Dean

Hi A long time ago I read of opening of 2NT to show a limited hand with diamonds. All I can remember is that 2NT 3♣ ® 3♦ = min, now 3♥ relays 3♥ and higher = max exact shape. Anyone have anymore details? Thanks Dean

Here in NZ we pay $5 per night. You get a hand records afterwards with DD analysis on them.. Alternatively they are on the web (along with results) about 20 minutes after play finishes. We are also going to put the travellers and recap sheets on the web. In this day and age if you are dealing computer produced deals there should be no reason for them to be on-line. Cost is very minimal. D./

Hi Talking to one of our youth players. Opposite a natural 2NT opener they play Stayman and 3S is a puppet to 3N (various meanings including a raise to 3NT) while 3N directly is minors. He was suggesting opening 2N on a weak black 2 suiter. He can then pass 3C or 3S. Does this count as a psyche control? D./

Hi FYI Our local club has just implemented a rating calculator using the ELO model (as used in chess, baseball, american footbal etc). The rating is then converted to a handicap. For pairs events you take the average of the partnership. For teams the average of all 4 players. Separate ratings for handicaps and teams. Not a particulary difficult calculation. More info if anyone interested. D./

And for the older British readers. "Boom Boom" was Basil Brush's "catch phrase"

Heres the scheme I use 1S = natural maybe canape 2C = hearts, 2 or 3 suited 2D = both minors with a major fragment i.e 5431 6430 5530 2H = single suited hearts 2S = both minors and/or longer clubs i.e. 55xx or 6421 2N = both minors and.or longer diamonds. I have a pdf of this structure somewhere.

No never. Might not at pairs in a decent field either. no intermediates no nothing. D.

I wrote the entire WBF CC card in Latex at one point. Somewhere on CTAN there is the back page of the WBF CC card. Unforutnately I lost the front page. Dean

2 of a major should just be 4. I would take 2NT as a lebensohl here. Well done in Oz.

Hi I'm looking at trying to model our local clubs pairs results. In particular I want to know if after applying a handicap (+2.5%, -5%etc) whether the handicapping makes the results more equivalen/equal. Do pairs results follow any sort of well-known statistical distribution e.g. normal, Posisson etc? Has anyone seen or done any work in this area? Is a simple standard deviation a good measure here or is it not applicable to this sort of data. Thanks Dean

Hi First I encourage with the 8. Thats told partner I can't stand a club switch Don't try to hedge your bets with the 5 the first time. this is an attitude (obvious switch) situation so give partner the information they need. There are no degree's of encouragement, one either encourage or discourages. Second I now give current count - so now the 2. If partner now thinks I have a doubleton thats too bad. Dean

Hi Does anyone have nay smart ideas for how to handle extreme shapes during symmetric relay auctions? We used to jump a round of bidding when showing controls to show this hand type but this becamse confusing very quickly. For the one suiters i.e 8+ suits we can show them as 7+ and a void or 7+ and a singleton and treatign say 7+321 as 7331 for DCB's purposes but is there a better way? Thanks Dean

Ace of hearts, ruff a dmd, club to Ace, ruff a dmd, club to King ruff a dmd. Exit with heart, hopefully endplaying RHO. I fthey have a 3rd heart then have to lead up to the spade King.

I reckon if you polled 10 random experts 10 of them would pass in their sleep. An awfull hand. Surely partner is bust, after all he can't have a diamond trap when you hold QJ???

1) bid 4S 2) Pass (having ot opend 2/3H). 3) North should bid 4S 4) You are too strong to bid 1H here. After redouble all bids by advancer are weak. As it happens I would bid 4H over partners 2H. A better auction? 1D : (X) : XX : (NB) 2D : (NB) : NB : 3D 3/4H of course this gets it played from the wrong side....

I've heard the term Animal Acol in Australia with reference to the early/mid 70's. 10-12 NT 4 card majors and opening a 4 major ahead of 4 minor. Fairly loose style. This is all from meory thou. D.

If I hold an odd number of trumps (in sequence) e.g. 3 I play the highest. With an even number I play the 2nd - I think thats standard. e.g. With KQx I'd play the K. with KQ I'd play the Q. This is assumeing you are splitting your honorus of course. Dean

Easy pass the first time. Will balance with 3♦ now. Surely Im going at most one off, even doubled, vul and whose going to do that at teams? Would bid 2♦ at pairs.

I also want to be able to play 2Y as natural (my suit is better than yours).

I pass. Biggest pile of rubbish in a long time. The only thing 2C has going for it is that it shows spade tolerance (passed hand and al)

I played Romex Namyats for a while but dropped it in favour of preempts. Especially at pairs white vs red open 4m on 64 hands is just too usefull. Teams I might reconsider. Dean

I always try and create an electronic system card using the WBF system editor. I always use the Notes [] feature. It does for casual partnerships. For more complex partnerships I use LateX, one directory per system as well as an electronic CC.

3S showing 4H & GF values. Denying a spade stopper. This is a Lebenshohl style auction. As if the bidding had gone 1N : (2♠) : ? Dean

Henry is a good player but slow. Bob is "a bit of a character" He is playing at the clubs on night and gets a warning for slow play from Bob. 3 boards later Bob says to Henry "Im sorry but I'm going to have to fine you (whatever it is) for slow play". Henry indiginantly splutters. The funny thing? Bob was a playing director - playing with Henry! Its gone down in the folk lore of our club. Dean

A simpler idea is to switch just the 1S and 1NT responses. 1C : 1S = flat or reds 1C : 1N = Hearts or hearts and clubs 1C : 1S 1N : ? 2C = Reds (now 2D=R and 2H=reverser, 2S=5+/5+, 2NT onwards = non reverser exact pattern) 2D and higher = standard flat relay structure 1C : 1N 2C : ? 2D = Heart single suiter (now 2H=R, 2S=high shortage, 2N= mediuam etc) 2H and higher = hearts and clubs (2H=reverser, 2S=5+/5+, etc)