I was never a huge fan of Leaping Michaels. Yes, it has merit... so does the old-fashioned meaning of jump overcalls showing strong hands (so that double-then-bidding-your-own-suit is always a hand that can play more than one place and was disappointed with what advancer picked).

The 3M stopper ask looked good on paper... but I don't think I've ever had it come up.

Well, the idea behind leaping Michaels is we don't want to jump to 4m as it goes past 3NT. I don't think anyone plays 3M/W2 as anything but good hand/good suit. The old rule 'don't preempt over a preempt'.

I have to evacuate from Houston, so will probably be on BBO for a bit at night the rest of the week. Anyone free to jam some?

Would much rather play with people who I know than randos there.

Yes. The interesting question is how to use 4D. One possibility is a slam try in Hearts. The other is a hand that only wants to play 4D opposite the pointed suits, but want to play game (or more) opposite the black suits. I think SEP is to play the former, but I am not sure.

After a 2M opener you have several bids available that aren't natural. How about filling them in like this:
3M - 5/5 OM and a minor, strong
4C - 5/5 OM and clubs, capped
4D - 5/5 OM and diamonds, capped
4M - 5/5 minors, strong
4NT - 5/5 minors, capped

Seems a good idea to be able to show not only your shape but also an indication of strength, so partner knows when and when not to consider a slamtry.

pbal, Martha Stewart is not an attractive middle aged woman lol

lmao

was tailoring my post to the audience

hahahahaha, yeah man, idk what they call cougars in their 70s, but you just gave hope to an irresponsible number of them lolol

Cool hand from today, playing in online 'world' bridge event.

You hold:

JT
AKQ642
KQ53
J

You deal:

1H-(p)-2N(lim+)-(3S) (now the opps are silent)
4C-4D
5D-6H

Opening lead is KC, you see:

A
JT95
A74
76432

JT
AKQ642
KQ53
J

RHO follows with T(UDCA). Next trick is QC, low, 9. Plan the play. Hint: Trumps are 3-0.

Easy

Just a rec player getting back into bridge the last 9 months after a two-decade absence.

Good, but you are cold even if the spade honors are split...There is better available.

am i crazy? We need 1 + 8 + 3, right? So 4 club ruffs do it?

Ruff low, diamond up, ruff a club high, spade up, ruff a club high, heart up, ruff a club high, draw, claim? We just need the spade and diamond to live, which is why i played the diamond first.

Brian has it (almost) right. This is a simple dummy reversal, but you may as well use your trump entry first, since with 2-1 trumps you can claim.

The squeeze does work as well, as RHO has

KQxxxxx
none
JT9x
xx

Interestingly enough LHO holding:

xxx
xxx
xx
AKQxx

can defeat the slam...all they have to do is lead partner's suit, and the timing is destroyed for both the dummy reversal and the squeeze...

yeah i guess that is right. RHO can be 7303, yikes.

For those of you who were JLall fans, a nice celebration of life was held on Sunday. You can watch the replay here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zg73xhya3j...27.20.mp4?dl=0

Thank you for sharing

Coaching some juniors, this hand came up yesterday:

RHO opens 3C, we get to 6S. Lead is the King of hearts.

T98
AT43
KQ2
765

AKQJ765
2
AT543
void.

Obviously we are cold against normal breaks in the red suits (they were normal at the table). What foul splits can you overcome?

Clue from my hand. How do you guard vs RHO having 3=3=0=7 and LHO having 0=5=5=3.

Hey guys,

Back from another small hiatus. What have I missed? Are there allegations of Lorenzini-Bessis now? Anyone else since Nowo confessed?

Also, do any of you use FunBridge?

I'm assuming this is IMP scoring, where the primary goal is to make the contract. Given the auction I think the only situation that's consistent and tricky is 0=5=5=3 from LHO and 3=3=0=7 from RHO.

On trick 2 I'd ruff a heart high, and on trick 3 play a spade to the board. If both follow we're good. Assuming LHO shows out, I would ruff another heart high, and play another spade to the board.

Then I'd run the trumps, ending with this:

-
T
KQ2
7

-
-
AT543
-

Now I cash the KQ of diamonds. If they are 3-2 claim. If they are 4-1 we can endplay LHO, who presumably has the high heart left (unlikely LHO is leading from just KQ here, but by ruffing two rounds of hearts, the J should drop in case LHO doesn't have it). If they are 5-0, LHO got squeezed earlier, and we can get the same endplay. RHO can't really have 4 diamonds and follow the first heart and have three spades, but we could hook the diamond anyways if that was the case.

Right, well done.

Lorenzini gave a half baked confession. There is quite a controversy now, as Bessis is 'defending' him, and even planned to play the Fall NAOBC with him. Public pressure got him to replace Lorenzini with Volcker.

I used to be a very regular on BBO, but now play daily on a new site that is in beta testing called RealBridge. It is a new program that combines bridge with their own Zoom capabilities. It is quite a big step up from BBO.

I am 3for3 on BBO, if you see me, say hi.