semeai

You got me there! I might also not just bid 4H over 3H or 3D. More seriously: I'm somewhat worried about partner passing. I'm not at all worried about 4S from partner. If, lacking ♠J ♥AKQ ♦AKQ and whatever club honors RHO has, partner can still muster a 4S bid, we're certainly not in trouble. What precisely my next move is is more interesting to ask, but mostly because I have multiple good options.

2H is a nice idea. My thinking with 2NT is that (6)7-9 point hands (with short diamonds) are most likely for partner, and that these won't tend to reopen. They'll do well after 2NT usually, getting to a good game often I'd think. Of course they would do well in 2D doubled (how well would depend on our diamond spots), but I'm not sure we'll get to play that often enough, especially given that when partner reopens it will often enough be with 2S. Possibly my calibration on when to reopen after 2D-P-P is off. To get at this: A) KJxx Qxxx x Hxxx B) KJxx Qxx x Hxxxx C) KJxxx Qxx x Hxxx D) KJxxxx Qxx x Hxx 2D-P-P-? What's the lowest value of H for which you would act with A,B,C,D? If I get to choose the conditions, how about both vul at imps? http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif If this would be better in a new thread, tell me.

I'm a 2NT bidder, but I can understand those who pass.

I agree, 2♥ is enough, and my hand isn't even a maximum, though I would accept an invitation. My doubleton spade does suggest partner's hand is at least reasonable, but I don't see game being likely enough on hands that won't bid again.

Ideally I wouldn't have to double with a void, but here I think it's the best option. I plan on bidding 4♥ at my next turn. This should show a flexible hand worth 4♥, whereas a direct 4♥ bid would show a single-suited hand worth 4♥.

I always assume everyone plays the exact same thing as me, being from the US. Also, in jillybean's signature the number 21 appears, which I could have (but did not) mistaken for 2/1. My arrogant approach also missed partner's first pass. Fine, this is an obvious 3♣ bid, at any form of scoring.

I bid 2♠, at least at matchpoints. Caveat: I'm used to playing a convention called Bart here which allows a way to bid a weak and a constructive version of 2♠ after this auction, so I've been trained to get to 2♠ on 10 counts. I'm not sure how much this affects my thinking here. Actually thinking: I'll open many 11 counts. I don't think it's winning matchpoint strategy to get to 2NT on 21 random points. The 7 card major fit is better than the possibly 7 card minor fit. Probably I bid 2NT red at imps.

I think we agree?

You're right, partner may well bid 5♣ over 4♥, especially with only ♠10xxx.

Actually, does partner bid 3NT with 4 spades and a stopper? With fewer than 4 spades and a stopper I guess he just bids 3NT directly. So maybe I continue to like 3♠.

For those who do like to know results: I bid 3♠, figuring it was perhaps right, and also gave us a shot at 3NT. Partner should have some hearts; maybe he has a stopper. In retrospect, I doubt partner has both a stopper and only 3 hearts spades, and with 4 spades he's passing or raising to game. Partner held: [hv=pc=n&n=st632h742dqcaqt85]133|100[/hv] 3♠ was off 1 when dummy my hand was tapped. 5♣ makes, but I think only thehog gets there unless some of the 4♥ bidders are bidding again over 4♠. Possibly if I'm going to stop short of game I should bid 4♣ like whereagles: not resulting but because the logic of 3♠ was somewhat flawed I now realize. Added: Likely our 4♦ bidders also get to 5♣.

This makes sense. Copy & pasting the text of the .lin (as in the success noted in the previous post) would be able work if it's implemented, though.

Fantastic! This works, though it balked when I tried a 16 deal segment with error 414 (URI too long). I fed it just the header and first two hands and it worked beautifully, with the results table and ability to navigate to the other table and everything! I didn't need to put in %20's. Probably my browser is doing the work there.

If your answer on matchpoint questions is going to be that you don't like tops and bottoms, you're really just assuming that either you're better than the field or you're already having a good game. The latter is similar to assuming you're already having a poor game: they're both reasons to take anti-expected-value actions (one on boards where the top/bottom gives the best expected value by a modest amount, the other where the middle-of-the-road route gives the best expected value by a modest amount). The former is a fine assumption for many in some games and for some in many games, and I'm very happy to read that you think that would often influence your choice on this hand. However, a player's threshold for avoiding swingy actions because he/she expects to regain value later in the hand is going to vary from player to player and from event to event. If you're going to give the "I like to avoid swings" answer, it'd be nice if you could also state your opinion for an event composed of players all of your standard, or <sarcasmForMost> if there aren't enough players of your standard to possibly fill out such an event, it'd be nice if you could give your answer at BAM too. </sarcasmForMost> Perhaps you already have given that answer by stating "I like to avoid swings" though, in which case, carry on! :D

How do I open a .lin file without the Windows download version of BBO? Can I open one in the Flash version somehow or is there another utility (first or third party) to use? If the best solution is to convert the file to another type, is there a recommendation there? Related: I tried going to a teaching table to load the file, but could only use "saved deals" (which it seems had to come from myhands originally) instead of loading from a file. Is there a way to load a deal from another source without typing it all in?

Indeed, I meant 3♠, decline invite, do not bid game, but said pass.

I pass bid 3S (thanks jjbrr). Partner is likely 4-3-1-5. Easiest to think in terms of LTC here. Just about any hand with a LTC of 4 except KQxx KQx x KQxxx (good, of course) would just bid game. Most hands with a LTC of 5 are unlikely to be better than 50%, even if one of the losers is in AKxxx of clubs. Either major opposite a single K or Q may also do poorly unless partner has some 10's.

If you want to keep it simple, I'd recommend leaving 2NT alone as you don't want to worry about forgetting. 2♠ to clubs and 3♣ to diamonds is fine. You do lose the diamond invite hands but they really don't come up that often. If you want, put both minors weak in 2♠ too and have opener bid 2NT without good clubs and 3♣ with good clubs, so 3♦ over 2NT is to play. This loses the ability to play 1N-2S;2N-3D as diamond shortness, so your choice. If you're okay with remembering 2NT isn't natural, what jjbrr has is good.

Some Analysis: Let's give opener a 7 card suit. Then partner has 2 diamonds roughly 1/3 the time. I'm not sure, but at least 1/2 the time he'll be 11-13ish minimum I guess. Does partner reopen with a 4-3-2-4 12 count? Let's say no. Then we're getting a bottom 1/6 the time if we pass. So partner reopens maybe 5/6 the time. Thus if when we're certain he'll reopen we think pass does better at least 3/5 of the time, then we should pass. If RHO has a 6 card suit, then partner has 3 diamonds somewhat less than 1/4 the time and 2 diamonds somewhat more than 1/4 the time. Maybe 1/4 to 3/8 the time he passes out the double. That means partner reopens 5/8 to 3/4 the time. So we need to think penalty double is better than bidding 2/3 to 4/5 the time. (We did assume partner never doubles on 4-3-2-4 12 counts, though. Probably he does some of the time.) Both of these seem to point to pass. We're just about always going to get more than our game. Slam doesn't seem sufficiently likely, and in the case where RHO has a 6 card suit, we're fairly likely to beat our slam in 3♦x if slam is on.

FYP

Two methods: 1) 3rd & 5th: Lead your 5th card in a suit if there is one. If not, lead your 3rd card in a suit if there is one. If not, lead your 1st card in the suit (i.e. high from a doubleton). 2) 3rd & low: Lead your 3rd card in a suit if you have an even number (bigger than 2) and your lowest card in the suit if you have an odd number. They're similar (only differ on 7+ card on 6+ card suits (thanks Elianna)). Basically, playing high-low in the suit as leader shows an even number and playing low-high shows an odd number. This fits with how doubletons are played, and thus makes more sense from a count perspective than standard, which either has to lead low from 3, confusing it with 4, or middle from 3, confusing it with a doubleton.

Come now, people. This is a legitimate question, whoever is asking it. (Though, admittedly, I am not aware of the relevant disputes.) Also, BWS 2001 is getting a bit out-of-date, but it is still a fairly comprehensive list of standard treatments. Does anyone know when it will next be updated? It seems 4♦ is natural and non-forcing by default: The only definition relevant is which doesn't cover double jumps. The relevant defaults are: non-forcing: natural:

First four votes, four different calls. Four different strains even (well, one doesn't count as a strain)!

West ruffed the third round of spades.

At Imps, red vs white, you hear [hv=pc=n&s=sakjh9dk652ckj742&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1c3hdp]133|200[/hv] Your call? If you don't open 1♣, try the same problem with your choice of opening bid. Partner's hand doesn't matter unless you care about results, so I've given you no UI. :rolleyes: