the_dude

You can always use your judgement, but I would say "almost compulsory", because the inferences your partner can make when you don't make a support double are really, really useful. Sure, you found that hand that went -200, that will happen .. but even on this hand how good of a board were you getting defending 2D?

HCP isn't that relevant .. the issue is a little deeper than that. Remember preempting is essentially accelerating the auction, giving less room for accurate hand description. Second seat is important because it presents least opportunity to disrupt the opponents communications and the greatest opportunity to disrupt your own. When you preempt in first seat, you may be trip up your partner, but you are also tripping up TWO opponents. But in second seat, your RHO has already communicated SIGNIFICANT information to his partner by virtue of his pass. Accelerating the auction now often does just as much damage to your partner as it does to the opponents. This is especially important if one of the hands is big enough to put game in the picture opposite a noon-opener .. and at this point it's 50% likely that your partner holds the big hand. You can mitigate this by being disciplined in your second seat preempts (meaning strictly adhering to your partnership standards, whatever they may be). That way at least if your partner has the big hand, he knows what you have and can act accordingly.

1♥ wtp? I have an offensive hand, including a great shot at game opposite Axx of hearts and a card or two. I certainly want to compete for a partscore. Bidding seems automatic to me. I really don't like to preempt because a) it would rule out playing in any suit besides hearts, and b) I have defensive tricks in side suits and no tricks in my suit. Partner might really misjudge things if I preempt. As far as pass goes .. if it's 3♣ or higher when it gets back to me, am I bidding now? My hand still has significant offensive potential if the opponents have not shown overwhelming strength...

I bought an Asus slider with Android 3.2 and flash 10.1. BBO works great - right out of the box. As with others here, the password box does not display the characters that you type - but you only have to type your password once so long as you hit the "remember password" checkbox. (it saves the pwd even though the box appears blank). Other than that anomaly though, BBO works fine.

You missed a 24 point slam in an auction where the opponents preempted to 3H. Not much blame to go around imo. North could easily have another spade instead of 7th diamond, or a 6-5 with KJxxx of clubs - or even QJxxx - or whatever and bid the same.

Ditto

I would bid 4S, but I don't feel that strongly about it. I think you could easily be off 4 top tricks so I have no argument with 3S.

That's my philosophy. The opponents have a big fit somewhere, and even if they don't bid it, it could easily be good enough to take the first 7-8 tricks in 1NT*. To me the choice is between 3H and 4H. While 3H may well be our limit (and I hate throwing away +140 at MP), I prefer to give the opponents the tough guesses ... 4H. Phil's 2NT is also an option .. it will let our partner know that our subsequent 4H is to make .. however it also allows LHO in the auction. I'm not sure I want that.

3♥ invitational imo. (or whatever mechanism you use to invite). 4♥ is tempting but 7222 hands always seem to have one more loser than you expect.

A thorny hand came up with a couple of my students today .. and I had difficulty explaining a good solution. [hv=pc=n&s=sk98h52dqj876c653&n=s42hk9dakt42cakq4&d=w&v=n&b=12&a=1hd1s2d2h3hp4dppp]266|200[/hv] South felt 3♥ was looking for a ♥ stopper for 3NT, he didn't have one and had a bad hand, so he signed off in 4♦. North, following the meta rule that if the opponents bid 2 suits and you are missing one stopper, you bid the one you have .. thought 3♥ showed a heart stopper and asked for a spade stopper. It's possible N should just blast 3NT over 2♥ and hope that the opponents can't take 5 (or 6) fast tricks. However, it seems North's 3♥ just shows a big hand, and it wouldn't hurt South to bid 3♠ showing values (allowing N to now bid 3NT). Of course, it's possible that North could take 3♠ as a 4 card suit and put S in 4♠ even with a known 4-1 split. Any ideas?

Since 2♠ did not promise 6, I think 2NT is the best way to let partner rebid his spades if he has a good 6. Bidding 3♥ muddies the issue .. now he isn't sure if you are looking for a 6th spade or a club stopper - he has an aweful guess wondering if he is supposed to bid 3NT or 3♠ now.

Finals of knockouts, up by 3 after first half, second half seems fairly flat until the penultimate board: [hv=pc=n&s=sqj8hdat87cakqj75&d=W&v=b&b=10&a=pp3hdp4sp]133|200[/hv]

Spot on ... absent unusual conventional agreements, it's a typical 4th suit bid: "all other bids are precisely defined and mine doesn't meet any of those but I need to make a forcing bid". The fact that you are already in a GF isn't that relevant. You may have clubs or may not .. you are just expecting partner to bid out his hand.

Overcalling on a 4 card suit when you have a good hand, good suit, and length in RHO suit *is* a generally accepted stratagem by advanced+ players. Even more so at matchpoints. I didn't realize GIB would do this - with the OP hand I think it is a winning bid and would have made it myself. That being said .. pushing to a thin game in a 4-3 fit is a *bad* matchpoint strategy. When you find a good 4-3 fit, you have already beaten the field, there's no need to gild the lily by bidding 4.

2♥ is fine, imho getting the fit off your chest at the two level is better than worrying about it when the auction comes back to you at the 5 level. I think double shows little interest in playing 4♥ and at least Qxx of diamonds. Partner should be able to make a decision. Over 5♦ ... obviously the K of clubs is golden .. the question is whether it is good enough to make up for your lack of anything else. My partner is very aggressive with his slam tries so I put him back in 5♥. With a conservative partner I would bid 6.

I routinely leave these doubles in, and I routinely get bad boards doing it. However, since I never seem to learn from my mistakes, I would likely pass on this one too.

I don't understand. East has an opening bid and a (pretty decent) Diamond stopper. 3NT wtp? :P

Yes that one is mind boggling. Could it be a bug?

I knew it!

huh? This one boggled my mind, because I thought the one thing GIB could do right was play card combinations. With the following trump suit: Q10942 AJ63 GIB led low to the Jack, and when it held, cashed the Ace????? There was no opposition bidding and nothing to ruff in the short hand. It even had an easy entry back to Q10942 hand and no work to do but claim the remaining tricks (but one) after repeating the finesse. How is it that GIB could make such a mistake? I would also like to note that at every other table, with a slightly different bidding sequence, GIB played it right. Is it something personal???

Hand #1 [hv=pc=n&s=sq62hkqt753dckt86]133|100[/hv] You are Vul, they are not, IMPs, second seat. RHO opens 2♠ in front of you. Hand #2 [hv=pc=n&s=s82hakq7d3ca97543]133|100[/hv] Both Vul, IMPs, in first seat you open 1♣. LHO calls 3♦ which is passed back to you.

Agree with Gnasher .. after a jump 3♦ should be natural, forcing, and looking for the best game, not necessarily the big one. Definitely something to discuss with a regular partner. My threshold is easy - Can my hand make game opposite a hand that would pass my overcall. If not, I just overcall. There are plenty of mediocre 17-18 counts that I wouldn't think of doubling then bidding with.

4H for me. Partner is playing you for some values. He is under the gun and it's incumbent on the guy with shape to stretch. You have more than the rule of 7 would imply, but not *that* much more. And the doubleton spade is really bad. If we have two fast spade losers then we can have no red suit losers .. it's not inconceivable that the 5 level isn't safe. He would certainly bid 4D with xx AK10xx AKxxx x, and I would also bid it with xx AK10xx KQ10xx x (though I do not play LM as forcing).

[hv=pc=n&s=s982haqt762d5ckj9&d=n&v=e&b=5&a=1d2s]133|200[/hv] Matchpoints, favorable, 2/1 strong NT context. Do you play this is good enough for 3♥? For that matter, how forcing do you play 3♥ - 100% forcing to game or can you stop in 4m?

1. If the bidding went as below, what would South's hand look like for his jump bid? Is this a sequence with a fairly standard meaning (i.e expert standard)? [hv=d=s&v=0&b=1&a=1sp2hp4h]133|100[/hv] I play that this specifically denies 1st or 2nd round control in either side suit. This makes it easy for responder to make an accurate judgement about slam .. which is necessary since all of your bidding space is now gone. ** 2. What would South's hand typically look like in the below sequence? Is this a standard meaning? [hv=d=n&v=0&b=11&a=1sp2cp2dp4s]133|100[/hv] Again, minimum hand *AND* no first or second round control in the unbid suit. ** 3. And how about this jump by South after partner made a GF bid? [hv=d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1hp2cp4h]133|100[/hv] This depends on your maximum possible values for opening 4M, and your requirements for jumping to 3M in this sequence. Obviously, it should show a different hand type than the previous 2.