rogerclee

I would respond 1S and do not think this is close at all. If opener rebids 2C, obviously bid 2D, we have equal length so let's take a preference back to the opening suit like a normal human being.

Assume LHO is 3334 (also works if he's 3325) with a spade honor (if ♠KQ are offside we can't ever make) and play a trump now. If LHO pitches a spade, that's our 8th trick. If LHO pitches a diamond, let's pitch a diamond from dummy and play a club now. If they clear clubs, it's the end of the hand, we have a marked endplay on RHO. They do best to win 2 rounds of clubs ending in the west hand and play a diamond through, but we can just win in hand and play a diamond back. If RHO plays the 3rd round of clubs now, we ruff and exit a diamond, endplaying RHO. If he chooses to cash his diamond, he squeezes his partner on that trick. (If it turns out LHO was 3325, RHO will be forced to squeeze his partner with the 13th diamond or break spades for us). If LHO pitches a club, we can pitch a diamond from dummy and play a club. They cannot cash their clubs without setting up our 8th trick. They are free to cash 2 diamonds and 2 clubs, but now they have to either break spades for me or set up my 8th trick in clubs. (If it turns out LHO was 3325, the same squeeze position results as in the second case where LHO will get squeezed in the black suits). Edit: Actually I think I overthought this one, immediate club seems to always make as long as I play my trump before clearing diamonds.

I don't agree that a world class player can carry an expert, and I suspect the difference between a world class partnership and a world class + expert partnership is larger than the difference between that and a partnership of two experts. However, my opinion is very much that world class players (top 100 in the world) are much, much better than experts (say, the 150th-300th best North American players). There are three issues here to me: 1) It is hard to bid very well with a non-world class player, there are lots of holes in their game, some of them in theory and some of them in practice. In particular, slam bidding is very hard for all players, but especially hard for non-world class players. 2) It is really hard to defend at a world class level where one of the players does not know how to signal appropriately. Knowing how to signal, when it's important, and when it's not, is very hard for a non-world class player to learn how to do, since you have to be on the ball the whole hand to know what is going on and to identify partner's problems. 3) This continues to be a point of debate, but I think world class players are much stronger cardplayers/technicians than mere experts. This is much less true in theory (such as BBO forums, where lots of non-experts are perfectly capable of figuring out complex hands given unlimited effort/time/calculation) than in practice. People who play bridge for a living make far, far fewer careless/stupid errors than people who play fewer than 1500 hands a year. By careless/stupid, I mean a problem that is not even difficult enough to be posted in the intermediate/advanced forum.

low = nothing unusual (don't switch), high = interest in a switch by opening leader

I'm playing the GNT right now and will be there the whole time. Feel free to say hi!

[hv=pc=n&n=sjt743ha932d6c743&e=sa852hkt87d52ck62&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=pp1dp1sp2np3dp3nppp]266|200[/hv] Berkowitz declares 3N after north shows 5-4 majors and south denies a fit. New partnership, your agreed methods: UDCA, reverse smith, standard honor leads vs NT Trick 1: ♣Q 3 2 A Trick 2: ♠Q 9 3 ?

I think it's a great convention anyway. However, I agree that frivolous/serious is essential for people who are not good slam bidders, which IMO is roughly (without exaggeration) more than 99% of the bridge playing population and includes most experts and national/world champions.

East just has to show short diamonds below game somehow. Either 3S asks over 3H (steps: 3N =bal, 4C/4D/4H = short C/D/S) or he bids 3D in the first place to show the hand. Also 4N is obviously absurd, you have a terrible hand with terrible trumps, no need to cooperate, partner will bid again if it's right.

It's free anyway, if you ruff a diamond and are wrong about his shape you still make.

I ruff and play two trumps. If he pitches two diamonds including the A, play for 1354 - a club to the ace, ruff a diamond, CJ unblocking the 8 and hope to pin Tx/9x or he stupidly splits from QT9x. If he pitches two diamonds not including the A, do the same except pitch if RHO plays the K and claim. If he pitches a diamond and a club, I would play for 1345 and do the same strip except play a low club out of hand.

4S

There are arguments for both but I prefer to lead rusinow only from 4, I find a huge percentage of the time you care a lot about whether partner has 3 or 4+, and it is often readable. Not going to claim that it doesn't create issues sometimes but for example, if partner leads the Q and you have Kxx and dummy has Axx you know to discourage rather than encourage because you are just setting up declarer's xxxx. KQx is an issue however if you play K = power, I lead Q from KQx unless it's known that I cannot have 5+ in that suit (ex: I open 1D and lead a spade honor).

Without exaggerating at all, I have to be very clear and say that passing vs doubling 4H in this spot is not a matter of opinion, it is absolutely horrible to not double 4H with this hand, and I am 100% sure this is the case. I love to play bridge against people who are scared of their own shadow and refuse to rip me when they nearly have me beat in their own hand due to an unforeseen 4-0 trump break and I obviously have nowhere to run. You are just passing up huge opportunities if you don't double 4H with essentially 3.3 tricks in trumps when they are vulnerable and are probably pushing a little hoping for good breaks and trumps are 4-0. I would be disappointed to get only 200 with this hand, and losing 3 imps on every single down 1 hand is an absurdly negative position to be in, not to mention down 2+. And for what? Are you really so scared of losing 5 imps the maybe (generously) 15% of the time they make? And before you say they might redouble, shut up, they are missing AKT9 of trumps, this is such a remote concern that you are clutching at straws if you actually think this is a valid reason.

Definitely double, I would just go passive and lead a club.

I would bid 4H, I think the threat of having an inadequate black suit stopper and not being able to get to partner's hand is greater than the threat of having too many trump losers and/or 9 tricks being the limit.

I play we are not in a force so X is just some kind of good hand without 3 spades. I'm going to start with 4N and raise partner's minor choice to slam. Might be too high but they have jammed us and this looks percentage to me.

Maybe I'm old fashioned but with most of my hand being Qxxx of hearts I would just pass 2H, so I blame east.

fixed, also he obviously did have play, but not after he found out that his major was spades.

It's possible they would bid with 5-4 pretty routinely but they were facing a PH partner at w/w, so surely 5-5 was much more likely and I decided it was more accurate for "quick sim" purposes to just ignore it. I'm not claiming that my sim conditions match the set of hands my RHO would bid on, just the one he actually bid on (JT9xx void QJT QT9xx). I'm also not sure about my "reject a quant invite" conditions, but they seem fine to me. We had not discussed what 2S (range/clubs) then 4N over 2N meant so I discarded it, but if the sim numbers are roughly accurate, it's the best option. I regret not doing this in retrospect at the table, seems like partner will pretty much always field it, and it's basically what we have. Partner had Qx AKQ2 98xx Axx and went down 1 with essentially no play.

Thanks for the additional sim, hopefully nigel will follow up with a guess as to why the sims show very different results.

I am curious why you feel the need to have such robotic rules regarding your superaccept style, I thought they were just your sim conditions but it sounds like this is how you actually bid. I much prefer my set of rules, which is: 1) Bid 4m if you think you have a very good hand with a trick source 2) Bid 4H with a very good hand without a clear trick source 3) Bid 3H otherwise

I pass, since I am okay with all of partner's possible decisions (pass, X, and 5H). Doubling is a huge loser when partner would bid had you passed. Bidding is a big loser when partner would have doubled had you passed. I try to pass if reasonable whenever this is true, and it's certainly true here.

Yeah I bid 6N thinking it would usually make on a strip squeeze or heart/club squeeze.

Thanks, I thought 6N would make on more than 50% of these types of hands, but apparently this is not the case.

[hv=pc=n&s=sjhat98743djt94c7&n=sqt643hj2dakcqt92&d=n&v=e&b=9&a=1sp1n2cp3n4hppdppp]266|200[/hv] LHO leads the CA (A from AK) and then switches to the S4, RHO winning with the K. He shifts to a diamond. Your play. Edit: Maybe wrong forum, I don't know.