Walddk

That's exactly why I used the word "impatience". bid em up is impatient in my opinion. That is not necessarily bad, but I would just let things take the time they require. "Of course, you should realize that if you keep making statements like this, sooner or later, the users will start to get antsy for details :) " A quote from bid em up's initial post. That's why I used "demand" (quotation marks, mind you). I am not antsy, Justin is not antsy either. bid em up is perhaps antsy, but that should not put any pressure on Fred. Roland

I do not disagree, but I think Kathryn's aim is to get as many views as possible from expert players. She may not get that if she posts the hands in the B/I forum. By the way, I also agree with everything Phil, Justin and Arend say. Roland

Let me emphasize that Fred did not ask me to "defend" him, but please give the man a break for goodness sake. He just returned from a regional, he will be leaving for the US Trials in a few days (Bermuda Bowl berth at stake). Why the impatience? This is a free site, remember. There is only so much you can "demand". I am sure Fred will reveal the details when he finds it appropriate. BBO is great as it is. Enjoy it and let Fred get the time he needs. Roland

[hv=d=n&v=b&n=sk753hk10d105ca7543&w=shaq83d98742cj1062&e=sj1082hj9762dqj6c8&s=saq964h54dak3ckq9]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv] South: 6♠ Lead: ♦9 Vugraph from China the other day. The theme is suit combination. Many beginners and/or intermediates would not even think that there is a problem in the spade suit, and there would not be most of the times. There is no problem if the suit breaks 2-2 or 3-1 (90% altogether), but there is if spades break 4-0. There is nothing you can do if West has all four; then he must come to a trump trick. No need to worry about something you can do nothing about. If East has four, however (half of the times spades are 4-0 = 5%), you can pick them up if you play carefully. After winning the diamond in hand at trick 1, it is essential that declarer plays a low trump from his hand. If he cashes a top honour, he must lose a trick and the slam goes down. At trick 2 it transpires that East indeed has all outstanding trumps, but he is not entitled to a trick because you were aware of the danger. You win dummy's king, play a low spade back towards your hand and win as cheaply as possible (East will likely split his remaining J108). Now you cash the other top diamond and ruff a diamond in the dummy. The last trump from dummy leaves East with no good answer. His Jack and 8 are under your Q9. Let me change one card and give dummy ♠10. K1053 AQ964 With this combination it is correct to cash the ace or the queen first, because when you have the 10 in one hand and the 9 in the other you can pick up the 4-0 regardless who has four. It will be revealed after you cash the top honour and now the jack is finessable no matter who has it. On the actual layout there is still one danger though. When you pull East's last trump, dummy is out of trumps (remember that you ruffed a diamond earlier). Now it's important that you discard a club from the dummy, not a heart. You may need the guarded ♥K later. You give up on the overtrick but that is not important at IMPs. If clubs break 4-1 (and they did as you see), you must rely on ♥A to be onside, and then it won't help if you have bared the king. Cash ♣KQ, get the bad news in the club suit too and finally lead a heart towards Kx. 12 tricks, 1430 in. I am happy to say that declarer, Liu Jun, played the hand exactly like this, card by card, and was rewarded with 13 IMPs when NS in the other room stopped in 4♠ (11 tricks). Vugraph is not only entertaining, it is also a great place to be when lessons are to be learned. This is an excellent example in my view. Roland

I was wondering, if Fast Arrival is applicable for Opener. I always thought it was applicable only for Responder. If 4th suit is GF, what is the hurry in bidding 3NT. After all Responder has not yet set the Strain. He is an unlimited hand and he will need the space to fix the Strain and find out about more about your hand. Lets say Responder is dealt a monster of a hand - ♠AK ♥AKQJ1098 ♦XX ♣XX, what do you expect him to do after 3NT? He will need the space for him to set ♥ as trump with the 3♥ bid after 2NT and you can cue the ♦K - 4♦ and he can take control after that. Godwin Good point, and experts do not agree. If you ask Eric O. Kokish, he would play 2NT as either 12-14 or 18-19 and 3NT as 15-17 (unbalanced). Again, it all depends on your agreement. For example, if you have strong jump shifts available, responder would bid 2♥ with the hand you show. Roland

I recommend that you don't open balanced 11 counts (unless you play mini-NT). Once you have opened, there is no way to tell partner that you should not. 2♥ would have been fine with a doubleton if your hand was .... ♠ J10xx ♥ Kx ♦ xxx ♣ AKxx ... but as it was you have a descriptive NT rebid. 2NT or 3NT depending on agreement whether fourth suit is game forcing or not. It is for you I can see by reading your avatar, so 3NT seems right. Roland

98% to East and 2% to you. Your hand is not quite good enough for 2♠ (I would double), but that is not really the problem. Your partner already opened a more than dubious 1♥ (whatever system you play), and no one asked him to bid again when his RHO did. He has a clearcut pass. I suspect that he would have bid 3NT no matter what, so on a very good day I would give all 100% to him. You were extremely lucky not to get doubled. I would if I had been North. I trust my partner's overcall at the 2-level rather than my LHO's 3NT. Roland

I am clueless regarding templates, but I know someone who is not: Thorvald Aagaard from Denmark. Have a look here and click on the diagram square in green ... http://www.netbridge.dk/bridge/discuss/add...d+5+korts+mayor If you would like help, I am pretty certain that Thorvald could provide useful info. His e-mail address is thorvald (at) netbridge.dk Roland

In this context it may be useful to read about the Turbo convention ... http://homepage.mac.com/bridgeguys/pdf/TurboConvention.pdf It has been somewhat modified by the Italian stars of today, but in general principles nothing has changed since the days of Eugenio Chiaradia and Benito Garozzo. Roland

No you don't. You can venture keycard ask if partner has the diamond control you don't have if you have a club control yourself. That will obviously promise a club control once partner denies one. Roland

In my book it confirms a spade control (else 4♥), but it doesn't promise a diamond control. It's not a real problem, because opener has one. He can't be interested in slam without controls in two side suits. Roland

You must have missed something. It is cheaper to bid 3♠ than 4♣. Therefore, 4♣ denies a spade control. Roland

And what if trumps break 4-0. Can you still make it? (should be possible for beginners/intermediates to read between the lines now). Roland

I have the suspicion that most players are not aware of this, and when they are banned they don't know why (unless they got a message about that). Same for bailing: still a lot of people leave in the middle of a hand. I don't think many read the site rules, not to mention that a lot of players do not even speak english. I made that point the other day in a different thread. Would it not be a good idea to explain why and how you get banned by making a note in the lobby news, alternatively link to a page where one can read about it? I got no reply then; maybe I will get one now. Roland

[hv=d=n&v=b&n=sk753hk10d105ca7543&s=saq964h54dak3ckq9]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv] Vugraph from China this morning. As South you have arrived in a fair 6♠ (it would have been better if played by North, but that can't be helped). West leads ♦9, also known as the Curse of Scotland, and East covers your 10 with the jack, alternatively follows with the 6 if you play low from dummy. You win and ..... ? Plan the play please. If you are better than beginner/intermediate, you are kindly requested to use hidden text. Roland

This is very tough, and perhaps too tough in this forum (no offence intended). ♥K rates to be with West, but so does ♠A, and that gives you an additional chance if West has ♠A singleton or doubleton. Win ♣K and discard a heart (spade pitch can never help). Ruff a club and lead a spade towards dummy. If West has the stiff ace, your worries are over. If he follows small and the jack holds, draw trumps and play a low spade from both hands. West wins perforce we hope, and now we have set up two spades for heart pitches. Finally, if this does not work, we shall have to rely on the heart finesse. Roland

My guess is that most users don't know what causes an autoban. Would it not be a good idea to have that info in the lobby news occasionally, perhaps a link to the appropriate page if it is too comprehensive to explain there? Roland

Natural, slam invite (4♦ agrees clubs). By the way, I like Arend's joke. Roland

A textbook responsive double. Roland

If my memory serves me correctly, there was a psyche in our other room too on this particular deal. I can't remember who NS were, but North opened a natural 1♣, Hanlon overcalled 1♥, double by South (apparently 1♠ would have shown something else), and now McGann bid 1♠! Eventually, NS ended up in 4♠. Roland

Even if you are table host, it does not give you the right to remove players from your table. It's a violation of Rules of This Site and one of the reasons why some users are barred from playing for some time. You can ask the "offenders" to leave after the hand, politely needless to say, but you can't throw him/her/them out. Each to his own, but when playing in the MBC I will certainly allow anyone to discuss system during the auction. Sometimes I even encourage them to do just that. Roland

Our operators in LV are David Stern, Barry Goren and Jan Martel (perhaps more). I will forward your request during the broadcast today, but I can't promise anything. Roland

http://www.ebu.co.uk/results/2007January-J...ing4s/Index.htm

Send your e-mail address to roland_wald (at) hotmail.com and I will send you our manual. Several useful tips there. Roland

May will be our busiest ever in terms of nations visited in a calendar month. 13 in total in only 21 days (10 are vugraph free at this point). Coincidentally, 13 is also the number regarding consecutive days (May 1 to 13). Brazil (2), Poland (4), Netherlands, Indonesia, England, USA, New Zealand, Germany, Scotland, Estonia, Norway, Croatia and Czech Republic. June also rates to be a great vugraph month with the Canadian Open Team Championships, United States Bridge Championship (women as well as open), Nordic Championships and Polish Premier League (finals) already listed. http://online.bridgebase.com/vugraph/sched...?order_by=event for full schedule. Bookmark it if you haven't done that already. It's a must for any vugraph freak. Roland