se12sam

♥x. We have 3 suits covered... the only way they can make tricks is thru ruffs/cross-ruffs.

Wow! Look at the latest standings: 1. Contador 2. Andy Schleck 3. Frank Schleck 4. Lance Armstrong 5. Andreas Kloden 6. Bradley Wiggins So, Andy has reached his destiny position. Now Wiggo has to somehow find the strength to beat the others in Individual time trial by a wide-enough margin.

Probable order in General Classification: 1. Alberto Contador 2. Andy Schlek 3. Bradley Wiggins 4. Lance Armstrong The problem with Wiggins is that his team of domestiques is not as strong as Astana. And Andy Schlek is too talented to be kept down for long. Having said that, one has to admire Lance for what he has achieved in this Tour. I would have thought he will burn out, but he is still in contention for a podium. And though he was outclassed on the climb to Verbier yesterday, he surely played a very intelligent and team-oriented part earlier in the Tour on stage 7 when he shepherded Wiggins and others as Contador made the break.

This is one of the problems in the EBU "Alerting guidelines" http://www.ebu.co.uk/publications/Conventi...nts%20Table.pdf See the top two lines on page 2. If I read it correctly, it states that the dbl needs to be alerted. In this case, where anyone that has played bridge knows that 3♥x can only be a penalty dbl, I think the director may not rule in N/S favour (especially because N/S did not do anything to protect themselves).

I think slam is tough to bid with any certainty. If I bid 4♠ now, I cannot be sure what 4NT by partner would mean vs 5♣ by partner. There is another interesting point in the bidding: If partner bids 3♥/3♠ after the 3♦, is he showing a 4-card suit? If there is such an agreement, a refusal to bid 3M will indicate a 3-3-2-5 hand. In any case, having hoped that partner cues 4♦ first, I'll give up after 4♥ and bid 4NT (to play, I hope).

Question for Hanoi5: How does your cue-bidding work. If you were to bid 4♣ with the South hand, will all subsequent bids be 1st round controls or either 1st/2nd round controls. I can think of a few ideal hands where 6♦ has good chances. But the key in your method is whether you can bring the bidding to a halt in 4NT (with a clear understanding it is to play). If you can, I'd bid 4♣ as precursor to cue bidding.

1. Does raising 4th suit promise 4=5=4=0, or is 3=5=4=1 ok? Not sure. I'd play 3-5-4-1 as a possibility. After all, 4-5-4-0 is less frequent 2. What should 4♣ mean? I'd say extra values, with implicit agreement in spade suit. 3. Not sure about 4NT here. It looks to have stemmed from a misunderstanding. 4. Cue bids and 4NT RKC are both available after 3♠ 5. Can responder ever both suggest a spade contract and make a slam try? Yes, I'd say the 4♣ bid does exactly that 6. How should the bidding actually go? 1♥ - 2♣ 2♦ - 2♠* 2NT - 3♦ 3♠ - 4NT** 5♥ - 6NT * 2♠ is 4th suit forcing ** To be honest, I'm not sure if this will be interpreted as RKCB for ♠

At IMPs: 1. White vs. white: 3♥ all seats (note: all implies 1st, 2nd, 3rd) 2. White vs. red: 3♥ all seats 3. Red vs. red: 2♥ all seats 4. Red vs. white: 2♥ in 1st or 3rd seat. May pass in 2nd seat At Matchpoints: 3♥ all seats, and all vulnerabilities

Wow! Thanks, I did not know that. This happened in a club a few months ago when I was playing with a pickup & experienced partner against expert opposition. Our side was defending and, when I pointed a card wrongly, my partner immediately told me of my error. After the deal was complete, both declarer and dummy told my partner that he is not allowed to inform me and I thought they were right. But partner insisted he is allowed as long as he does it immediately.

This should be fairly simple (and suitable for inclusion here) Assume EBU regulations and duplicate bridge but I am also curious to know if ACBL regulations differ. 1. As a defender, am I always required to place quitted tricks correctly i.e. pointing vertically / horizontally depending on whether our side won / lost a trick 2. Suppose I habitually do this. Now, after the play to some trick mid-way thru the deal, I was engrossed in thought and point wrongly (we won, but I kept the card horizontal). Almost instantly and clearly before any play commences to the next trick, partner informs me that I have pointed wrongly. a. Is he allowed to do this when our side is defending? b. Is he allowed to do this if I were declarer and he was dummy? c. Is he allowed to do this if I am dummy and he is declarer? (I suppose the answer to this one is yes, but I include it for completeness) d. If there is a standard penalty for partner pointing out, what would it be?

When does N/S intend to lead diamond? Mbodell got the line right, but you are adding a twist that does not feature in his line.

Considering 5♣ is cold, maybe E/W should have found the 5♥ sac. What was the vulnerability?

The odd one is still the 5♣ bid (red vs. white). Assume the 3♣ bidder is something like x xx xxx AKJxxxx. If your partner's hand is then AJxx AJxx AQxx x, this means the 5♣ bidder had something like Kxx Kxx Kxx Qxxx. I'm not sure many will jump to 5♣ with such hands when they had a 3NT bid or an option to pass with hope to defeat 4♠. It appears more likely that partner is a strong 2-suited/3-suited hand; and a club void is not ruled out. I'd have bid 5♠ on the earlier round, but after the re-opening double I definitely bid 5♠.

If I read this correctly, 1. Opps are Red and we are white 2. South (our RHO) chose not to redouble or bid 3NT, but instead jumped to 5♣ Unless RHO is certain that we have a game/slam in a major suit, his action is illogical at MPs. RHO could have a freakish hand with minors, and hold strong hopes of making 5♣. I will bid 5♠. I will be ready with a apology if partner had a hand suitable to beat 5♣.

If we have the three side suits protected, why do I need to risk a club lead. Declarer could have ♣Qx (or even ♣Jx with dummy ATx). I lead ♠4 playing 4th best OR ♠6 if we play 3rd/5th etc

How about simply leading a ♥x from dummy at trick 3 and playing ♥K? We need to ruff only one diamond in dummy; a play of trumps at trick 3 does not destroy that line of play. My problem with playing off either black suit at trick 3 is that I can be forced in the same suit later when opponents win in trumps.

If we intend to try a club finesse (hoping it wins) and a heart discard, I'd still need to ruff a heart and possibly a fourth club in dummy. I may as well hope for a 2-2 trump split. I win the ♥A, cash the ♦A, ruff a low ♦ with ♠2, return to dummy with ♠Q and ruff a low ♦ with ♠J. * If the ♦K falls, I lead a low spade to dummy's ♠K and play the ♦Q throwing a heart. If trumps were 3-1 and the ♦Q gets ruffed, I still have a fall back on the club finesse. * If the ♦K did not fall yet, I lead a low spade to dummy's ♠K and hope spades are 2-2 + the ♣K is onside.

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=s9xxxhjxxdatxxcqx&s=sakjxhatdxcakjxxx]133|200|Scoring: XIMP East as dealer began with 1♦. The bidding at our table went: East - South - West - North 1♦ - Dbl - pass - 1♠ pass - 4♦ - pass - 4♠ All pass East held ALL the missing HCP and it is possible to make a grand on a squeeze[/hv] When the deal was played, I held the North hand. At the table partner blamed me for not bidding on (his rationale: I was a maximum for the 1♠ bid, which could be on 0 HCP hands). However, I thought my bid was normal (my rationale: most of my HCP -- ♦A -- is wasted opposite a singleton/void). Please feel free to comment / assign blame for not reaching the 6-level in bidding.

But not this knowledgeable forum. Option 4 has received 0(!) out of 23 votes after two days.

1. I'd say 4NT is a decent continuation. You are mostly interested in knowing key cards; and worried that spade ace could be missing. 2. Yes, 4♦ as forcing.

North should bid 4♠ at IMPs. Useful features in his hand include a fifth trump, the king of diamonds and a semi-solid heart suit which will grow in strength if partner does produce one or two honor cards.

[hv=d=e&v=b&s=sakjxhatdxcakjxxx]133|100|Scoring: XIMP East as dealer begins with 1♦ -- which promises at least 4 cards. The bidding goes: East - South - West - North 1♦ - ??? - pass - 1♠* pass - ??? Would appreciate your comments as well. Notes: 1. Assume you don't know partner will bid 1♠ when you take your first action. 2. If you bid 2♣ first, you cannot be sure partner will bid.[/hv]

I can't figure this one out. The play to trick 5 (discard of ♣10) looks odd. I wonder if West found an odd/brilliant bid of 4♣ with KT2

I think this is either brilliant or lucky. a. Brilliant -- if East heard the bidding carefully, the low club is a sound candidate for a lead. Having said that, it could still make East look foolish in some cases. So there is some risk attached. If East consciously chose it, well done! He deserves the result. b. Lucky -- every one of us has encountered people who underlead aces without any sound reason. This could be one of them. I think the play to trick 4 is well thought out and some of the people who (randomly) underlead aces will not find it. The play to trick 4 tips the scales in the direction of brilliant.

I play the ♦9 from dummy; and when it is covered by East, I duck it. I think this changes the tempo equation of the deal * If East returns diamond, we are guaranteed 4♦, 3♣ and 2 ♥ tricks. * If East returns a spade, West has two choices -- cash spades (allowing us 2♠, 2♦, 2♥ and 3♣) or switch to something else (allows us to set up the fifth diamond safely if East had ♦ length). * If East returns a club or a heart, I win in dummy and play spades myself -- causing the same dilemma for West