hotShot

Vista needs much better hardware than XP, if you buy a new computer everything is fine. Just check if the software you use will work with Vista and forget about XP. Just make sure that you have at least 2GB of memory. In a company all systems should run the same software to minimize trouble. If they move to Vista, they would have to buy lots of new computer and they have to make sure that every software that is used will work in the new environment. With Windows 7 on the horizon, they don't want to go trough this twice.

I doubt that GIB handles suit combinations at all, it generates deals that fit the 2 known hands and the bidding. Without other informations available, the change of a 4-0 split is 9.6%. If you assume that GIB can handle about 10 generated deals in the given time, there might be no 4-0 split in the generated sample. GIB will play the card that is best in most of the generated deals. If there was no 4-0 split in the sample, GIB won't cater for it. If there had been some bidding from opponents or more informations are available from previously played cards, GIBs generated hands will be close to the actual hand. With enough information available it will do better than a human player, because it uses probabilities that are adapted using the knowledge. If no informations are available, GIB can't apply restrictions to the unknown hands and will generate and analyze deals that deviate a lot from the actual deal. The resulting analysis might fail for the actual deal. The card played by GIB may seem strange to a human player, even if it is a good move.

There was a post from him about Estonian girls ... But according to the search function there are no post newer than august.

I knew that I don't have (wasted) points before, I don't see any ruffs on my side. Why should I get exited? I'm forced to bid 5♦ and I will do exactly that.

If your length in a suit is 0 or 1, than the other 3 player have an average length of 4 or 4.33 cards. Since 2 of them are opps they have an average combined length of 8 or 8.66 cards in that suit. So if you think about an opening in any seat and you are single or void in a higher ranking suit, opps will on average have a fit in that suit and can outbid you on the same level. This also applies if you hold 2 cards in a higher ranking suit, one of your opps will have 5 cards in that suit about half of the time and in more that 1/3 of the cases opps will have a fit. So the true meaning of the "rule of 15" applies to any suit. If you hold 12 HCP and 3 cards in all suits that are higher ranked than the one that you wish to open, there is a good chance that opps can't outbid you with a fit in a higher ranking suit. But this rule does not take into account, that holding a single or void in a suit strengthens your hand if playing with trumps allowing you to safely bid one level more. If you think about opening in a suit (in any seat) and want to use a rule of 15 you have to apply it to every higher ranking suit and it is only valuable if your hand is (semi)balanced. In 3rd seat it is more important to think about the fact that 3rd and 4th seat on average share 24 HCP and that the the first 2 seat average 8 HCP each. Considering that you need preempts if opps might have game and you don't want to miss your own games.

Neg X Splinter Michaels Unusual NT In principle RKCB but since you dont know if it's 3041 or 4130 you better forget about it. I'm sure hat the followup to Jacoby 2NT is not commonly agreed.

With a canapé style you bid your 2nd suit first,, you pre-alert your system and you alert the 2nd suit bid. 1♣ with 4-2-4-3 is not canapé because you open your 3rd longest suit, this is unusual and should be alerted.

In an BBO indy one has to consider that 1♠ may have been a psyche. Otherwise 2♠ is a strong forcing bid and partner will tell you more next round of bidding. Usually he will not have biddable ♥ and wants to know more abut your hand.

You have found a fit, but there is still a lot to learn about your combined hands and how well the will work together. Your partner limited his hand, so you should not expect much. Partner has a cheap 3♥ bid for you, to make the best possible choice. Your partner knows that you shape is most likely 5332 or 5422 (with a singleton you might have made another move), so there is a chance that your side has a double-fit and he tells you that if you have to lead, ♥ lead might be a good idea.

LHO dbled 3♠ most likely because he holds good long ♠ and lead ♥. This should unually not give away a trick because he knows that partners potential ♥ honors are behind the 1♥ response. So I'm playing RHO for ♥K, I take the first trick with the Ace follow with ♥5 (i want to save my entries) and ruff that. Now 3 rounds of trump ending in dummy. Now it's time for the ruffing finesse .....and a good idea how to handle the ♣.

What is North dbl? If it is t/o (and promising 4 ♠) than South is forced to make a bid even with the weakest possible hand. 2♦ is a weak rebid and South is about an Ace better than a weak rebid. So the correct bid from South is 3♦. Why should North bid 2NT over 2♦ at IMPs? North has 10 HCP that will also work playing 2♦ and nothing in ♣. South bid ♦ and ♦ so South will not have 4♣ and since South showed minimum values it is unlikely that South has ♣ stopper. So North has to assume that the ♣ suit is wide open in NT.

I think the MBT-Robots are running on the server. The double-dummy analysis is running local. I don't know about the other uses of robots.

3♥ should force partner to a bid, depending on his answer i would pass 3NT or bid 4/5♣.

3♣ should be ok, if the ♦ where a little better (or partner had bid ♦) 2NT would have been a choice.

I would bid 5♥. We have a 10 card fit and my ♠ void should be valuable. The ♣ suit should produce some tricks too.

Does 1NT promise a stopper? In that case I would try 2NT.

I double. What shape can partner have? I hold 3 cards in ♦ opener should have 6-7. So Partner won't have a lot of ♦'s and if ♠ is his longest suit, than he will have 5+ of them most of the time.

Given that I don't have better agreement, Depending on the meaning of 4♦ i would bid that or I would try 4♣. If partner gives a positive response, 5♦ or 5♥ should be quite save and slam is withing reach.

The player (as did the one at the other table) bid 3NT.

The given system description says: 3NT (13-15 balanced, usually no four card major) This describes perfectly what we have. In a well designed system, the 2♣ bid should not include hands that can be described using a different bid. If I were the opener, I would expect 18+ HCP, if I get to know your shape or make sure that we play ♣, if I learn about your strength, because I expect an unbalanced hand with 5♣ now.

None whatsoever. Indeed such individuals would receive no benefit from having their system repeatedly thrust in front of their eyes, and to them any change would be otiose. Likewise, I have no problem with opponents who can remember what cards were played to a previous trick. Even so I applaud the decision of software designers to leave the completed tricks face down. But you should not close your eye about the fact that playing online, your opponents (and even your pickup partner) can write down each trick as they are played or check his printed system notes during bidding. So if they want to use memory aids, they can do that. If they don't want to do that they will ignore or switch off FD.

If you allow 1NT to have 5cM, there is no simple way to decide what to open with a 5cM hand. So I will ignore that. I assume that 12 HCP is the minimum opening strength, there is no strong bid to set an upper limit to the HCP. If you take the rule of 18 as a general definition for an opening (and you don't want to open a lot of them) about 55-60% of all deals an opener gets, are a PASS. 8.6% of all deals are 1♣ openings (not allowing 5cm's in NT) 0.63% of all deals are a 1♣ opening and contain only 3 ♣. => ~7.3% of the 1♣ openings have only 3♣. 6.8% of all deals have ♥ as longest suit (5+) or the shape is {3433, 4432, 4423} (15-17HCP excluded) 1.6% of all deals have the shape {3433, 4432, 4423} (15-17HCP excluded) => 23.5% of the 1♥ openings show a 4 card suit

Of cause you're right, I will add them later.

[Edit: Assuming they don't open NT since no range is given, % is from all deals] 1) 1♥ ~ 2.2% for 12+ HCP and shape in {3433, 4432, 4423} 2) 1♣ ~ 4.7% for 12+ HCP and shape in {4333, 2344, 3244, 3424, 2434, 4234 , 4324} ~5.3% 12+HCP and 5+ cards and ♣ is longest suit ~ 0.9% for 12+ HCP and shape in 4333 (~0.63% removing the 15-17 HCP range) Without removing the NT hands from the other shapes (that will increase the percentage of 3 card ♣) it is about 6-7%.

If you never play against systems containing HUM bids, they will stay HUM to you. There are people who believe that these methods are better, ignoring that most of the gain they notice is a consequence of opps being unprepared to handle them. Prepare a defense you feel comfortable with, and have fun when they discover that they don't get the benefit they are used to.