fuburules3

I'm interested if any teams need another player.

http://tinyurl.com/823oap4 What is the intention of GIB's second X here? The "forcing" makes it seem as if it wants me to bid, but the fact that it shows 2S makes it seem like it is giving the option to penalize

http://tinyurl.com/8xlq6my Maybe this isn't a bug, but why does GIB bid blackwood if it doesn't want to bid a slam when it finds out we aren't missing two keycards?

I disagree that you must play a forcing 1NT with 2/1. I play 2/1 with 1NT as just semi-forcing even by an unpassed hand.

Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. I understand that the methods I suggested are not ideal, but I was curious what the sequences mean to most people if you are playing with a new partner and have not had time to discuss (if you are playing so called "expert standard"). FWIW, these are the methods recommended by Hardy in his books, which I tend to use as a baseline if I have nothing else to go on (my interpretation of these sequences is basically the same as AWM's). In the hand that inspired my post, you are opener and see sequence #3 and have to figure out what responder is trying to show. My thoughts are responder must have 6+ spades to insist on spades and must have some slam interest in slam to not bid 4S directly. Since responder has bid in such a way that you are not able to make a cue, he must be worried about trump quality. Thoughts?

http://tinyurl.com/874q7em How is this hand supposed to be bid in GIB's system? I would have thought 2♥ would be forcing. Perhaps GIB saved me as I would have gone down in 4H . . .

Assume your partner is a solid player, but you have no agreements except that you are playing a rather straightforward 2/1 card. In each of the following sequences, what sort of hand does responder have? What do opener's various continuations mean and what are his priorities/obligations? Sequence #1 1D-P-1S-P 2NT-P-3S-P ? Sequence #2 1D-P-1S-P 2NT-P-3C-P 3H-P-3S-P ? Sequence #3 1D-P-1S-P 2NT-P-3C-P 3H-P-4S-P ? Sequence #4 1D-P-1S-P 2NT-P-3C-P 3H-P-4C-P ? Sequence #5 1D-P-1S-P 2NT-P-3C-P 3S-P-4C-P ? Assume 3C is NMF. In my world, without further discussion any bid over 2NT is forcing, but not all of my regular partners I asked agreed.

http://tinyurl.com/c3mjwt3 Perhaps GIB overestimates my declaring abilities, but it seems like it is a little short for its five spade bid (given that it shows 17+ total points).

Perhaps this is one I can save myself from, but I don't think GIB should suppress the diamond fit unless it has a slightly better (and longer) club suit. http://tinyurl.com/7ngjgh6

I took the low road opposite a potential misfit, but it seems that reverse would have worked better with GIB. I view it as a situation where I know a lot about GIB's hand and he knows relatively little about mine (outside the 6Cs) so he should respect my sign off (not sure if it is easy to program this).

Bidding 2NT instead of 2H probably would have led to a smoother auction, but don't see why GIB has to blast 6S if it lied about its length.

http://tinyurl.com/7y29hco

http://tinyurl.com/dy6wvlw Seems like there might be a bug somewhere. In my experience GIB sometimes gets confused if you XX in situations like this.

http://tinyurl.com/7l9vv6v Ignoring the overall silliness of this auction, I'm curious about what people think the 3D bid should show. I wanted to bid 3D as competitive because I don't want to defend 3C when we have a 9 card fit and I'm not sure partner can compete if I pass. 3D shows substantial extras, so this causes my partner to look for game (and in turn my opponents to go nuts). In auctions like I think it is much more useful to be able to compete than to be able to show extra values. What do others think? I also probably would bid 2D the first time if I were GIB.

http://tinyurl.com/768q3z4 Bidding 2D seems strange. Also, the amount the X in this sequence shows seems a bit high given that 2C is a drop (I think it said 14+ when I made the bid).

http://tinyurl.com/782cwmt I feel like auctions similar to this happen a lot. Perhaps I'm resulting because 5D goes down and 3NT is completely cold, but why does GIB want to play a 5-2 fit at the five level instead of 3NT?

Good point! Somehow I was operating in a world where responder always has at least 2 spades, which of course does not have to be the case.

If GIB's stayman promises invitational values (I don't know its system well enough to know), then I could see that a hand that is maximal with 5 spades would bid 3 spades in response to stayman. In that case, what sort of hand would ever bid 3S over 2NT? Normally playing "real bridge" if I'm accepting an invitation and I have extra length, I would bid suit along the way to give partner the option. I have not discussed this particular auction with any partners, but I think "bridge logic" dictates that 3S should be forcing (to reemphasize, I don't see why opener would ever want to play in the 5-2 spade fit over 2NT). This could just be my interpretation as this doesn't seem obvious to either of the people who have responded :)

I think 3 ♠ should be accepting the invitation with 5♠ and letting partner decide whether he wants to play 4S or 3NT. Otherwise, it seems like an exceptionally bad bid (to potentially play in the 5-2 fit). I realize that I only have 15 points here, but typically it doesn't pay to play in 2NT vul at IMPS and I also assumed (correctly) that most of the field would probably be in 3NT.

http://tinyurl.com/87fnd3b I would prefer that 3♠ be forcing. At the very least, I don't think GIB should be allowed to pass with two little spades.

Thanks for the insights--it makes things more interesting to follow to know what is happening in background. The reason I asked was actually that I had it in my mind that the Blanchard's were a "bridge family" and didnt realize the father was also a successful businessman.

I was using web client. It appears the auction was reproduced at a lot of other tables though: http://bridgebase.com/myhands/hands.php?traveller=3827-1322885221-72291654&username=fuburules3

I know Hamman, Lall, Wooldridge, and Hurd are pros, so does that mean the Blanchard's are a father/son client pair?

[hv=pc=n&s=sa654haqj5daj5ck3&n=sqt32h432dkt432c2&d=w&v=0&b=8&a=pp3cdp3dp3ndrppp]266|200[/hv] IMPS. The spots are approximate. You have played with this partner before, but you do not have much in the way of agreements other than you are playing a simple 2/1 card. If it matters, there was a bit of a tank between X and XX. What do you think of 3♦ bid? Would you bid 3♠ instead? If so, under what conditions would you bid ♦ first? In some partnerships, I have a meta agreement to always show the major if you will only get to bid once, but this was not one of these partnerships. How strong of a hand should X and then bidding 3NT show? Is south too weak for this action? What should XX show in this auction? Is south right to leave this in?

I seem to remember when hovering over the bid that the reverse shows 18+ points. It seems now in hand link it only shows 21- points (unless i just can't see whole alert). I seem to remember that GIB will force to game if it thinks there are 25 total points, so here it's pass seems to indicate it doesn't think I necessarily have 18 points (it seems to be happy to pass if my range could include a GF, but is not guaranteed to). I'm curious how GIB treats forcing bids (probably has been discussed)--I know it simulates hands and makes the bid that has highest EV, but what if bid is a forcing bid, but it determine pass is best option? In this case is there something in the code that overrides this decision? It would be nice to know how often GIB will pass in this situation too as I would probably bid this way even if I were an ace stronger.