shyams

I agree. The UK is almost entirely responsible for this mess. The backstop was mostly put in place based on a UK demand; news at that time featured videos of EU negotiators saying that they "agreed to the backstop because the UK Govt. needs it to maintain the Good Friday agreement". The UK Govt. has never been clear what they want and how they will (try to) make a success our of Brexit. At all points in the negotiation, it appeared like the EU negotiators knew what they were doing, how they wanted to negotiate and what their expectations were. In contrast, the UK negotiators never once appeared like they knew what they were doing or why they were even there. *** "Brexit means Brexit" *** "Red White and Blue Brexit" *** "Right deal for the United Kingdom is also the right deal for the EU" *** "We import more than we export -- the German automobile industry will force EU to negotiate a deal" are all myths perpetuated by our political class who never had a clue on what Brexit should mean. We now have reached a stage where domiciled EU nationals' rights are being jeopardised by the perfidy of our Home Secretary.

Try Richard Pavlicek's excellent website --- http://www.rpbridge.net/rput.htm --- and you might find a program that serves your purpose.

The "zero views" is a forum software bug. Many people have read your post. It is only the first reply (like this one) which causes the correct count to be displayed Perhaps no one could volunteer/contribute and consequently did not reply to your post. You may wish to reinstate the text in case some like me read stuff a few days later.

Nothing. Did it disconcert you and cause you to misplay/misbid that hand? If it did, I suspect there is no recourse available.

There is a material difference between pragmatic solutions and politically palatable solutions. I might agree with your analysis that NI and RoI can be treated as one contiguous country, still part of the EU. However, it is impossible for our politicians to even contemplate such a solution in the next few parliaments, let alone the present one with the wafer thin majority.

I feel 3♣ is obvious as the first action. A negative dbl is not an action I would seriously consider. The interesting problem is after partner's next bid. I agree with Nigel that I would bid 3♠ over 3♦ or 3♥. If partner bids 3♠, I am sorely tempted to raise to 5♠. Partner should interpret this as "bid slam if we don't have two losers in their suit, diamonds" If partner bids 3NT instead, I would pass at MPs.

The vote was split 5-4, am I correct? So it's more like +1 to Chief Justice Roberts.

Yes I did confuse you with thepossum. My apologies.

Yes I did

You are too polite. If I were the author/translator, I'd either ignore the post by pescetomthepossum or post a scathing retort.

Try http://www.bridgebase.com/v3

It's happening to me too. And I am using Chromebook and the older (flash) version of BBO.

If your agreement includes 3NT as a response showing 11-12, then I hope you also have agreed continuations that follow a 3NT bid. Surely 3NT is forcing on opener as you are in slam territory so what are opener's choices with balanced hand OR a strong single suited hand (not clubs) OR strong with good club suit?

South. North could be as weak as ♠- ♥87654 ♦65432 ♣J104 and you're still a favourite for 10 tricks.

My views are: a. 2NT - 4M (I declare) sounds a bit risky in that the 20 HCP hand is dummy. Instead, it probably should default to... b. 2NT - 4m; 4M (you declare) c1. Slam hands suitable for RKC use the sequence 2NT - 4m; 4M - 4NT (RKC in M). c2. Mild slam invite hands can be shown with the sequence 2NT - 3red; 3M - 4M ("I have a good hand, but I need you to have trump support + something good") d. If you are planning to use 3S as relay to 3N, the "2N 3S 3N 4M" as natural doesn't sound right. Instead, perhaps a structure can be built for such continuations (e.g. 2N 3S 3N 4m sets m as trumps and asks for key cards; 2N 3S 3N 4M shows a splinter or fragment in M and good hand).

Is this inspired by Trump's Mexico tariff announcement?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9196110/donald-trump-meghan-markle-nasty-comment-uk-visit/ The Meghan Markle comment is somewhat irrelevant; the fun portion is when he talks about climate change & how "we're doing very well" :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

For a while, when I was playing serious competitive MPs, my partner and I used to play "system on" styled advances over partner's double of 11-14 1NT. It used to work well enough but we did occasionally score lesser than the potential penalty to 1NTx. IIRC, the reason we designed the structure was that many adv/exp players had runout sequences after 1NTx. For example, many used to play "pass forces a redouble by opener" usually to show a single suit runout and "bid shows two suited hand". The 1NT opener's side then had the advantage of sharing information freely while the doubler's side was still waiting and guessing on the best outcomes.

A relevant twitter thread that went viral a few months ago

Assuming the analysis to be solid, the numbers above prove that at MPs, you are better off passing.

There is a lot of useful statistical analysis on Richard Pavlicek's website (www.rpbridge.net). Hopefully, you will find what you're looking for.

If the final decision was taken by an independent body like the EU Aviation Safety Agency, yes I would start flying pretty much immediately. Sad to say this, I no longer trust the word of the NTSB or equivalent US Govt. agencies.

OK, imagine that you don't know the South hand. You are North and you hold: [hv=pc=n&n=sha9dk98764cat953&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=1sp1n(forcing)2d2h5d(!!)5h(!!!)]133|200[/hv] Would you bid one more? This was from a daylong MPs (played on 11th May) and N/S actually have a slam in diamonds. I was South; the other three players were bots. At the table, I passed in round 1, made a wimpy raise to 3♦ after North overcalled 2♦ (my blunder) and bid 5♦ when West jumped to 4♥ followed by two passes. 5♦ +1 was 67%; 6♦ was 99% (a shared top); 5♥ -1 was approx 20% (a dbl of the final contract didn't move the score much); allowing E/W to play in 4♥ was worth 6%.

Red vs. White, MPs #1: East deals and opens 1♠. What do you choose? Pass; 2♦; something else? You're in the second seat and you hold: [hv=pc=n&s=sk8532hqdajt53cj2]133|100[/hv] #2: Let's say you pass in the first round. LHO responds forcing 1NT (they play 2/1) and partner surprises you with a 2♦ overcall. Opener continues with 2♥. How high do you go? #3: Branch A: You raise to 3♦ or jump to 4♦. LHO (the forcing 1NT bidder) now finds a bid of 4♥ followed by two passes back to you. Are you planning to bid more? If not, pass or Dbl? #3: Branch B: You jump all the way to 5♦. LHO (the forcing 1NT bidder) now bids 5♥! followed by two passes back to you. Pass, Dbl or 6♦? I found this an interesting situation, so thought I will post here and seek opinions.

shyams 6.5 - 9.5 cherdano https://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/tview.php?t=ARDCHALLENGE:c605ee20.6d80.11e9.80b2.0cc47a39aeb4-1556873545&u=shyams