FM75

OCP 1♣ - 1♦ (1H) 2♣ After the follow-on auction listed... ***** First, I go in the tank. Partner should have doubled (3C) with 5-7. Take-out to 3 spades seems non-sensical, 3D and 4C were bids available to partner. I am not excited about defending a doubled into game heart contract. 4D - hoping for something like xxxxx x Axxxx xx Swapping the two pointed suits would be ok, too.

OCP 1♣ - 1♦ 1♥ - 1♠ 19+balanced or will qualify in future bid, relay 1N 19-21 balanced

OCP Yuck! Vulnerable, I am all over 13-15 1N on this junk. NV, I have 1m as choices! 1♦ - p probably not playing it here... but it has happened. Uncontested auction... OK waiting. :) If you have to play in a Burn's Law violation, this is the best level for it.

Preemptive.. (LOTT). If they have 4♥, they should be bidding and making it anyway. But if p is 54/55 with a good hand, I want to be in 3♠, or letting opps start searching at the 4 level.

OCP. BTW - The author of the system, given this problem, came up with the same sequence I suggested, but bid 7♥. Obviously, as I mentioned, 6H is cold on anything but trump lead. He says, "On a non-Heart Lead, 7 http://pigpen.org.uk/BBO/BB3/phpBB3/images/smilies/icon_hearts.gif is icy, but on a trump lead you need something nice happening on whichever Minor you decide to go for (best to go for Diamonds, obviously), but only 5-1 Diamonds with East having the long Diamonds is enough to beat 7 http://pigpen.org.uk/BBO/BB3/phpBB3/images/smilies/icon_hearts.gif. If North shows up with 1st 2nd and 3rd of Spades, South has to forgo the Epsilon in Clubs and just punt 7 http://pigpen.org.uk/BBO/BB3/phpBB3/images/smilies/icon_hearts.gif in the hope that North doesn't have the stiff AK of Spades, or that whichever minor North is shortest in can be established."

:) Lobby!! ROFL - That is sooo old school. Do you realize you for half the BBO world - there is no "Lobby"? Maybe you should be asking for a better way to promote tournaments. I bet BBO would give it to you - if only to get you off the old software. ;)

No agreement. LOL. The grimace clearly shows that it was intended as Unusual 2NT. Partner supported spades. Either LHO did not take it as Unusual, or he has absurdly short minors. If he did not interpret it as Unusual, then he must be assuming his partner has a spade stop. I expect few will agree, but here, I am leading the ♠A. That gives me a look at dummy, and I get some help from partner. I do not expect to be finessing partner with this play, since RHO is short in spades - worst case 3=0 is highly unlikely. Other distributions favor, my second, lead to be finessing W. I get to tell partner how to get back to me, after he runs spades.

OCP 1♣ - p - 1♦ - (1♥) ---- if W had overcalled, north pass shows 0-4 2♣ - (3♣) - p - 3♥ p Even with opposite vulnerability, I don't really have anything to say.

OCP 1♣ - 1♥ 1N - 2♦ 3 controls 2♥ - 2N 1 top honor, and 5 3N

OCP 1♣ - 1♥ 2♦ - 2♠ 4+controls, less than Hxx or xxxx 3♣ - 3♦ less than Hx or xxx 3♥ - 4♠ AKQxxx, sets trump 4N - 5♥ 6 controls 5♠ - 5N 1st and 2nd round only - based on existing count AKx(x) 6♥ I have a sure 12 tricks against 4-2 trump. I do not know where the ten is but opps are 2:1 to have it. If they lead anything but trump, I can ruff partner's 3rd spade, but may be losing a trick on a 4-2 split if we are missing the 10. I am expecting a trump lead and about a 93% small slam. It would be interesting to see how a field would end up on this hand.

I appreciate your position and relknes'. It certainly seem like there should be a game on points (at NT). I can't imagine a hand that matches the bidding and makes game in a major. I don't see a better bid for declarer in our system. He can show precise points, by lying about shape. My partner did that 2 days ago, and got transferred into his singleton. (He had the ace.) That said, I looked at the hand, and despite the points, see little offensive value. Unless opener has the ♥K, the hand has a single trick in NT or a minor suit contract. It is good for one entry to take a finesse. I suppose it could also be said that it limits opponents to a single heart trick, forcing them to lead one of the other three suits. I do not feel especially strongly that it was right. Maybe a 2 club rebid is wrong. Maybe partner is only going to need the ♥A and a 2♥ bid should be made - but if he is 16--18, that bid feels like a nail in the coffin to me. I guess it boils down to how often this bid misses game, versus how often bidding on fails. I am going to put this on our forum to see how some more expert than I at this system feel about it. - Rethinking.. Partner could have as much as 4 of one major - one which could be good and one which would not be horrible. I guess I am persuaded that pass may not be best.

OCP 1♣ - 1♦ with only 5 card suit, no upgrade 2♣ - p if partner was balanced, would have bid Cambridge Hearts, no 5 card major, not balanced, likely we have only a 7 card fit.

If it really happens nearly every time you connect, then I would try installing Fiddler 2 (free) on the newest PC you have. Once you have installed it, you can search google for how to make it a "proxy" for your Mac (or iPhone, PC, or any other devices). When you have installed it correctly, and configured your Mac to use it, your Mac will make all http/https requests through Fiddler2 running on the PC (yes, it has to be running, of course). Traffic in both directions can be recorded. You could even save a whole set of transactions into a file. Don't open any other apps that access the internet, gmail, etc, or you will get loads of irrelevant traffic. You can filter out certain stuff. Will it be easy to find the problem? Not likely, even if you have a good knowledge of how http works. But it is the equivalent of the sniffer mentioned earlier. It seems very strange that the Forum would be the only thing that causes a problem AND that it only happens on the Mac. Web browsing is all http. Posting is http. The same traffic is going to go through the router regardless of the computer, except for some minor differences in headers that the various browsers supply to the server. But it would use the same headers for all sites, not just BBO Forum. I use an iMac, iPad, and new MacBook Pro (and before that, an old one). I may lose connectivity briefly at some points in the house, but that is independent of the internet host.

Presumably we could agree with GIBs actions up to your double. So if you are looking at this hand, what are your thoughts? Mine are along the lines of: 1) Opponents are 4-(45) in spades. Doubler did not bid so does not have 5. (Might have only 3, but that seems unlikely at his point in bidding) 2) Partner is medium strength to slightly stronger unbalanced hand (upper bound 22 points) 3) With 1 or 2 spades, 6 hearts, 4 diamonds, and 2 or 1 clubs and no spade stop. 4) The double is not likely penalty, but even if it is, I don't want to leave it in (no defensive value) 5) My hand has no roughing values except possibly in diamonds but only a 7 card fit. 6) My cheapest reasonable bid is to let partner sacrifice in 8 card heart fit.

How about: 1♥ - (X) - p - (1♠) 2♦ - (2♠) - p - (p) 3♣ - (p) - ?? It seems to me that if you want GIB to choose a contract, paint a nice picture of your hand. 1=5=4=3 seems to be the most likely match for this bidding. Maybe 0=5=4=4... The nice advantage of this distribution is that GIB can make a choice at the 3 level. pass = part score in clubs, 3♦, or 3/4 ♥ Also GIB can "draw inferences" from the opponents failure to bid past 2 and your choice to continue to the three level in a third suit opposite 2 passes. (Inferences being generate a bunch of hands that match the bidding, evaluate them DD, and pick the most effective bid - if I understand GIB programming correctly.) I do not play with them much, so if this is bad GIB advice, or even bad bridge, feel free to say so. Can you just seat some GIBs at a table, send this hand to the table, and experiment?

I have mentally placed cards where I need them to beat the contract. If I am right, and clubs are 4333, I need partner to knock out the last honor. I would lead the three hoping that he will infer that I have four. He would probably have expected a heart lead from me. If your partner would lead the third club after seeing 9x from you, then the 9 is ok. If I am wrong, then the 9 does give him useful information. That might be best if our tricks are a club, 2 diamonds and 2 hearts. That seems less likely to work, to me.

OCP 1♣ - 1♦ 0-7 1N - 2♣ 16-18, stayman not promising 4 card major 2♠ - 2N

OCP This could go two ways (actually 3, but will eliminate the spade ask as first option). Both will start out assuming that North upgrades his hand and makes a positive reply in clubs. 1♣ - 2♣ 8+ points and 5+ clubs 2♦ - 2♥ control ask, 0-2 Here it diverges. I can hand off control to partner with 2N. That will likely end up in 3NT. Might as well bid it direct. No need to divulge any more to ops. Or, 3♣ - 4♠ trump ask in clubs, AQ 7th. 6C/6N is cold. Need to figure out the other suit distribution. 5♦ - 5♥ no first or second round control - p has at least 3 ♦ 5♠ - 6♣ p is 2=1=3=7, or 2=0=4=7 can't afford to ask about Hearts because void takes us past 6NT. I am not that good at IMP vs MP calculations, but 1-3 is 4:1 and the 1 is 50% on spade hook. so 8:1 to make 7♣ 6N = 100%, 7♣ just under 90 - (or 100% on a spade lead) What is the expert opinion? :)

Partner could have as much as AK, to give you a chance. Where? No double rules out spades, and there you need to get 2 hearts and a diamond. Hearts ruled out since declarer is presumed sane If he has diamonds, W probably is not bidding 3NT. Would west bid 3N on QJx in clubs with lead coming to his hand? If so, then it seems like you have a decent chance of taking 3 clubs and two hearts, or a chance at 2 clubs, 2 hearts, and a slow diamond? P takes AK♣ and exits in clubs? Are there any lines with split honors that would still work?

I can picture partner with the same holding, just pointed and rounded reversed - also trying to avoid declaring NT?

Yes. That is why I ordered this one. I am still early in the book, but I feel that the first was better at providing the statistical profiles of the defense and offense. Those profiles make it easy to understand why some of the novel leads are more likely to be successful than the traditional. It is nice to see something better than anecdotal, untested approaches. I do not want to detract from the message of the authors. But I think they needed to spend more time and care on this book to at least equal their first. This one seems rushed by comparison. Their first came out a year after their Bridge World article. It is hard to know how much time and research preceded that. Maybe we should share the blame. Maybe we need to let the publishers know that non-fiction should have higher standards of review, indexes, that layout should not have the hand diagram on one page and the text on an overleaf!

I have only read 28 pages of this book. Table of Contents has 5 inconsistent chapter names Page 6 - Oops, the Jack move to declarer's hand Page 11 - Does not have that card. Page 19 - Does not have that card. Page 28 - "Doubleton spot-card leads such as work well, much better than most people think." Did anybody read that before printing? This might seem picayune, but the cards moving around, or not existing, in opening leader's hand makes me wonder if the analysis might be mismatched. If this were a scholarly work, you could also expect to know the specific constraints on the hands. It is important to know what the constraints were to repeat the tests. It is also important to know what the assumptions were to understand how closely the assumptions were to what you might encounter, as well as to test the sensitivity of the results to those assumptions.

OCP 1♣ - 1♥ (1♠) p - 3♣ trump ask in ♥ (1 suit below interference), 7 card suit with A or Q (since I hold the K) 4♣ - 4♦ control ask, 0-2 4♥ - we only have 5-7 controls

OCP p - 1♣ 2♦ - 2♥ pos, control ask 2N - 3♠ has AK, trump fit? 4♣ - 4♠ has bare Q or xx or p - 1♣ 2♦ - 2♠ pos, trump ask 2N - 3♠ not Qxx, or xxxx, repeat trump ask 4♣ - 4♠ bare Q or xx Interesting that both sequences pass 3N with singleton spade. I would generally choose the first for the cheaper control ask. Looked at the other alternative to see where it would go.

OCP For us, partner has 11-15, but not 13-15 balanced to semi-balanced. No 5cM, no 5 or 6 card clubs with a 4 card major, and no 5 strong club (approx 4 of top 5), also no 6 card major, and does not have 5-9 with 55m. On average we have less than 1 hcp advantage about 6.2 fit in each major, roughly 6.8 card fit in minors. RHO has an average 4.7 advantage over partner in hcp. I have less than 11 hcp. The most likely options are pass, and X.