wank

it's not close to 2C. it's either 2NT or 1H. personally i very much prefer 1H. even playing strong 2s or benji or some such, opening at the 1 level doesn't deny a strong hand; it just denies a hand which can open something more specific. your chances of missing a good game by opening 1H and partner passing are pretty much 0.

funny. a friend of mine said the exact same thing only a week ago. admittedly, i'd personally never heard of this live streaming business before at all.

because it enables you to collect penalties with lots of points and combined trump holdings rather than needing 1 player to hold a stack and it leaves opener in a stronger position if advancer passes showing clubs.

[hv=pc=n&s=saq43h54d9432cj32&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1n2c(majors)p2h3cpp3hpp]133|200[/hv] imps. comment if you would have done anything different previously. double of 2C would have been takeout of clubs.

double is best when p has spades, but the rest of the time you'll endplay him and miss 3NT. even when you have a spade fit you'll often make 3NT - it is a level lower after all.

Lol thanks. We had some lucky escapes. Having been leading the qualifer after the first day, we were below average going into the last day and 22 imps off qualifying with 3 boards to go. Then in the quarter final we were losing by 5 with 3 boards to go.

that's the correct hand diagram. they just missed the bidding. it was 3nt.

He didn't. He led the lowest from 5.

declarer has 8 aj8xx KQ ajt9x and partner, who's normally ultra conservative, has j9xxx - 10xxxx xxx. the contract can't be defeated double dummy and is pretty clear if you make a sporting double. the only way to put declarer under pressure is to win the ace of spade and play a low one back. he knows he's got a spade and a club to lose. if he lets partner's assumed king of spades win, he's got to bring the trump suit in without loss and deal with his clubs. as it was declarer who's a New Zealand international ruffed in hand, played ace of clubs, jack of clubs, won the diamond exit, ruffed the clubs good, then cashed the king of hearts so you've got the trump control and the crucial KS left to cash for the 4th defensive trick. sadly these were pretty much the last imps we saw and that was 6 matches ago.

you have the bidding correct. your assessment of 5 tricks is off though. the score at the other table was 880 from 4hxx against cornell and bach who#ve just got a world gold medal.

[hv=pc=n&s=sak4hqt642d92ckq2&e=sqt63hk97daj63c75&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=1c(any%2014%2B)1n(S%2BD%20or%20H%2BC)d(GF)2s3hp4hppp]266|200[/hv] 2S lead (3+low), small from dummy. plan the defence.

of course we're not happy with the bidding. the slam is close to no-play. the south hand is nowhere close to being worth 2C. as for the play, lead the heart king and hope they take it then you cash the queen and try to squeeze west in hearts and diamonds. you need him to have the KD and 6 hearts or KD and the JT of hearts.

3+low and 3+5 are supposed to be the same. it's just that some people playing 3+5 don't understand it properly, i.e. that you're supposed to lead low from odd and 3rd from even, so for disclosure purposes it's just easier to say 3+low so the opps know you play it properly. people who don't understand it presumably think they can extrapolate it from the name. it's just a name, not a manual. in the same way that playing 4th doesn't mean your low card is always your 4th highest.

no

off the top of my head.... 2nt constructive with h+d 3C constructive with both majors - can't have a GF here 3d constructive with s+d

i think people who call doubles of pre-empts 'values' are people who play takeout doubles but are too indisciplined to pass with more penalty orientated hands and who perforce double and blame partner for not guessing to pass.

i think 4nt is far from risk free. a slow 3nt could well be a run of the mill 3NT bid with a dodgy diamond suit. [hv=pc=n&s=skj3hakqda2cakj32]133|100[/hv] here 3NT is cold but 4NT is in jeopardy. or perhaps partner was considering XX or pass to allow the possibility of 2DXX. in that case if you bid 4NT you run the risk of partner accepting the invitation and your dummy will be a disappointment. i wasn't on either team and the result makes no difference to me in the rankings, but i think the common 'slow bids are normally extras' approach isn't appropriate after the double. now there are so many other things partner could have been thinking about that the odds that it's based on extras have dived.

yes south bid 6 and it made.

i disagree. with a void and no raise it's quite likely that partner will be floating the double. even as a passed hand he'll expect some defensive contribution. it sounds like this hand was a predictable disappointment defensively.

[hv=pc=n&n=sq632h32djt7cq832&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=2cp2dd3np]133|200[/hv] 3NT was described as "25-27, but he once had 28". double of 2D was natural. south thought for quite a while before 3NT (screens but agreed). at the table north bid 4NT and they made slam. i think we can all agree that pass is a logical alternative, but what does the hesitation suggest? the director ruled result stands and the committee upheld it. quite a ruckus has ensued. opinions?

3H by east shouldn't exist with a 55 shape. when i said double of 2D is penalties, i meant based on a heart suit. you can often double on 2 diamonds here on the assumption that partner's got some.

how often do these come up? assume a high level game with sporting pre-empts/light openers in late position in front of you and a style whereby 2C is 23+ bal or any genuine GF. i'm quite sure it's poor value theoretically to play a strong opening at matchpoints (and i don't do so - just open 3NT and get 25% once a year), but i'm wondering about imps. of course most people are risk averse and there's the issue of selective memory, so i'm not going to advocate anyone else dumping their strong bid.

do you think rho can't count his points? he's showing a very good hand. he's not expecting to take any finesses, making or otherwise - dummy has shown precisely nothing. as it happens, dummy may well have a singleton diamond and enough trumps to ruff away our king. that takes us down to possibly only 1 trick in our hand. [hv=pc=n&s=sk32hkt4dk43ckj32&w=sjt764h532djc7654&n=sa985h6d9876cat98&e=sqhaqj987daqt52cq]399|300[/hv] for example is perfectly in keeping with the bidding (east's overbidding if anything) and we should pass and hope dummy doesn't raise. as for double of 2D, that should be penalties. you can bid 2H as a positive noise.

i'd just treat is a transfer opening in clubs. something like X = take-out of clubs 3C = 55 majors the worst thing you can do against these 4 card major showing bids is leave yourself unable to show hands with that suit.

you could bid 2H if you like the first time. obviously you 're not going to be bidding again. why would i want to double 2d, to psyche them out of game?