I've played, I only hope I can someday play on the other side, and return the favour. Plus, I absolutely aspire to be world class, someday. B) Thanks for the kind words, everyone. W

Congrats!

It was even more special in that Erin Berry's mother Carole was present, at the club where I played. There was a photo album out dedicated to Erin. Apparently Carole Berry is a former national winner of the event, which is very cool. Not too sure what to say. The game is played in clubs, with pre-dealt hands. Hand analysis was provided after the game. Masters always sat North and East. Unlike instant matchpoint games, the matchpoint score is only given against your club or section. The listing given is the top localized matchpoint scores across Canada. V

Probably. My biggest problem is this: 1♦ (p) 2NT I've yet to see anyone who bids this according to the SAYC guideline.

A few weeks ago, after 6 years away from the club, I attended the Erin Berry Rookie/Master game. I was fortunate to be paired with an outstanding Master partner. Thanks to her brilliance and a little bit of good luck, we were able to play a 73% game, good for first place in Canada. While I'm fully aware that winning a rookie/master game is a far cry from winning a competetive tournament, this may be the closest I get to winning a national event (for now, anyways :) ) If anyone out there has never played in a rookie/master event, I definitely recommend that you give it a try. From the rookie side, the masters are all extremely friendly and patient, and seeing their abilities at counting, deduction, and remembering the card play is impressive. Warren

Don't we all. Never hurts to ask questions, though. :)

Assuming my answer is correct... The main idea is to NEVER lose to a K♣ in south's hand. Therefore, you really do not want to take the club finesse. Why not do it one trick sooner? That way, you can throw the T♣ under the diamond ace. Now, you can have something like: [hv=n=sa63hxxdxxxcxx&w=sk942hkqt975dc&e=s875haj82dcq98&s=sqjthxdxxxckxx]399|300|[/hv] Now when you play clubs, you can toss spades if south does not cover with the king. Of course, if north wins the king, he can't hurt you in spades. (Naturally, you draw trump first). V

No, I agree that 2♠ is the right bid. After partner's 2♠ bid, I felt that 3♣ kept 3NT, 5+♣ and 5+♦ in play. I definitely felt like we were in a forcing auction. Thus, it felt right to show my clubs. You know, this game was easier when I was ignorant of my mistakes. :D

Yeah, that absence was bugging me. Thanks.