Walddk

You can't give a general guideline, and especially not when we don't have: 1. The auction. 2. Your full hand, including spot cards. 3. Dummy's full hand, including spot cards. 4. Partner's lead (spot card), and your agreement. So the only answer one can give with the info you provide is: Yes and No. Not very helpful, I know, but it's the truth. Roland

PASS, "plusschreiben und gewinnen". That's German (with a little twist) for "don't enter the scores in the away column". If partner has the spades, we are likely to go down. If opps have them, they will outbid us. Roland

2♠, wjs, ideal hand for it. If I don't have this tool available, I bid 1♠ followed by 2♠ unless partner rebids 2♥. My hand is not a great dummy, so unless partner has 6 hearts, I prefer to play in spades. Roland

In my book a raise to 4♠ shows 19-21 with 4-card support, so North has enough to bid on. If you are a little sophisticated, it also denies a singleton or void (should be bid en route). Opener can't take a slam initiative after a 1-o-1 response. All he can do is describing his hand. 4♠ is by no means a "stop bid" as many think. It's merely a description of opener's hand. It's "stop" if responder has nothing, but I can't stop and have no wish of stopping partner if he has a good hand. So 4♠ tells partner: I think we should try game even if you have 6 hcp. You are welcome to bid on if you have enough for slam. I don't agree with mcphee. This is not a 2NT opening to me, unless you play that as 19-21 of course. It's far from being worth an upgrade to a 20 count with 4333 and no intermediates. Roland

If playing 2/1 GF you may have lost the advantage if 4th suit is supposed to be a bid in 4th suit, because it takes up too much room! Are you confused? Let me explain: 1♠-2♣ 2♥- ? Is 3♦ 4th suit for you now? That's not very economical, is it? What about always letting the cheapest suit be 4th suit? An interesting idea developed by my two assistants at the bridge centre, Danish internationals Søren Christiansen and Morten Andersen. So 2♠ on the auction above is 4th suit! And 3♦ would be natural, often 5-6 in the minors. Now, what does responder do if he actually has 3-card support for spades? Their concept reads: Jump to 3♠ with 15-17. Bid 2♠ (4th suit) with 12-14 or 18+ and clarify later. What is opener supposed to do over 2♠ as 4th suit? Just treat it as a normal 4th suit. 2NT = diamond stopper (extras), 3♣ = natural, 3♥ = 5-5 in the majors, 3♠ = 6-4, 3NT = diamond stopper (minimum) and ....... 3♦ = 5th suit! No descriptive bid available, typically 5-4-2-2 or 5-4-3-1 without a diamond stopper. How does this sound to you? I haven't seen it before and find it very interesting, and first of all playable. Roland

Your memory must be special. To remember something that hasn't happened yet is very difficult for the rest of us :D Roland

Your first example is not valid, because 4th hand has too many hearts, so he won't double. You respond 2♣, because Drury "forbids" you to bid anything but 2♣ with a near opener and support. Opener passes, and 4th hand is left guessing. Is it safe for him to enter the bidding or not? They don't have a heart fit in this example, but they have when responder has Axxx Kxx xxx KJx Again 4th hand has too many hearts to act on his first turn. When 2♣ comes back to him, the situation is intolerable once more. When playing Drury you have a controlled psyche available 3rd in hand. That is what I dislike. An element of risk should always be there when you gamble. By the way, lesser players tend to psyche more than experts! Psyching is not the way to win matches or tourneys. Experts rarely use psyches; perhaps once a year on average. You can travel to the end of the world on a lie, but you can't come back! Roland

Fred raises an interesting point. Should one deliberately violate the Laws of Duplicate Bridge in order to make the members happy? Most club owners and their clubs (at least in Europe) are members of their domestic federations, which in turn are members of the EBU, WBF etc., and are as such subject to the Laws. Consequently, as an example, one should allow the use of psychic bids, because they are not disallowed as part of the game. In theory this is fine, but it doesn't, or shouldn't, work like that in real life. To be honest with you, I don't care much about the Laws if I think that some of them are totally unfair to the members I have in my club. I run a business, and no one is going to interfere with the rules I set. Yes, I have violated the Laws on several occasions. I am fine about it, and I am sure the Danish Bridge Federation would be too if they knew. Maybe they do, but I have not been in trouble during the 16 years I have managed the bridge centre. As far as psychs are concerned, I don't mind them as such (unless my members do, of course!), but I do not like psychs with no risk involved. Let me give you this example: You have decided to play Drury, so you have a psych without risk 3rd in hand, non vulnerable, holding ♠10432 ♥7 ♦KJ9 ♣108743 when you open 1♥. The worst scenario is 2♣ from partner, and then you just pass. No risk, no 800 or 1100 ever. That is of course completely wrong whether the Laws allow you to bid 1♥ with a hand like this or not. Roland

He complained because someone had been rude at his table (the F-word I think), but maybe people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Roland

Please be honest; Are you sure that 4NT is always Blackwood/Roman Key Card for you and your partner? Some kind of Blackwood is used by roughly all bridge players worldwide, but do they always know if 4NT is Blackwood or not? Let me give you some examples: 1. 1NT-2♣ 2♥-4NT Is 4NT ace asking for hearts or quantitative with 4 spades? 2. 1NT-2♣ 2♠-4NT Is 4NT ace asking for spades or quantitative with 4 hearts? 3. 1♠-2♦ 2NT-4NT Is 4NT ace asking for diamonds, maybe just 4 ace asking, or is it quantitative? 4. 1♥-2♣ 2NT-3♠ 3NT-4♣ 4NT This is even more complex. Is 4♣ natural or ace asking? If natural, is 4NT natural sign off or ace asking? 5. 1♠-2♦ 2♥-4NT Is 4NT ace asking for hearts or quantitative with one or more club stoppers? .... I could give you many more examples, but try these first. Are you sure you and your partner are on the same wavelength? Any agreement could work fine, but it's important that you both know what 4NT is whenever it is used. Roland

It is indeed time consuming for the yellows with all the private chat messages we get regarding abuse. Besides, some are not entirely happy that we can't solve the problems on the spot. All I can do when I get a "report" is to tell the users what our procedure is. I use something like: "Send an e-mail to abuseAT .... with all relevant information". Until last night I thought I was being helpful, but obviously not, because this came back: "To heck with u if you don't wanna do anything about it". IF the procedure always is to send an e-mail to abuse, there is no need for the yellows to act as intermediaries. A button or whatever to tell the users how to report an incident will make things much easier for everyone involved. Roland

Please allow me to sleep on. How will the 4, 7 and 9 help? Is declarer not allowed to duck these cards too? Roland

I think it's hilarious. fred for example is somewhere in between beginner and advanced. Me? Intermediate, that's quite flattering :) Roland

Tor Helness of Norway. He has been living in the shadow of his partner, Geir Helgemo, for many years, but in my opinion Tor is just as good as Geir. Maybe not as spectacular, maybe he doesn't make it to the papers as often, but that is not the yardstick of how good you really are. I am happy to see that Tor Helness turned professional a few months ago. We will therefore get to see him in action more often in the future. I am delighted; not only is he a great person at and away from the table, he is also a very fine player with a delicate technique. Roland

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=skq72ha10854d4ck105&s=saj10hk732da8ca984]133|200|Scoring: IMP S: 6H Lead: D3[/hv] Not the greatest of slams, I agree. But we have all been in worse (especially me :angry: ). West leads ♦3 (4th best) to East's king and your ace. Let me try to think out loud. That's permitted in the Forums: There is probably a loser in clubs, and perhaps also in hearts. I test trumps by cashing the king, in case East is void. They both follow small, but when I continue with another heart, West discards a diamond. So East has a trump trick. What can I do? Well, the opponents didn't bid, so all I know is that they have a stack of diamonds. The only line I can think of, except for the slender chance of a doubleton ♣QJ, is an elimination. The club honours are most likely split, so if I can make East lead a club (or give a ruff and discard), I may make it! So I win dummy's ♥A, come back to my hand with a spade and ruff a diamond. Then I cash another two rounds of spades to which EW both follow. The elimination is complete, so now I can just ........ ..... and at this point I woke up, bathed in sweat. Did I misplay this? There must have been something wrong, since I am sweating all over my body. Please help someone :) Roland

Yes to both.

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sj63h72da1063cq865&s=sakq1098hk6d7cak72]133|200|Scoring: IMP S: 6S East has overcalled hearts Lead: C9[/hv] You arrived in a reasonable 6♠ given the auction where East is a favourite to hold ♥A. Without interference the slam is rather bad, around 34% because it needs ♥A on side and clubs 3-2. Anyway, that's academic, because East overcalled 3♥ after 1♠ pass 2♠. West leads ♣9. Plain sailing now, isn't it? Roland P.S. No jokes about my slams please :)

Excuse me, I am not saying that this is bad, because I have no way of knowing. It may even be very good. What I do know, however, is that this is too complicated for me, and I suspect that it is for most people. Others may have a different view of course. I still claim that it's much more important to teach people how to rebid after a 1-o-1 and 2-o-1 response and let them stick to the easy-to-remember 4321 scale; and subsequently evaluate the hand as the auction progresses. You don't need the Zar-count for that in my opinion. The CS (Common Sense) convention applies here as well. Counting is fine, but there is no substitute for thinking! Roland

Indeed, but my partners know that, so they wouldn't dream of doubling 1NT unless they have a 22+ count or at least 7 running tricks. ;) By the way, I agree with Fred regarding pass forcing a redouble by partner. It should be possible to play 1NT doubled if that is what you or partner want. Not many escape systems allow that. If you really insist on playing something "fancy", maybe try this (easy to remember): Responder bids a 5-card suit if he has one, otherwise pass. When this comes back to partner (after pass, pass), he may choose to pass with a balanced hand. If not, he has 2 options: bid a 5-card suit of his own, or redouble to seek a 4-card fit (up the line). This is known as "The Wriggle" in some places. It's not quite the same on the auction in the post. I think it's time to wriggle now already. 2♣ for a start (showing a 5-card suit). If/when this gets doubled I will start the wriggle for real (redouble). Then partner has an idea of what's going on. Roland

Yes there is. If you ask for aces, you will more often get 1 than 0 from responder. If hearts are trumps it's considerably better to get 5♣ as the response than 5♦, since it gives you room to ask for trump queen. After 5♦ you need to guess if you don't have the queen yourself. The convention is usually called 1430 rather than 1403, because 1430 is a familiar score = 6MA bid and made vulnerable. As far as a club slam is concerned, neither Roman Keycard is the answer, because you may get to slam off 2 aces. I recommend that you use Kickback instead when a minor is set. Some use 4♦ as ace asking if clubs are agreed, some always use cheapest major. But you need to be careful here. If you decide to play Kickback, 4 of a major is only an ace asking bid, if you can be 100% certain that it's not some sort of delayed support for a suit partner bid earlier. So, as always, you need very specific partnership agreements. Roland

[hv=d=n&v=b&n=sakj84hqj9dk5c983&s=sq7hak1082dj843cj2]133|200|Scoring: IMP S: 4H doubled Lead: CA[/hv] An interesting hand from an invisible broadcast from England last night. North opened 1♠, 2♥ from South, 3♥ rebid, raised to 4. West doubled, led ♣A and continued the suit to East's queen. ♣K from East at trick 3, you ruff with the 8 and West discards a spade. Can you take advantage of West's insulting double? What is your plan? Roland

I have actually. The picture was taken in Menton, France, in June of 2003 during the European Championships. It was excruciatingly hot and humid (new record for the area), so you had to drink all the water you could find. Diet Coke is also ok as you may know, but alcohol? No thanks, I don't like it, and I am not kidding! Roland

Nothing new; Fred is too modest to take the credit he deserves. Maybe he didn't have enough time to go through all aspects at the table and intuitively played the way he did, but I can assure you that he chose a line that is much better than any other. Søren Christiansen (Danish international) is one of my assistants at the bridge centre. He and I went through the various options thoroughly. Fred's (successful) line was beyond compare. I suspect that most other world class players would have done the same, but I am also pretty certain that even some experts would go wrong. This hand is far from being straightforward, so don't despair if you don't succeed if you have to play a similar hand in the future. It's not disgraceful to go down in 4♥, by any means. We have all seen more serious errors in the history of bridge. Roland

I'm a major disappointment altogether, because ... 1. I don't drink alcohol (Guiness Book of Records is the closest I get to the Irish stuff you are referring to). 2. My appreciation of rugby is non-existent, BUT if you would care to discuss cricket for 5 or 6 days I'll be there in a flash! 3. My golf handicap is more than serious, since i don't play the game! I do enjoy watching it on TV though, not least when Europe thrash the Americans every other year :) 4. I will "see" you before you know it. Our vugraph broadcast from the Camrose Trophy in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, on March 4, 5 and 6 I mean. You still in the team or did the selectors have enough? :P ..... By the way, thanks for the kind words joker_gib and hrothgar. It's MY pleasure really. I enjoy what I do and am delighted to see how our schedule expands almost on a daily basis. Roland

Very well done everybody. The issue wasn't if you could make the grand slam or not, of course, but if you remembered to claim the beer after you made the last trick with ♦7! I bet it didn't take Justin Lall more than a split second to figure that out. A reverse dummy it is, and whether you cash ♠A early or later doesn't matter. In both instances you will get rid of the blocking diamond honours, the last one on a high heart. Roland