el mister

Sry for the bolloxology Bill, the 3D bid is indeed weak, so 5-9. I'll correct the OP.

How would you characterise a 3N bid here, wrt MPs, IMPs, or a BBO robot individual tournament? [hv=pc=n&s=sak2haj42dt853cj7&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1dp3d(5-9pts%2C%205%2B%20dia)p]133|200[/hv] Interested if people see it as the percentage play, or a low percentage gamble?

What are the expert criteria for steaming in with 4M on 6-5 hands? Can be very productive, IME, but I see here we are 2nd seat vuln and hold both majors, so maybe not the time or the place?

Thanks all. I've not played fit jumps in a reg partnership - given that we play rev Bergen raises with no competition, is it workable to also play fit jumps with competition?

Playing 2/1 MPs: [hv=pc=n&w=s7h943d543caqjt52&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1h1s]133|200[/hv] What is your bid here - show the fit, or the quite nice club suit, and is it clear?

Thanks. I had trouble envisaging partner with a penalty double hand after his pass so embarked on a sequence of bad bids. I guess he must be able to tolerate a pass from me there as my initial overall could be a lot weaker, giving me no second bid.

Thanks Paul

How do you take partner's double here, and how to proceed over opps redouble? [1NT rebid shows 15-17] [hv=pc=n&s=sakjt5h875da87c54&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1dpp1s1ndr]133|200[/hv]

Quick question on the multi - Is it permitted to play weak-only multi 2♦ in UK club bridge? ie just weak 2 in hearts or spades? Or is a strong option required for the bid, e.g. weak2 in a major or 25-25 balanced?

Thanks for the replies. I think my question arises from reading a lot of Walsh treatments for 4cM hands, and wondering how opener evaluates the possibility of responder holding a 5cM. e.g. 1c - 1s could be weak with 4, or 5+ with any strength. So thinking about the subsequent sequences to discriminate these hand types.

Looking to incorporate Walsh-style responses in our 2/1 system, and the write-ups describing responder's hand with 4cM and a diamond suit all seem clear. Just wondering how this impacts responder's hand with 5cM and no diamond suit - 5-3-3-2, 2-5-3-3 etc? Do you start with the major [opener taking it initially as a weak hand] then use something like xyz after opener's rebid to indicate invitational / strong hands [and must be showing 5+ in the major]? 2M rebid from responder would be weak and 5+.

X - spade and diamond tenace over RHO looks good - we'll wallop 5♣ if we get pard a ruff or two. 5H looks iffy, could easily lack the A♥ and have two club losers. I'd have passed 4♥ - seems like a bid here is either slam-orientated or obstructing their slam, and neither scenario seems on the cards. What would XX show for most people?

Think I'd let this one lie - I want to bid as it could be a wretched weak 2♦, but nae shape, Red on white, plus RHO's pass often means they have some values (as they'll be keen to raise ♦ with nowt), cumulatively dissuade me from bidding.

Thks for the replies - I think 4♦ would have been impossible given our basic agreements. Showing 22/23 balanced then breaking a transfer to bid 4♦ wouldn't make sense for us.

[hv=pc=n&s=sakj5haq6dkqj6ck6&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=2cp2dp2np3dp4dp4hp4sppp]133|200[/hv] Club game, occasional partnership - I open the S hand, and suffer a lapse in concentration by taking 3♦ as natural and bidding a hasty 4♦. I realised my error too late, but anyway - pard corrects to 4♥. I thought here that I can't pass this bid - I have to take it as if we had agreed a diamond fit so 4♥ would prob be a control-showing bid. So I bid 4♠, which gets passed out, and makes for a cold top - rest of the field in 3N which fails on the lie of the cards. Can someone clarify the following: Is my partner allowed to bid 4♥ here from the POV of 'pard missed the transfer so I'm putting things right' Was I right that I can't pass 4♥? Are the opps due an adjustment for getting fixed like this?

There's playing a good game, and then there's talking a good game. Do you find that some people can speak with great fluency and clarity about a bridge hand, but are basically telling you five ways how they just failed to make the contract? OTOH, do you know strong players out there who aren't very clear at articulating how they handled the position? It seems like if you understand the position (clearly), then you can probably talk about it (clearly), but maybe not in the immediate aftermath of the hand? I'm wondering if some of us have visualisation processes that just don't lend themselves to rapid translation? Not a strong player myself, but find it interesting that I'm pretty poor at verbalising the play of the hand just afterwards, and used to get a bit intimidated at the way some players can immediately roll out a detailed analysis. Their apparent analytical rigour, however, is not matched by their results in many cases- they talk a good game.

The first East appears to have stepped on his dick in heinous fashion, given the state of the match. Not sure what else can be said beyond that, tbh - maybe he was very tired. Not sure where this nonsense about overhauling team / coach selection is coming from - People make mistakes, and more importantly need to be allowed to make mistakes, if you want to build successful teams. Zero tolerance for bad bids doesn't sound like a workable policy for a winning bridge team.

Think I'd roll out 3N at IMPS - hoping pard's lack of a double indicates 2 or 3 clubs and E is short, so the suit is effectively stopped. Concealing two 4 card majors isn't ideal, but I've got no shape. If I start 3♥ and there's no fit it seems unlikely that pard will be able to bid 3N himself, so we'll end up in a ropey ♦ contract.

Sport England (the administrative body for sports funding) had let a few soft ones through such as darts and snooker, so probably felt they needed to draw a line in the sand. Otherwise you'll end up with dungeons and dragons players asking for VAT relief. It's a shame the game is being held up to (mild) ridicule in the UK with this decision, as obv no one thinks bridge is a sport. But it is clearly (IMHO) deserving of the financial support that sports get in the shape of tax relief etc., so maybe a way forward can be found for mind sports to be given separate treatment.

Worth being aware of the consequences of failing to cash an ace at matchpoints versus IMPs - if you go to bed with an ace at MPs it could mean a bottom, whereas the extra overtrick at IMPs is not a big deal. Just an extra thing to consider - As the other posters have said, it's far too wide and varied a topic to condense into a few rules.

Don't know about should have, but I would have doubled as N. 2S could have partner jammed up, so I feel like I have to act. West's pass is a bit concerning - the level of game I play in (which is modest), that usually means they have something, as they'll bid 3 or 4 with nowt.

Drug approval requires the substance to be safe and efficacious in man, and the FDA has metastasised into a bloated, self-sustaining monster in over-seeing this process. Unregulated growth of a regulatory body. Phase 1 of that process, is the drug safe?, has to be done by a government organisation - obviously. Phase 2 and phase 3, though (does the drug work?), could see some serious scaling back. Cutting them completely is a free-market fantasy, but certainly some sort of relief from the weight of the FDA in efficacy studies could help drug discovery.

2/1 system I play most regularly has direct bids of 3♦, 3♥ and 3♠ over a strong NT as showing 5-5 hands. Minors GF, Majors inv and Majors GF, respectively. What do the cognoscenti think of this agreement? It's not something that comes up a great deal. Playing with gib last night I noticed that they use 1NT 3H as a splinter, (10-12 total points I think). Quite a descriptive bid, I thought - is this a common treatment?

Thanks Uwe that makes sense - 2NT as a strong relay with inv values.

This came up playing modified Cappelletti over a weak NT, but I guess applies to any 1NT defense where a relay can be passed. After 1NT - 2♣ - pass - 2♦ - pass - pass, with the 2♣ bidder having a diamond suit - it seems hard for them to evaluate their hand as partner's strength is unknown. We missed a 3NT game here with ca. 25 hcp between us - can this be catered for with different responses, say relaying 3♦ to show 12+ or something like that? Or is it not going to happen v often so not worth worrying about?