fromageGB

Minimal 2♣ open. If partner has a trick I am happy to go at least 5♣, if not I can subside in 3♣. I would certainly not be happy with a NT rebid after a 1-open!

I have for years played (1♣) X meaning "I would have bid that" with normal twalsh "system on", and find it very effective. Whatever the normal takeout X can do, it can do the same or better. You need to have good agreements for your normal action after they overcall your 1♣ opening, and this comes into play because of course when you double, responder normally bids. Your methods are the same though, namely bids that show the length of the major if any and the strength of the hand, showing both majors in one bid if responder bids diamonds. Technically the X is not exactly the same as a 1♣ open, as we allow it to be a little weaker, and advancer - should he have an invitational hand - correspondingly ups his range. I don't think you need worry about losing a 1♦ contract, because if that is the right suit you can play in 2♦, but the "wrong-siding" nature of resulting contracts I find is more than offset by the better hand description twalsh gives (or can give), and apart from the opening lead, it is better to have the stronger unknown hand playing it, and the known shape weaker hand on table. Playing the X like this does not preclude other alternative bids for single or double-suited hands,

I would say it is common, as it is the simplest option. Double is a free bid which my partnerships use to to transfer to diamonds on 5+ cards (and no 4 card major). Rebid or not depending on strength. Without this ability we show diamonds by starting 1♠ (denying a major) and over a 1NT opener rebid we bid 2♦ to play or 2♠ (the major corresponding to the minor) as invitational, or a forcing 3♦ as game or slam seeking. The double allows the ability to show diamonds while rebidding 1NT if opponents allow, or to get the diamond bid in before opponents up the ante, which might destroy the invitational option otherwise.

When you create the table, reverse every one of the slider options away from the default. Permission is one of them, but better in my view to reverse all.

Can you clarify, please? Are you saying you have a separate window open in which you frequently ping your router? That will have no affect on the BBO connection, which is contacting the ISP IP address. The address you quote is just the local interconnection.

by bidding 3♣ then 4♣ then 5♣ : voila - a game force

if by advances you mean 4th seat bids to 2nd seat overcalls, then I am not aware of much discussion in the forums. When opposition opens 1♣ (whether playing twalsh or just a "may be short" my partnerships overcall with X to mean that we too would have opened 1♣. (Perhaps a touch lighter as it is an overcall.) When opposition responder bids, as they normally do, whether twalsh reply or natural, advancer (us in 4th seat) treats this like an overcall of OUR 1♣ open, using our well defined agreements for this. Essentially this is "twalsh system on" and show both exact length in majors, and hand strength. Twalsh adapts very well for this. If you mean transfer responses, then there have been many threads, and many of us have been playing it for years. Search in the forums for twalsh and transfer walsh (eg site:www.bridgebase.com transfer walsh ) Beware there are many permutations, and you do need a partner to agree your handling with. I would steer clear of playing it with pickups! Well worth the effort.

As 2♠ is GF I would have thought a 3♠ bid from opener is all that is needed, or the 2NT that here serves the same purpose. However, I prefer 3♠ as I would rather emphasis the quality of that suit than suggest numerous scattered values. Responder has room to suggest signing off, room to cue beneath game, room to make a slam invitation. On the given hand I think it comes in the in-between category, too good to suggest signing off, not quite enough to unilaterally go ace asking. So it depends on your agreement of the purposes of the cue. If this is a suggestion, then cue. If (as I prefer) cues are used as a prelude to an ace ask, simply to check that no suit is wide open, where the ace ask (or show) is obligatory if that is the case, then I don't rate this responder hand as quite being there. It needs your third option, and my choice is a 4M-1 slam try. Which partner accepts by ace asking or telling, and refuses by bidding game. Whether opener has enough to accept is another matter. I wouldn't.

You have a 2NT bid or rebid (unless partner expresses something which would give you a better rebid) and the simple answer is that if you can't bid 2NT now because it would be artificial, start by bidding something that would be forcing in your system (as described by others above) and then rebid 2NT. While you are doing that, try not to lie too much. Bidding a major on a 3 card suit is frowned upon, so if you can't bid 1NT because system says it misdescribes the strength, then you need to bid 2m. Pick your longer. If partner raises to 3m you are best then bidding 3NT if it were 3 cards. Good principle for failing brain cells : if the working cells say that a bid is wrong then bid something else!

I am not happy with the bid of 3♣ being GF after a natural spade reply. Forgetting this hand, if 3♣ is GF, how does opener bid a weaker strong hand? I would prefer the start of nullve with South setting a GF with 3♥, and then North setting the suit with 3♠. South is interested in slam, so skips 3NT non-serious. 4♦ would normally be a control, but not a good idea to do this in opener's suit, as he would expect A or K (a shortage often not helpful), so again nullve's 4♥ cue fits. All now depends on partnership ace asking methods. With no special agreements pescetom's fit. Natural methods are not best suited to unbalanced hands, and while my sequence to 6♠ might be interesting, I wouldn't think this is the forum.

Puzzled at first, I realized it was a mahjongg hand! The play goes anticlockwise.

Whatever it is it needs to be moving a mouse somewhere else. A double click is not good for people with twitchy fingers.

Probably can be counted on the fingers of one foot.

1NT(15/16) - 2♠(asking for 4 card minor) 3♣(yes, clubs) - 4♦(ace ask) 5♣(4 or 0 of AAAAKQ) - 5NT(forcing to 6♣, not interested in kings, looking for help for 7 )(5♣ has to be 4, not 0) 7♣(have help, the Q♦ is gold dust as responder has both minors (if not would have transferred to clubs)) - 7NT (stops an opening club ruff)

Sliding the divider does nothing, the selector blobs are always there on the right, and the words slide off if the pane is narrowed. But they are not check-boxes in the traditional sense, but slider blobs that slide left or right when dragged. (Could this be dependent on your choice of desktop environment? ie Windows looks one way and KDE another?) I am using firefox very happily, before that I had no problems with chromium. Friends have problems with communications dropping in safari.

Open it to all, but if you find one Tuesday that someone sticks with you a dozen boards, and plays in a style similar to your third, she should suggest "fancy doing it again another Tuesday?"

> *** The explanation might be translatable to code that can be be used as input for the (re)dealing software. If it isn't, I can't see how it could be implemented or realised in practice. There is also the consideration the the bidding itself must conform exactly and explicitly with the said definitions, with no flexibility in judgement or deviation, or you get to the stage where the hands cannot be redealt in conformance with all bids so far. Interesting idea

2♦ I will agree with nullve. That seems to be the most common. However, with a regular partner agree the whole approach and what continuations and rebids mean, as the initial response depends on that. I am in the group that prefers 2♦ to deny holding whatever values you ascribe to 2♥, or other bids if any.

I had voted 2M and 3m at different times but that needs explaining. I like strength before shape, so 2M is your typical 12-14 except in particular circumstances, not showing 6, and to that unless responder has some specific additional distribution to show that is more important than hearing of opener's, responder bids a waiting 2NT (which does not indicate contract preference). Now opener bids to show shape, and this could be 3m. Responder now has an idea of opener's limitations, and can better judge what to do. On the hand in post #9, if 2♣ was a genuine suit (see helene #11) I prefer an opener rebid over 2NT of 3♣ to 3♥. It does not refuse a major preference. Conversely on a 15/16 or 15+ sort of hand, opener would bid 3♣ immediately, and knowing of that strength, responder can make slam moves. When opener has a typical 17+ he may rebid 2M (as when weak) if he is undecided at to direction, and then go beyond game, but when he knows the contract suit he may rebid 3m and push when responder doesn't. Of course partner needs to be on the same wavelength, so discussion of 2/1 style is needed.

I guess I am unlucky - I don't get the cleavage on my pictures. Must be some BBO improvement that uses users' demographics and has decided that I am under 18 :(

Are you aware that (bug apart) it will not let you chat when cards are in hands, but you can when the board has finished being played before a new one appears? She may not be seeing your message.

I don't think you can say sad day for the UK when the majority of people wanted independence. We now partially have it, so I am happier than I would be otherwise. A sad day for you, true, but I looked out of the window when I arose and could see it was a new dawn and the sun was shining.

If I had 10-12 pints I would not bid anything, I would be under the table. Merry Christmas

I've used the spade/NT inversion (see paulg above) for years and it works brilliantly, right-siding the large majority of hands whether playing in 1NT or 2♠. Depending of course on your methods, you can then let responder with a 4 card major and longer minor play in 2m, show an invitationial minor, or a GF minor. Remember to use 1♦ then 2♣ as a different meaning to 1♦ then 1♠ then 2♣. Pity you can't transfer to 1NT after showing spades.

Can't be the case as it is not happening every time.