AnJoe

I'm having a friendly disagreement with a regular partner over when to use suit preference signals and when to show count. For instance, against a 4 spade contract, with two broken suits you elect to lay down the diamond ace, and find the dummy with K,Q, J. Now, is an 8 from partner suit preference, or possibly start of a doubleton? (Attitude?) Can we switch from showing doubletons or attitude in such an instance to showing suit preference? I think I can make an argument for either. Should I be able to tell which from length of my own suit and visualizing declarer's hand given the bidding?

How many times do I have to say it? A reverse is not a system. You don't "play reverses." A reverse is inherent in the bidding. You can disregard the implication of a reverse but you are going to get too high on many hands when you do. Period. joan

I quote from a previous post: This seems a bit weird to me, because it would be advantageous to the "offending side" to simply never alert such calls, on the off chance that the opponents forget to ask (or are afraid to ask because of the potential information asking gives to the opponents or to partner). Nonetheless this is seemingly policy in a lot of places, for example" The foregoing attitude bothers me a lot. Are we playing ethical bridge or gotcha? :D Is it the intention of sneaking through a convention that may be misinterpreted by opponents?? I hope I don't play at your table. :o love joan

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=skxhkxxxxd10xxxxck&s=saqj109xxhadxcaq10x]133|200|Scoring: MP[/hv] North is a much better than average club player who reads everything Mike Lawrence writes and assumes everyone else has also, even without prior discussion. South opens 1 spade, hears a 1 NT forcing response and jumps to 4 spades. North passes, explaining that Lawrence says after a forcing NT opener automatically jumps to 4 with a seven card suit. :unsure: Huh? As South, I contend the bid is just like 1H, 1S response and 4H rebid showing long suit and 20 points. :) So we missed slam. Could I as South have prevented any misunderstanding here by startingn with a 2Club bid? I do have 8 1/2 tricks. Bridge is a crazy game. love joan love joan

Good question, Quiddity. I like a 3 club, or preferably a 4 club call, over the 2 D fsf bid. Shows what I have in my hand, five clubs and four spades, and the 4 club shows pretty strong. I don't get all these "inference" bids. love joan

I know that many years ago, when I was an active director, under ACBL it was deemed illegal to psyche a limited bid, like an opening 1 Nt (15-17 agreed) or 2 C (if that was your all purpose strong bid.) Only a 1 pt deviation was allowed. Did this rule change while I wasn't playing much or is it true only under ACBL rules?

OP specified IMPs. Would you consider another opening at MPs? love joan

I'm recommending it for my students ready to venture into 2/1. As with most of Grant's books (I have used them for beginner classes) it is easy to read. love joan B)

I am by no means an expert, but I do play a lot of bridge in the USA. With a lot of diffeent partners. And I can tell you that in this sequence, the club bid would indicate a weakish hand with six diamonds and four clubs. period. love joan

I've been working with my advance class on forcing bids, using standard systems, either SAYC or 2/1. I thought we had worked it out pretty good until two students presented me with this hand.[hv=d=n&v=n&n=sak6hkq1084daj6c86&s=sj1094h7dk105ckj973]133|200|Scoring: MP[/hv] North opened 1 heart, South responded 1 spade, North rebid 2 D (!) and South passed. North was outraged -- my 2 D bid is forcing! South didn't think so. North said she would have bid NT if she had known about the cubs. In neither SAYC or 2/1 is South able to bid 2 clubs. My first answer, just glancing at the hand, was yes, it is forcing, up to 90 percent of the time. South claimed she had a real problem. In this case, what is South to do? I couldn't answer that with any real assurance. The board was played 10 times. 2 D making was next to bottom score. Actually 1 or 2 H was bid and made. So did 1, 2 and 3 NT. So did 2 spades. These players are mostly beginner-intermediates, but all working hard to master the game. Yes, we discussed that North probably should have opened 1 NT. But there are times that a 5 card M just feels right. North took a big chance bidding a 3-card diamond suit with an inexperienced partner. But again, would 1 spade or 1 NT be any better description? I find these simple little part-score hands are the most confusing to students. Any help here? love joan

Hey, I am way over 80 and I play in a club game mostly of retired people and we don't ask to be mollycoddled. We can psyche = and do == with the best of them. :lol: A sweet little old lady that I thought was a rank beginner flat psyched me out of a vulnerable game the other day. Sweetest smile on her face when she apologized as she wrote down her score. :P love joan

Vulnerable, dealer, you hold xxx AKQJxxx xx x Do you pre-empt 3H, or 4H? Or do you count length points and open 1 H? Or do you pass in first seat because you hold 3 spades? This particular hand has touched off a lot of discussion at our club, with votes for all four options. What is reason for your choice? love joan

In our local district tournaments, standings are posted before the last round. True, some players swing a bit on those last two boards if they are a few points behind but with catching distance.

And we still have not heard what are advantages and disadvantages of this method. love joan :) :o

This bid came up in our club last month and we had at leasts ten different opinions on it by 2/1 players. Intrigued, I volunteered to research it == and consulted books by more than half a dozen pros. Found half a dozen opinions. None agreed in total. As a GF, it falls back on partnership agreement. My usual partners and I decided that 1 D or 1 M, 2 C, 2 anything, 3 C would not be GF. I haven't had enough experience since then to find out if this really works. love joan

That is Milton Work point count, not Milton work as you repeatedly stated. Mr. Work suggested the point count long before Mr. Goren did. I learned it from his book when I was a teenager and never had to struggle with cumbersome honor count a la Culbertson. That was all a long time ago before anyone ever heard of LOTT. Mr. Watson was writing his book then too. love joan

I've seen an awful lot of players who seem to think that a "strong and forcing" 2♣ opener is only forcing to one trick below game (2NT, 3 of a major, 4 of a minor). I don't think such players have considered the ramifications of their approach. dry.gif This approach has worked well enough for me for the last 45 years == but then, I am an old fashioned player.

I want to apologize to all for making a mistake in the hand I posted, for using all caps and for not being able to edit it. I thank all who helped. Now, for the hand that SHOULD have been posted: AJxx A10x AKxx xx This hand, as you can see, is considerably stronger -- 16 points opposite a 14-17 NT and thus in slam zone. BUT -- it is so square. How often will it make slam? Should responder bid 4 NT or make any other move toward slam? When I held it, I did use Stayman and opener did NOT have a 4-card M. I did not make a move toward slam, which did make, but I think there was a slight defensive error. I hate square hands for slams. love joan

HOW DO I PULL A POST WITH AN ERROR? CANNOT FIND AN EDIT BUTTON HERE.

♠AXX ♥A10X ♦AXXX ♣XXX PARTNER OPENS 1 NT (15=17) DO YOU SIGN OFF AT 3 NT OR INVITE SLAM BY BIDDING 4 NT? HOW OFTEN DO YOU THINK SLAM WILL BE ON WITH THIS HAND???

I can tell you that the splinter did not work out here. I would not have used it holding a single King, but my partner, a very good former rubber bridge player, was wanting to learn it, so we were making opportunities for using it. When he responded 4 spades, holding an 11 point hand, I was stymied. :( As it turns out, Jac 2 NT would have been perfect, since he had a singleton club. Axxxx, Axx, Kxxx and x No problem making 6 for a bad board. Everyone else bidding normally, 2 clubs or 2 hearts and then Bwd. Oh well. So much for learning. :)

Two aces and you get a heart lead! Torpedo!!!!

Vulnerable at MPs, you hear your partner open 1 ♠ Here's your hand: ♠KQJ98 ♥KJ109 ♦K ♣A43 Which is the most useful convention here, jacoby 2NT or Splinter?? Do you splinter with a King? Do you use J2NT with an un balanced hand??

4 spades. if partner pulls it, I'll get a new partner. :blink:

Double and pass 3 clubs?? You don't want to lose the heart suit, now you are losing the spade suit!! :blink: