BunnyGo

I wasn't sure where to post this brief story, but Offline Bridge seemed as good as anywhere. I just two weeks ago arrived in Israel for the year. I don't anticipate too much free time for offline bridge, but it's always nice to know where the clubs are and when the tournaments are. Antrax, has been very kind and been enquiring on my behalf. But as he lives in a different city, he's been only partly successful. The other night, I was kibbing the JEC match, when a random kibbitzer made a highly incorrect comment about some of the (very) expert players. This was roundly shut down by a regular kibbitzer of the game. While I almost never say anything while kibbing the JEC match, I posted a " :) " in response to the polite but firm put down. One other person posted " :) " as well, and I noticed her "flag" was Israel. On a whim I messaged to ask if she knew of a game in Haifa. She immediately asked for my phone number and called. It turns out she's an Australian woman living in the same city who regularly plays in the local game, and gave me all the details about the club (including telling me about people I work with who play there). Thanks BBO for the new connection!

Very nice. Just to follow up, why the Jack in particular? How do you know you haven't just blown up a spade trick when dummy covers the queen and partner wins the ace?

This. North was probably planning on making a limit raise before the interference. Time to accept for partner who has shown strength enough to accept a limit raise.

I should have asked for keycards, I just bid 6. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. [hv=lin=pn|BunnyGo,LHO,CHO,RHO|st||md|2S8JH7KAD6TKAC456A,S4QH4TJD25JC789JQ,S23579TAH289QD49C,|rh||ah|Board 120|sv|o|mb|p|mb|4S|mb|p|mb|6S|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|pg||pc|H3|pc|HA|pc|H4|pc|H2|pg||pc|S8|pc|S4|pc|S2|pc|SK|pg||pc|H5|pc|HK|pc|HT|pc|H8|pg||pc|SJ|pc|SQ|pc|SA|pc|S6|pg||mc|12|]400|300|[/hv]

Based on the principle of "if you know what trumps are going to be, let your partner know too" I decided to bid 3 or 4 spades. Because I had a good 5 card side suit, I decided to just bid 4. Seems from the posters above that this is a tad on the aggressive side. Here's the whole hand. [hv=lin=pn|BunnyGo,LHO,CHO,RHO|st||md|4S237H25QKAD68C36J,S5TH3JD479TKAC48Q,S89JQKAH79TDC579T,|rh||ah|Board 118|sv|e|mb|p|mb|p|mb|2D|an|Ingen information tilgængelig|mb|2S|mb|3D|mb|4S|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|pg||pc|CK|pc|C3|pc|C4|pc|C7|pg||pc|CA|pc|C6|pc|C8|pc|C5|pg||pc|C2|pc|CJ|pc|CQ|pc|C9|pg||mc|10|]400|300|[/hv] Who knew it was partner with the short diamonds and me with the short clubs?

Thanks for the comments. Here's the whole hand. We've now agreed that 4♣ modified KC is still available after Ogust. [hv=lin=pn|BunnyGo,LHO,CHO,RHO|st||md|3S3KH79AD7JQKCTQKA,S58QH368QD28TC27J,S2479TJH5JD46AC45,|rh||ah|Board 121|sv|e|mb|2S|mb|p|mb|2N!|mb|p|mb|3D!|an|bad hand, denies 2 of top 3 !s|mb|p|mb|4N|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|pg||pc|CJ|pc|C4|pc|C3|pc|CA|pg||pc|SK|pc|S5|pc|S2|pc|SA|pg||pc|C6|pc|CK|pc|C2|pc|C5|pg||pc|S3|pc|S8|pc|S9|pc|S6|pg||pc|ST|pc|H2|pc|H7|pc|SQ|pg||mc|11|]400|300|[/hv]

Thanks for the comments. I posted this because at the time, partner said I didn't have a 3♠ rebid. So I posted it here to see what the consensus was. When he saw the hand again here he said, "oh! I miscounted you as having a K less strength, 3♠ is absolutely fine." Thanks for all the explanations! Here's the full hand (the names have been changed to protect the innocent) [hv=lin=pn|BunnyGo,LHO,CHO,RHO|st||md|1S6789QAH4JQD57ACA,S3TJH39D24C2478TJ,S2KH67TKD369TC9QK,|rh||ah|Board 123|sv|o|mb|1S|mb|p|mb|1N!|an|forcing|mb|p|mb|3S|mb|p|mb|4S|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|pg||pc|D4|pc|D3|pc|DK|pc|DA|pg||pc|SA|pc|S3|pc|S2|pc|S4|pg||pc|CA|pc|C2|pc|C9|pc|C3|pg||pc|S6|pc|ST|pc|SK|pc|S5|pg||pc|CK|pc|C5|pc|D5|pc|C4|pg||pc|CQ|pc|C6|pc|D7|pc|C7|pg||pc|D6|pc|D8|pc|S7|pc|D2|pg||pc|SQ|pc|SJ|pc|D9|pc|H2|pg||mc|12|]400|300|[/hv]

Thanks for the lesson, here is the full hand (with other names changed to protect the innocent): [hv=lin=pn|BunnyGo,LHO,CHO,RHO|st||md|2S59TH3D3JAC36789K,S2478KH4TJD2QC2JQ,S3JQAH29QD678KC45,|rh||ah|Board 128|sv|e|mb|p|mb|1D|mb|1H|mb|d|mb|1S|mb|d!|an|s|mb|2H|mb|p|mb|p|mb|2S|mb|p|mb|3C|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|pg||pc|HJ|pc|H2|pc|H7|pc|H3|pg||pc|HT|pc|HQ|pc|HK|pc|C3|pg||pc|D3|pc|D2|pc|DK|pc|D4|pg||pc|C5|pc|CA|pc|C6|pc|C2|pg||pc|HA|pc|C9|pc|H4|pc|H9|pg||pc|CK|pc|CQ|pc|C4|pc|CT|pg||pc|ST|pc|S2|pc|S3|pc|S6|pg||pc|S9|pc|S4|pc|SJ|pc|H5|pg||pc|D6|pc|D5|pc|DA|pc|DQ|pg||pc|S5|pc|S7|pc|SA|pc|H8|pg||pc|D8|pc|D9|pc|DJ|pc|CJ|pg||pc|SK|mc|10|]400|300|[/hv]

Can we pin this thread in a good forum (like software support or Discussion)? I never know how to search for it (with words longer than .lin) and it seems based on the posts every month or so which have complaints about posting hands that I'm not unique. Edit: There's also another thread I can never find (I think it's mostly a conversation between inquiry and bbradley) that does this same thing in long form for those of us for whom cannot use EXCEL. I wouldn't mind if that were pinned somewhere.

Ok, I felt bad about bidding 5♣ because of my controls and that the K of diamonds rated to be onside. I did it despite that, because I felt I was a bit minimum for my bids and wanted to show that. Lesson to take away is that 3 controls, a better than 50% king onside, and a stiff opposite and A in their suit is rarely "minimum". On the plus side the king was off-side. :)

Oh yes, and I completely agree that I've never seen (1x) P (1y) X as anything but takeout (expert standard or "otherwise", as I usually play "otherwise").

In the auction: (1x) X (1M) X the second X is showing the stolen bid suit. If you're playing against people who don't have this agreement (or some other agreement to take care of this) then you should consider psyching against them if you can safely run back to partner's x. They will learn to adopt this bidding eventually. I am not 100% sure this same meaning is used in the auction (1c) X (1d) X but I believe it is as well.

That's nice. I've never before seen it explicitly said like that. I assume this could have gone bad if Jillybean had a stiff spade.

Yes. Think a little longer about why you know for certain that partner started with 3 and not 4 hearts. Sometimes it makes signalling sense, since it's useless to him even with 3 spades. There's a better reason why he started with 2 spades. That's because of how Ben typed in the display. I'm sure he'll fix it when he wakes up (he meant to type the 6 and hit 5). Personally, I like to make these diagrams by inserting everything (via point and click) and then removing what I don't want to be there from the code line. Ben apparently does it by entering it all by hand (or at least parts of it by hand).

It may not matter (I haven't thought farther than just watching trick 1 play), but what signals are we playing? In particular, is the 2 count showing odd, count showing even, not count?

Cute problem. Where'd you see it played?

What do you mean by "genius" 2D bid?

Dude, your partner is playing too. We'll find the best game/partscore by actually describing our hand in a way that helps him. Bidding 1NT is masterminding to a huge degree. If 3NT is the place to be, we'll have a second chance to show our stopper and extra strength. Bidding like this is only going to drive your partner nuts the next time he can't judge what type of hand you have when you bid 1NT and it could be any of a huge range of possible shapes and stoppers. Regularly going out on limbs before your partner has even bid (or passed) once is usually a good way to not have that partner for too long.

Usually is.

[hv=pc=n&s=skqhaj743dqtcqj73&n=s97h2daj843cakt86&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1n(15-17)p2s(inv%2C%20or%20wk%20D%2C%20or%205-5%20m%20wk%2C%20or%205-5%20m%20Str)d3c(accepts%20invite%2C%20prefers%20C%20to%20D)p3h(5-5%20m%20Str%2C%20splinter)dr(1st%20round%20control)4s5cppp]266|200[/hv] Playing IMPs online against good opponents. Do you want to be in the club slam? Is there blame to assign? Do you particularly dislike any of the bids, or is it just a "stuff happens" hand?

Yeah, he is a forum member. Yeah, we discussed all that. Rest is in spoiler: But at least he was thinking: "Wrong thoughts are good. Correct thoughts are great. No thoughts are bad."

For all the people who bid keycard (I did not, for better or worse...probably worse): partner would bid 5♣ showing 1. If you continue with 5♦, he'll deny the Queen.

LOL

redacted

PHJSF?