wank

i have my first name in my profile, but i would always refuse to play with people who say things like 'no name, no play'. i wouldn't want to play with anyone who feels the need to lecture other players

i think you're vastly underestimating how bad most bridge players are.

One hopes your partners never pick up Axxxxx A AKQxx x or some such

double...if game's making and partner passes this will probably be going for a carpet or a monkey if game's not making and partner passes this is probably our easiest way to go plus. over 4C i'll bid 4D.

so you win in dummy play a spade to the 9. win the return. concede KS to the ace. then play the 10 of spades out of hand and try to read where the remaining Jack or Queen is, i.e. now singleton with east or covered and ruffing-finessable with west.

bidding 2 minor to show both majors is an attempt to play 2 minor on these cards

how would 2S openers feel when it went double - 4S - double? i'm guessing sick and would fully expect to go 2 off when the opps struggle to make a part score

oops clicked gwnn's link and necroed this. nm

giving any weighting to 3nt going off is ridiculous. north has opened the bidding - even uber muppets would know where the ace of diamonds was

oops nevermind

with regard, to the allegedly dubious timing of dummy's intervention, dummy (and everyone else) must call the director when attention is drawn to an irregularity. i can well imagine not paying a great deal of attention as dummy (i have often read the newspaper as dummy when playing against people i know, for example) and only realising that an irregularity had occurred, that attention had been drawn but no director had been called after a couple of seconds (i.e. the OP's a second of 2 per action), as such she may made her statement immediately from her viewpoint. as to the statement itself, she didn't offer a ruling or do anything else untoward. stating that partner has options prior to summoning the TD is imo just good manners - if my opps suddenly launched into a director call without a preamble in any situation i'd be a little offended, rightly or wrongly. [no i don't object to opps calling the director, but i think it should ideally be done in a non-confrontational fashion] obviously we don't know what she planned to do after making her statement, as the OP intervened by replying to her, but there's no reason to assume she wasn't planning to immediately call the director, after all, she had already declined to volunteer what the options were herself, but must have expected someone to lay them out. as such, i don't consider there's any evidence that north did anything else than what she was directed to do by law. As for the OP, I'd say his actions at the table were 5 star hypocrisy considering he's a TD. If I had more stars available, I would be awarding extras for bringing it up on the forums, especially as he's a moderator here.

though i think double is the best call normally on this shape, i think 1NT has 1 major advantage that noone's mentioned on this particular hand. whatever contract you finish, it's likely to better played by this hand. there are some awkward hand combinations when partner might be forced to bid NT wrong-siding it over a takeout double. Say partner's hand is Qxxx KJx Jxx KQx, what would you have him bid? I suppose it would be 2NT, but even if he starts with 2S, over 3D, he's got to bid 3NT. 3NT by P is unlikely to make, whereas 3NT by you is likely cold. similarly, if partner has 5H, you'd prefer to play the contract after a transfer. The only time you lose out vis a vis a takeout double is when partner has 5 clubs, or when a moysian 2H plays better a level higher and from the wrong hand. with Ax of spades double is much more appealing.

oppsite such a hand, game is probably at best about 70%. obviously one would want to bid 70% games, but missing a few of them isn't going to be panic me into dispensing with the rest of my system and its benefits.

jillybean, if this is considered too strong for 1NT in your methods, change your methods.

of course they might double. i don't care. it's an easy bid.

from north's viewpoint on the 8 of D lead it looks silly to split. from his viewpoint, south doesn't have K of D or AK of C (he'd have led one), so must have a spade honour whcih could easily be singleton. one mustn't have BBO double-dummy commentator syndrome when assessing the defence. on a non-diamond lead he can reasonably place 1 or 2 diamond honours in his partner's hand and perforce split. of course, this is not to say, that this is what north would do, but i would for sure be asking north why she didn't split as it was, and with a suitable argument, she should be given some benefit of the doubt.

4sx is clearly going for a fat penalty anyway. i know it made 10 tricks in spades as it was, but 4S is 2 levels higher and would attract a double, both of which would be expected to cause a different defence. of course, you would examine the defence to 2S to see where the missing tricks went, but i expect i'd be tolerant of defensive carvery to this contract.

It's done on the 2nd best break opposite a void. So assuming a 4-2 break, KQJTxxx is indeed 6 tricks and KQJxxxx is indeed 5. And Rule of 25 is points plus number of cards in 2 longest suits.

When you erronenously include in your weighted ruling the result obtained from the action you're disallowing on the grounds that it was suggested by the UI over a LA.

well obviously over 4s lho should volunteer 5D

Law 66 exists to regulate when information from the play of the cards is available. THe offending side circumvented this regulation and made available/sought information to which they weren't entitled. That's UI.

i'm curious to know what you might do if you got dealt a 3334 17 count if 2C is always 5+.

i'd respond 2D on the 2nd hand. It's about 85% that you'll end up in a slam when you're looking at 19 high and partner opens. Much better to start showing suits you've got values in. You don't really expect to play in spades do you, and you don't want partner cue-bidding the Q or converting to 6S.

As has been said already, you can play the double of 1S as takeout if you like, though it's a bad idea because it lets the opponents psyche you out of your major fit. However, if I understand you, which I very possibly don't, you're saying that double of 1S showed 1 major or the other in your methods. That's just not playable.

they're opening normally 1NT with those hands. if for whatever reason they elect not to open 1NT they're upgrading/downgrading (mainly the former) to make it a 3 or 2S bid