the_dude

My answer is not specific to this hand .. but general philosophy: - If your goal is to improve as a bridge player, you should always prefer legitimate lines over "lines that work because opponents may make a newbie mistake". This includes things like "hoping my opponent will forget to cover an honor with an honor" etc. - If your goal is to win THIS MATCH RIGHT NOW then go for the mistake if you think it is likely .. but I believe in the long run it impedes your advancement as a player. You will get better faster if you spend your concentration on finding the legitimate line. That being said, since there is no legitimate line on this hand (aside from sneaking the K of clubs, which failed) I think trying to sneak by the KQ of spades on RHO is the best chance. The odds of both opponents pitching down to a singleton spade honor seem pretty remote.

imho, 5NT should be bid by the person best placed to make an intelligent decision based on the answer. Clearly on this hand it is South. It would be ludicrous to "force" north to bid 5NT and then make him make a decision on which he has almost no information. Art, your argument presumes that the opener will now "go crazy" because the bidding presumes 0 key cards but he actually has 3 so he needs to "catch up". However, under any agreement I've ever heard, bidding 5NT promises that we have all Keys (and the Q of trump) so I guess are we assuming that partner will just lose his mind?

Team game: Game decision #1 You are NV, Opps are Vul x AKQJx Kxxxx Qx RHO opens 1D, you overcall 1H, and it continues: (1D) 1H (P) 3H* (weak) (P) ? Partner is very aggressive at this vulnerability. Is it worth a solid 140 to hope for a fitting black honor and no other issues? Game decision #2 You are Vul, Opps are NV xx AKQJx KQxx xx You open 1H, LHO overcalls 2C, and it continues: 1H (2C) 2H (4C)* (weak) ? Your methods are pretty standard over 2C, 3H would be weak, 3C a limit+ raise, etc ... 2H can include 4 trump, shortness, whatever, though partner is pretty aggressive with his cue bids. Is this worth a shot at 4H?

I posted this hand because at the time it seemed kind of out there to double with a flat 11 passed hand .. but it also seemed so right. I don't have an opener, partner couldn't bid, and RHO couldn't find a raise to game opposite a Red V White 3S bid. I figured either: 1. RHO has a good hand but no spades .. in this case partner will probably leave the double in and we will probably beat it. 2. Partner had a good but balanced hand with no bid. In this case we can likely make something. The bonus is when we can make 4H. Partner held: xx AQxxx Q10x Axx. 4H made exactly 4 .. turns out LHO was the liar (AJ10xxxx and out). Seemed kind of lucky tho...

Out of curiosity .. has invitational Smolen at the 2 level fallen out of fashion? (or perhaps it was never in fashion...)

Ummm ... 4♠? Is there something I'm missing here?

Agree that NT on Axxx seems wrong .. but I don't like 2H on xxx of clubs either. We don't want to encourage play in clubs unless we hear more from partner. 2♦ seems a much better description of our values. Better question is, does our system have a way to get partner to bid NT on Qx or Jxx?

[hv=pc=n&s=s73hkj63daj8cqt86&d=s&v=e&b=3&a=p3spp]133|200|IMPs[/hv] Playing 2/1, it is not your partnership's style to open balanced 11 with no 5 card suit. Opponents are an unknown quantity.

Yes .. this was from he ACBL tourney last night and I know 4H goes down .. however it is the best game contract to be in on these cards so I'd like to think we should get there...

[hv=pc=n&s=st3haqtda53cqjt54&n=s862hk862dkqjtca2&d=n&v=b&b=13&a=1dp2cp]266|200[/hv] Playing generic 2/1 with 15-17 NT ... generally after 1D P 2C we rebid Diamonds on any hand that has 5+, otherwise bid a 4 card major (or 2NT). 2H says nothing about a spade stopper. What is the path to 4H without it sounding like some sort of slam try?

I'd be very curious to see a GIB advanced vs GIB basic team game :P

Thanks for the explanation .. I get it I guess. It just seems to me that risking *any* contract for an overtrick should not be part of GIB's arsenal. If GIB is not capable of determining the subtleties of *when* an overtrick is worth the risk (and clearly it is not) then it seems to me the default behavior should be to *always* make the contract if possible. I mean, if you are trying to make it simple and foolproof .. the most basic MP concept is "plus is good" Actually .. i was trying to bid a very normal 1♥! I'm new to the robots so I was mousing over many of the bids to see what they would mean to GIB - a very very handy feature I might add. (and I confess I *was* checking out what 3NT would mean) but then I went back to hearts .. it just wasn't supposed to be 3! In the future tho .. based on this I'm going to have to agree with xxhong and make sure I always bid NT first regardless :)

..I just tried the Robot tournaments this week .. so maybe this is just expected behavior and I'm just new .. but I was under the impression that GIB could at least count it's top winners. Is that not true? [hv=pc=n&s=skqt8haq43dkq4c97&n=sa97hkda97532ckj5]133|200[/hv] I made a bidding miskey and the robot bid NT first .. we ended in 6NT by North with no opposition bidding and a small heart was led. Diamonds are 3-1 so obviously you have 12 top tricks. In addition East holds both 4 spades and the A of clubs so even a novice (or robot) couldn't help but squeeze him while running his red suit winners. Somehow my robot went down 5. Worse still, a glance at the score sheet shows that every other robot that played the hand in NT made 7. Those that played in Diamonds made 7 too. How is this possible? There was NO opposition bidding that might even confuse it. How come my robot can't count tricks and every other one can????? ps: sorry for the rant .. that 0% (instead of 90%) made a big difference in the final results .. I guess I'm kinda annoyed right now ...

A couple of comments: - big 4441 hands are a royal PITA in std american - there's no good way to bid them, as most people like to guarantee at least 5-4 shape to reverse or jump shift. That leaves 4441 strong hands out in the cold. - Given that 4441 hands have no good bid, the singleton K makes opening 2NT the least damaging lie IMHO. Jump shifting makes it more likely that you will end up playing in your minor suit. However ... opening 1♣ and rebidding spades is reasonable as well - there's just no good answer for this hand type. - Once you have opened a minor, you simply have to jump shift at your second bid to show your values. In Standard American, Bidding 1♠ shows 12-18 points in the same way that opening 1major then rebidding 2minor shows 12-18 points. Failure to jump shift means partner is allowed to pass you (which of course you cannot afford with 20 opposite at least 6). - That being said, North's pass was a serious mistake - he should bid 1NT. He has a very nice hand .. 2 aces and a good 5card major means game can be on even opposite a less powerful south hand. South could easily hold a nice 16-17point 4-3-5-1 hand and I would want to be in game opposite that...

Here's a good guideline to use when deciding whether or not to open a borderline hand: - Do I have a good rebid over likely responses? - Does my opening bid/rebid describe my hand? In this case, you have a comfortable 2♦ rebid over anything your partner says (unless of course he raises hearts, in which case you certainly did the right thing by opening). I would say opening 1♥ and rebidding 2♦ perfectly describes the shape and values of your hand and therefore is a very reasonable opening bid. Change your hand to: ♠x ♥AQxx ♦KJxxx ♣Jxx Now if you open 1♦, over a likely 1♠ response you have an icky problem. 1NT, 2♦, and 2♥ are all poor descriptions of the shape and values of this hand ... your partner will probably be disappointed with it no matter what happens. Many teachers advise not opening borderline hands when you will have no good way to describe them. (that being said, much of the BBO community would open this hand anyway)

Vulnerability and form of scoring would be really useful here. Since getting to a make-able game is pretty unlikely at this point (you would have to double again and partner somehow come up with 3♥) .. so it's probably right to take your likely plus score against 3♣. Unless opponents are NV at Matchpoints .. in which case you might judge +50 or so to be worth few MP .. you could X again and hope you can make something. But bidding again could easily turn a plus score to a minus. It may have been right to bid 2♥ at your second turn .. now partner would certainly raise with 4 and you wouldn't have to worry about missing game.

[hv=pc=n&n=skq864haj8d8c9765&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=p3dpp]133|200|IMPs[/hv] If so, with what?

Yes, that would be much better, it's so hard not to "monday morning" these hands. I mean, in retrospect, it's "obvious" that North should be raising clubs. But based on some of the 2/1 2♣ bids we have to make, I'm not so sure it's clear :)

[hv=pc=n&s=s3hkqj93d5caqt643&n=sa97642ht2da4ckj2]133|200|North deals, no opposition bidding, IMPs[/hv] Best I can come up with is: 1♠ - 2♣ 2♠ - 3♥ 4♣ - 4♥ 6♣ Is this realistic? It requires to North make some prescient assumptions. First, the awesome 4♣ bid assumes: - 3♥ was not an attempt to get to 3NT looking for a Diamond stopper - we are giving up on spades as trumps (as 2♠ only promised 5) ... unless of course a 4♠ bid by South is passable. (I don't think it is .. is it?) Then, after hearing about the 6-5 and realizing he may have the magic hand, the raise to 6♣ still assumes partner has no wasted values (like a stiff spade honor) and a one loser Heart suit opposite 10x. Some of these 2/1 auctions drive me crazy. Do you think you would get to 6♣?

It wasn't an oversight on my part .. I just do not remember it being one of the popular choices of the panel. That being said, my understanding is that most experts play 2NT on this auction can be made on a good 14 and does *not* show 18-19 balanced. It wouldn't be my choice, though, as it is the most space-consuming of actions and not necessarily the best contract.

IIRC, a very similar hand was the topic of one of those "Expert's Forums" in the 90s. The voting was pretty evenly divided between 2D (good suit, most flexible), 2H (cheapest major), and 2S (best major). It's a crap shoot more or less...

[hv=pc=n&n=skq2hq7dj6caqjt42]133|100[/hv] 1st seat, Matchpoints, both sides VUL. PS: Does your answer change at IMPs?

I always allow undos. I have no interest in "beating" an opponent because he misclicked. Heck we all make misclicks. And if he does it again (or it's an obvious attempt to recover from an error) I find new opponents at the completion of the hand.

I'm doubling. I'm not so sure why y'all say 2♥ is clear. You have 11 highs and neither partner nor RHO took a call .. where are the Diamonds and where are the HCP? (also, you have 2 Aces, if partner has a penalty pass playing 2♦* VUL seems fine) Yes, you will pay off when partner bids ♣, but IMHO he will have a penalty pass far more often then a 3♣ call when you have so few HCP (else someone would have bid).

[hv=pc=n&s=s4h93dkj8653caqt2&d=n&v=b&b=13&a=1sp]133|200[/hv] What is your plan with this hand? We DO play 3♦ shows the invitational hand with good 6 card suit .. but I'm not sure this is the right hand for it. Ragged diamonds and most of your values in clubs. Partner rates to have a fistful of major suit cards. Are you bidding 3♦ anyway? However if you respond 1NT, what are you bidding over 2♣? What about 2♠?