wyman

Or at T1: "Your leads and carding, please?" "Odd-even." ;)

I would be in -- Bad News Bears ftw!

here i thought it was upside down count

Yes, I'm just saying it looks weird. And come on, really? Even a basic bot shouldn't be playing the K here. There's gotta be a decision rule in there that made it play the K, and the rule has to be wrong.

lol. also weird is that 2C is 4+D, 4+S, 4+C, 3-H.

Yeah you misread the posts above. Wayne wasn't talking about quiddity's line.

?? When west wins the CK and exits the DQ, he retains the DJ.

pass is definitely a logical alternative.

Yes. See the OP:

Han is quoting directly from the blog, lol

I think this would encourage more low content posting, honestly. "I would lead a spade" instead of just voting in the poll, etc. edit: but this thread is getting me closer :)

Not that I'm lobbying to play (I think I'm borderline and probably missing the cut tbh, which is fine), but I have 7xx posts at the moment, and I feel like I'm part of the community enough to be in consideration. Point being: I think your 1k post mark is high. Additionally, I think # posts is a bad metric, though I understand the need/desire for objectivity. But, I can spam the water cooler all day and never post about bridge, and on the other end of the spectrum, I could never "+1," never make a sarcastic post, and only post high-content, high-quality posts once a day. Is it clear who should be in the mix? Not to me. The former poster is a bigger part of BBOF culture, but the latter is making contributions to bridge on the forums. Both are valuable.

Having an occasional pro-am would be one way to deal with this (for example, if a pair thinks it's ready, but the organizer doesn't, then perhaps it can be 'sponsored' by an expert pair, whereby either they play as a pro-am, or the expert pair agrees to play opposite the borderline pair). But honestly, this honor/privilege/whatever should be reserved for the better players. If someone can make a compelling case that they are ready, I'm sure whoever's picking the team will give them a shot. But we shouldn't field teams that are expecting to get blown out. And honestly, I am excited at the prospect of having a weekly set of hands on which I have records and can ask "what was your thought process at trick 4 on board 17?" This is a great idea, Timo.

Yes, I guess this is a style thing, but I open this 1H for sure.

I do.

You did come in saying "Anyone who plays takeout doubles at the 5-level needs to find a new game," which is absurd, because it is far from expert standard to play this X as penalty. You are brand new to the forums. Most of us have a good sense of the level of the regular posters in the forum. We have no idea what level you are, but I'm not impressed so far. You will get robbed blind. KQ87/K43/92/KJ103 It is obnoxious to think that OP and his partner haven't discussed what their doubles are. I repeat: this is A/E, not B/I. They do. The double shows a hand with cards and no clear direction. "Maybe 5Dx is right; I can't bid a slam on my own, but I'm interested to hear more about your hand. And if you've nothing to say, pass." You have practically the best hand ever when partner doubles. Frankly, I'm more worried about missing a grand than going down in 6. Doubles are frequently left in; that doesn't mean that they are penalty doubles. On frequency, you'll have a hand with no clear direction WAY more often than a pure penalty double after a 5-level preempt.

I'm sure that all of the internationalists that play this way will be happy to discuss it with you. Seriously, you're out of your element. Aren't you just on this site to promote your blog? Seems like half your posts are doing that already.

Highlow, beginner forum is ---> that way. 5N for me, keeps spades in the picture, but I think 6C is fine too. This X is obviously t/o oriented.

Yeah sorry. By "here" I meant where the '?' is in my auction. Overcaller's second call.

Maybe more like I/A, but: QJ1087 / KJ3 / 1063 / K9 (1D) 1S (P) 2D (X) ? Opener's X shows a sound 2D rebid. How many spades now? Is it close? Asides: 1) A new suit is clearly forcing here. On what hand types would bidding a new suit be appropriate? Do you play this is a game try just as though the auction had gone 1S - 2S; ? 2) Do you play 3D here as mixed? Western?

"Better" (if you don't mind the memory strain) is to use 3N for that hand and 3S relays to 3N to play or to make a 1-or-2-minor slam try. But the 5S/4H hand is a nonissue for OP in a non-puppet context, as he can use Smolen after 3C-3D. [unless I'm mistaken, and the sequence you're talking about is 2N-3C; 3S. The one I'm talking about is 2N-3S.]

+1 to 3C then 4C. But I like 3S forces 3N, and 4C/4D shows slammish in C/D (or D/C, whichever you decide). This also frees up a direct 3N for some artificiality, which I know you love :P, as now you can pass the forced 3N.

crazy imo, yes it is underleading, "underleading an ace" means leading any non-ace from a suit containing the ace.

In the style to which I'm accustomed, this is a hand just barely too strong to open 4S. There's no way we have a slam here when I'm holding 1 KC. I don't play namyats typically, so that and my preempt style will dictate what the weakest hand is for 1S-4S, but no matter what, I wouldn't play a style where this has 3 keys.

fyp