MattieShoe

Ah... I know inverted minor raises but I tend to play in the relaxed room, which means my partners are often beginners and don't even know what they are :-) I'm trying to play fairly vanilla SAYC simply to increase the chances of not confusing my random partners. I'm glad to know there's no painfully obvious bid here though unless one adds in conventions though. I was afraid 4♣ would be interpreted as a double-jump raise rather than a game invitation. Upon further reflection, I think 3NT was my best bet with a likely 7 quick tricks in my hand.

[hv=d=w&v=e&n=sa974haqtdkq6ct87&s=st83hj98dacakq652]133|200|Scoring: IMP P 1♣ P ?[/hv] I think partner should have opened 1NT, but in this case he didn't. My concern is my own bidding. I don't know how to respond in this situation! Partner doesn't play splinters, if it makes any difference. I had too many points to bid 2 or 3♣, no suit worth mentioning other than clubs, and a singleton so NT seems less than perfect... I ended up bidding 2NT to show opening points, partner responded with 3NT, and I bid 5♣. We went down one due to a 4-0 split and poor play on my part -- should have made. Should I have bid differently? How?

I'm convinced :-) Next time I'll just do a reverse and hopefully partner won't pass me out. It's dicey sometimes playing with random partners in the relaxed bridge room. Sometimes dicey for my partners too! B)

Thanks for the advice guys :-)

Yeah, I meant it as a jump-shift indicating 19-21 points... Hmm splinter would be 4♦ would it not? 2♦ would be weak in standard SAYC, indicating 6 card diamond suit with 3 honors, less than opening, no 4 card major, etc... yes? To be clear, I'm not arguing with the suggestions, just trying to understand :-)

Man I shouldn't post late at night :P I did have 20 points, 19 HCP, which is why I jumpshifted. The ACBL SAYC system booklet I've got says reverses indicate 16-18 points Rebids with a medium hand (16-18 points): Jump raise of responder's suit of jump rebid of opener's suit Reverse in new suit Non-reverse bid in new suit (13-18 points) Rebids with maximum hand (19-21 or 22 points) opener must make a very strong rebid: Jump in notrump double jump raise of responder's suit or double-jump rebid of opener's suit jump shift in a new suit . . . ? I've mostly played bridge with family, which has lots of sloppy bidding. It's definitely the weakest part of my game :-)

Ahh, makes sense... I thought I had 18 HCP at the time so I thought it was a wee bit strong for 2♦, but now I see I had 17 HCP. Makes sense now. As always, the bid I screwed up is the one I wasn't even paying attention to. :-)

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=s5haq2da543cakqt9&w=sq97ht5dqjt76cj65&e=sak8642h743d8c743&s=sjt3hkj986dk92c82]399|300|Scoring: IMP W N E S -- -- -- P P 1♣ P 1♥ P 3♦ P 3NT P P P [/hv] I was north on this hand and we ended up at 3NT, and happened to make 6 thanks to Q♦ lead. But this hand should have been in hearts. I'm trying to figure out where the auction went wrong. Should I have bid 4♥ over 3NT? or should partner have rebid hearts rather than NT? Or did we go wrong somewhere else? We were playing vanilla SAYC stuff, nothing exciting...

I'm not an expert, but 1♥ isn't obvious to me at least... 1♥ indicates strong 5 card suit, does it not? My first instinct was pass or double, going to 1NT if partner bids spades. Then again, maybe that's why I'm not an expert.... :-)

Yes exactly! They always went chronologically and generally ran out of time around the great depression or earlier, every year.

I'm a weakish player, but I'd have passed initially as south given the unexciting distribution. As North, I'd have taken it to 3NT.

2♥. Either finesse works and we're on the board, or it fails and we've a board entry in the T♥. Right? :-)

Wait, what? I assumed 2♥ was some sort cuebid here... Seriously, opponents overcalled a part score in a suit where they know the *best* they can have is an 8 card fit with a 5-0 split? :P

I enjoyed it. I don't recall ever seeing a teen angst show that accurately portrays high school. That's just par for the course. :-)

I remember playing bridge with my grandmother back when I was just learning. I opened a fairly weak 1♠ and she bid 6♠ without hesitation. We had 33 HCP, but unfortunately were missing the AK♠. They split even and we made it. One of the first slams I ever played. I swear I avoided slams for a year after that because I was petrified of having our missing points all in the trump suit :-) Just recently I bid 7NT for the first time. http://tinyurl.com/klksl9 I had played 7NT before but never bid it. I've always chicken out and leave it at 6.

Not to Icelanders! I looked that up and you are correct. They looks not switching summer/winter. I assume they are situated so far north that the reason, saving power consumption, makes no real sense there. Apart from their famous history it looks like Iceland has very little to offer useful to anybody. A great bridge system perhaps! It's not clear that daylight savings actually saves on energy usage. In fact, some studies suggest it uses more energy. I wish they'd just do away with it entirely.

While I agree the defense is obvious if you stop and visualize the hand playing out, I admit I almost certainly wouldn't notice it in time playing in a random pickup game online. Half of my mind is still focusing on the LAST hand at that point, trying to figure out what I did right/wrong, would a different lead have helped, etc.

Somebody threatened to buy me this shirt: http://tinyurl.com/6pfwak Warning, intemperate language I had to use photoshop's color channels to tell what it reads.

Not low.

JEC bid 5♦. The bid was passed out there and he made 6. At the other table, 2S was passed out (!!) and it made 3 http://online.bridgebase.com/myhands/hands...71&username=JEC

[hv=d=n&v=e&s=sh96daqj876432ckq]133|100|Scoring: IMP 2♠ P ??[/hv] Saw this hand in Cayne vs somebody today. Maybe the right bid is obvious to y'all, but I wasn't quite sure what one should do with a 9 card suit and void in partner's long suit... :-)

Include a timezone setting in profile, have system automatically adjust times to your local timezone. :-)

If partner opened 1♦, then he has less than what, 22 points? HCP aren't there at least. I don't have a stopper in opponents suit... I'd expect partner to have a long suit but be shy on points, but might as well play 5 if you're going to play 4, so preempt opponents with 5♦. They could have AK♠ right off the top. I'd pass. But then again, I'm a scaredy cat with borderline stuff like this. Edit: missed a Q when I looked at the hand initially. Thought there was only 8HCP. Couldn't figure out why everybody was recommending 2♣ with that hand, but makes sense with that extra queen. :-) I'd have never thought of 6♣ but that sounds like a good bid given the two extra points :-)

Great thanks... I just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy. Just had a crazy partner, no worries. :-)

I would bid 3♥ trusting parter to know he should zip it. I wouldn't use it with such a long suit, but there's also the redouble convention 1* P P X P P XX <--- SOS partner, pick different suit I don't know if that convention holds when there's an overcall and rebid like that though.