mtvesuvius

Stop making me learn things! I'm going to Oklahoma. *sticks head in sand*

OK so I'm apparently borderline insane :)

BWS2001 is not god. Nor is SAYC. Maybe spaghetti monsters, but I digress... Anyway, the overall allows us to not be forced into bidding 1N on 6-7 HCP hands, which rarely play well, and if penalized can often be quite a massacre. Reserving 1N for constructive 8-10 hands allows you to bid better both constructively and defensively. The 6-7 HCP hands aren't really thrilled about bidding the first time, but now they have to find a call. In this case, that is 1N.

double post

OK, so where I learned the game, 7NT is the highest possible bid, since I am not from the era of 8 level sacrifices. This is the ultimate case of slow arrival, after all, what are we worried about? 2♣ is not going to pass out, lol. Opening 7♦ or 7NT, other than the shock effect, is completely worthless and silly. I don't know if I'll be able to find out what I need, but I'm going to be creative about it. My plan is to open 2♣ and rebid 4♣ setting trump. Partner will do something, I'll ask for the ♣Q after the 0/3 response, and if partner denies it I'll bid 6N, if they show it, I'll bid 7N. Easy game! It'd be more interesting if we were missing a major suit queen.

Now your goal is to get to par, so yes I'd risk it if it was more than like 15%... Funny find, 655321.

Me and Gumperz might be available, I'll be flying in tomorrow, and will know more once I talk to him then.

It seems much more like you're attempting to defend your passing these hands to your partner.

Umm, no.

Good point Atul, and while Mike Lawrence may have some good ideas and defense books, he also does have some abstract (and outdated) bidding theories. I think this is definitely one of them.

Simulations for competitive auctions are questionable at best. If you gave a set of 50 hands to people, and asked them "What do you think would happen, and how would the auction go if East opens 3♥ and South doubles? What about passes?" I'm confident that there would be different answers on a bunch of these, and I'm even confident that if I were to give the same people the exact same problems a couple hours later, I would get different answers for at least 5 hands.

Get in fast, get out fast still applies here, just not as much. I'd rather double the first time than consider acting later, or have to describe this hand after partner takes a call.

The hand with shortness acts is my general principle. If I'm in 4th seat after 3H - P - P, I want to be able to let it go comfortably. Therefore with a stiff/void in opener's suit I'll double very aggressively. I think conservative on balanced hands and aggressive on unbalanced hands is the way to go. I consider all these hands an easy double. Yes, I'll get burned sometimes, but we'll also get to the right spot quite often as well, and we won't have to worry about bidding this hand later... After all, what DO you do when partner reopens? Does partner have to take a call on every random 13 count in 4th chair in fear that we passed a hand like this? It all comes back to a very basic principle: Get in fast, get out fast.

Especially when they make it or escape for down 1 when you were cold for 3N. It'll tell them something, just probably not what you want.

All of em

I much prefer not having to rebid 2N (or higher) on 5-4 types, which I think removes the point of 2/1 and in generally bad. One structure that I've been playing for a while which I like is that you reverse the meanings of 2♠ and 2N. Therefore: 1M-2X 2M is exactly 5M, and no 4 card suit lower than X 1M-2X 2N is 6+M, and you can go about finding your fits etc as normal 1M-2X 3Y is natural and shows extras (Y < X) 1M-2X 2Y is natural and does not show show extras (Y > X) 1♥-2♣/2♦ 2♠ does not show extras either This has worked quite well, and allows you to rightside NT most of the time, and responder can bid a waiting 2N if they want to know more about opener's shape, otherwise they continue their original plan when they bid 2/1.

I'd bid 3N as well, passing is too much of a position with no quick tricks, lousy trump spots, and no ruffing values. 3N should have a reasonable shot to make, especially since a holding like ♦Jx in dummy might be very valuable.

I think the best way to determine whether to go for down one or making/down 2 or 3, is to consider what the par and likely field contracts are. You have to decide after seeing dummy whether you think other people will be in this contract, and if not, where will they be? Obviously this will all be guesswork, however making educated guesses can help significantly here. For example, let's say you open 1NT 15-17 on a balanced 16 without a 5cM, partner transfers and bids 3N, you pass (with a small doubleton heart), and you see dummy. Here this looks to be the normal contract, and so you can opt to take the 90% down one, instead of the 10% make. Compare that situation to something like this, where you have a bidding mixup and wind up in a 6♣ contract that nobody else will be in. Here, you'll want to go for the make, since if you go down, chances are that you'll get a bad board anyway. Another consideration when going for overtricks/least undertricks is considering if you've already been given a trick or two. I've made this mistake many times, and in fact did so last week... Once you've been given a trick or two in what seems to be a fairly normal contract, don't try to be a hero and take more. Accepting the gifted overtrick or two will get you a lot of extra MPs. In summary: When in "normal" contracts, taking a conservative down one instead of risking down 3 or making will pay off. When in "unusual" contracts, often any minus score will be bad, so you have to go for the plus, since there probably won't be many MPs difference between down 1 and down 4.

Sorry but using the law to justify passing on hands like this is silly... As gwnn said, just think about the different effects of moving around cards and suits when trump divide 7-1 instead of 4-4 or 5-3. I don't see where you are getting 880 from, and I think 3♠ rates to make quite often.

OK that makes no sense, a passed hand is a passed hand. You don't pass 14 counts waiting for partner to open the suit you have, do you? Therefore a passed hand is limited, and a splinter can only be so good.

You've never held a balanced 7 count with a stopper before? FWIW I agree w/the hog here, although the actual hand is a bit atypical.

Almost too good but I'd 1N that.

2♥ for me

1. Over 7♣, RHO is probably not leading a heart, so I think I'd be inclined to try 6♣, which is much more likely to buy a heart lead. Partner might also have a stiff diamond. 2. While we do have hearts, this hand has so much in spades that I think 3N will be right more often than not. 3. Double only promises 1M here, and we have an easy retreat... This one is clear IMO. 4. Not enough to bid here IMO... 5. 2♠ seems normal enough, the thought of bidding 3♦ is making me a bit sick. My answers: 1. 6♣ 2. 3NT 3. Double 4. Pass 5. 2♠

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