el mister

Played this hand last night in a club duplicate: [hv=pc=n&s=saq842hdkq974caq5&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1sp1np3dp4dp]133|200[/hv] 1N is forcing 2/1 style so could have some stuff. So slam has a shot here - we don't play any advanced key card ask below 4N or detailed cue bidding agreements, so it's basically 5D or 6D. In an analogous major suit auction I might leave it in 4 or 5 but for a minor suit auction at pairs I think I'd always go 6 here. Unfortunately, previous board we were treated to a loud conversation from a guy at the next table (where our boards were coming from) on 'LET ME TELL YOU WHY I BID AND MADE SIX DIAMONDS HERE.' (The guy in question is not a complete tit AFAIK, I think he might have been playing with a pupil and wanted to explain things to her, but it was easily audible and he was shushed). So, can I bid 6D here? The argument 'I always choose 6m over 5m at pairs if it is reasonable' seems a bit different to a situation where you unequivocally have the cards for the bid (does not seem to be the case here). Plus I didn't know the rules for UI from another table so I just bid 5 making 12 for an avg minus.

I see so many bad 2♣ auctions at club level, that I'm not sure that's true IME. If opps lack a fit, or end up in 2 / 3N opposite a broke dummy, you'll frequently get a good score just by keeping quiet. You're not really jamming anything coherent half the time, whereas against decent opponents you are.

Had a couple of auctions in pairs recently where I've been in that situation where we have a minor suit fit, 3N is offered as a safe-looking contract, and I'd like to explore 6m. Trouble is, 5m isn't much of a halfway house in the scoring tables, so if I find we're off a keycard or two then we're booked for a bad score. So it feels like the decision to go past 3N is a very committing one. Is there common treatment that lets you bail in 5N or even 4N natural in the event of being short some controls? Or is it a problem that shouldn't really exist because good players have detailed cue-bidding agreements?

I made K♥. LHO had both red aces - I think pard might had had Q♦ in dummy which might have persuaded him just to cashout, but I'm sorry I don't recall the exact details.

Thks all - I ended up bidding 3♠ over 2♦ which partner passed out holding void spade, assorted rubbish, but four clubs so 4♠ was a make [clubs split but spades did not, so opps won the ten). Wasn't very happy at the time with pard's pass - Thought double and jump to 3 would create a force even in the pass out seat, but I can see now it's not so clear cut. Simple 4♠ direct in the other room gave them 6 imps on the board.

Getting better at declarer play is, as we all know, very easy - you just count winners and losers, make a plan at trick one, remember the bidding and pay attention to discards. Right? So why is it that so many of us are completely, obdurately resistant to heeding this advice? I had a minor eipiphany when this was explained to me, for the nth time, but by an expert, for the first time. I know one expert in real life, actually an ex-expert, as he made international level in his early 20s, but then made the decision not to pursue the game professionally and he quit serious bridge, but the game is in his DNA. He's a friend and will occasionally play a club game with me, we usually do OK but never great. Afer one of these disappointing evenings he came to see me the next day and simply said 'Do you know what it would take for me (him) to get better at bridge? I'd need to find another genuine expert in this area who wanted a partnership and who I was compatible with, spend 100s of hours on system and practice (which would negatively impact my work), and then after all that time I might, maybe, be a little bit better than I am now at this game. You on the other hand, would literally be 100% better, tomorrow, if you just counted your winners and losers, made a plan at trick one, remember the bidding and paid attention to discards. I know that sounds trite but it was just the obvious truth of it that only sunk in because of who was saying it, that when you're a beginner / improver it is so so easy to make huge gains that become harder and harder to achieve as you progress. It was like I was squandering a huge opportunity, so either take it and get better or you may as well just stop playing.

Had the good fortune to pick up an absolute beast of a hand in a teams game this week:[hv=pc=n&s=sakqj64hk8dkcakq7&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1hpp]133|200[/hv] Unfortunately LHO has opened the bidding, which doesn't leave much for partner. Would you just bid a quiet 4♠ here, or are you duty bound to at least make an auction out of it? (LHO is a decent player, ie not an HCP-merchant, if that matters). If you double, opps are silent, and pard bids 2♦.

One thing that's hard when you're starting to play properly is figuring out the tempo, unauthorised information etc dimension of the game. You're concentrating on just bidding your hand in the right way, with an unfamiliar partner, and suddenly there's all this extra stuff to worry about. I had to learn this in a very haphazard way as no one really explained it to me - I had a very similar experience to the OP in my first real club game, the local battleaxe gave me a bollocking (on board 1!) for pausing and passing. tbh it's best to just try and take it in your stride, at least you'll remember it and personally I find old people being rude to not really phase me.

On the actual deal the QH was sitting doubleton offside so 7H and 7N make. 7S also makes as the trumps split 2-4, but drawing 4 trumps then crossing to KD and running hearts sounds like the type of line a beginner takes to make, but an expert rejects and fails. I've not read Mollo, but no doubt there is a caricature of this sort of play in his books.

My wife showed me this hand she played at the club last night - matchpoint game, S is dealer. The room results suggested the bidding methods on display did not deliver. How would you tackle this, and how high do you want to get? Also, is this a 2C opener in your book? [hv=pc=n&s=sakjthda872cakj85&n=sq62hakjt9752dkc9]133|200[/hv]

There would seriously be mass insurrection if you couldn't gaze in wonderment at everyone else's results afer the board, at this particular club night. Introduction of Bridgemates was like the Martians have landed, so reckon the club are steering the practical course here.

Played a club duplicate last night, sitting down EW at one table we declared 4♥ making 12. North enters the score in the bridgemate and passes it to me to OK, which I do, it's a 100% top, as the room is in 3N for 10. South muses that it seems odd to play a 7-2 heart fit in 3N and then the lightbulb flickers on, North has entered the wrong board number into the bridgemate - we were playing #s 11 and 12, and we played 12 first. [and I also failed to notice when I OK'd the score]. South is directing the game, as it happens, so gets up to delete the entry off the PC and put the correct one back into the bridgemate. We then move onto the next board (#11), in the knowledge of what the par contract is. I thought about saying should we just take an average or something but figured the director would know the protocol - apparently the protocol here was to do nothing, just bid as normal and play it out (for 9 tricks - wpp :) ) Surely that ain't right? It was a pretty ordinary standard club game, so not one where you'd expect to see scrupulously accurate adherence to the Laws. I'm asking out just out of curiosity as to what is the right thing to do there.

el mister 22:8 Hrothgar http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:4082ad76.6837.11e8.ab4e.0cc47a39aeb4-1528144714&u=el%20mister el mister 2:33 Zupey http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:22925226.6a3e.11e8.ab4e.0cc47a39aeb4-1528367573&u=el%20mister

1NTX making is almost always a top in the circumstances you describe - ie you scramble it home against the odds, so not seeing much of a positive case for 1NTXX being a difference maker there. Janis has described the negative case - -200 could easily be the par score and you're chasing -400? It's not a top if opp's have stepped into a trap and 1NX is an easy make for the whole room. But then it's quite hard to get to play 1NXX over pard's value-showing pass. Opps will normally take it out IME. At least with 1N - X - all pass you know you have them.

Yeah I thought a zero was a bit harsh on this deal, but RHO was the strongest player in the room, so maybe judged the level of the preempt better than others.

[hv=pc=n&s=sk7hj9873dak976cq&n=saqj854ht6dq32ca9&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1s4cdppp]266|200[/hv] Club game matchpoints. 4♣X - 1 did not make us rich, in fact it was a cold bottom. Reasonable calls, or is there clear culpability for not bidding 4S (either N or S)?

It's certainly easy to see when aggressive bidding works, because it's crystal clear when a pre-empt or pressure bid has done the job for your side. It's easy to forget when it doesn't work, mind! Like anything in bridge there's a time and a place and the good players can make that judgement. Must say the stronger pairs I see who post 60% week in week out are not characterised by aggressive bidding - they're dour and measured in their bidding if anything. It seems like never doing anything stupid is worth more than the occasional piece of sticking your neck out brilliance.

I was sitting S in the following sequence (MPs) and over RHO's spade rebid saw fit to make a responsive double which took us to a bad place. Does this bid basically deny four hearts, given pard has almost certainly shown 4+ of them? Felt like a flexible bid at the time but pard took it to be very minor-orientated. [hv=pc=n&s=st5haq52djt54cqt3&d=e&v=b&b=10&a=1sp1nd2sd]133|200[/hv]

Yes, that was an obvious blunder not to bid 2S, but it got me thinking about the 2H bid so just wanted to ask as a sanity check.

Playing 2/1, or any natural 5cM system I guess - Holding a weak-ish hand with 5 spades and 3 hearts, 5-3-4-1 or 5-3-3-2 say, 6-9 pts, pard opens 1H. What is standard here - support with 2H, or show spades with 1S? Is it 100% clear, or a judgement call on suit quality, overall shape of your hand etc? Inspired by a diasterous 1H - 2H - 4H auction that failed on the lie of the cards, when 4S was cold on our 9 card spade fit that neither of us bid!

el mister 10.5 : 5.5 heart76 http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:4f1850f6.2542.11e8.9789.0cc47a39aeb4-1520782735&u=el%20mister el mister 6.5 : 9.5 heart76 http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:ac93089d.26f0.11e8.9789.0cc47a39aeb4-1520967576&u=el%20mister We'll finish up this weekend

That's a really nice vid. I didn't know Ben but like you played against him a few times round Manc - always a friendly guy at the table. Sad to pass away so young.

Toys R Us UK met the Great Divider yesterday - I believe the parent US company has also been touching cloth for some time. The UK High St is being squeezed remorselessly by the giant online retailers, so usually it's sad to see these businesses fold under the pressure. Suspect few tears will be shed for Toys R Us, though - dead business model, dreadful stores filled with plastic landfill shite. Like ordering something on amazon then driving to the warehouse to pick it out yourself.

in please - ty Frank0 for organising.

Slight preference for best hand MPs. Also like a straight KO tournament.