cherdanno

Have a look at http://gov.ca.gov/pdf/press/2009bills/AB11...eto_Message.pdf . Also note that Tom Ammiana, who had authored the bill, had a fight with Arnie before. See http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05e...?entry_id=49163 account of the story.

You mean all 5 aces surely!

Despite the problem of possibly being in the wrong spot or letting in opponents when we pass 1♥, I think we are still ahead of the double dummy contract. If opponents compete, partner will have a fairly good guess about what my hand looks like. Opponents guesses about each other's hand will be worse. With regards to the simulation, most East's also won't have a subminimum opening with a 5-card major, or a subminimum opening with a good 4-card major. That really increases our IMPs expectation I think. (West is also more likely to open light or an aggressive preempt in 1st seat than partner in 2nd seat.)

3S because I am a passed hand. If partner passes out or doubles 4S I can respect that. If he makes a slam try I will cooperate once.

You are 5-4 with great intermediates in your suit.

I would be happy to bet that Meckstroth would double. Ok, impossible bet, he would have opened. Anyway, I would double.

I don't think so. Just avoid ever leading a heart. If declarer covers, you win and exit a spade. If he wins and strips you of spades, you will later take your club tricks and exit with your small club when declarer tries to endplay you there.

Values, worry about a spade stopper when partner doesn't have help there.

Further questions will be answered by your lawyer? :P :)

I am saying that "LOL" in reply to "because I already know the answer - to play that way is a mistake" is not an insult. Btw, "LOL" means "laughing out loud".

Are you saying that your "LOL" was justified because you knew that Burn was gong to insult Han four hours later? Come on, if I wrote s.th. like "well but we already knew Brits can't bid", then I wouldn't mind getting a sarcastic reply, or a "LOL", or whatever. In fact, any comment just ridiculing my statement, rather than ridiculing me or Americans or Germans or Dutch would seem rather mild in reply to me.

I would call it "best available models", in the case of physics at least.

Codo, in this thread it wasn't Justin who started the insults.

I always feel like such a bully if i do this kind of thing in a non-competitive atmosphere like normal club duplicate. Yeah, just like when I bid a slam against them, or 6NT when everyone else is in 6H, or beating their game with a forcing defense, or doubling them when I have QJT9 of trumps.

I guess I will never understand English bidding then. Why would this hand not bid 4♦ to show he has good diamond cards? One of the advantages of 2/1 is, you know, that you are forced to game, and so 4♦ is forcing. If you aren't aware of such advantages, I agree it is a mistake to play 2/1 GF. Because if opener has: ♠QJ10xx ♥Ax ♦QJxx ♣Kx which would presumably open 1♠ and raise 2♦ to 3♦, you do not want to be in other than 3NT, which is a rather difficult contract to reach when East has bid 4♦. If it is American bidding to perpetrate 4♦ to "show good diamond cards", then I think I will stay in England where balanced hands bid no trumps and unbalanced hands bid suits. Come on, unless you consider me an idiot it was obvious that I meant that this hand would bid 4♦ over 4♣, not 4♦ over 3♦.

Yeah, but the same is also true if you play multi as "weak 2 in a major, or a 3=4=5=1 hand with 26 hcp and a stiff Q of clubs". My impression is that the regulation intends to make such an agreement (which is basically equivalent to playing a weak-only multi) illegal.

I guess I will never understand English bidding then. Why would this hand not bid 4♦ to show he has good diamond cards? One of the advantages of 2/1 is, you know, that you are forced to game, and so 4♦ is forcing. If you aren't aware of such advantages, I agree it is a mistake to play 2/1 GF.

4N in 1st seat.

I would rather bid 4♥ than 5♥. We are down on the 5-level opposite many normal doubles like Axxx Jxx KQxx Kx.

2♣.

That reminds me of two friends of mine sitting next to each other in a club and sending text messages to each other. The music was loud enough to make talking to each other impossible.

Bid 3♥ over 2♦, 3♥ over 2♠, and something crazy over 2♥ :)

Obviously the vast majority of Western Europeans are very happy with Obama, although the picture is more diverted in Eastern (Central?) Europe. Personally I would say that the USA is doing fine in international matters. I like the US position better than the European one on most issues, but maybe it would be a good idea to spend more money on humanitarian and development aid and less on military aid. I never understood why international politics is so important to USA. USA is much less vulnerable to external security and trade issues than are Europe and Japan, so it would be perfectly understandable if you decided to focus on cleaning up your domestic mess (health care, education, crime, CO2 emissions, lawyer mafia etc) and leave the rest of the World to its own devices. Maybe the fact that most Americans have roots on other continents make you more concerned about global security issues? Here in England nobody gives a damn about what happens in Scotland let alone Europe (to say nothing about other continents) although we are much more dependent on them than you are. I am not sure what you are saying here. Foreign policy is a more important topic in Germany than in the USA - except that it isn't discussed much as there is a fairly big consensus on most foreign policy issues in Germany. The American economy is arguably more dependent on the world economy than Europe - with the big trade deficit the American economy is dependent on investments from China and petro-dollars continuing to come in. Most of the American foreign policy discussion is driven by perceived threats to the USA (nuclear bomb in Iran and Al Quaeda), and by the special relation with Israel.

Barry, this is complete non-sense. Of course you never lie about this. If you hesitate and you don't say something, then your partner has UI; if you hesitate and say "I don't have a problem on this trick" your partner has UI. Well, there are laws to deal with this, but transmitting UI by itself is not illegal; deceiving declarer on the other hand may be illegal.

The last time I played a set against a precision pair, I won a game swing on the first board when the auction went (1C) 2H all pass, as RHO passed it out with his balanced 20 count. Of course he could bid 2N now but that would be more dangerous than opening 2N, as my partner might be able to double. I am not claiming to know whether this issue is more important than the missed minor suit slams after opening 2NT, but it is interesting to note that Meckwell seem to have the opposite opinion - they like opening 2N so much that they play a comparatively wide range (they explain it as 19-21 I believe).