markleon

I'm agreeing with Phil except that I'm bidding 4♥ on 2. Partner will have to have some really lousy hearts for for RHO to overruff spades multiple times.

Salon posted an excerpt: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/08/0...html?source=rss If the book is anywhere near as fun to read as Word Freak, I'll be very happy.

Mike Lawrence has a whole book "Falsecards" on the subject. It's worth the price.

1. Pass - no temptation. 2. 2NT - raise the limits for the invitational bid opposite a balancing double.

At this point of the hand, (assuming partner has the spade A), partner knows that I need the diamond A or K. Declarer knows that he has to pick the right suit to play on. So, rather than getting into a game of "spy vs. spy" (I know that he knows that I know...), I'll neither tell the truth nor lie about my entry. I will just play a random middle card and let declarer waste a few brain cells trying to figure out any meaning.

Greetings BBO'ers I'm Mark Leonard, from Ypsilanti, MI (right outside of Ann Arbor), where I live with my partner, Scott (who is violently opposed to learning anything about bridge), and our two cats. I'm 41 as of this posting. I work as a project manager/consultant for an internet services company involved in automotive financing, which right now requires a lot of travel to the Los Angeles area. So, I'm would love to hear from players in Southern California. I learned bridge as a freshman in college, when my best friend that year told me that I had to learn in order to continue to hang out with him. My best bridge results have been in the 0-5000 GNT's (Flight A), where I was part of teams that went to the finals in New York (2004) and to the semi-finals in Chicago (2006). As of the last day of the Nashville nationals, I am a brand new Gold Life Master. I have a lot of different partners, so by necessity, my bidding theories are simple and pragmatic. I strongly believe that the most underrated part of bridge is the ability to be a good partner and elicit the best game out of parter that you can get. Looking forward to lots of interesting discussions with the brilliant and fun crowd and haunts this forum.

Only if you are sure in which strain you are playing as well. As I mentioned above, partner may have invented a reverse, because she "knows" that you can't pass. Even if partner is limited to 19 points (which I don't think she is), passing here could lead to playing a 3-3 or 3-2 heart fit.

From the ACBL web page, on the alert chart, it states: Cuebids No Alert - Most Cue-bids *See Alertable Cue-bids* Alert - Direct cue-bid of natural opening bid played as natural To my reading, that says that Top-and-Bottom cue bids are not alertable.

I understand the votes for pass, but for partnership cohesion, I refuse to pass a forcing bid. On a REALLY bad day, partner will have a one suiter in diamonds too good for a simple 3♦ rebid, and 2♥ will turn out to have been a fake reverse.

7♣ should make even on a spade lead if two rounds of spades and three rounds of hearts live. Then declarer just has to guess whether to cross to the ♦A or ruff a major (and whether to ruff high or low).

I really like this idea. I think it would be even more effective if it was an audio interview done over a vugraph screen or video interview.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I don't understand anything but passing here. I judge that the chance of buying the contract is low. Bidding anything will just tell declarer how to play the hand. The bidders should not be surprised when declarer easily picks the right direction to take the 2-way diamond finesse.

3N If preemptor has AKJxxxx, there will be no outside entry. So, there will still be a high chance of scoring your Q♥ as there may be a duck to preserve communication with partner. Double doesn't work very well if partner is 3-3-4-3.

1. Your partner in this event and I are playing this as a slam try in clubs. If the same here, I'm going to start co-operating with a 4♦ cuebid. 2. X 3. 3♦ 4. Well, with transfer advances, this would be easy. 3♦ transfer to hearts, and then 3♠ to show about 10 points, 5 hearts, and 2 spades. Without that, I guess I'll just have to raise to 3♠. 5. X, Life is rarely perfect.

From the second Fast Pairs Qualifying Session, you pick up in 3rd chair with none vul: [hv=d=e&v=n&s=s108hdakq10943c8543]133|100|Scoring: MP[/hv] Just as you are thinking about getting to open 3N if you get two passes, partner surprises you by opening 3N in first chair! My partner and I are playing that this does deny an outside A or K. Not surprisingly, you hear a 4♥ overcall. What is your plan for handling this hand? At the table, I quickly decided (this was Fast Pairs after all) to try to "walk" this. So, I bid 6♣, not expecting to be allowed to play it there. The auction continued X-P-6♥ and I followed through on my plan by bidding 7♣, trying to look like someone with a heart loser and trying to sac at the 7 level. Lefty doubled again. The full hand: [hv=d=e&v=n&n=saj9haj74dj865c106&w=s108hdakq10943c8543&e=sq54hq9d7cakqj972&s=sk7632hk1086532d2c]399|300|Scoring: MP [/hv] The bad news is that I didn't talk lefty into leading a heart. The good news is that she had heard the rule about always leading a trump against a grand... As you can see, 6♥ only makes when declarer plays the spades by leading a spade to the Ace and then running the Jack.

Yeah, true,but maybe they complained that the question as worded confused them or something. If they asked "does it show spades" that would seem to be less confusing, or at least more to the point, than "what does 3♦ mean?" My guess is that there were some language issues involved that softened the committee's stance with regards to PP or AWMW. Note that the writeup says that East asked if the SEQUENCE showed spades. The 3♦ could be long hearts or 4 spades. Therefore, just asking about the 3♦ bid would not get at the desired information. So, I think the wording of East's question was correct, asking about the 3N rebid after 3♦ (NMF) and a 3♥ reply. (Full disclosure: I know both East and West.)

Great opportunity...good luck!