chasetb

He nailed it. Personally, I think any EXP+ player using Negative Doubles would make one there, after all North has no problem with 3NT, 4♥, 4♠ on a 5-2 fit if it exists, 5♣, and 3♦ X if partner leaves it in.

Should you bid? Absolutely. What should you bid? Most people will say 2♦, but to be different (and assuming it is MPs, but you know what assuming means) I will go with 2♠. AKQTx is better than most 6-card suits. At teams, I will pick the boring but practical 2♦.

This is a horrible slam, the kind Roland Wald likes (it's a running commentator joke). 4♥ oddly is the contract you want to play, but most people will play in 3NT or 4NT.

Why can't you be off two Aces? Even if you are off only an Ace and K♠, the King can be offsides. I pass!

I voted for 2♥, because specifically in this auction I now play it as either what your usual cuebid means, or a very strong one-suited hand (should be 7+). I'll be unlucky enough to receive a ♣ lead in 3NT if partner has Hearts stopped after 3♥, double gives the opponents too much room, and I see too many hands where partner will pass rather than pull it and we have slam. Two times I have had a hand like this, and both times double worked out very poorly. The first time, 6♣ VUL made while 1♠ X was only -500; the second time 4♥ comes in while 1♣ X was -300. This type of auction came up when I was a Vugraph operator in Orlando, starting 1♦ - (P) - P - (2♦). West asked South if it was the Majors ('Yes'), while North told East "It's undiscussed, I'm taking it as just playing bridge". The auction went off the rails for E-W, but because of the misinformation the director changed the result (North tried saying that he would expect partner to cuebid with this kind of hand). It ended up not mattering in the end, but was interesting nontheless.

Playing a lot of Precision, I always announce 1♦ "may be as short as 2" (I don't have any partners who play it as 0+ or 1+), and I alert 1M-4M. When asked, I explain "To play, no slam interest, could have up to 12-13 HCP". Personally, I don't think the limited nature of 1♦/1♥/1♠ should be alerted - it's a very similar case to opening 1M on 4+ (not canape of course, that is alertable).

I just took a hard look, and I think there are truly only 20 top pairs in the world. Pachtmann - Ginossar and Bertheau - Nystrom are close, but considering neither pair made their country's team for the European Championships, I have to leave them out. Dubinin - Gromov are making a great run in the Spingold, but the resent results aren't there for me. There are also a few great players not on here because they need partners. I would classify Curtis Cheek, Ishmael Delmonte, Thomas Bessis, Dennis Bilde, Boye Brogeland, and Jacek Pzecola as applicable (I would also like to include Erik Saelensminde, but he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth). I know Delmonte and Bessis have played together, but it's not a regular thing. I also get the impression that Alan Sontag is still an outstanding player, but where's the beef? Pairs I have my eye on are Fisher - Schwartz, Bertheau - Bessis, Upmark - Nystrom, and Ahmady - Sadek. Meckstroth - Rodwell Levin - Weinstein Greco - Hampson *Grue - Moss *Hamman - Lall **Fleisher - Kamil Balicki - Zmudzinski Jassem - Martens / Mazurkiewicz - I like Martens better personally **Buras - Narkiewicz (will move up if Gromov wins the Spingold) Fantoni - Nunes **Helgemo - Helness Lauria - Versace Bocchi - Madala **Duboin - Sementa Brink - Drijver **Muller - DeWijs Van Prooijen - Verhees *Piekarek - Smirnov *Birman - Padon *Herbst - Herbst * - Don't quite have the results as a partnership I would like as of this post ** - At the bottom of the list IMO

I definitely open 1♠ and rebid 2NT, it would show this hand and 2NT might be the place to play.

Well done Chris, you repped the BBF very well. I just looked at the brackets, and my word Gromov is indeed stacked. The Hamman-Diamond scoreline of 66-54 was also shocking, at less than 2 IMPs a board - must have been some great bridge at that table.

4♠ wtp

I blame North, because even though 1NT is right on values, you really need a stopper. Personally, I want 1.5 stoppers or more. I dunno if I would bid 1♥ or 2♣ - I want 5+ Clubs, but it is a nice 4-card suit, and there's a wider range for 2♣ than 1♥.

http://tinyurl.com/kqf72gz I know I was light, but the opening, along with the void response to 4NT, propelled us to slam. My question is how to get GIB to try and find the cold 7♠ contract, after I show we have all 5 keycards and there's a chance of 7 because of cross-ruffing. This isn't a problem solely of GIB, I think you would be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of experts and world class players who have a chance here of finding the Grand (or having the gall to bid it). What I'd really like to know is how the logic of GIB works. I see that holes are being plugged here and there, but at times it can still be frustrating.

Because this is the Novice/Beginner forum, I would open it 1NT. For any other player, I would recommend 1♥ and treat it like a 4531. I know it isn't ideal, but partner is the one we actually want to play 3NT, since it's likely (s)he has tenaces we want to protect on opening lead.

I just printed it off today and am working on memorizing it, and I would be interested in playing it with you.

This hand is so suit-oriented, I have no problems opening it 1♦. Yes, it has a great KnR, but ONLY in a suit. In NT, it is garbage unless partner has something. Agua hit it on the head imo.

http://tinyurl.com/lrmxcuw

I'm pretty sure that Meckwell use (1M) - X - (P) - 3M as a transfer to 3NT. I don't know, but I could see (1m) - X - (P) - 3m as the same. I know Garozzo, in his system Ambra, came up with uses for every bid up to and including 3NT on 1x - (X), so why not just use those same bids?

When I posted it I meant to add in 1♠, but in a rush to make it to bed to do Vugraph today in the morning I simply forgot to include it.

[hv=pc=n&s=sakq3hqdk53ckt987&d=e&v=e&b=6&a=1c]133|200[/hv] Chicago-style, if you don't know what that is assume teams. I'll give a few options in spoliers. If you X, If you Pass, If you bid 1NT, The full hand is here:

I would double, because I really don't like to sell out here (Yes, even at IMPS). We have some defense, the points are balanced if not in our favor, and if partner pulls I expect it will be a good decision. I will admit to having little experience here, but in my experience people overcall 2♥ on many hands they shouldn't, and we should make them pay. On a side note, when I first learned Support Doubles, I downloaded this document. It also talks about Action Doubles, which is what this hand qualifies under.

I'm surprised at this post. You REALLY can't see any advantage? Then let me teach you a thing or two. First, you usually want the strong hand to describe and declare, so you don't want to waste any space unless you have to. Hearts isn't so bad, but swap the Heart and Diamond suits in the example hand, and then hear the auction go 2♣-2♠, 3♥. You just pre-empted opener and wasted a whole lotta space. Taking this a bit further, if you swapped the Spade suit in the example hand with a minor suit, do you STILL want responder to show that suit and respond 3m??? Second, how about when opener has a balanced hand? You wrong-side the contract, and possibly get the partnership too high. It's pretty hard on this hand, but let's replace the K♣ with a spot. Next thing you know, you end up in 5♠ -1 because you are missing the AK♠ and the finesse if off, or a ruff, or the J♠ is off. Standard bidding won't get that high, since the 2♣ bidder will know partner has long but lousy Spades and should be able to stop in 4. Third, even if opener has a minor hand (which seems likely), the auction isn't an issue if it goes 2♣-2♦, 3♦. When I bid 3♠, partner knows I have 5+ Spades, but not the best suit. It's not a suit where I want partner to raise on xx(x). Now if the auction starts 2♣-2♠, partner can always raise later on A/K stiff, or even xx if it seems like a misfit. Also, this might not apply for you, but when my partner bids 3m, (s)he has almost no interest in a Major.

I don't know what you use as defense over this kind of bid, but I would X and then bid my Diamonds to try and get the point across to partner that I have a huge hand with Diamonds.

Pass, and everything I would have said has already been iterated and reiterated.

[hv=pc=n&s=sajt987h2djt75ca2&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=6hp]133|200[/hv] EDIT - MPs, partner is an average player at the club.

Another reason that's in the same ballpark is that partner had a hand that was an inbetweener. I would bet in this case, a 6+ card suit that couldn't open 1♠ / 2♠ / 3♠. The options are 6-4, 7-4, or 7 Spades and didn't like 3♠ or 1♠ and refused to bid 2♠ on some crazy principle. Why can't 3♠ be the limit of the hand? I highly doubt that it can be a splinter, because how neither person can bid what would be a 10/11 card suit is nuts (unless OPPS has a hand highlighted in the first paragraph). A Fit-Showing Jump would be better, but since this auction is undiscussed, I doubt that as well. I think I would pass, after all ANBAFBAPH (Almost No Bids Are Forcing By A Passed Hand).