BunnyGo

I don't think that's the issue with either hand...

It's a whole series....

Watson was SO BORING! It seemed to be written like a textbook by someone from Victorian England. The only book I've ever read like it is Whittaker and Watson's Complex Analysis (come to think of it, it may be the same Watson) which is a brilliant book, but I'd never recommend it to anyone.

ArtK78 had to back out at the last minute, so I'll be playing with antrax--who may also have to back out at the last minute :)

I got started with "The Bridge Bum." As wyman said, this is "low on bridge" and high on "life of a bridge player." I found it very amusing--especially the story about going to the Caribbean to help a client who'd been taken to the cleaners by some sharks. As for books to learn from, I'm afraid I didn't do much reading until I was intermediate (or if I did, I don't remember the books)--as wyman and I shared most of our books eventually, he's made all the recommendations that I would.

1) Sounds ok 2) 5c

With more Aces and Kings, I tend to bid stayman, with more queens and jacks I bid 3NT as these will not stop top losers, but will be valuable at NT. Again, no evidence it works, but it's vaguely what Woolsey advocates in "Matchpoints."

When I first started playing hearts, bridge, etc. I counted suits by saying to myself, "We've all played to two tricks, that's 8, I have 2 left, that's 10, so 3 remaining." This worked well enough, but required a lot of memory to remember exactly what was discarded and how many times someone didn't follow suit. I read a couple books that suggested I do something else, and so now I count "what people started with". For example, "I started with 4, dummy with 3, Left hand opponent followed to 2 rounds but then showed out, so Right hand opponent started with 4. So Right hand opponent has 2 left, because there have been two rounds played." I now find this much easier, because I don't have to update the first two numbers--what dummy and I started with doesn't change. It is of course best to count as many different things as possible (all 4 suits, high card points, every single spot card, etc.) but this is very hard and makes focusing on other important things difficult. When I was learning how to count more, I'd set a goal before every session, "I'm gonna count the trumps correctly every hand, no matter what else I get wrong i'll do that correctly." And the session was "good" if I succeeded, no matter what else went wrong. I slowly made the challenges more difficult until I just found myself counting while playing. It is of course ok to target certain suits if counting all 4 suits is hard. I'd recommend trump and the 16 honors (Jacks, Queens, Kings, Aces--and Tens if you can manage) as the most important things to keep track of at first. Hope this helps! -Ben

Prepping a board is not that hard if you practice, I'm sure S2000magic could pull it off without too much extra prep, and I think most clever card mechanics could do it with a bit of extra practice. I've seen people deal sorted decks, at full speed and without looking at the cards, so that the hand is whatever they want. This was demonstrated for me at an NABC (but he was following the printout). I have no doubt he could have actually dealt the cards in another manner had he wished. As to being pointless? Yes, I think the game is pointless when cheating, but many people do not. Pointless when you're losing anyways--every little bit helps.

That's on the verge of getting meta.

A follow up comment was posted online: GMarco24 said: Truth is there are 12 tricks already, so simple !h/!c squeeze is working for 13 tricks. That means there are still 13 tricks when K!s and 2!s change places(but with !s lead as it was). After !s ruff, A!c and Q!c ruffed in hand and caching all trumps except the last one will leave position like AQ10!h Jx!c in dummy, and Kxx!h, 9x!c with West. Cashing the last trump now will squeeze West for 13, with obligatory !h finesse. What would lead to triple squeeze here is trump lead, which is leaving declarer now with 11 tricks (ofc, with A!c,Q!c, because A!c, x!c leads to easy 13, GIB found that line immediately ;) ). After clearing trumps, A!c and Q!c ruffed, followed by all trumps except the last one. Dummy is now with AQ10!h and Jxx!c, West with A!s, Kxx!h and 9x!c, South with Qxxx!s, x!h and the last trump. Playing the last trump forces West to release one suit: - spade release - leads to 13 tricks, cashing Q!s now will make progressive squeeze (which i believe was a theme here) - club release - leads to 13 tricks, discarding 10!h from dummy, with !h finesse, all clubs are high now - !h release - leads to big victory for West as now !c discard from dummy and !h finesse will still leave dummy with one small !c which must be conceded at the end. West WILL BE squeezed again after cashing 3 hearts now, but lack of communication back for Q!s will lead to only 12 tricks. These is a common theme in defending triple squeezes, cutting off communication to one of the hands.

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting that I wanted to be there...just that I expected to get to that spot.

I don't understand this. Won't you lose the ♦A and 4 clubs in this case? I think the spade finesse is the way to go for several reasons. Not least of which the above question.

What would 2♦ have been? Could he have shown diamonds at a lower level? I don't think the bid is crazy. You have two 6 card suits. You can expect to lose 2-3 clubs and 1 heart and 1 diamond. Except hopefully partner can cover 1 of those and you won't lose a 3rd club. It's red at IMPs, and and the opening leader may be endplayed a lot.

Wow, congratulations--about youngest GLM too. Good luck the rest of the week.

Thanks for correcting the title and making clear the essentialness of the extended menaces.

Does this have to do with the fact that the other forums have a dark blue symbol on the left (on the main page) but the N/B forum is gray?

If they are playing 2/1 GF then it's forcing. Playing ACOL (from what I understand) it isn't.

I think this'll be a unanimous pass. Passed hand partner, no great shape, and it's not clear what game the opponents can make. Let them have their partscore.

Gah! Thank you, and I'd just been reading Inquiry's posts...so much for retaining the names :) If a mod can fix the title, that'd be great.

I don't understand anything you wrote except "2/1". I generally don't like opening 2 suiters 2♣, but this hand clearly is a game forcing hand. Are you saying that a 2♦ response is 5+ ♦? In any case, here's my partnership's auction: 2♣-3♦* 3♠-4♦ 5♣-5♦ 7NT 3♦ is a controls response showing 4+ controls (Ace = 2, King = 1). North then knows they have all the aces and kings and basically is just going to punt 7NT hoping for a 4th heart in south, or the Q♠ or Q♦. My partnership doesn't have any sophisticated or usable followups here, which is maybe a sign we should discuss :) Using more standard methods (2♥ double negative say): 2♣-3♦ 3♠-4♦ 5♣-5NT 6♣-6NT Dunno Tough hands.

Hi all. This hand took place on vugraph during the Danish Juniors Team Championship. Note that declarer could have made all the tricks by guessing that the K♣ was doubleton and not played the club Queen. However, West becomes badly squeezed on all the diamonds anyways. If he pitches a club, it sets up all the extra clubs in dummy which is all declarer needs. Likewise if he pitches away his hearts, he'll be giving up 2 heart tricks as the Jack drops. So he has to pitch 2 spades. West does well to recognize the problem and pitch the spade Ace, just in case his partner has the Queen (so that his partner knows what's going on). Sadly for the defender, this also clues the declarer into the fact that the squeeze is working, and he's able to claim.

Ok, I'll give it my best shot: 1) Checkback stayman (there are two different conventions of the same name on wikipedia, I'll address the one that fits with these better) This is the auction: 1m-1M 1N-2C 2C is checkback stayman searching for a major fit. Opener then bids 2D with no 3 card support for the bid major, nor 4 card for the unbid and a minimum. He bids 2M with 3 card support and 2Other Major with 4 cards. He bids 2N with no support for the majors and a maximum. 2) New minor forcing This is similar, but it matters what the opening minor is: 1D-1M 1N-2C or 1C-1M 1N-2D This is "new minor" forcing opener bids 2M or 2Other major the same as in Checkback stayman, but bidding 2D (in the first example) or 3C (in the second) just shows a natural suit. 2NT doesn't promise extra strength, just denies any extra "shape" (no 3 card support, no 4 card other major, no extra minor suit length worth showing). Some people play new minor forcing is a game force, some just a 1 round force. I play game force, but it's not necessarily "better". 3)Two-Way NMF and XYZ I am under the impression that these are ostensibly the same thing (some other poster should correct me if I'm wrong). 1x-1y 1z-??? (any x, y and z) 2C now is a relay to 2D. The 2D bid can then be passed to drop the auction there, or any further bid by responder is natural and invitational. Example: 1C-1H 1N-2C* 2D**-2H P 2C forced 2D, then 2H showed a 5 or 6 card heart suit and an invitation to game. The advantage is now you're only at the 2 level and can stop there instead of having to jump to the 3 level to invite. 2D is an artificial game force. The responses are as in NMF: 1D-1S 1N-2D* 2H**-3N 2D said nothing about diamonds, just a game force. 2H showed 4 hearts and denied 3 spades (primary response is to show 3 card support before showing a 4 card other major) and 3N said, ok then, let's play game here. 2M is to play: 1D-1S 1N-2S* P 2S is a drop bid, non-invitational. 2N would be a relay to 3C, drop or keep bidding naturally: 1C-1S 1N-2N* 3C**-P To make an invite in NT, go through 2C: 1C-1S 1N-2C* 2D**-2N*** P ok. Hope that wasn't too much information. 5) 4th suit forcing: Again, some people play this as a game force, some people play it as a 1 round force. The responses are natural. Example: 1C-1H 1S-2D* 2D is not showing diamonds, it is showing strength (depending on agreement, 1 round force or game force) and asks opener to say more about his hand. He'll bid 2H now with 3 hearts, 2N with a diamond stopper and 1-2 hearts, 3C with a real club suit, 2S with another spade, etc. Hope this helped, Ben

"Show me all content I have not read" However, when I click "View new content" content I have read, but is new-ish also shows up (for example this thread...I read your post last night, but went to sleep without responding). I can then go back and easily find recent posts even if I've read them. This is not true with the N/B forum. For that forum only, once I read a thread it "disappears" from the "view new content" stuff until someone else posts in the thread.

Welcome to the forums. It seems awm and jjbrr have already answered your questions. I'd like to second awm's suggestion of looking at "Learn to play bridge" software as it's free, and it can take you from someone who doesn't know (or barely knows) the rules to a better than average BBO player if you learn everything in it. -Ben