wyman

Perhaps this is best discussed in another thread, but since we're here... In poker, the scorecard is measured in dollars, so an online player need not be concerned about the opinion of a B&M player -- or any player for that matter -- whereas bridge achievements (at least the ones in question) are pretty much only to stick on the refrigerator, so if a large portion of the community discounts your achievement, this somehow tarnishes it. However, in my experience, only the terrible B&M players discount the achievements of online players these days. Online players see so many more hands/situations, and they have the technology to analyze stats and ranges at their fingertips. Obviously you lose the software when you move to B&M, but many things that you've quantified with your software become instinctive after seeing them enough times -- sort of like how bridge experts just know the right way to play a suit without thinking about it.

splinter for me

Additionally, burning the last entry to dummy could be bad in case he has a minor suit squeeze on partner. I wouldn't read too much into his not using dummy's last entry in this case, but it's certainly worth considering in general.

I stand corrected. I'm still sorting these auctions out in my head. Sorry for jumping the gun.

Now if only my hand evaluation were as good as my assumptive abilities!

fwiw, when I blasted 6N, I assumed a style in which: - partner denied a 4cM, and - partner would have bid 1D with KQxxx or better. I'm fully expecting 33(34) or (32)44 from partner.

I'd bid 6, and I'll be a little sad if partner has 5 diamonds and we make 7C on 4-2 diamonds. 6C probably > 6N at IMPs, but at MP's, I'll be greedy.

Keeping in mind that 1C-1D; 1H shows an unbalanced hand, is the implication that in your 1C - 1D; 1H - 2H (3 card const) auction, responder has spade length? It seems with spade shortness, he has club support or a 6+ card diamond suit. So he must have club shortness. Is shortness in opener's suit necessarily the best thing here? A trump lead will cut down on club ruffs when trumps split, and a spade lead will tap declarer when the outstanding trumps don't split. I'm just thinking out loud; you guys have likely thought a lot harder about this than I have.

2N would have been nat for me on the last round, so it's a scramble for me here. Especially at MP, there are hands where I don't want to sell to 2S, but I'm really unhappy if pard passes my dbl. 3Y shows a hand not strong enough for 2Y on the last round.

I went back and forth over this, but both A/E, which seems to contain mostly play and bidding problems rather than system discussion, and non-natural system, which seems to be devoted to pet systems seemed wrong. XYZ & Walsh style are sufficiently "normal" additions to an otherwise standard 2/1 that I guessed this might be the right home for the question. I'd be happy if a mod wanted to move it somewhere more appropriate.

I don't mean to sound dense, but I don't understand what we lose by allowing responder to bid 1D with invitational values and a 4cM. Without XYZ, I totally get why you'd want the 1D bid with a 4cM to be GF.

Still interested in comments on all points, and thanks, Mike, for your response, but you're postulating that my auction in 1 doesn't exist by some arbitrary rule-set, and my question is "since we have this XYZ gadget in play, is there a good reason to not respond 1D on inv+ hands?"

A few questions about playing XYZ and Walsh Diamond (to be clear, opener rebids 1M after 1C-1D only on unbalanced hands) in a 2/1 context: 1) Does it make sense to bid 1D over 1C when responder is inv+ with (diamonds and) a 4cM? In a traditional Walsh sequence, responder bypasses 1D without a GF hand. With XYZ, though, we can still have the sequence: 1C - 1D 1N - 2C! 2D! - 2M 2) What do you do with the sequence 1C - 1D 1M - 2M You can invite with 2C-2D; 2M, presumably. And you can GF with 2D-<blah>-3M. 2a) If you play the above sequence (1C-1D; 1M-2M) as GF, what does 2D-<blah>-3M mean? 3) Some XYZ-ers I've polled turn XYZ off after 1C-1D. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

5♣ for me. There's gonna be a 5+ level decision, and this should really help partner make it.

Nonetheless, for that law to apply, the call chosen has to have been a logical alternative in the first place, which it is clearly not on this hand -- unless we're using the fact that it was chosen as evidence of it being a LA, and I forget which way the RA's have gone on that issue. This call is so far out in left field! Would there be an issue had south chosen 7D over the hesitation and it rolled on a bad lead? I suspect "south is allowed to be terrible, sorry" would be the answer given to the NOS. edit: I must have replied without seeing this page of responses, in particular, bluejak's immediately above.

in an efficient market, this is true. Markets are not efficient, and certainly not the ebay market. I see your point, of course, but your willingness to pay $1k for an item does not mean you can't get it new at Best Buy for $499.

When considering a weak 2, I ask if we can make game opposite a partner with the right minimum opener. Here, the answer is a resounding yes, so I don't preempt. Whether to pass or open 1S is a style question, and I don't have a strong opinion either way. (edit: but I would open it 1S at the table)

Know the value of the item you're bidding on, and you'll never overpay.

I can log in as WyMaN, for example, and this (a) connects me to my account (so my profile and cc's are the same as if I'd logged in as wyman), and (b) case is preserved for the session (so when I sit at a table or chat, I show up as WyMaN). I wonder if the "has player X played this board before" check does a string match rather than an account match.

NF for me too

Lead info redacted, since it gives away stuff about p's hand.

I'd go so far as to claim that 5D is not a logical alternative for south.

I've asked a few people this question, and the most common answer has been "takeout, almost always Hx or xxx in hearts." My most recent long-term partners, with whom I was playing roughly the same system, said "penalty -- opener can raise with heart support or bid 3C/D" with the caveat "IMH(AI)O -- (always incorrect)" and "implies but doesn't guarantee 3 hearts. i know some ppl do play this as supp, some play it as Hx, and I play 1m (1h) 1s (2x) x as supp, makes some sense to me here too, but no firm agreement. " [Heh, good to know we're all on the same page! I'd have been in the "takeout" camp, likely 2254 fwiw.] Personally, I've always been in the "why do we need a supp X with a 5-3 fit?" camp, but distinguishing can probably aid in making the impending 4- or 5-level decisions, so I can see the value.

Damn, low diamond. And I guess the low spade has an outside chance. Not so worried about looking silly, but the ace may not cost a trick, and we may have a cashing AK on this auction, so I lead the ace. If there had been a more involved auction, and I knew the SK was on my left, I'd be more likely to lead a small spade, especially if I had no history with opps.

My second choice would be the appropriate count card in ♦, but it's a distant second. edit: actually maybe a spade spot is the 2nd best lead.