bill1157

I going to take a blind guess here that you think the TOXer is your partner. TOXer? What is that? Bill

1NT would be preferable to 2♦ but 2♥ is the only good bid. The problem would be more interesting if you had 1 more diamond and weaker hearts... Bill

Out of curiosity, is nobody going to open this hand 2♣? Bill

No, pass and bid 3♥ later if possible. Bill

Start a new mini-bridge type game on one of the poker sites: get someone like David Sklansky to develop it (he created Carribean Stud Poker, which is quite fun and very profitable for the house so i am sure he could come up with a winner of a game). Getting rid of the bidding is the most important step to making the game popular. Let declarer name the contract as in mini-bridge. This would be simpler, easier to learn and would be amenable to betting (and since there is no bidding less amenable to cheating, UI etc.) and would require the core skills of bridge to be sucessful. People who wanted more complexity could graduate to duplicate bridge. Bill

pass wtp bid 3[_SP? too dangerous. Bill

2♠ is fine, itsa balanced hand and really needs shortness to consider a jump. Bill

3♣ is absolutely correct. X is terrible with a stiff heart and rarely works out. North should carry on to game in ♦'s. Bill

I classify people as those I would take to a tournament and those I wouldn't. Its just a practical matter of: do I want to spend all day or several days and lots of money playing with this person. I want to at least have a slight chance of doing something. Beyond that, I can have a good time playing with someone who is sensible and tries, even if they are not advanced or expert. Bill

Is double here a stripe-tailed ape double? Bill

Actually east has Qx of clubs so you can win 4 spades in your hand Heart Ace, AK diamonds, 3 clubs(west follows) and 2 diamond ruffs. I finessed in clubs early which worked badly, I think I can look at the hand and see 11 tricks by simply cashing winners and ruffing 2 diamonds. Making 6 would have been good, because several were in spades making 5... Bill

sorry 1 club is precision...2C is stayman

to pass you are playing with too many players who do not respect the colors. I suggest you construct an acceptable second seat 3♠ bid for yourself and then compare it opposite your (the OP's) holding KQJxxxx - xxx xxx OK, maybe it's a little too pessimistic, he probably just needs a doubleton club or a non-club lead to make 4♠. Yes, 4♠ it is. that hand is a 2♠ opener vulnerable vs not. Bill

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=saqthatxxdkcakjxx&s=skj9xhjxdaxxxcxxx]133|200|Scoring: MP 1♣*-1NT 2[CL}-2♠ 4♠ lead ♦Q[/hv] I thought I did pretty well here making 4 (spades were 5-1 with West having the length) but I probably should have made 6: how do you play it? Bill

actually I am surprised that the opponents let it pass out at 1♠ Bill

7-10 hcp bill

4NT, whatever that may mean. Bill

I would bid 3♦ definitely. I can see the bidding proceeding: 3♦-3♠/4♠ if partner has (as he might) a pretty good hand. Bill

Matt Granovetter had an article on this subject and advised (a couple of years ago): Single raise invitational (not the stupid preemptive treatment) rebids over 2NT show a second suit. New suit is non-forcing (but not drop dead either) I have played this and it works well, particularly if you bid weak 2's with a side 4 card (or 5 card) suit occasionally. Bill

win ♣ in hand, ruff a ♦, ♥ to the K ruff ♦, ♠A,♣,♣, ♠ hopefully endplaying east. Bill

Money bridge will never be very popular on the internet. There is a site in a addition to bridgebase that is doing it, but they get very little participation so it is very hard to get a game except when they have special competitions. Mini-bridge (with some modification) has great potential as an online gambling game and has several advantages over bridge: -bidding is eliminated declarer simply choses his contact. No more complex bidding systems misunderstandings, BIT's etc to deal with. -no reason declarer can't play for himself: i.e. you eliminate CHO (partner) for declarer so nobody's bad declarer play (or poor choice of contract) need affect you adversely. -you could have human interaction without as much fear of cheating. Bill

take A♦ ,Spade to the Ace, AKQ of hearts pitching diamonds, club to the K and Ace win trump return cash club... then cross ruff. Bill

Partner with T9x leaves declarer with AK doubleton, so he couldn't have ducked trick 1... Bill

since all you need is 2 pitches on the spades: HA, SA,DK,DQ,SK,SA pitching heart and a club. Bill

all bids are fine here, just a bit unlucky Bill