shyams

Responder can (and will) bid the unbid minor (2♦) to create a game force. THe 2♦ itself will not confirm/convey a fit for any suit(s) bid so far

Sorry to have not explicitly state it in the OP. a. 1♣ is 3+ cards, and b. 2♣ is forcing for 1 round, not a game-force

MPs --- white vs. red. Partner (dealer) opens 1♣ and opponent passes. You hold: ♠Q ♥10xxx ♦Q ♣AK109876

I would open 1♣ as well. And over 1♠, I too would rebid my club suit. As others noted, the 3♠ bid is a massive underbid. I totally agree with Cyberyeti's note that 2♦ must serve as an artificial relay. Then (i.e. over a 2♦ rebid by North), your partnership agreements would come into play. For example, does a jump to 3♥ show this hand or a splinter in support of (a potential) diamond fit? In the absence of any special agreements, South has an easy 2♥ bid available.

It might be that the Legislature in the USA shirks away from its responsibility to legislate, especially on controversial issues. It seems they prefer to use wedge issues to raise bucketloads of political donations (and consequently get reelected) than to resolve said wedge issues.

I tried using the same setup a couple of minutes ago. ChatGPT opened 1NT(!) holding South's cards and added as explanation that 1NT shows a balanced 15-17 HCP hand.

Sort of agree with smerriman. I too would double although I don't see it as an easy or automatic action. At this vul, I think I will double. It gets harder at both white; I might still do it. I will pass if our side was red. I probably got this wrong but I am merely posting what I would do having given it some thought.

https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|shyams,~~M10220,~~M10218,~~M10219|md|2SAQHAKJ9852DA3CJ3,SJ9H6DKQ876CAK962,SK852HQ43DJ92CQ87,ST7643HT7DT54CT54|sv|o|rh||ah|Board%208|mb|1D|an|Minor%20suit%20opening%20--%203+%20!D;%2011-21%20HCP;%2012-22%20total%20points%20|mb|P|mb|P|mb|4H|an|Balancing%20jump%20overcall%20--%207+%20!H;%20strong%20rebiddable%20!H;%2015-18%20total%20p|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|CK|pc|C7|pc|C4|pc|C3|pc|DK|pc|D2|pc|D4|pc|DA|pc|HA|pc|H6|pc|H3|pc|H7|pc|HK|pc|C6|pc|H4|pc|HT|pc|SA|pc|S9|pc|S2|pc|S3|pc|SQ|pc|SJ|pc|S5|pc|ST|pc|H2|pc|D8|pc|HQ|pc|S6|pc|SK|pc|S7|pc|CJ|pc|C2|pc|S8|pc|S4|pc|D3|pc|D7|mc|12| I have pasted the webviewer link of the hand. At trick 6, the East bot gifted me a trick in ways that appear insane. That ♠10 discard by East is simply illogical. Let us look at the "facts": 1. As per GIB notes, my 4♥ bid showed 15-18 total points and 7+ hearts. 2. Based on my cards played to the first 6 tricks, East can count (a) my 7 heart card, and (b) my 17 total points so far. That's why I was baffled by the spade 10 discard.

Diana, I am curious what no. of games or what duration is needed to become a full member. I am trying to coax one of the younglings from my clan to join BBO. It will be good to know what she will need to do before she can participate in my favourite robot game (Zenith).

With the new "price changes" implemented today, the BB$ pot available to Zenith Rewards MP game and the other Daylong rewards games has shrunk to 70% of total BB$s collected. It used to be 80% thus far. I know a few of the regular BBF posters play in this game. So I thought this may be of interest.

I too have faced this issue. Happens about 1 in 3 times that I tried logging in to BBO. The best I could come up with was to close the browser tab and try again in a new one; this seems to work.

I have added the link again --- hopefully the revised link works. Yes, partner had the ♦Q. With bots as partner, I would not risk 7♦. I suppose it could backfire.

This hand came up yesterday in the 3-day Robot Survivor tournament. MP scoring. Partner and Opp are Robots. [hv=pc=n&s=skhakj86dakj63ca6&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p2cp2dp2hp3h(3%2B%20!H%3B%205%2B%20pts%3B%20GF)p4c(shows%20!CA%2C%20denies%20!SA)p4np5d(%5B1%20or%5D%204%20key%20cards)p5np7n(Is%20this%20a%20bad%20call%3F)ppp]133|200[/hv] * The 5NT by North confirms the missing key cards (♠A & ♥Q) with North. * I have played enough with bots to know that (in my experience) their 3H raise is rarely done on poor hands. * When North launched into 4NT, to me it seemed like North has something in spare to explore a grand. So I jumped to 7NT instead of replying with Kings or jumping to 7♥. Today I discovered that mine was the only table in 7NT. Was my 7NT an anti-percentage action? The full hand: https://tinyurl.com/2758lr2x. As an aside, playing in 7♥ scores a healthy 78% on this board which made me wonder if 7NT was too much. Edited: full hand with the BBO Handviewer link (this will hopefully work) Handviewer link

WaPo article: (Quote) Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro spent an estimated $855,000 boosting Mastriano in an ad calling him one of “Trump’s strongest supporters,” and talking about his belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The ad notes that if Mastriano wins the primary, it would be a “win for what Donald Trump stands for.” Shapiro spent more than double what Mastriano spent on his own ads. (End quote)

2♦ Plan to bid more diamonds in later rounds

4♠

I am posting in this thread although my issue may not relate to connection issues (at least that's my guess). I almost exclusively used to play using my Chromebook where I have this issue below. I have also played on mobile where I do not experience the same problem. When I am playing a robot tournament (e.g. daylong, Zenith daily), BBO freezes mid play and the only option I have is to logout and re-login. * I then reenter that daylong tournament and find that the last played card has not been registered by BBO. * So I play it again and it continues from then on. Until the next freeze --- which can occur within 5-10 minutes. * I think (not 100% certain) this glitch does not occur during bidding, only during the play phase. * For sake of clarity, this is not about network timeout or connectivity issue at my end. * I have a very stable WiFi network, I often have other devices connected to the net that work seamlessly when my BBO freeze occurs, and I have not seen lagging occur when I am playing more data-hungry online games. * Finally, I have experienced this glitch only in the past 1-3 weeks. I don't recall facing this in the past. Please help.

FYI, the filibuster is part of the UK Parliament procedures. It is recognised as a proper process provided suitable protocols are followed by the Member attempting a successful filibuster. Filibusters are not something that occurred centuries ago; there are examples on YouTube from the 2000s or 2010s. Having said that, filibusters are rare over here. That the US Senate adopted it as part of their procedures is not unusual. What may be unusual about the US is the ease with which a filibuster can be implemented and the difficulty/impossibility of getting a procedural override within the Senate to overcome it.

Anyone seen "Don't look up"? Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio movie. It's received poor reviews but also seems to have reached the top of the most viewed list on Netflix. FYI, I've not & I'm not in a hurry to see it.

I am not an economics trained person, I am not an investment professional, and most of my investments are for the long-term (with very few ins-outs in the middle). Here is my layman opinion -- hopefully aimed at provoking more thought. The UK Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) has been measuring CPI and RPI on a consistent basis. Yes we have free healthcare which may make comparisons easier but the methodology is documented and transparent. Our media never talks about "core inflation excluding gas prices" or other kinds of variant inflation figures. A proportion of the country also buys private healthcare insurance (either as an employer-provided perk or as a self-bought feature) -- I am quite sure that health insurance costs form part of the CPI and their weights are proportionally lower because it is not universally bought. The local media (incl. BBC) often talk about how some portion of the inflation affects the pensioners more. The media websites often carry a rudimentary "personalised inflation calculator" to help people understand what is happening. In short, the fact that inflation is not properly measured may be a US phenomenon, not a European one. We probably know a bit more about what inflation means to us. Yes, the central bank printing trillions did not impact inflation as we know it because the money did not flow back to the average household.If (hypothetically) all the QE funds were instead distributed to every tax-paying American as a tax rebate check, your country (and consequently the world) would have seen inflation like never before. The inflation, if any, is happening in asset prices. There were expert-written articles making the rounds about "asset inflation" that are worth reading; some are too complex for my understanding. That asset prices are rising due to surplus liquidity is more likely a causal rather than a coincidental relation. Given that asset inflation impacts the average folk mostly when they try to buy homes, the millionaire folk when they try to buy art, and the billionaire folk when they try to buy corporations, not much media attention is given to whether & how asset inflation can be harmful.

Are you assuming that I did not? Simply to take inane potshots when the opportunity arises? Go ahead. PS: Is it because you Americans chose a terrible President to replace the Clown President and I had the temerity to call him out as bad?

Why does the BBC report the Govt. spin as if it were fact? The new article by Nick Triggle (link) is merely parroting the party line without questioning a single statistic or hypothesis. For example, 1. The much-touted herd immunity rate was somewhere around 65% of the population. England has already vaccinated 80% of all adults (which, probably is ~65% of the population). This number will rise by a further 2%-4% by June 21st. In effect, the herd immunity levels may have been reached -- so why is BBC not challenging the UK Govt on this point. 2. The original objective of the lockdown was "Protect the NHS". There is absolutely no indication that the infections are resulting in actual increase in ICU patients or in deaths or in any way stressing the NHS. If the very foundation of the lockdown no longer exists, why can't the BBC challenge the UK Govt about their rationale for deferring the normalcy date? The BBC may not be in a position to assess if the deferral is merited or not. However, I find it really difficult to believe that the BBC has (over the past two weeks) only pushed the Govt's assessment of how a delay is important -- without giving any consideration to counter facts or counter arguments or robust challenges. Annoying!

(Quote from the article) "The unlikely demise of the state’s most coveted corporate tax break has become a rare instance of Texas’ powerful business interests failing to get what they wanted from the Legislature. At least for now."(End quote) Therein lies the rub. A bit of prodding & pushing in the weeks to come, and soon enough there will be a loophole or an amendment or some other sleight of hand that extends the tax breaks. After all, the lawmakers have learnt never to disappoint the donor class.

I open 1♦ The follow-up: 3♣. I guess I am very basic; after deciding on my 3♣ rebid, I thought about both 2NT and (a weird) 2♠. I don't like either enough to overturn my first choice of 3♣

The 3♣ bid is not forcing but I don't treat it as a sign off. Opener has shown 5-5 or 6-5 in the black suits with limited HCP. (I know some people who open a 5cM in preference to a 6cm. To them, the bidding might include a 5-6 distribution). Responder's 2NT was invitational, so after the 3♣ rebid, responder should reevaluate their hand, especially with a 3+ card club fit. Agree with other posters that 3♦ is to play. Barring special agreements, responder would usually have a weak hand with a long diamond suit and would prefer to play in diamonds