wank

english tournaments are normally very well run in terms of the directing, etc. however, venues, catering, hotels etc are normally terrible. it won't be an ebu event so hopefully it will avoid the ebu pricing style, whereby bridge is upto £35 per day and the prize return is about 20p in the £.

This is an essentially pointless whine: I'm tired of the tournament list being full of these private tournaments which I can't play in. Joining isn't attractive either as most of their tournaments end up being tiny compared to the open ones. I don't see what the players or the organisers get out of restricting the entry - it's not like it's hard to join, so cheats or whatever could still play.

looks like opener fielded the misbid. I don't if that's considered a faux pas in the ACBL or not.

you bid your 4 card suit 3 times and got a bad score? shocking, but true

RHO passed 1S and he's turned up with an ace already? if he's got a queen too, he's just too clever for me. edit: nevermind, i just reread the bidding. ignore this crap.

as jlall says both players erred. also, it's normal here as north to follow with the middle card after south ducks the king to represent 10x and encourage declarer to continue with the jack to pin the 10.

no, but you can guard squeeze LHO if he's got the 10 if clubs and 6 hearts. obviously that's worse odds though because you need the 10 in the right hand with the 6 card sui. But depending which red suit is led and the spots, plus a discard or 2 on spades, you might be able to hazard a guess who's got the 6 card suit before you commit yourself by taking the red ruff

no point eliminating bluecalm - you have all the tricks except the club king - you're just ruffing your menaces. so option 1) draw trumps, queen of clubs, 3 rounds of diamonds then hope for an unlikely heart/club guard squeeze. option 2) draw trumps, queen of clubs, 3 round of hearts then hope for an unlikely diamond/club simple squeeze either way you can try to read it and drop the right honour.

no, i would jump to 4h.

we've got a huge amount of playing strength here. Kx axxxx Ax akxx gives slam. ok, it's 18 with prime controls but it's a crappy shape. 5C is pretty likely imo. time to jump to 4C and punish the opps for protecting.

the hog's right in that you can't differentiate between 4 and 5 without intervention, but that isn't a point against it is it? after a 1h overcall, differentiating between 4 and 5 becomes very important because the bidding often returns to opener at a dangerously high level when hearts get raised.

i find it amusing how you all think you can understand the north player's reasons for her actions better than the director who talked to her at the time. some people just aren't very good. better players after the event have a tendency to foister their own logic onto players who employ none.

'real bridge players' require a source of tricks

[hv=d=w&v=n&s=skjtxxhtxdkq9xxcx]133|100|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1NT - 2S - X - p 2NT - p - 3H - p 4C - p - 4D - 4S 5C - p - 5H - X 6C - p - p - X end distinctly fishy smell to the bidding. 1NT was 15-17. double of 2S was penalties. you're the 2S bidder, just to be clear.

i was more meaning that they would only have 1 way to bid them and so you can't deduce anything extra about their hands.

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=sjxhkjxxdxcaqxxxx&s=skqtxxhtdaxxckjxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1C - p - 1H (spades) - 2H (opps are clueless and wouldn't have a way to show heart otherwise) - p - p - x - end result +1 on dodgy defence but it's cold for 470. 5c looks good but actually goes off.

you people must be a lot more patient than me if you're all sat waiting for 5-5 hands. as others have said, playing 2♣ as the majors is infinitely better so you have a2♦ response available to ask for the longer major. if due to the regulation arrangements you kan't do anything more produktive, just play 2♦/♥/♠ as natural

playing pass as forcing would be ridiculous. making a forcing pass if one were available would be equally ridiculous. bidding 5H over 5D doesn't show a bad hand. wanting to make a slam try is druggy.

if south bids keycard are you playing a method whereby you can learn north has no kings and the trump queen (well 5 of them) at the 5 level? if so you could follow it up with 6C if that's asking for 3rd round control. i would think with so many controls and a lovely number of diamonds, south should stop tarting about and just start asking pertinent questions. something like 4D - 4NT (4S would be keycard instead?) 5C - 5D 5S or 5NT (Q, no kings) - 6C 6H

more importantly remind the commentators that the players aren't double-dummy

though i consider acting automatic i consider 5C to be laughable. 4C then 5C? stick him with a PP then correct the result to 5C by his partner. that will at least be amusing.

no it's not. south didn't try to cash a heart. instead he played a 2nd diamond at t2 which gives declarer a problem - ruffing high promotes a trump trick when they're 3-0 whereas ruffing low runs the risk of an overruff which is what happened. declarer then evidently played for the drop in clubs. at my table we sacrificed in 7H, opps pushed onto 7S. we doubled it for -1. came back to score up and lost 3 imps to 6sXX-1

[hv=d=n&v=n&e=satxhtxdaqt9xcq9x&s=skj8xxhxdjxxxcaxx]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1NT 12-14 from north, pass, 2H xfer, 4H, 1 minute pass, pass, double, pass, 4S, 5H, double, pass, pass, redouble. 5Hxx was -3. EW asked for a ruling (given by a contributor to this forum) on the grounds that the first double may have been influenced by the slowness of the pass of 4H. NS contended that whatever the right and wrongs of the double, the redouble was wild or gambling on the East hand. Admittedly, East had also paused briefly over 4H to consider a slam try, so his redouble was consistent and shouldn't be considered a double shot at least. Of course double shot and wild or gambling are not the same thing. Comments?

I meant tanked as in tanked - at least a minute's tanking. We asked for a ruling which was a trifle humiliating after racking up -1000, but it was ruled as result stands. No logical alternative to doubling apparently.

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=sq9xxhajxxdkxxckx&w=sxhkq98xxdxcjt8xx&e=satxhtxdaqt9xcq9x&s=skj8xxhxdjxxxcaxx]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] 1NT pass 2♥ 4♥ pass pass X pass 4♠ 5♥ X pass pass XX end 1NT was 12-14, 2♥ was a transfer, redouble was in anticipation of 1 off or making. Actual result was -3 for 1000. Assuming a trump lead, 4♠ from north (which presumably they would bid through a transfer break) can be made by reversing the dummy but is obviously rather tricky. Who was more druggy? West for overcalling 4♥ on nothing or east for the optimistic wielding of the blue card (East actually thought of making a slam try over 4♥) BTW North tanked before passing 4♥. What do you think of the X from south? We won this match despite doing our cocos on this board. Teamies were in 3♠ but from south so 4♠ would be off.