Califdude

Assuming you are playing 2NT Jacoby Forcing, how do you interpret the 3D bid in this sequence? Is opener asking about a help suit, or showing shortness? 1♠-P-2NT-P 3♦ Thanks for your replies.

AWM, thank you very much for your clear and complete rundown on this subject. It should be appreciated by all who read it.

Assume SAYC. I understand that in response to partner's opening bid of one in a suit, a jump of one level more than minimum to a new suit indicates 17+ points and a 5+ card suit. This does not appear on my print of the SAYC card but I believe it is the common SAYC practice. If you do not agree I would appreciate having your comments. Playing in BBO with casual partners I've had misunderstandings, so here are some questions. 1. Partner opens 1♦. You have 17+ points, a 4-card major, and 5+♣. Do you give priority to one of the major or 3♣? 2. Partner opens 1♦. You have 17+ points, 5 clubs and a balanced hand with no 4-card major. Do you give priority to 3NT or 3♣? 3. Partner opens 1♠. You have 17+ points, 4 spades and 5+ ♣. Do you give priority to 2NT Jacoby forcing raise, or 3♣? 4. Partner opens 1♥, RHO bids 1♠. You have 17+ points and a 5-card suit. What would be your priorities between a cue bid of 2H, Double, 3NT with balanced hand and stopper in ♥, 2NT Jacoby forcing raise, or jump shift in your 5-card suit? 5. Do you agree that "overcall" means a bid by an opponent over an opening bid and that in the sequence 1♦-P-2♠ the 2♠ bid indicates 17+ points and should not be confused with a weak jump overcall as in 1♦-2♠? Thanks for your replies and patience.

Playing SAYC and no partnership agreement. White vs red. Partner opens 1♣ and RHO bids 1♦. What do you bid with this hand: ♠ Jx ♥ KJ10xxx ♦ KJ ♣ xxx Suppose Opps bid back and forth in ♦ , partner passing throughout, would you bid on to 3♥ competitively over 3♦ ? thanks for replies.

Assume partner opens 1NT 15-17 and opponent passes. 1. What is your minimum point count to allow a stayman 2C? 2. Holding a 5-card suit, do you play that a transfer bid requires a minimum point count? thanks for replies.

Thanks all for good replies. Not only did you respond re pot odds = risk analysis but you answered my earlier question because risk analysis as you've explained it leads to tactical bidding.

I try to think of interesting general questions to get the thinking of the experts here on broader concepts rather than individual hands. When I posed the question whether the concept of tactical bidding was in the bridge toolbox there was very little interest, so I guess the answer is generally, no. Today I'd like to ask whether expert bridge players have the concept of pot odds in mind. (For anyone not familiar with poker, having good pot odds refers to the situation where the ratio of the pot to be won to the bet needed to stay in, is greater than the odds of drawing a card that will essentially guarantee a win.) The application of this principle to bridge is inherent in a quotation from a bridge authority that I once read, referring to rubber bridge and assuming you bid rationally, "If you aren't going set half the time you aren't bidding enough." Makes sense with rubber bridge scoring where the game or rubber bonus vs a part-score gives you very good pot odds. So, do expert bridge players consider the pot odds when playing IMP's. Suppose a hand comes up in which you are very sure of making 2H, probably 3H, hence you have 140 points in hand. If you make game you will score 420 or 620 so the pot odds are attractive, 3 or 4 to 1. Do the favorable pot odds influence your decision whether to bid on? Does this question deserve a wtp answer? thanks for replies, as always.

Awkward bidding situations can arise when partner opens the bidding with a weak two-bid, opponents pass, and you have a void or singleton in partner's suit and a strong hand. How would you handle these sample hands? A, You are playing SAYC, which includes RONF for weak two-bids. B. You are playing Ogust. Partner opens 2D, opponents pass throughout. 1. ♠ AKxx ♥ K10xxxx ♣ AKx 2. ♠ AKxx ♥ KJxx ♣ AKxxx 3. ♠ AKXX ♥ AKxx ♦ x ♣ AKxx Thanks for your replies.

Got it, thanks, Cascade.

How would you bid this one? ♠ AK109xxxx ♥ x ♦ x ♣ K10x Partner deals. 1C-1H-2H-P 2NT-P-? Was my cue bid of 2H appropriate? Was there a better bid? Given the above what should have been my next bid? As always, thanks for replies.

Actually two related questions I'd like to ask of the expert players here. A. Do the players who post on this board play BBO tournaments, including the ACBL sanctioned tournaments on BBO? Almost never? Now and then? Frequently? B. Bridge columns occasionally report on situations in which international teams make tactical bids, by which I mean bids that they would not normally make but do so because they are down in the score and hope to catch up with a big score on the hand. These bids usually take the form of gambling stretches to game or slam, possibly played redoubled, sometimes gambling doubles of vulnerable opponents. (The bridge equivalent of what we call a Hail Mary pass in American football.) Assume I am playing in a BBO tournament with IMP scoring and with only two hands to go am not looking good. Do you think it is reasonable to make a tactical bid: 1. Playing as an individual. Do you see an ethical problem here in that if the bid fails I have dragged partner down with me? 2. Playing with a familiar pard. As always, thanks for replies.

What is your approach to Michaels in the balancing seat, as in 1C-P-P-2C or 1H-P-P-2H? Do you bid Michaels pretty much the same regardless of which seat you are in? Do you make this bid with a weak Michaels, i.g. 6-11 points? Would you be influenced by vulnerability? As always, thanks for replies.

Playing SAYC, what is the best response to a 1S opening by partner with these hands? I have in mind the general rule that 1S-2H indicates 5 hearts. 1. S xx H KQJ10 D xxxx C AQx 2. S xx H 98642 D AQ10 C AJX Thanks for replies.

In this sequence is the 3S bid considered non-forcing, invitational, or forcing? 1S-P-2H-P 3H-P-3S-P ? Thanks for replies. ;)

Given IMP scoring, what is the expert player's thinking about overtricks vs risk when playing part-score contracts? What would be your opinion of a strategy to invariably make the safest visible play to guarantee making the bid against any bad trump of side-suit break, basically giving up any thought to overtricks unless they are 100% risk-free? How would you characterize your general approach to taking some risk in order to make overtricks undoubled and in a part-score contract? As always, thanks for your replies.

Isn't that 3D bid a considerable overbid? Shouldn't it have been passed at 2NT?

What perecentage of experts would you judge use the following conventions for defense against 1NT openers? Cappelletti/Hamilton/Pottage Multi Landy Ripstra DONT Other...if so ,what is it? As always, thanks for replies. If I've overlooked another popular convention for this, please keep the sarcasm to a moderate level.

When partner opens 1NT (15-17) and you have a weak hand, the question arises whether or not to try to improve on the 1NT by transfer to your suit. Assume pard opens 1NT and you have a very weak hand. Is it automatic that if you have a 6-card suit in H or S you bid transfer? Would you ever bid transfer 2S to 3C with topless 6-card clubs? What about a 5-card suit? What would be the kind of suit shape and quality you would want in order to bid a transfer? Suppose partner has bid 1NT over 1S by opponent, does that make you more inclined to trf to your 5-card suit on theory partner is more likely to have cards in your suit? Here is an example: Opponent bid 1S, partner bid 1NT. You hold xxx 98xxx Qxx Jx. Should you bid 2D for transfer to hearts? As always, thanks for replies.

In other posts it has been mentioned that there are some hands with which a weak two-bid might be a good option with only 5 cards in the suit. Last night I enjoyed getting a top board when partner opened 2S on this hand: S KQJ10x H AJ10xx D xx C x I believe this hand was was clearly too strong for a weak 2...if you like the Rule of 22 it counts 23. The result was everyone passed, pard went down 4 not vulnerable, and the opps missed a cold vulnerable slam in clubs. Well, that's bridge. But that set me to wondering, what would a hand look like that would justify an opening weak two in a five-card suit? Can someone give some examples of such hands? Thanks for replies.

Asking for a spade stopper.

I find some of the more difficult bidding situations arise when you have a good hand and support for partner's preemptive 2 and 3 bids. Let's take the weak 2's first, and have the weak 3's later. My SAYC card says RONF...the only non-forcing bid is a raise of partner's suit. Do you agree with this treatment? RPBridge.net says 2NT is the all-purpose force to find out more about partner's hand. Do you agree with this treatment? Does partner rebid the weak 2 suit with a minimum and anything else shows strength? With a singleton in partner's suit and a good suit of your own, do you ever overbid partner in an attempt to find a better contract? Would this mean you play new suit is non-forcing? Do you agree in principle that a weak 2 in a major should be more sound because partner is more likely to be interested in bidding on to game? Last night I held AJ10x-Kxx-Axx-Axx and pard opened the bidding with 2H. Playing SAYC, do you agree that 2NT is the correct response in this case? (Except to say that I got a very bad board and wasted a $, I won't say what I actualy did.) As always, thanks for your replies. :)

After reading the replies here, especially Helen T., it seems there has to be a caveat in all cases that if your pard opens 3rd hand or 4th hand, you have to be careful about pushing to game with a near-opening-bid hand that you passed in 1st or 2nd seat. According to Helen, pard might only have a four-card suit and 8 or 9 points, so even if you have passed with 11 working points and have four-card support for pard's major, you have to tread lightly until pard indicates a normal opener or better.

Lately, I've been applying the Rule of 15 to open in the 3rd seat not vulnerable, and out of about 6 events, haven't resulted in a bad board, and have a couple of very good boards as a result. Can you discuss the reasons why this rule is considered inapplicable to opening in the 3rd seat? Thanks. :D

You are playing in a pairs tournament with a player who classifies him/herself as advanced and you both bid SAYC as basic system. After play begins, you can no longer communicate with partner. Which of the following would you feel safe in bidding: a. 2NT Jacoby forcing raise b. Strong jump shift response (1D-p-2H) 3. Negative double 4. Open boderline hand 1st or 2nd seat by Rule of 22 5. Open in 3rd or 4th seat by Rule of 15 6. Last Train convention 7. Splinter Bid 8. D0P1 9. Michaels cue bid 10. Unusual NT 11. Grand slam force 12. Do we have stopper? (1D-1H-1S-P. then 2H asking for stopper) As always, thanks for replies. :D

Many of the tournaments listed on BBO are restricted to members of private clubs. Is there a way to approach these clubs and find out what are their membership requirements? Thanks.