mtvesuvius

Yes, because when the bid works once against a random idiot, it will always work in the future against other people. Bridge is such an easy game!

Sooooo, if you make a takeout double with an 8 card suit, you don't play bridge (or even bridg).

Yes, as far as I know, 4♦ was a mechanical error, however the director decided that since it was too likely he just had a system forget (although he's been playing this system for about 3 years and is the author of the system notes etc), and so therefore the 4♥ call stands. Partner can only keycard in a suit if they want to play there as far as I know. I guess you could get creative if your actually strain is higher ranking, but I haven't ever seen/done that.

The following hand occurred at a regional, I was South on this deal, playing with a regular partner of mine. Bracket 2 Knockout, our opponents aren't the greatest ever. We play a strong club with relays and a variable NT. The deal was (with further explanations below): [hv=pc=n&s=sa5hj97da743cq852&n=sjt74ha86532dk6c7&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=1n(11-13)2c(Either%20M+m%20or%201%20minor)2d(Artificial%20GF%20%5Blol%20p%5D)p3h(2-3-4-4)p4h(*%2C%20See%20below)p5c(*%2C%20See%20below)dp(*%2C%20See%20below)p5d(*%2C%20See%20below)ppp]266|200[/hv] IMPs OK, so, over 2♣ we play systems on, and partner bid 2♦ which was Alerted (not asked), and I bid 3♥ which was also alerted and not asked about. Now that I was fully shaped out, our methods were that partner could bid 4♦ asking me to bid 4♥ and telling me he is about to sign off. 4♥ was effectively Keycard in clubs (with some modifications). 4♠ would have effectively been ♦ RKC, etc. After the 4♥ call, my RHO put a pass on the table, and I began to count out my response (the 5♣ call). Before I had even made a move toward the bidding box, partner realizes they have pulled the wrong card. They meant to bid 4♦ to sign off in 4♥. First of all, what would you rule there? Would you allow the change? So the director ruled that the 4♥ bid remains, and clearly I now have some UI -- I responded as I would have to club keycard. My 5♣ call basically showed 2 keycards and the trump queen. Now my LHO doubles... Partner's pass is in theory a relay beginning a spiral scan. Redouble would have been business. This means that partner couldn't be bidding keycard in clubs, otherwise they would have redoubled for sure. Therefore it now seems like AI that partner has messed up someplace. My correct spiral scan response was 5♠, but I thought I could justify based on bridge logic that partner must have done something wrong, and therefore I now bid 5♦, showing 0 or 2 top diamond honours. Seeing that they couldn't get to 5♥ now, partner passed before the doubling started. The end result was down 6, and -300 for us. Do you believe that I have AI? Just how much AI do I have -- Am I authorized to know partner probably has hearts to some degree, and could I lie and bid 5♥ instead (1 or 3 top diamond honours and 0 or 2 top club honours)? Anyway, it is 1:30AM here, so if I forgot anything I'll fill it in in the morning. P.S. No, partner didn't forget that 2♦ was a GF relay, they just decided to do it very light.

(1M) 3M (1m) p (1M) 3N Both technically show 25+ Points in theory I believe... There are plenty of other spots too. I suppose that'd be a cool treasure hunt.

Double for me as well, planning on bidding hearts at my next turn unless partner bids spades. The major advantage here is that when partner doesn't bid spades, we have a fairly strong inference that they don't have 4 of them... Meaning that this hand shouldn't feel obligated to "show" spades later, and bidding hearts will solve the problem.

He does raise a good point. First you post hands where you are suspicious of someone else making questionable decisions that work. Now you post hands of you making questionable decisions that work. Seems to me that these hands are just as suspicious, maybe those other hands were you too and you're suffering from double personalities? :)

Well, I don't see why not. After all, there isn't a "Ridiculously lucky stupid bidding" forum. Pot and kettle eh?

1♠ for me as well. Even if it were my style to open this type of hand with 3♠, I would still be tempted not to: 7-2-2-2, bad spots, scattered values and lots of defense. So many reasons not to.

[hv=lin=pn|Andy_L,~~M2662,~~M2660,~~M2661|st||md|4S2346KAHJD8AC7JKA%2CS5H2369TQD347KC59%2CSTQH45AD26TJQC38Q%2C|rh||ah|Board%206|sv|e|mb|p|mb|2C|an|Strong%20two%20club%20--%2019%2B%20HCP%3B%2023%2B%20total%20po|mb|p|mb|2N|an|Positive%20notrump%20--%202-5%20C%3B%202-5%20D%3B%202-4%20H%3B%202-4%20S%3B%208%2B%20HCP%20|mb|p|mb|3S|an|5%2B%20S%3B%2019%2B%20HCP%3B%2023%2B%20total%20points|mb|p|mb|6N|an|2-5%20C%3B%202-5%20D%3B%202-4%20H%3B%202-4%20S%3B%2012-16%20HCP%20|mb|p|mb|p|mb|p|pc|C2|pc|C7|pc|C9|pc|CQ|pc|C8|pc|C4|pc|CA|pc|C5|pc|S4|pc|S5|pc|SQ|pc|S9|pc|DQ|pc|D5|pc|D8|pc|DK|pc|HQ|pc|HA|pc|H7|pc|HJ|pc|C3|pc|CT|pc|CK|pc|H2|pc|CJ|pc|D3|pc|D2|pc|C6|pc|DA|pc|D7|pc|D6|pc|D9|pc|SA|pc|H3|pc|ST|pc|SJ|pc|SK|pc|H6|pc|H4|pc|S7|pc|S6|pc|H9|pc|DT|pc|S8|pc|HK|pc|S2|pc|HT|pc|H5|pc|H8|pc|S3|pc|D4|pc|DJ|]400|300[/hv] Seems to me this is a backfiring of the standard GIB greed -- It was trying to make 7 when the diamond hook works. I have no idea why it didn't play on diamonds immediately, as that offers the same opportunity but will still make when it loses. Of course a duck by West would give North a decision whether to play for spades to come in or settle for 12 tricks, but it still is much better than the line taken. GIB pays no attention to whether it is in a field contract or not. If it had a 98% line of play in a miraculous 21 HCP slam, it might not take it if it deems another line more likely to take a greater number of tricks on average. This seems like a major weakness for GIB, but it is nearly impossible to come up with a reasonable fix.

I'm a huge fan of playing 2♥ as a double negative, and here it will help a fair amount. Unfortunately I don't have the methods to find out if partner has the ♦8 and ♥Q, and I suggest that anyone who does should probably take up another game. Even 2♣-2♦-4N as a queen ask won't do, since we need an entry. I suppose even 6x might be enough on a good day... Once again, I don't think I can ever find out this information. I would bid 2♣-2♥-5♦-P and give up on other possibilities. Obviously at MPs I might punt 3N.

2N on hand 3 is best for a 1-5-2-5 yarb :)

I once held AKQTxxxx J AT9x -- about a year ago. I was in second seat, equal red at IMPs, and was playing in the last match of a swiss teams that we didn't have a chance to win. Aiming to create a funny story if nothing else, I chose to pass. My LHO who apparently had heart of the rule of 15, saw no reason to open this bidding with her 0-5-4-4 13 count. My partner who knew something was awry looking at his 6 HCP couldn't bring himself to open in 4th seat. So we passed the hand out, I calmly put my hand back in the board without telling partner what I had, and we sent them to the other table. Partner's 6 points consisted of the ♦KQ and the ♠J. After we finished the match we compared results with our somewhat astonished teammates... At the other table they reached 6♠ and misguessed the diamond suit to go off 1, so we won 3 IMPs. Does this mean pass was right? No. Does this mean that an analysis of this hand against robots is conclusive or even helpful? No. Would I pass this hand again if I had it? No. Knowing how to treat these oddball and unusual hands are one of the reasons why the experts and top players can do so well. They may not have seen the exact hand before, but they can apply practical and real-life experiences with similar hands to help them make a decision. I know I am just repeating Justin and Mike somewhat now, but... Bridge auctions are not simply a constructive exchange of information, one of the greatest things that you can learn to do is improve your judgement in competitive auctions, and learn how to create more difficult problems for the opponents. I believe that this is an area where I have quite a bit of experience and can manage to make most people's decisions miserable, while very rarely getting burned. Being able to do this didn't come overnight, and it didn't come from analyzing hundreds of hands against robots, or even people. For me, bidding these hands comes from a table feel and sense of the right thing to do. This sort of hand has very little defense, and wants to play in spades the majority of the time. Every bid won't work 100% of the time, but I feel very strongly that opening this hand 4♠ will pay off quite a lot in the long run. Both of Justin's posts were fantastic, as were Mike's, and I think that if VM1973 is simply refusing to budge despite having many well-respected players disagree with him, it really seems like talking to a brick wall. VM1973, these are great types of hands to learn from better players on. They may not have had the exact situation come up, but they know general guidelines and have a very good feel for how to bid these unusual hands. For you to say "don't compare it to AKQxxxx x x xxxx" is simply being silly. Yes, the hands are slightly different, but the same principles and theories apply. 4♠ has many ways to win, it can create a difficult problem for the opponents, it can get doubled and make, it can warn partner of our lack of defense to they can sacrifice, it can make it hard for the opponents to find a sacrifice, and it gets your hand off your chest in one bid. When I have a way to describe my hand very accurately in one bid, I try very hard to do so. Looking at a 10 board sample, even if it were from the Bermuda Bowl would still be inconclusive. I have seen bridge baron bid and play, and while it may be a good tool to simulate out hands, trusting the robot's bidding or even considering it seems like a major mistake. The example I gave at the beginning of my post was a case where pass happened to be extremely lucky. Even still I would not consider it a win though, because 4♠ is easy, and I might guess right in 6♠. Passing these hands will allow the opponents to exchange information and judge correctly quite often. It also will mean that you now have to catch up later in the auction, and may have some very difficult competitive decisions later that partner will be unable to help with -- After all, they can't imagine you passed this. Bidding these hands to their maximum early in the auction and leaving the opponents with the last guess will pay off much more than you would imagine. The opponents are not clairvoyant, and will not get even 60% of these auctions right. The difference between matchpoints and IMPs can occasionally make a difference on hands like these, but the key here that I think you are missing is that the exact hand does not have to come up for some people to gain experience on these sorts of hands. Quite often just having a similar problem come up will be enough to help improve your judgement. 4♠ is not simply groupthink, it is the tried and true correct bid.

5♥ is standout here IMO. Partner's bid here is fairly wide-ranging and I certainly don't expect to make slam all the time, but I think that we rate to be making slam fairly often... Even when partner has AKJxxxx or something, we still have play. I don't think that 5♥ will be going down that often, and I think it gives us the best chance of finding slam when it is right. Of course partner will bid 5N with Kx, although we may occasionally play 6N down 5. It won't be the first time I bid one more and went down, and I suspect that it won't be the last.

This seems to be similar to a "Tempo discovery play"... For example, say you are declaring 4♥: [hv=pc=n&s=saqthat98d654c643&n=skj7hkj76da32cak2]133|200[/hv] Suppose LHO leads the ♣Q. You win the king in dummy, and need to decide how to guess the trump suit. By playing the ♠J in tempo off dummy and observing RHO's tendency to hitch or fumble, you can then return to dummy and lead the ♥J off and will be better informed to make a good trump guess.