Jlall

You would really double with ♠ Q754 ♥ Q3 ♦ Q852 ♣ KQ6 ? Yes that's what I was saying, I like live seat acting to be sounder than mosts, I might pass some minimum opening strenght hands with a decent suit. The style pays when you have slams (bidding already shows a good hand), althou hurts on more common situations. 1 Month ago I would think ♥Qx and ♥xx were exactly the same, but reading the forums is maybe changing my way of thinking. How can Qx and xx be the same? If partner is bidding 3N or passing the HQ is much better than xx. I agree with downgrading Qx obviously since it is worse than any other Q we can have, but giving it a value of 0 is really extreme.

What really? Did you see that it was matchpoints? I honestly can't imagine you doing anything else Actually no I didn't lol. This is probably minority to say btw, but I'm closer to passing with west than not-passing the double with east. I would expect that to be completely mainstream heh.

Wrongsiding 3N is a pretty huge downside.

9 tricks are easier than 10

How would partner make a strong heart raise? Is 4m not natural? 4m is a cue for hearts

Pass, it's matchpoints. With any luck they'll balance with 2H and you can X. At imps vul id definitely stayman

3H wtp

Do they play 4th best or att? Is it MP or imps? Are we vul or not? These are all factors in the decision, but its hard for me to imagine not playing a heart to the queen

Alright I passed, guess I suck :angry:

4S for me

On this hand, dealer is known to have 10-15, so it might not be as necessary to show different strengths. Great point, and admittedly I did not notice this. I think 5C is a standout then. Agree with this also.

you guys are good at sqzes

Fred, I'm not sure, but I'd like 2 ways to bid 3 suiters, based on how good my hand is. I could have a 21 count, or this 15 count, or whatever. It seems like I should differentiate. Probably something artificial to handle really good vs just good 2 suiters/1 suiters is good also though.

r/w imps. P P 2S ? T8xx AQJx Ax KQx They open all 11s at this vul in first seat, righty is soundish but she can definitely be frisky (wide or heavy) in third. Partner reopens semi-aggressively with a stiff spade, but not as aggressively as me, I would say they are slightly above average. With a doubleton spade they're probably conservative, especially if it's Hx. You open most 11s usually, but red/white second seat you pass the worst say 25 % of balanced 11s. You play leb if you X. edit: Also sorry if the thread title is offensive, I posted it without thinking of a previous discussion on this forum, it was not meant as sexist and is just a phrase that you often use without thinking of where it came from. Mod feel free to change it.

Yeah... he did this yesterday at a sectional like it was no prob haha. My analysis in the post mortem at the other table was that this hand could not be made even after a trump lead. I did not see Bob's line, but did I luck into being correct? (LHO was 1354). It looks as if a Club back after the King definitely ruins the endplay when West is 1354. I find it impossible to find at the table. Inserting the ♣10 at the first turn also works nicely because it destroys the entry position (it works whenever Clubs are 4-2, doesn't it ?). I wonder who would find this at the table (not me!). Maybe Mr. Hamman ? Yep, a club back was what I was thinking... I find that to be an amazing play! Beautiful hand all around, and well played by Bob.

Yeah... he did this yesterday at a sectional like it was no prob haha. My analysis in the post mortem at the other table was that this hand could not be made even after a trump lead. I did not see Bob's line, but did I luck into being correct? (LHO was 1354).

This just discourages claims. If they hadn't claimed, they would have played their tricks from the top and taken all the tricks. Perhaps claimers should always state "from the top" along with "all mine". But, as Josh suggests, it ought to be implicit. No it doesn't, it discourages claims from people who don't know if their cards are actually high or not. I would like to discourage such claims. By all means claim if you know you have the rest, as I said if there are only 2 clubs out I will obv give it to you without any statement, but if you forget a card and happen to get lucky that it drops, you don't get the benefit of the doubt that you would have played top down imo. There is a fundamental difference in these two cases to me: 1) You forgot a card and think all of your cards are high 2) You know that the suit will come in by playing top down, because you can count the suit. The latter case is analagous to having AKQJTxxx opp void, and claiming. Obviously you don't think the small ones are high, but you know that the suit will become high 100 %. That is fine, you don't have to say anything. But if you have T976 and there is 8xxx out and you claim "all mine" and it happens to be stiff 8, then you have clearly forgotten the 8. Since it is reasonable to play your cards in any order if they're all the same, then you have to play the 6 first. For the same reason if you have AKQJ of trumps opp xxxx and you draw 1 round and everyone follows and you immediately claim without saying anything obviously you get it, but if you draw 3 rounds of trumps and then claim you have obviously forgotten about a trump, and you don't get the benefit of drawing the last trump. There is a fundamental difference in cases where you forgot a card and where you didn't. If this discourages people from claiming if they don't know what the cards out are, that's fine. It is not my fault if you forget a card and then don't get the benefit of the doubt after your bad claim. If it were actually true that people "always" played top from equals, then I would agree with you, but I don't think that is true. And it is not fair to the non offending side to take away the equity they had from the definite non zero chance that people would play smaller of equals. If "from the top" was implicit because they're not sure if the 8 is out or not, then they wouldn't claim. Honestly if you know me I'm never nitpicky about claims, and at higher levels it is routine to claim without saying anything on pretty much every hand, but it is also routine not to forget about a card/make a false claim, and in the latter case you lose your option to receive the benefit of the doubt imo. Again, I am NOT trying to punish someone who claims here when it is a lock that the suit will come in like if there are only 2 cards left in the suit, then the claim is fine and should be encouraged since it is a correct claim.

I'm bidding because I think we might have a game or save in spades if we have a 5-4 fit there. If partner starts going crazy, that's fine with me, I have a good hand for spades. If he goes crazy reversing or something, I have 5 trumps and a stiff in support of his first suit, and I am not ashamed of my hand at all (since he also will have 5 clubs). If he has 18-19 balanced I guess he will bid 2N and we cannot get out in 3C anymore, but in that case the opponents have more than half the deck plus a fit so I'm not really worried. If my goal was simply to mess with the opponents I would choose 3C over 1S. ok thx. my question was more general, if you think acting is better when RHO passes than when he doubles. When RHO passes it is better because we are much more likely to have a 5-4 spade fit/spade game, and if we are stealing it's easier to do so when RHO has passed, possibly freezing them, but with only 3 red cards and 0 HCP a successful steal is quite unlikely so that's not much of a factor.

[hv=n=st642h72dat9cq952&s=sakq73haq6dq2cj43]133|200|[/hv] You open 1S, X on your left, 2H (constr raise) by pard, 2N by you, 3S from pard, 3N by you, 4S from pard, all pass. Lefty leads the trump 8. You draw trumps in 3 rounds unblocking the ten, LHO pitching 2 diamonds (encouraging). You play a club to the 9, RHO wins the king, and plays back the HJ. How do you play? Imps.

What really? Did you see that it was matchpoints? I honestly can't imagine you doing anything else

lol you're aware we have 0 HCP right? If partner leads the SK to let them make some contract when some other lead would have beaten it, don't you think maybe partner made a stupid lead? If he is looking at sure tricks in his hand/all the high cards, he is allowed to use his brain. A 1S bid does not show high spades, or ask for a spade lead, or demand partner to do something idiotic. I have full faith in partner that if we can beat their contract on defense when I have zero tricks, he won't be banging out Kx. As far as partner being upset and their being an erosion of trust, I think the only way to erode trust is to do something that you think is the wrong bridge action, in the name of "keeping partner happy." Hopefully partner is a rational human being who always wants you to do what you feel is best. If I view 1S as the bid that will give us the best result in the long term, and don't make it because I'm scared partner might cry, then that is an erosion of trust. Frankly I do not want to play with someone who is so childish that they get upset because I bid a 5 card spade suit on a potential double fit hand when that is our most likely game, and a likely save spot. I don't see why 1S is an operation, and 3C is not. 3C is a bid that is designed to get in their way, at the cost of sometimes missing our own spade fit. In my mind, 3C with a 5 card major is an operation, I don't see why bidding 1S is. Stop counting points so much. The biggest operation that I can see is passing with FIVE card support for partner and 5-5 though. Even if you want to count beans and wait for your 6 points to bid 1S (lol), how can you justify not preempting in clubs with 5 card support and a stiff? Passing with such a great hand for clubs seems like the biggest operation of all. I would not want to play with someone who passed, but not because I think they are operating, just because I think they lack bridge judgement. But please start giving partner more credit than assuming he will always make a disastrous lead of Kx when you bid a suit, or that he will get his panties in a bunch if you make what you think is a good bridge action. The only valid reason for partner to not want to play with you for bidding something is if he thinks you are a poor bridge player for doing so.

Just 2H for me, it is a good 13 but...its still a 6331 13. Sorry to count points :P

5N, I don't really want to encourage 7 even though I have the first round control.

Yeah I agree 5H can miss some good slams but I think it avoids more bad slams than it misses good ones. I guess one thing working in it's favor is sometimes on the bad layouts you're too high in 5 anyways.

This is a completely routine auction for me... 1000 % agree with both actions