Jlall

Very easy pass whatever the conditions are, hope we make!

Maybe 3H is good because if partner does bid 3N we have clubs double stopped and he has wastage so it's probably right? But if we have a D slam 3H is not a good start to getting there at all so I'm not sure.

Really? How does it work out for him then? I mean I don't doubt you but I just don't understand. What do you mean? If it's best hand and you have 12, your partner (and each opp) can have at most 12.

I can tell you 100 % no that they do not go through these calculations. It is very very rare in bridge when you need to know exact percentages, usually you can just view combinations against themselves. So someone like Meckstroth is going to be very good at figuring out the relevant combinations, and then it's usually easy to see which is more likely without knowing any numbers. This hand for instance at the table I would analyze like I did here that one line picks up Q(xx) of spades on right, or Q(x) of diamonds. One line picks up Q(x) of spades or Qx(xx) or Q9(xx) of diamonds on right. I would have no idea what the numbers are, but usually they are not that close so it's easy to tell, or they have more in common so it's easier to compare. At the table I can tell you I would have gone wrong (hence when I said line A was intuitive), because my math intuition was wrong. It is entirely possible that Helgemo or Meckstroth's bridge math intuition is better than mine and they would have gotten to that point and said obv line B is better, but there is no chance they would know the exact numbers and then crunch them. You can go your entire bridge career without knowing any numbers other than the basic finesse = 50 %, 3-2=68 %, 3-3=36 % etc and be the best declarer in the world. Maybe you will lose 1 % on close lines here or there, but that's not what it's all about. Another funny story about Meck, my dad asked him a similar hand to this once and he looked at it for maybe 2 seconds and said "I don't know ask Rosenberg." Fair enough.

I just want to add to this that vs most opps they will show you their hands via discarding and tanking and squirming (NOT LITERALLY PEOPLE!) on the run of the clubs so you can figure out the endgame. With that said, I agree with run clubs, play some diamonds, figure out what to do.

And speed is no longer a factor right since there's a set amount of hands so we don't necessarily have to hog? You have to hog anyway, GIB is a really bad declarer since: 1) He plays on a pretty fast setting and consequently takes some very anti-percentage lines sometimes. 2) He doesn't know it's matchpoints. 3) BY FAR THE BIGGEST REASON: GIB doesn't know how to exploit GIB's weird defensive tendencies. Also GIB defends terribly when you misdescribe your hand. Obv I'm better than gib but I think gib plays fine in general and I don't go out of my way to hog from it (just like in real life if I think I'm better than my pard but that my pard is confident). The main reason I hog in the robot race tourneys is because I'm way faster and speed is a huge issue, but I am generally confident in gibs declarer play that I'll only hog if I think it's quite close.

3. 3N 7. 4H 9. 2N 11. P These all seemed really easy. 3,7,11 just seem like normal good bridge actions. The only one where I do something different live is board 9 where I would upgrade. With gib upgrading out of 2N is crazy though, it slam tries super aggressively etc over 2N. I am almost sure jdonn will agree when I go back and read his answers. The only interesting one to me is board 1. Obviously I will NOT invite game if it's best hand MP, but I could bid 2D or 1N. 1N is gonna win if I get 120 vs 110 or 150 vs 130. 2D is gonna win if its 130 vs 120 or 110 vs 90. Honestly I think it's close, and if everything else were equal (we were both declaring both contracts, gibs defended perfectly), I would choose 2D since I think it's slightly more likely to gain, but in this MP duplicate I'm gonna go for it. There's just huge upside to me declaring 1N, I am more likely to steal a trick and if I do it will be huge. So I'll go with 1N. Hopefully my answers agree with the best robot race player in the world!

And speed is no longer a factor right since there's a set amount of hands so we don't necessarily have to hog?

Before I answer are these things best hand also or not? I've never played the MP ones.

Made an obvious typo in my first post but just to clarify I meant if he has a spade stopper and no club stopper he will bid 3S over 3H, and then we will bid 3N.

hmm, I meant if diamonds are 45 % to come in normally by playing the jack off dummy, and if spades are 18.5 % to come in normally then I did: 45+(18.5*.55) And if diamonds are 33 % to come in by playing it one way and spades are 28 % then I did: 33+(28*.67) Sorry if I represented this badly or if this is a weird way to do it, it makes sense to me and since gnasher's numbers agree with mine minus rounding errors then I think it's an ok way to do it.

DK, DA, then go for four spade tricks is the intuitive line. This picks up Qx or stiff Q of diamonds anywhere, or Q Qx/Qxx of spades on right. Another option is A then king of spades followed by the DJ. This picks up stiff Q or Qx of spades somewhere or Qx, Qxx, Qxxx, and Q9xx of diamonds on right. Line A picks up diamonds ~33 % of the time and spades ~28 % of the time. Line B picks up diamonds ~45 % of the time and spades ~18.5 % of the time. So line A is ~52 % and line B ~55 % if I did the math right here.

How is 3N normal with this hand lol? Just chalk getting to stupid 3Ns up to bad luck I guess! Bidding 3H is normal. If partner has a spade stopper and no club stopper over that he will bid 3S. If he has 3 hearts he can raise to 4H. If you had a spade stopper and no club stopper you can bid 3S over 3D. If partner has a club stopper and no spade stopper he can bid 3N over that. The problem hands are when you have a club stopper and no spade stopper and FOUR hearts because bidding 3H is not an option then. With that hand type you tough it up and bid 3N.

What is dummy's first x, is it higher than my lowest x in my hand? Anyways I'm sure I'd start by ducking the club in tempo. LHO will never shift to a diamond from the K, if he has the DA he can work out to bang it down and I'll make 4 which is fine. If not I am still in the game for making 6 with 2-2 hearts and spades coming in. If hearts are 3-1 I will ruff a club and need Qx of spades to make 5. Winning the club and playing ace of hearts, spade spade spade is just pretty irresponsible/wild I think.

win the first trick with the K or Q and lead a small ♠off of dummy intending to insert the J Any reason for this or just lookin to get into the newspapers :)

heart to the ace, spade to the jack. later I will pitch 2 clubs on the spades and try a diamond hook. edit: Just realized if they have QTxx of spades on my left and duck a spade to the jack thats pretty BALLERRRRRRRRRR. Oh well they won't :)

I dont play NLM but I like this logic a lot if I did play it.

I would take 2N as minors. 2N then 3H, no idea, maybe 0355.

I don't think they'll ever have a decision to save unless the 1N bidder has a psyche with a spade fit and now has a save decision...maybe that's what you meant? If they haven't psyched I don't think the guy who bid 2S will ever bid 4S now, and I don't think the 1N bidder with a doubleton spade can ever do so. Also while I often like the idea of blasting a lot, I think the 2H bid here is a really wide ranging bid with like a good 5 to a bad 10 so it's tough. I really like the 2N idea though. I still am not comfortable using lots of 2N bids in competition as raises and don't have good rules for it, but this one seems logical, and in general I think it is a good idea. I know the rest of the world is doing it so I might as well come around sooner or later. Edit: I would also like to add that in 5 years I will read this thread and be like LOL I DIDN'T KNOW 2N WAS A GOOD RAISE WHAT A FISH.

I assume you are bidding 3N? Btw, if I can really the best continuation I can wish for this hand, I would ask for the number of hearts with 2♣, play 2♥ opposite 2, and 3N opposite 3+ :) I would transfer and bid 3N assuming this told partner to use judgement which is how I like to play (and more generally partner will almost always pass with 4333 and bid 4M with a doubleton outside and 3 trumps like 95 %). Admittedly in the old days this was an auto 3N for me, and I'm sure my dad still would bid 3N, I prefer this route now.

3H is an invite in my view. I saw a hand on this forum recently where someone bid 3H in the same auction and they passed with a great 9 count or something so maybe it's nonstandard to play 3H as showing extras in this auction. I have always taught my students that if you raise to the 2 level in comp it is just competitive, but if you raise to the 3 level it's invitational because there is not another way to invite and you should just be passing with minimum hands anyways since partner is still alive and can reopen X or 3m or 3M. Since this is hearts over spades you can probably get away with Xing 2S and correcting 3m to 3H since there's so much room but sometimes they bid 3S before you get that chance, so I'd rather just keep X as showing extra values with 3 hearts.

Pass, we have probably done well to get to clubs. FWIW I think 2N by partner should be 2 places to play rather than natural so I'm not worried about partner having 4 clubs on this auction (unless he has 4 small spades and decided not to pass).

I would lead a spade. What else? A diamond lead seems to accomplish nothing and might well give them a finesse when RHO is void and LHO has AQ. A spade might set up trick if partner has the SK + something or the AQ of spades.

You don't think you ever have a good 5D save? I think that's my main reason for bidding 4D, even more so than messing them up if they have a slam but they are both pretty close. Otherwise I pretty much agree with gnasher on the upsides/downsides exactly. I'm not worried about going for 1100, so the biggest downside is when this is a phantom against a game which is possible but not thattt likely and I will often get out for 300 then. The other big downside is if I help them play it correctly in a significant manner, but double will sometimes do that anyways. I guess I really like the idea of denying RHO the chance to bid 3D then 3S (whatever that is), or especially 3D then 4C, and I really like the idea of partner raising me to 5D and us putting them to a 5 level decision that they possibly cannot solve anyways (we might just be going for 300 and they can't make at the 5 level). It seems worth it since I don't think either of the big downsides is that likely.

Yes, embrace the glory of doubling with this.