pdmunro

Hi, I haven't met this situation before. And it happened in 3 hands close together. 1NT (strong) was opened. A major was overcalled. And the overcaller's partner had both support and points. What does he bid? It's true, I really cannot recall prior occurrences like these. I suppose it's another instance of that universal phenomenon: busses always come in threes. I was West and had to make the first two decisions. Then on the 3rd hand, it was the opponents' turn to decide. EW were intermediate players. NS were adv and expert. _______________________________________________________________ Both sides played 1NT as strong (15-17) EW (intermediates) were playing natural over NT NS (adv +expert) were playing Cappelletti. (2S = spades + minor) _______________________________________________________________ Hand 28 NS Vul EW Not Vul W ------- N ------- E ------ S Pass -- 1NT ----- 2H ---- Pass ? ♠ A 8 6 2 ♥ A 9 2 ♦ Q 8 7 3 ♣ J 3 With this holding, what does West bid? _______________________________________________________________ Hand 31 NS Vul EW Not Vul W ------- N ------- E ------ S ----------------------------- Pass Pass ---- 1NT ---- 2S ---- Pass ? ♠ K 8 4 2 ♥ A 10 8 7 4 ♦ 10 4 2 ♣ 10 With this holding, what does West bid? _________________________________________________________________ Hand 32 NS Not Vul EW Vul W ------- N ------- E ------ S 1NT ----- 2S ----- Pass -- ? ♠ K Q 8 4 2 ♥ 9 7 5 ♦ void ♣ A Q J 7 4 With this holding, what does South bid? (2S = spades + minor) _________________________________________________________________ Thanks, Peter :P ____________________________________________________________________

Overheard at the bridge table (names altered) mles opens 1C with ♠ 10 8 7 4 ♥ 10 9 4 ♦ Q 8 3 2 ♣ A K The opponents (both from Turkey) reach 4H. They are set 1 trick: a common result. After the play, the dummy (noz) starts a conversation with mles and j21 : *************start************************* noz: do u play forcing pass opps? j21: no j21: pass is 0-9 j21: do you want a cc? noz: what does it mean on 1. position, opening with 9 hcp and 2 card cl ???? mles: balanced j21: 10 or a good 9 noz: with 9 hcp??? noz: pls alert this or 8 j21: a good 9 noz: or good 7 j21: or two aces noz: or 1 ace 1 king noz: doesnt matter j21: or an ace a king and a queen noz: or 2 jack mles: no j21: no noz: or nil ***********************end*************** Best chuckle I have had in ages. Does this conversation have any relevance to the forum on minimal opening bids? http://forums.bridgebase.com/ind...?showtopic=5631 Peter

My incident was the night I made 6♠X missing the ♠ AKQ. Funny but half-true. It was at a regional tournament near St Louis. The cards were hand dealt. I only mention this because it led to some peculiar hands. I made a comment to someone that we had been in a number of game contracts with only 5-2 in our trump suit. They said they had 4 slams in the previous set of 7 hands. The other guy always has a better story. About the 6♠X board. I bid to 6♠ which my RHO (Tex) doubled. Oh no, I thought, we have done it again: we probably have a 5-1 trump holding this time! So I took it out to 6NT. Meanwhile LHO (Doc) was putting his bidding cards away. Then he noticed I had changed my 6♠ bid to 6NT, and not realizing his partner had doubled the 6♠, he called the director. Rick, the director, glided across the floor, Lord of All He Purveyed. By now LHO had seen his partner's double and told Rick that he was not needed. Rick decided to stay to watch the fun. So pass, pass, and a "what-the-heck" double by RHO. 3 passes. So I was in 6NTX. LHO led something other than spades. He later explained that I was always going to have to pay spades around to his ♠K. Well no you don't, not if your spades are 5-1 and you have plenty of tricks in the other suits. So between them, LHO, with the ♠ Kxx, and RHO, with the ♠ AQxx, won only one trick. RHO, Tex, was stunned. He kept interrupting the play in the next couple of boards, "Can we go through the bidding again on THAT board?". At the completion of the set I saw him engaged in animated discussion with the other members of his team. No one looked happy. I asked Rick, who had just stood there passively watching THAT board, if it was all legitimate. All OK he said. Then, he had some precious advice for me about how I could have made a 13th trick. I wasn't listening. I was just happy to have done my Houdini impersonation.

Bowbells, I believe you are on the right track. It doesn’t make sense to have complicated signals when playing on BBO. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ♦ What is defence all about? The defenders have two main weapons and two main tasks: Using signals and deduction, defenders aim to work out their partner's high cards and declarer's suit distribution. Knowing partner's high cards you can lead those suits for partner to win her tricks. Knowing declarer's distribution, you can keep the correct cards to win that last trick. ♦ What are the standard signals? In SAYC, standard carding is: high = encouraging; low = discouraging; high-low = even count; low-high = odd count. ♦ So THE question is: When do you use them? (1) The first trick: (a) When I lead top of a sequence to the first trick, I need to know if partner has the missing honour. From K Q x x, I lead the K. Partner play the 8. Declarer plays low. Partner is telling me that she has the A. (b) I lead the K from K Q x x. Partner plays the 8. Declarer wins with the A. Partner is telling me she has a doubleton. Next time I have to play the Q, then give her a ruff. The standard system is high = encouraging AND high-low = even number. The two ideas complement each other. You have to wait till declarer plays his card before you know whether partner is telling you that they have the missing honour, or that they have a doubleton. Either way, the high card says "Continue the suit partner." (2) Later during the play: (a) Partner leads the K from A K x x in a suit. I have Q 7 3. I play the 7. This says, “I have either the missing honour or a doubleton partner.” Partner plays her A, then a small card to my Q. If I don’t play my 7 the first time, she may change suit. (b) Partner leads the K from A K x x in a suit. I have 7 3 2. I play the 2. I am saying to partner: "I do not have the missing honour (A or Q) for you, and I do not have a doubleton". Believe it or not, partner is supposed to think a bit more and work out what honours I might have in the other suits! (3) When I am out of a suit and I have to choose a discard. (a) I have a side suit with A Q 7 3. I discard the 7. This says, I like this suit. This is the signal partner wants to see. Now she knows where my high cards are and she can plan the defence. (b) Let us say spades are trumps. I have ♦ A Q 2 ♣ 9 6 5 3. Declarer plays spades and I have none left. I throw the C3. That says, “Partner, I don't like ♣'s”. I am asking partner to choose from ♥'s or ♦'s. Partner can use other information, such as the bidding, to determine which of these 2 suits I have. "You will work it out, partner". [Note: ♦ = diamonds] These are the main signals. They are about 80% of the simple signals I use. They occur every deal you play in defence. Another most effective signal is (4) Giving suit preference when giving partner a ruff. At the first trick to a spade contract, I lead K from ♥ A K 10 3. Partner plays a 9. Partner is telling me that she has the Q or a doubleton. I play the A, and she plays the 4. Now, if I have the ♣A, I play the ♥3. She ruffs. (Declarer must have the Q!) The small card, that ♥3, tells her to come back to my hand via the smaller of the other suits. So she plays a club back to my A, and I can give her another ruff. If I had the ♦A I would play the ♥10. This would tell her to lead diamonds back to me. I used to think number (4) was too much to remember, but it comes up surprisingly frequently. When you have worked it out a few times, you get pleased with yourself, and you come to really like it. (5) Lastly, yes I show count when declarer leads a side suit. You have to think about this a bit. How does it most help the defence? It is best to play it as often as possible to see the different ways it helps the defence. One important note. Always try to think of declarer’s likely hand pattern. Say declarer is in a suit contract and has 7321, or 5431, or …. Now when he leads from dummy towards what you suspect is his singleton, then you better put up your ace. This is no time to signal your count. Peter Munro

Answering my own question, after reading further about the topic. For the the bidding sequence: W - N - E - S 1S 2H 2S 3H ? It seems SAYC is 3S = to play (competing); & X = penalty To play X = invite is called a Maximal Overcall Double. "Modern Bridge Conventions" Root & Pavlicek I believe it would need partner's prior agreement. Thanks all for your advice. I have been looking for this answer for some time. There is an earlier post on this question in Beg & Int Bridge Disc. Sorry, I don't know how to link to it. Search "MAXIMAL DOUBLES". That should find it. Peter

The bidding sequence: W - N - E - S 1S 2H 2S 3H ? What do 3S and X by W mean in this sequence? I think SAYC is 3S = to play (competing); & X = penalty Am I correct? Is there any way to invite to 4S? Do some play X = invite to 4S? Is this a special agreement? Peter

SIMULATIONS I did some simulations using publicly available software. I used Pavlicek's RPDealer to deal hands & then analysed those hands with PS-Bridge software. To repeat the situation: Playing 2NT as 20-21, I (West) hold S Q975 H Q3 D AK7 C AKQ3 Partner (East) turns up with S A32 H 9764 D T864 C 75 Four of sixteen pairs on BBO bid to 3 NT. No one makes it. I did 20 simulations of each of the following scenarios and determined the number of times W makes 3NT. HYPOTHESES I tested two basic hypotheses: 1) Give West a fifth club and he does better at 3NT 2) Give East 6 points and West does better at 3NT The cards were set up so that East's hands were balanced (4332, 4432, or 5332), where East had 2-3 Spades and 2-4 Hearts, so that EW did not have a major fit. SET UP OF CARDS TIMES WEST MAKES 3NT 1) Idea: W has 20 pts, E has Ace 2/20 Cards: See above 2) Idea: West gets fifth club 2/20 Cards: W loses S5, gains C2 Result: No gain with fifth club 3) Idea: East has 5 points 5/20 Cards: East loses H9, gains HJ Result: Improved chances with 5 points 4) Idea: East has 6 points 13/20 Cards: Random 6 points Result: Simple + effective way to increase chances :) 5) Idea: W has 5 clubs & E has 6pts 8/20 Cards: W loses S5, gains C2 E has random 6 points Result: W loses out with extra club length! >:) 6) Idea: West has solid clubs, 20 points 14/20 Cards: W: replace HQ with HJ W: replace C3 with CJ Result: No extra gain 7) Idea: West has solid & long (5) clubs 12/20 Cards: W: replace HQ with HJ W: replace C3 with CJ W: loses S5, gains C2 E: has 6 random points Result: No extra gain GENERAL RESULTS Best not to go on to 3NT with less than 6 pts opposite 20 pts. Probablity of making the 3NT is 13/20 (65%). So 1 in 3 times, it will not make. Surprised that longer clubs did not improve the situation - it actually made the situation worse! The problem seemed to be that EW were left too exposed in S & H. I am presently asking myself: Should I try and simulate the situation where West's four points in S & H included an A or a K, so that West is not so exposed in these suits?

Playing 2NT as 20-21, I opened 2NT with S Q975 H Q3 D AK7 C AKQ3 Partner had S A32 H 9764 D T864 C 75 About 4 pairs out of 16 pairs bid to 3NT. No one made it. Please, what are your thoughts regarding hands that are suitable for 2NT openings, and what responder needs to raise to 3NT?