Califdude

What about a negative double? That would get partner to bid again without using up any bidding room. Or is the hand too strong for that bid? If you bid 2NT, doesn't that make possible some tough continuations, such as Pard bidding an unmakeable 3NT, or even 6NT with a big hand?

Two questions about tournaments on BBO. Many of the tournaments are open only for members of private bridge clubs. I believe SBC and SATTO are examples. How do you find the web sites for the clubs so you can apply for membership? Some of the tournaments on BBO specify "No Enemies." Just out of curiosity, what dies that mean or how does it work? Thanks for replies. :lol:

You hold these hands: a. Kxxx-xx-KJxx-xxx b. AKxx-xx-KJxx-xxx c. Jxxx-xx-AKJx-xxx d. Kxxx-x-AKJxx-xxx e. AKxx-x-AJxxxx-xx f. AJxx-xx-Jxxxx-xx g. Axxxx-xx-Axxxx-x h. AKQJ-xx-AKQJ-xxx Partner opens 1C. What do you bid? Do you bid up the ladder, or do you skip over the diamonds and bid 1S? Thank you for your replies. :D

You hold: S xxx H KJ9xx D Axx C Jx Partner opens 1C, you respond 1H, partner now bids 2S. What do you do? What would you expect partner's hand to look like, strength and shape? Thanks for replies.

Tu's reply makes sense to me. If you have a singleton or doubleton that should head you more toward the raise. That would be because that would improve the chances of partner gaining tricks by ruffing and at the same time would increase the probability that opps can run a long suit against 1 NT.

Assume SAYC plain vanilla. You hold: a. S xxx b. S KQJ H AJ10 H AJ10 D KQxx D Kxxx C Kxx C xxx You open 1D and pard responds 1S, now what do you rebid? If your answer is 1NT for a and 2S for b, that would mean that somewhere in between these two hands there's a dividing point as between the two responses. I'd like to hear some discussion as to where that point is and what factors go into your choice. Or, do you guarantee 4-card support if you raise partner? If vulnerability is a factor, please mention it. In another post here, I asked the question how weak of a major can you hold and respond 1 of that major to a minor suit openng and the answers were unanimous: 2345. I have that in mind in making this post. Thanks for your replies. :P

Got a bottom board tonight and thought I would ask here for comments. a. What does 2H bid mean in this sequence, playing ACOL? b. What does it mean playing SAYC? 1C-P-2H (I can't find the SAYC answer on a print-out of the SAYC card...if it's there I missed it.)) Thank you for replies.

Sometimes a tournament will ask for my player number. As far as i know I don't have one. Are they in use? Do I need one for any reason? If so, how do I get one? Thank you.

Here's your hand and the bidding: S AJxx H KJxx D A C Qxxx P-P-P-1C p-2NT- P- ? What is correct bid? Would 3C be Stayman for majors? Thank you

I'm under the impression that many bridge players who are less that experts either don't know of the Principle of Restricted Choice, or are not comfortable with applying it in their play. Perhaps I'm dead wrong. I thought it might be interesting to run a poll on the subject. I've never tried to run a poll before, so if I've screwed that up in some way, please bear with me. Thanks.

Responding top Roger Clee's comment that 100% of the top players apply RC...thanks, that answers my question. This is a forum for expert bridge players, so what I'm about to say is off-topic, I suppose, but I retain the impression that as you begin to drop below the top and expert players, the percentage of regular players who understand and use RC drops off rather quickly. Maybe I can arrange for a poll on the Intermediate Bridge forum sometime, might be interesting. :P

Thanks to Nige1 for your clear and non-sarcastic reply. For myself, I learned about RC many years ago and have applied it when I thought appropriate. What inspired my post was the impression I have from my life experiences with bridge that many otherwise good bridge players are not familiar with RC. I mentioned that I did a math major back in the day because I thought RC, along with the related Monty Hall problem and Bayes Theorem, might be of more interest to mathematicians than bridge players. So I thought I would inquire here whether the application of RC is prevalent in expert bridge. Judging from the replies, I would say it is... and it isn't. :)

Having a math major in my resume, I'm interested in how much or how little respect you all have for the Principle of Restricted Choice. The following could be one example of the application of this principle. Assume no other information available. You are South, holding A10xxx of trumps, dummy has Kxxx. Do you play the K on the first round of trumps so that in case W plays either the Q or J you can apply the Principle of Restricted Choice and finesse with the 10 on the second round of trumps? Or do you simply play for the drop? Thanks for your replies. :D

thanks for your helpful reply :(

Please these numbers that appear on some players' profiles. There seem to be variations and I've attempted to show something typical or similar. Thanks for your replies. :(

Thank you very much for your most helpful reply.

I see messages on BBO that someone is leaving to play in a tournament. How do you enter and play in a BBO tournament? Is there a schedule of tournaments starting tmes available? Are tournaments graduated as to skill level? I have not been able to find out anything about BBO tournament play by browsing through the various links on BBO homepage...if I missed it, pls forgive me. Thanks for your replies.

Regarding Marty Bergen's Rule of 20, in the recap available on the net he specifies that vulnerability should not be a factor. But how about majors vs minors? The rule of 15 slants opening weak hands in favor of stronger spades. So, do you consider having spades, or majors in applying the Rule of 20? thanks for your replies. :P

Can you give point-count ranges for these conventional bids? Or does the bid depend too much on length of suit ot shape of hand for point-count range to be meaningful? All of these artificial bids appear on the SAYC card without ranges being given. Please discuss. a. 2C Non-forcing Stayman response to 1NT b. 2H (trf to spades) response to 1NT c. 1D-2D Michaels cue bid Please discuss. Thanks for your replies.

I believe it is generally agreed that as a general principal showing point count should be given priority over showing suit. Given contract bridge scoring, if you are in the right suit but the wrong level for your point count, nothing can help you. If you are at the right level for your point count, but in the wrong suit, you might still be able to pull it out. For example, we've all saved many a game that was played in 4 of a major that should have been played in 3 NT and vice versa. With that in mind, I ask the question whether the Michaels cue bid it worth its cost, which is to give up on the old strong cue bid. Back in the day, before Michaels, this was pretty much the normal bidding pattern after opponent opened one in a suit: a. Suit overcall=less than opening point count. b. Takeout Double=opening point count. c. Direct cue bid=barn burner, about same strength as a strong 2 opening. Simple and direct...partner immediately has a good handle on whether we should be in part-score, game or slam. By adopting Michaels, we have replaced c, which was a point-showing bid, with a suit and shape-showing bid. Now we have takeout double followed by cue bid in oponent's suit to show a super-strong hand in the overcall position, which of course, can run into difficulties depending on the intervening bids before we can make the cue bid. Opponents may jump to game in their suit, or partner might assume takeout double implies support for his major, which you may not have, and jump to game. My impression is that the opportunities to gain from Michaels are very rare and the desire to show a very strong hand sitting in the overcall position are rare but more frequent than the Michaels situation. Secondly, by adopting Michaels we seem to be giving suit and shape showing priority over point showing. What do you think? Is there a case to be made that Michaels is not worth its cost? ;)

Playing SAYC, is there any bid other than a takeout double to indicate a very strong one-suited hand in the overcall position? We were vulnerable. Bidding went 1C-1D-Pass-Pass and partner played a cold 6D, not even a finesse. He had 7 diamonds to AK, singleton and doubleton Aces in the majors , KQx in clubs. I had QJ10 diamonds and both major suit kings for 9 points in a square hand and saw nothing forcing and no reason to bid. Would you say pard should have bid a takeout double, which could mislead me about his support for majors? Was there any other bid available to show his strength? Would you say I should have bid 2D, if so why? Thanks for your replies. :)

Thanks for the helpful and thoughtful replies. :)

In another thread there was discussion about a response to partner's opening bid, after opp bid a take-out double. The posts in that thread left some doubt in my mind as to the basics of this situation when playing SAYC, so I'm asking for a review of the general point-count rules. Bidding goes 1D-DBL-?? This is what I've grown up with: 10 or more points bid RDBL showing count only. All other bids show less than 10 Pts. SAYC card says bid of new suit is forcing for one round. Bid 1NT or any raise of partner's suit is preemptive. Please comment on anything not current method. Thanks for your replies. :)

Playing with a good pard, we pretty much clobbered our opponents, except for occasionally handing them some 5 or 6 IMP gifts by going down at 3NT. This was because we did what I call drifting into 3NT. Typical bidding sequence would be: 1S-p-2C-p- 2D-p-2NT-p 3NT Dummy comes down and we have only 23-25 high-card pts. Opener has Axxxx in spades and has counted a point for the fifth spade. We lose three spade tricks, one diamond and one heart trick for down one. Do expert players have any magic other than good bridge judgment to keep from bidding 3NT that have less than 50% chance of making? Is there a rule with some name like Rule of 3 Tens or Roth's Rule of Two Aces for this situation? Thanks for replies, much appreciated as always. :)

Thanks very much, Marlowe. Now, if I can impose on you further, may I ask what is the weakest heart suit with which you will respond 2C Stayman over partner's 1NT opening, assuming 3 or fewer spades.? :) I am willing to take the risk of sarcastic responses in case the answers to my questions might be different in this section than in the general or beginner-intermediate sections. I suppose they shouldn't be, but they might be.