Congrats on the gold points!

If partner can tolerate you opening light in 3rd, 1 is tempting. This hand feels better suited to a preempt - probably pays off more often than fishing for the spade game, though. Ergo, I'd try 3

I'd bid 3D for sure, because it's going to be the right choice most of the time, but it is a shame that if partner has four decent spades and a diamond honor you are odds on for game. (e.g., AJxx xxx K xxxxx makes it a pretty good bet, and KJxx xxx Ax xxxx one I'd want to be in in most fields if it could be played from my hand.)

What I really want is to be playing canapé and get to open 1S, which would be the right balance of preemption and constructiveness. Playing my homegrown system from a few years ago, that would be the bid in first or second seat, any vulnerability. (Opposite a passed partner I'd have been more circumspect than when playing standard, because we opened most eight counts, so game requires a perfect fit, e.g., QJxxx xx Ax xxxx.)

I seem to be in a smallish minority, for looking at and caring about the vulnerability. You are at least a trick light of an unfavorable three-bid, AND you have a 4-card major, AND you have some chance at winning two defensive tricks. Even in third seat I can't see preempting with so many flaws.

I pass this, in all seriousness, and rate my choices as pass << 1D (leaves the door open for spades) < 2D (right number of tricks, at least) < 3D.

I bid 1 diamond on that one with the given vulnerability.

It is rarely correct to pre-empt with a side 4 card major.

i must agree with you on this one but if i were playing canape i would definitly open 1

Brag: Met Martin de Knijff today
Beat: I was probably one out of only five people there who knew that he is a sick poker player.

Also, on the diamond hand:

I ended up opening 1D, although I really strongly considered 3. My partner knows I can open pretty light in third seat, so he's not going to take me for much. Ideally, I want to play in 1S or 2S, but we ended up getting them up to 4C down 1. We only make 2D though.

The 1-level bid allowed my LHO to show her 5 card club suit a lot more easily, and my partner came up with a raise to 3D after I bid 2D when it passed back to me. +50 scored 8.5 out of 12, so it was a good board.

Also, a few questions about this hand (which came up in the swiss teams that I played tonight):

7
7 2
A K Q T 6 5 4 2
T 9

If I'm in first seat, does this qualify for a gambling 3NT? Does your vulnerability change your decision?

Now, if I'm in IMPs, R/R, and LHO deals and opens 2, partner passing, and RHO bidding 4, is 5 a good sacrifice? Should I be able to count on partner for one trick?

1) Definitely. Any colors.
2) Difficult. I've just changed my mind about 5 times. At the table I would definitely bid it, but I think the chance of partner producing a trick might actually be more like 40%. One thing you could try is giving it to GIB. GIBs bidding algorithm excels at these sort of problems - averaging out all partner's possible hands and seeing whether you get a trick.

Whether it's a gambling 3NT depends entirely on your agreements for that bid. I think most people would say yes, though.

If partner doesn't have a trick for you in diamonds, then more often than not he won't have one against spades either.¹ If that's true, then they probably have a slam, yet RHO didn't look for one. I think that makes a 5D bid a good bet.

Getting them up to 5S probably won't matter unless partner has a singleton diamond (while RHO has two or three) and something else, but what the hell.


¹ This isn't always true, of course, as he could have a slow trick in spades or their side suit, or he could easily be ruffing diamonds -- but in each case that would give the opponents all the controls in three suits, or all but the spade king, and again RHO would have looked for slam. The unfortunate exception to that would be where he has a great hand but no real fit for spades -- except that you know he has nothing in diamonds, so he really couldn't do that without either diamond shortness plus exactly two spades (meaning around ten rounded-suit cards) or an absolute monster, and in each case he'd have looked for slam in a second suit most of the time.

About the only likely layouts where you are down 800 in 5DX but RHO didn't make a serious error are when RHO holds Axx spades and exactly a singleton diamond, and three of the four round-suit AKs, while opener hold the missing king or responder holds the queen. Something like Axx AKxx x Axxxx -- and that's still a slam try in my book. Give him the club king instead of the ace and it's a problem only when opener has the ace, which many players shy away from but is possible. Give him just Ax of spades and now where are his cards, because he still needs that singleton diamond -- with Ax AKxx xx AQxxxx he will often try a different approach (though this is probably the biggest risk).

I'm assuming he wouldn't make the bid with a solid side suit and short support, e.g., Kx Axx xx AKQxxx, because again that's a try for a notrump game, or a slam try if it's slightly stronger (and you have a trick in hearts a lot of the time there anyway, so it's only awful if that heart trick or one in spades is slow, i.e., opener has something like AQJxxx QTx xx xx or with the jack of hearts instead of spades). Note that I'm assuming you are not beating 4S, as that would take diamonds being 2=1=2 around the table and partner having at least QT82 of spades while RHO has no better than A6 or K6, I think (or partner has a round suit trick and one trump trick after the promotion).

Nickell (#1) advanced in the Vanderbilt yesterday over Kleinplatz (#64).

No surprise, but Kleinplatz's partner Mark Leonard is one of my bridge mentors. I play against him frequently and partner with him on occasion. Mark and Morrie had a 67 IMP lead (iirc) after the first half (32 boards). They played Zia-Hamman, while the other pair played Nickell.

The second half was a disaster of epic proportions, and I'm sure there's plenty of blame to go around, but from what I've gleaned, Meckwell bid and made 6C that required a ruffing finesse and another finesse, and that board would have swung the match. Seems like the final score was ~7 or 8 IMPs to Nickell.

r/w imps, pickup partner, rho deals, passed to lho who opens 1s. partner doubles, i bid 2d, lho goes to 2s, partner now bids 3h... we have:

s: Q64
h: Q3
d: KT964
c: JT9

am i supposed to leave him there?

atakdog's analysis is far deeper than mine, but I agree that 5 is worth a try, based on the slam reasoning.

I wish I had the skill, time and money to play in NABCs. Enjoy your experience!

Raise to 4? Partner should have a power hand to double then pull.

Your 2 was a forced bid, promising absolutely nothing (it's debatable whether your hand is worth a 3 bid). You actually have 8 HCP opposite a partner who is willing to go to the 3-level unaided.
You should at least bid 4, partner's minimum is something like
4
AKJ872
A42
AK2

Your hand is actually closer to a slam try than to a pass. Though I think trying for slam is over the top here.

Your partner is showing a really solid hand with his bid. Going to 4 is a no-brainer [IMPs, vul, 8 points (when you're promising 0) and good minor intermediates]. You might be missing slam, although that's unlikely.

IMO, your partner has something like:
x
AKJxxx
Axx
AKx

Myrmidon and fab, you're forgetting how bad pickup partners can be -- but you still have to get to at least 4H here. You have six points more than you've promised (the spade queen doesn't count), and about average hearts in context. Unfortunately there's no stronger bid than 4H that shows the heart tolerance and isn't an overbid, so you probably have to go 4H.

Re the gambling 3NT hand... yes, it qualifies at any vul. With the 8th diamond I'll be going on to 5D at equal or favorable. Against at least some opponents it may be better to open 5D in the first place than start with 3NT, even if the hand qualifies for 3NT.

Re this latest takeout double hand: I might have bid 1NT rather than 2D on the previous round of bidding, to convey the strength and spade stopper and lack of enthusiasm for hearts, rather than losing sleep over the fifth diamond. Given the 2D bid, yes, we have a maximum, and need to go on to 4H.

OMG, I've found a home.

I haven't had time to read any of this, but I will (and will chime in on the last couple pages).

I occasionally play on BridgeBase Online as capn1100. Feel free to look me up.

For me, this is a clear 3 opener, and it's not even close. Those glorious diamond spots will make it near impossible for the opponents to penalize us when it's right, we know we don't have a game, and if the opponents compete we will have some fairly nasty surprises for them on defense.

Against that, we might miss a better partscore (in spades). Then again, if we can make 2 or 3, that's also a push. With a passed partner, I'm preempting very aggressively.

1. All day, every day.

2. I'd bid it, and feel pretty good about it. If we go down three, it's not the biggest disaster ever (-5 IMPs), and it has some win potential (+100 instead of -620 being foremost).

As stated above, this is closer to a slam try than a pass opposite a competent partner.

The only thing I wonder is if 3 might be a better try with all the slow values--we may be able to run nine tricks in 3NT if partner has a half-stopper or more, where 4 may run into problems.

Jx
AKJT9x
AJx
Kx

is foolproof in 3NT, but needs to find a little luck in 4. I think that's a bit weak for a double-then-bid, but you get the idea. Make it

Ax
AKJT9x
AJx
Qx

and you're cold for 4 but also have good chances for 4+ in NT, not that that matters much.

This may be shooting at a narrow target though.

I'm watching him play Lauria/Versace's team on BBO's vugraph right now at the Vanderbilt. I guess he must be a sick bridge player as well.

Story in today's bulletin, pp 1, 4-5.

Brag: Played against Cecilia and Sandra Rimstedt (ridiculously awesome Swedish sisters who are both still juniors)
Brag: They said I defended really well.
Brag: Females under 25 playing bridge at a really high level
Brag: Swedish
Brag: Cleaned up the 0-1 teams at Swiss

Beat: We got blitzed 47-0 because of two slams that they bid and made.

5:1 Brag/beat ratio is a win in my book.

.

Tonight, I'm going to dinner with Myrm and some other folks. If anyone else is in town (ahem, Atak?) we're meeting on the 2nd floor of the Hilton (of the Americas, Houston) by the books at around 5. Not sure where we're going yet.

My P and I had a really bad day yesterday -- just not in sync at all -- and qualified for the finals of Red Ribbons like 68 of 78. There's a ~3 board carryover, so we're starting about that far behind.

Off to play a compact. If you're around, hope to see you for dinner.