twcho

I have posted the following hand in the law and regulation forum but I would like to seek some other opinion too. MP, Both, I was sitting east holding: QJxxx QTx x QTxx South, the dealer, open 1NT (15-17). North respond 2NT, alerted. Now south bid 3♦ and the bidding come back to me. I asked what is 2NT and was explained that it is ♦ suit. I then asked whether it can show invitaional hand. North's answer was yes and south has to bid 3♣ to show a better opening hand then north can decide whether to go to game. So in short, what I felt at this moment was that North could have weak or at best invitational value. Since we play heavy trap after strong NT. Partner can have a very good hand when passing over 1NT albeit he may take some action if he really gets one after the 3♦ bid by south. I tranced for quite some time before finally passing the 3♦ bid and had said sorry to opp's that I have to take time to decide whether to balance or not (it is MP and time is tight). The whole hand being: [hv=d=s&v=b&n=s64hj876dkt8765c8&w=sat3ha54da32cj743&e=sqj752hqt2d9cqt52&s=sk98hk93dqj4cak96]399|300|Scoring: MP W N E S - - - 1NT P 2NT P 3♦ P P P[/hv] My partner lead ♣4 and subsequently, declarer misguessed the ♥ position and went down 1. He then doubted why I took so long to pass the hand with such minimal value and asked so many questions. And these had misled him in playing the hand. He called director and everything was reported to the director and the fact was agreed by all players. Later, director came back to us and told us that my action has misled the declarer so the result was corrected to just made. He added the comment that I shouldn't say anything during my trance. I was really upset by the ruling. Is that any part in the law stating that weak hand can't ask question and can't think? And you can judge from the hand that 3♠ is on for us. Do you agree with the ruling? Tommy

Yes, Jan, your added description for what happened at the table really makes the match must more interesting and let us know about what the players were actually doing. This is really great. Thanks a lot. Keep up the good work.

Wish you better luck next time.

I think u can ruff the 3rd ♣ with small trump and then cash ♦A and play towards ♦K, if the ♦ shortness is with LHO, then he rates to have longer trumps and he will gain nothing in ruffing ♦ so he has to duck the ♦. After scoring two ♦ tricks, it is not difficult to come to 10 tricks by cross ruffing then.

[hv=d=s&n=saqxhjdkt9xxxcxxx&s=skjxxhakxxdaxxcxx]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] How to reach the best contract? (I suppose to be 4♠)

Thanks for the amazing work done

Thanks for the tips

How about the pastability of the chat area? Sometimes you click the wrong name and type a lengthy message and found that it was directed to the wrong person. You have to retype all once again. If the characters in the chat area can be copy and paste, the job will be much easier.

My choice: 1. Fulvio Fantoni – Claudio Nunes 2. Geoff Hampson – Eric Rodwell 3. Waleed ElAhmady – Tarek Sadek 4. Bobby Levin – Steve Weinstein 5. Boye Brogeland – Ishmael DelMonte 6. Sam Lev – Jacek Pszczola

Thanks Rob again for the detail analysis. However I would like to add some comment on your analysis. For the last two possibilities, declarer may have problem of choosing which minor to get back to dummy to draw the trump after ruffing 2 ♥ in hand. He may well guess only 50% of the cases. So the resulting percentage will be even closer. I doubt who can probably work out which is the best line at the table.

Good job by Rob F. Minor squeeze won't work as the D is 33 and you would not have entry to enjoy the 4th C in hand although the C finesse is marked (C break 51). But just as Rob stated, I'm not sure whether this is the best line. Can someone calculate the odds for this vs the minor suit squeeze play?

You hold ♠K9xx ♥xxx ♦AKx ♣AKT, a nice 17 HCP collection and hear your pd, white vs white, opens 1♦ in first position. Your RHO bids 3♥. OK, it is easy, you X. Your pd jumps to 4♠. So you have double fit and pd likely would have ♥A too. 6♠ should be of no problem and 7♠ is not impossible. You use the simplest tool, 4NT, KCB. Pd bid 5♠. You try 5NT asking for lowest K and as expected pd bid 6♠ denying any side K. Now you trance into the possibility of grand. Your partnership will open 12-14 NT at this vul. So if pd is balanced hand, he may well bid 3nt in his 2nd turn (your double did not guarantee 4 card in ♠, though likely). Your conclusion is that pd should be unbalanced with 5+♦ and 4♠, if he has ♦Qxxxx, which he rates to have, you'll have 2♣, 5♦, 1♥ and 5♠. Now you think deeper into the possibility of 7NT. If pd has 6 card in ♦, maybe 7NT is safer. You trick out the master bid of 7♥ and after long thought, pd finally settles for 7♠. Your RHO leads ♥K and turn to the position of your pd and help him to solve his problem. His hand being ♠AQJx ♥A ♦xxxx ♣Q9xx. How shd you play this hand?

Why the broadcast only starts at the 2nd day of the tournament?

What is the minimum strength for a double of 4S by north with passing partner? I am thinking that if you double at higher level, you need to increase your hand strength by about 2 pts for each level. Supposing 1SX require at least 11HCP with typical 1444 hand. Then 4SX imo needs 17 or at least 16 with typical holding. With north hand void in S, he can lessen his requirement but I think his hand is a minimum. And even facing such a minimum, 5D is cold with south hand and 6D makeable.

[hv=d=w&v=b&n=shak6dk873ck98754&w=saqt96542hj2d42c6&e=skj8ht9873da5cqt3&s=s73hq54dqjt96caj2]399|300|Scoring: IMP Bidding went as: W N E S P P 4♠ X P P P [/hv] I kibitzed the above hand in a BBO team match played by high calibre players. The result is 4♠X-1. My feeling was that the double by north is normal but the pass by south is doubtful. However, when I asked the other kibitzers whether the pass was their choice and most replied that pass is normal. I am a bit puzzled because what I have been taught is that take out double is for take out. For this hand, south have 10 working pts outside ♠ and such a good suit as ♦, how can one consider passing the double. For me, 5♦ is automatic and even 6♦ is not impossible. Another renowned kibitzer replied to me that this was a borderline choice for south but the main culprit is the double by north which she said that 5♣ would be her choice. All the kibitzers' comments were different from mine. Is that my bridge logic really so poor?

Actually is there any standard meaning for: 2H, 3H, 4H, 2D and 3D by south?

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=saktxht8xdxcajt9x&s=sj98haqxxxdjxxxcq]133|200|Scoring: IMP W N E S 1D X pass 2H All pass[/hv] Result: 2H+3 Is South's 2H an underbid or North pass conservative?

[hv=d=n&v=e&n=sj2hk84dkqjt9853c&w=sqt7hqt62d62cat42&e=s93ha9753da7cj765&s=sak8654hjd4ckq983]399|300|Scoring: IMP Bidding went: 5♦ X All pass[/hv] Trick 1: ♠9 ♠A ♠T ♠2 Trick 2: ♣K ♣A ♦3 ♣5 Trick 3: ♦J ♦A ♦4 ♦2 Trick 4: ♥A Our defensive carding is UDCA. Generally attitude before count. How can the defense do better? Note: East double is penalty oriented because pass is forcing by agreement

I think the problem west faced with his 1st round bidding is whether to choose 3nt or 4S or probably double. 4S can easily be the right contract if you have to lose lead to south who can then lead thru your H after the 1st H lead which means that 3nt will be easily defeated. Normally double will deny 4 card S but 4S may easily be the wrong bid if pd happens to have only 3S or even 4 card in S won't help as shown in this example hand (they set it up for bidding challenge because it is difficult).

My pd open 1H and I got a wonderful hand: A - KQX KQJxxxxxx. What is your bidding plan to reach the optimum contract? Additional information, we play 2/1 absolutely GF and cue bid style promising 1st or 2nd round control.

1♥ for me

[hv=d=w&v=b&n=sq52h9752d952ct74&w=sathqt8dt843c9862&e=s6hakj643daj6cqj3&s=skj98743hdkq7cak5]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] It will be fatal if you think before ducking the SA or take the first trump trick with Ace. After winning the 2nd trump presuming south misguessing the trump situation (or else there is no story), it is not easy to realize that returning a H will be fatal. The reason is that if you lead the 2nd round of H, East will be squeezed in the end position (which was actually what happened at the match). You have to return a C to protect your 2 winning H tricks intact to save your pd from being squeezed. If the HT and H9 were interchanged, there will be no defense. This is a real cool position that I have never come across before. And west have to know to return a C rather than a D. I'm not sure whether east can deduce that pd leading a C is the only successful line when he tried to discard on the 2nd S to give the suit preference signal to his pd.

An interesting hand from Gov BI Cup final[hv=d=w&v=b&n=sq52h9752d952ct74&w=sathqt8dt843c9862]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Bidding went as follows: P P 1H 4S P P X All P You lead H8, partner's K is ruffed by declarer. Declarer lead SJ, plan your defense.

[hv=d=n&v=b&n=saqjh74dkq754cakj&s=s72hkqj8d83cqt954]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] NS playing precision and bidding went: N - S 1♣-2♣ 2♦-2♥ 3♣-3♥ 3♠-4♣ 4♦-5♣ 6♣ Only the first bid is artificial and other are more or less natural bid. Who is at more fault? and which is the most terrible bid?

The Yeh Brothers Cup is being broadcasted in Chinese Bridge Website. And I heard someone said that the reason for not broadcasting in BBO is that the hand data is stored in a different format which cannot be adopted by BBO. Is that true?