FCBL, no michaels with 6-4. You shouldn't even do it with 5-4

hey, if someone plays bridge with me tonight i promise not to michaels without at least 5-5 in the unbid major(s) and another suit. aim=bobman5352

Double is really awful, that is for hands where you like partner to determine the trump suit. Here you want to play spades even if partner has a singleton spades and something like 9743 in hearts. Spades is where you live, so tell partner about that by bidding 1S. 2S is acceptable, both if you play it as intermediate (11-16) or weak (5-11).
The advantage of 1S is that it allows you to find the heart fit if partner has a good 5-card suit in hearts.

Another interference question, myself and partner both playing SAYC, opponents (playing precision if relevant) vulnerable:

QJ983
KQ86
AT
63

LHO passes, partner bids 2, RHO overcalls 3, we? We're likely looking towards slam, but how best to go about deciding which one?

I'm not really sure what X means, but it seems like a good bid. Either it's penalty-oriented, showing a good hand with spades, or it's negative, showing a good hand with 4+ hearts, which are both things we have.

3NT and 4H are both conceivable, but partner might pass, which is not good. 4D is a bit of a lie, but maybe OK.

Actually, now that I think about it, 3Sx might be the best spot. Declarer can't have more than an A/K, and even if he has 7 spades, that's only 4 tricks. 5 vulnerable undertricks is 1400 points, and he could go for as many as 7 or even 8.

Just say "I double for penalty" and glare at your partner menacingly.

If you are playing online or something and can't pull off that expert maneuver, here are some options:

Double: It is penalty, but could be done with much less in trumps and much less in hand total (something like KT98 in spades and nothing outside), and partner is going to likely pull a lot of the time, given that he probably has one spade at most.

Pass: Forcing. Partner will make some bid to clarify his hand.

3NT: A big underbid. You'd make this bid without the A and K

4NT: Should be slam invitational and show 10 - 12 balanced. Problem is that your spades are pretty useless for slam.

I'd definitely double here. There may be some small chance that it gets left in, which would be great considering the vulnerability. If not, you'll probably just raise whatever partner pulls to 6.

Double should be for penalty after partner's strong 2 opener. At favourable vulnerability, that makes double the most attractive bid here.
It's possible partner will run away, because it really looks like partner has a monster club hand -- it's difficult to contruct a hand that has a strong 2 opener while leaving room for overcaller to have ATxxxxx in spades or something like that.

(My guess for partner's hand: x/Ax/KQ/AKQJTxxx)

Yeah, we ended up one down in 6 which made with correct play

I disagree. A common system over interference (below 3N) when P opens a strong 2C is to play that X is a "double" negative, showing 0-3 points. Partner can decide whether to pass or bid on. This means, in particular, that pass, here, is forcing. Partner might bid a strong suit or double to ask you about your hand. If partner doubles, I pass here. Definitely at favorable vulnerability, but even red/red. After talking this hand over with a partner, you probably don't want to be fishing for a "could be making if X, Y, and Z" slam when there's goofy distribution. Hit it for 1400 and run. IMO.

hahaha, just had two consecutive hands where we had making grand slams and didn't bid either, having 3nt+4 getting a top and 6d+1 getting 3/16 behind 7d= and 6ntx+1... thoughts on bidding here, opponent's card looks fairly standard, partner's hand in spoil tags:

KJ7
K9
AKJ8
9753

lho - p - rho - me

p - 1h - p - 2d
p - 3c - p - 3nt?



AJT84
AJ7
J82
A5

lho - p - rho - me

... 1d - p - 2s?
p - 4NT - p - 5s (standard blackwood)
p - 6d - ppp

I'm not entirely sure about the first hand, although 3NT seems like a good spot. Your partner needs be have a really strong hand (like 17+) usually for slam. I don't know why your partner got complacent and stayed at 3N though. With his hand, I'd bid 4H, and then you can try and push to slam (or 5H) if you want.

On the second hand: I don't know how you guys play, but I usually play a jump shift as weak, so I would assume you you had about 6+ spades with few points (like 8 max) and no outside entries to your hand. I usually play a first round response as forcing, when the responder is in the 3rd or 4th seat, so that gives you a chance to bid again and show the strength of your hand.

Obviously, your partner didn't think that, so it's a non-issue I guess. With his blackwood bid, he found out that you guys had all the aces, but then stopped at 6D without asking for kings, which I guess is a little odd. Granted, I think you're in the right contract, but if you showed him the Kc, I think he could pretty easily bid 7D, so he's just screwing himself out of information.

If anyone ever wants a fourth for bridge, PM me or AIM: TWPinDaHouse. If I'm online, I'm always up to play (intermediate player, I'd say, but obviously that's going to be somewhere in a wide range). Have been a long-time player, but far from expert (and rusty).

After just finding this thread and discovering BBO a month ago my sick sense of humor wanted to start a:
BBO is RIGGED thread.

Bridge was my late 60's university downfall - kept me out of classes much like poker is doing for many today. Played 6-8 hours a day in lieu of 2 years of classes learning the game. Read every single book (50+) the library had. Learned Precision and the Blue Club backwards and nobody to partner with.
Everybody played Standard American. SAYC looks like a big improvement.

I had a duplicate partner(SA) and we would be the only long-haired, under30 players in any of the local bridge clubs. Broke down some barriers and had a great time.

Played some socially in the 80's and just restarted - awesome game Bridge - playing BBO and missing out on some regular poker income - too much like work.

At BBO I list myself as 'Advanced' and in the 'Main Bridge Club' I look for an open seat at a locked table of Advanced and Expert players.

Getting a table of fast, efficient, good players with a tuned-in partner is bridge heaven.

I've subbed in in a few BBO tournies, but they seemed a little slow. Still learning the site and have yet to re-partner with any of the the ones I played well with. Busy place.

I'm "Letterman" there.

Top Boards!!


Rainbow...

Hey chuck although I've not played for something like 30 years I might be interested in getting back into Bridge. Can you PM me a link to the site and I'll join up PDQ.

Thank you.

www.swangames.com

No need to join. We play for free.

You can get a 30 day free membership also if you like. I have a link for it somewhere.

How about this hand that I played on Sunday...both sides vulnerable, my partner dealing:

AJ9763
5
4
AK852

The opponents are silent and the bidding goes like this:

P: 1
Me: 1 (standard, right?)

P: 2
Me: 2 (this way I show my length, and don't go up a level, because our hands don't fit, so bidding clubs doesn't really help, since partner is at least 5-5)

P: 3
Me: ???????

I ended up passing, because I didn't want to get higher, but is there a better bid here? I know we have at least 24 HCP between us, but I don't see a game in any contract.

1. This is a game forcing hand (i.e. your plan should be to bid a game somewhere)

2. 1S is correct

3. 2S is incorrect because it is non-forcing (i.e. partner can pass). You should bid 3c, even though it takes up so much bidding room. Btw, partner is only promising 4+ diamonds when they bid 2d over 1s.

Ok, that's fair. I'm guessing that he still bids 3 over 3, which shows at least 5-5 (right?). So, where do we go from here?

I know we have a lot of HCP, but I just can't picture a game anywhere, except a very shaky NT contract without much transportation (coupled with a generous lead).

I bid 4 over 3. He knows (now) that you, too, are at least 5-5, probably 6-5 (or you could show delayed support for one of his suits). He'll pick your game, now.

Ya. 2 is so weak and non-descriptive. Bid the clubs for sure.

Alright maybe I am being paranoid, but I can't get this hand out of my mind from earlier tonight

I am in 4th seat and the bidding is passed to me.
I open 1D.
LHO doubles.
Partner bids 1H
RHO puts down the pass card, then starts to reach for it back and mutters "Oh well I already played it"
I pass
LHO doubles again

WTF???

Does anyone pass, then double twice unless they know their partner actually had a bid they wanted to make? Needless to say they ended up in 2S and top board.

If you bid 3C (4th suit forcing) you have in essence forced game. So now it only matters, after 3D, what game we're going to go to. What do we know:
(1) Partner doesn't have a club stopper (Qxx) so we have no good club fit.
(2) He doesn't have 3 spades, but might still have 2, or 1.
(3) He probably has 5 diamonds, but could be stuck for a bid with something like xx/AQJxx/AKxx/xx, where you can still bid 3D as cheapest bid available.

Basically I see only 2 realistic options over 3D: 4S and 3NT. If partner has the red aces, I want to be in 4S, otherwise I'd rather take my chances in 3NT.
So I'll apply Hamman's Rule: if there are several alternatives to bid, and one of those alternatives is 3NT, then bid 3NT.

I am not just a bridge player, but also an official bridge director.

The bridge rules in this area are complex: partners are not allowed to make use on Unauthorized Information (UI) given to them by their partner.

Note that it's not illegal to give that UI, since that's inevitable: if you think for a long time and then bid something, partner knows you have some special kind of problem, and this limits your hand range, yet that is UI to partner.

In the case you mention, LHO has UI that RHO was very close to bidding somethin rather than passing. He is not allowed to use that information. In practice that means he can bid what he wants, but the opponents can ask the director to evaluate, after the hand, whether the 2nd dbl might be influenced by the UI. In that case the director will assign a score to the hand. In this case the assigned score would be 1H for some number of tricks.

Whether this is actually the case here can;t be judged without seeing the hands, particularly that of LHO. If he has an 18 HCP hand or so, he has every right to double again, since passing is out of the question. If he has 13-15 HCP, the director would not allow the 2nd double.

EDIT: Oh wait, I see he had already passed once before. Then it's a virtual certainty a director would never allow the bid. Your opponent would actually probably receive some extra penalty for blatant use of UI. We don't call it cheating because many, many bridge players do this, and not at all on purpose, but it is still not allowed.

LHO has 11 HCP, thats why they passed the first time. Didn't think to call them on it until I got home. Just making sure I should of.

Insta-call (the director) after LHO X's again. That is clearly UI being passed. LHO is allowed to X after the UI, but his hand better damn well warrant it. And if you feel damaged by the UI, you should again call the director after the board, and you should speak to him again while he is compiling scores.

Edit: And I can't think of many passed hands that warrant it! People are too nice at the bridge table. Director calls need to be made more often for these 'casual' slip-ups.