The Pattaya bridge club web site has a page of common bridge questions (FAQS) where many frequently asked questions are answered. I get lots of e-mails asking various questions about bridge bidding and other aspects of the game. So I have also set up this post; if you have a general bridge question then simply click the ‘comments’ link below and ask it. Your query will appear on this website immediately and I’ll answer it within 24 hrs.
The Pattaya bridge club also has a number of interesting pages that answer many questions. To know if a bid is forcing (in Standard American or Acol) check out Is It Forcing. The When RHO doubles page give you the standard meanins of bids when partner opens and RHO makes a take-out double. There is also a page specifically on doubles – take-out, panalty or what? And what does a 3NT rebid by opener mean?
Tags: ., bidding, bridge, bridge questions, cards, games, queries, questions, recreation
October 4, 2007 at 1:38 am |
Is forcing stayman commonly used to force to a game ‘without’ a four card major?
October 4, 2007 at 1:43 am |
Interesting question, Velbert.
There are a few versions of ‘forcing Stayman’ around, and as far as I know they all promise a 4-card major. I have personally never played forcing Stayman (and never will). I play Garbage Stayman together with 4-way transfers and SARS. Thus a 2 club response to partner’s 1NT opening does not guarantee a 4-card major because I play:
(a) 2 clubs may a simple raise to 2NT which cannot be bid directly because I play 4-way transfers and a direct 2NT is a transfer to diamonds.
(b) to get a SARS sequence going to find out about partner’s shape and his minor suit distribution. (1NT – 2c – 2d/h/s – 3c asks about shape when playing SARS).
The ACBL says that in the sequence 1NT – 2c – 2d/h/s – 2NT, the 2NT bid needs to be alerted if it does not guarantee a 4-card major (i.e. playing 4-way transfers). But apparently 2c does not need to be alerted if it does not guarantee a 4=card major. As is often the case, the ACBL have no idea what they are doing. In my opinion a 2c bid that does not promise a 4-card major needs to be alerted immediately, but I suspect that the ACBL thinks as much about my opinions as I do about theirs.
If opps play normal Stayman then 2c does not guarantee a 4 card major (usually because they play 4-way transfers) but the 2c bid currently does not need to be alerted as possibly no 4 card major (an alert is only required if responder subsequently bids 2NT)
Sorry I cannot give you a direct answer to your specific question, and I suspect that you won’t get a sensible one from the ACBL either.
November 6, 2007 at 2:24 pm |
East/West won a game. Then N/s won a two-game rubber. Does e/w lost the 300 points they would normally receive for winning a game?
November 7, 2007 at 3:04 am |
Re: Rubber bridge scoring.
When E-W won a game they scored 100+ (the score for the game) above the line and became vulnerable. E-W have not scored 300 (or anything) extra yet. When N-S subsequently won two games they won the rubber. They thus get 500 points for winning the rubber 2 games to one. E-W get no bonus for their game but decrease N-S’s bonus – they would have got 700 if they had won the rubber 2-0. There is a section about rubber bridge tactics on the main website
November 11, 2007 at 11:16 pm |
Can you advise me on how I can keep up with what cards are played? I can count my trumps easily enough, but I just cant keep up very well with the other 3 suits. Are there some pointers you can give me to help me?
Thanks so much.
November 11, 2007 at 11:17 pm |
Is there an opening bid that conveys that you have 16-18 points but not a no trump hand? Thanks so much.
November 12, 2007 at 3:49 am |
Hi Catherine.
If you play Acol (with strong twos), Benjamin Acol or Precision Club (or a number of other bidding systems) there may well be be a bid to show such a hand. But playing Standard American there is not. It really is no problem; you open your longest suit and then rebid your 2nd longest. If the longest is lower ranking then that would then be a reverse, showing around 16+. If the 2nd suit is lower ranking then you can only jump if your hand is worth game opposite partner’s response.
If your two suits are equal length, say 5-5, then always open the higher ranking and then bid (or jump) in the lower ranking. It is a mistake to open the lower ranking and then reverse into the higher ranking ‘to show points’ as this shows the wrong shape (a reverse is longer in the first bid suit).
November 13, 2007 at 2:43 am |
Regarding keeping count of all of the suits: this is basically a skill that is probably genetically inherited. The vast majority of bridge players are capable of counting trumps but not all of the suits. Those lucky enough to have the gift of being able to memorize all four suits are mostly very advanced or expert players.
Some people are amazingly gifted and can memorize the complete sequence of a deck or two of shuffled cards. Such gifted people often count the cards at Blackjack and eventualy get banned from the casinos when they win too much.
Most moderate – good bridge players strain to count more than the trump suit. The only help I can really offer, and which may be as important as having the ability to count all of the suits, is to signal count when defending. My partner and I give attitude leads when one of us leads a suit but always (unless it is likely to help declarer) give count when declarer is leading.
January 6, 2008 at 9:14 am |
Searching the internet for the answer to my question about rkcb I happened upon your web page.
Can you advise me?
I held this hand, x A KQJxxx KJxxx
Partner opened 1C so I launched immediately into 4NT on the assumption that it set clubs as trump. (Slow auctions would create problems in themselves, I may have difficulty in setting clubs in a forcing situation. ie one which would demand a cue bid or which could not be passed! I wanted to be sure that it was club key cards that we were talking about.)
I planned to pass 5D, which could only be one, not four since I have two myself.
Partner bid 5C, 0 or 3. Clearly I needed to know. If he had 0, I was already out of my depth but that is no reason to give up on the grandslam if he has three. I am prepared to invest an extra undertrick, a relatively small cost, in finding the grand slam if it is there.
Partner could hold an aceless fourteen and the only game is three no trump. But to sell out at that level with such a magnificent hand seems wrong to me. I am prepared to take this very small downside risk in search of what may be a laydown grand slam.
So what I want to find out is, does he have three, and if so, does he have the queen.
How do I do this?
I will keep partner’s hand to myself, until I have heard from you.
George
January 6, 2008 at 9:25 am |
Hi George
Your problem raises a few interesting points.
First of all, if you are playing Standard American then partner may possibly have only three clubs and clubs may not be the best strain. Anyway, let’s assume that partner has got a club suit, then you may well be too high using RKCB.
Actually there is a convention that solves this problem – meant for exactly this type of hand. It’s called Baby Blackwood and is described in the conventions section of my site; it only asks for aces and has no ambiguity. But hardly anyone plays it and you cannot find out about the club queen!
So, let’s get down to the actual bidding – you bid 4NT and got a 0 or 3 response. You have a real problem now as 5 diamonds would be asking for the trump queen. There is no solution playing basic methods unless you splinter as I suggest at the bottom of this page.
There is always a potential problem with any type of Blackwood when a minor suit is trumps and one popular treatment is that 4-of-the-minor is RKCB. Partner would bid 4D (0 or 3) and you sign off in 5c which partner corrects to 6C if he holds three keycards. With three keycards and the club queen he should correct to seven clubs.
Other possible solutions are to play inverted minors (so you can set clubs as trumps in a forcing scenario) or to play Kickback but you will get too high when partner has no keycards as you will necessarily be at the 5 level.
The best bid with the hand you actually held and your system is to respond 3S to partner’s opening. This would be a splinter agreeing clubs and if partner held two or three aces he would show slam interest with a cue bid of his cheapest ace (not the trump ace).
Suppose partner’s hand was:
Axxx
Jxxx
A
AQxx
The bidding should go
1C 3S
4D 4NT
5C 5D
5NT 7C
Where 3S is a splinter, 4D shows the AD, 4NT is RKCB, 5C is 0/3 (but obviously 3 in light of the previous cue bid), 5D asks for the trump queen and 5NT acknowledges the trump queen but denies a king (6C would deny the trump queen and you would pass)
January 6, 2008 at 9:33 am |
Thanks for your comprehensive answer. I gather you must be the writer of the RKCB feature.
You have answered my main question. Is there a way of finding out if the response is 0 or is it three? And I gather there is not. I still wonder if any of the many versions in circulation does allow it.
I am not a gadget freak myself, the antithesis thereof. I once played Kickback. Never again. All these apparently safe ideas invariably have a downside. I cant remember them all now but in a five session event there were three misunderstandings!
I like splinters very much but I dont think they have much value over 1C, and I have thought about it, for the very reasons you set out. Given that you need five card support to even consider splintering they are extremely rare indeed, even then there may be better contracts than clubs.
I would be prepared to give up splinters over 1D too, making 4C available as Blackwood (Gerber) over each of those opening bids but it is sufficiently rare that I think I will leave things in the haze that they are in now.
Now to the real hand.
Only in hindsight did I bid 4NT, in fact I bid 1D and over my partner’s 1H I was in the dilemma I spoke of. 4NT presumably would now agree hearts and 3C would not even be forcing. So I took the bull by the horns and bid 6C.
The full deal was
x
A
KQJxxx
KJxxx
Jxxx
KQJx
10x
A9x
January 6, 2008 at 9:41 am |
Hi George
So the first sentence in my reply was spot-on, partner did not have a club suit.
But I am confused – your partner appears to have one keycard! Anyway 4NT as RKCB at any stage always gets you too high. That is why it’s common to play 4-of-the-minor as RKCB. I would splinter (3S) and when partner backs off, settle for 5c.
Incidentally, I would not open your partner’s hand (it does not conform to the rule of 20).
If he passes the bidding could go
pass 1d
1h 2c
2s(1) 3c
pass or 4c or 5c.
(1) Where 2s is 4th suit forcing, primarily asking for a spade stop. 5c is a reasonable contract (needing only to find the cQ) and a club partscore should score reasonably well as many will be in 3NT going down.
February 12, 2008 at 7:48 am |
if a player wins all 13 tricks is that a grand slam , regardless of the bid. in particular, i made a contact of three no trumps (thinking i could win nine tricks), but ended up getting all 13 tricks. is this still a grand slam?
February 13, 2008 at 3:54 am |
Hi David.
No, a slam is only a slam if you bid it. If you bid 3NT and make all 13 tricks then you score 220 + the game bonus (but not a slam bonus).
There is a booklet on scoring that explains this sort of thing on the website http://www.pattayabridge.com > scoring at bridge. It is a pdf/word doc document that you can simply read or download/print for free. Or you can click on http://www.pattayabridge.com/scoringweb.doc to access the word doc pages directly.
March 12, 2008 at 9:27 pm |
Sitting East, after dealer’s (North) pass, I hold Kxx, K10, AQxx, AQxx and open 1D. My partner holds Qxx, A, QJxx, KJ9xx. We play inverted minors, so she responded 2D. I bid 3C to indicate club stoppers. She raised to 4C. I decided she must have no major stoppers and signed off at 5D. We made 6D, and the hand would also make 6NT. How should we have bid the hands to get to one of the slams?
March 13, 2008 at 1:05 am |
Hi Ellen.
The problem lies in your 3♣ bid. First of all, stoppers should be bid up the line and so 3♣ does indeed deny a stopper in both major suits and your partner’s 4♣ bid was correct. But you have stoppers in all unbid suits and so should bid NoTrumps rather than bidding stoppers. The other problem in your auction is that partner never knew your strength.
I assume you play a strong NoTrump, then a 2NT rebid would be 12-14 and a 3NT rebid 18-19. You should simply rebid 3NT to show your strength and stoppers in every suit.
Partner would then go on to slam in whichever minor suit you elected to open. I would open 1♣ but many experts do advocate 1
♦when 4-4 and it makes little difference in this case.March 13, 2008 at 5:03 pm |
Thank you so much for the analysis. I knew I should have been signaling my eighteen points but didn’t know how after my partners’s 2D bid.
March 15, 2008 at 8:50 pm |
My partner bids 1 Nt, I respond 2H (transfer), partner says 2 S, I bid 3S. What does my bid tell partner. We play transfers and Texas Transfers as well over 1 NT. thanks. Barbara
March 16, 2008 at 3:33 am |
Hi Barbara.
Your 3♠ bid is invitational promising 6 ♠’s.
After partner has completed the transfer, the following holds:
2NT = 5 ♠’s and invitational
3♠ = 6 ♠’s and invitational
3NT = 5 ♠’s which partner will pass or correct to 4♠
4♠ = 6 ♠’s, to play.
Any other suit bid = at least 5-4 and game forcing.
4♣ = Blackwood/Gerber
4NT = quantitative.
Jacoby Transfers are covered in more details in the conventions section of the web site.
March 27, 2008 at 7:27 pm |
Browsing , looking for answers, and I come across your interesting site. My question is: North bids 2 Clubs; East overcalls 2 Spades; must South bid? (Her hand was S:Axxx; H:xx; D:Jxxx; C:xxx – 5 points). If using step-responses 2 Hearts isn’t enough; if using the waiting bid, she has to bid 3 Diamonds. I look forward to your reply. Many thanks – Margo
March 28, 2008 at 1:38 am |
Hi Margo
When partner’s 2♣ opening is overcalled you are under no obligation to bid. Generally speaking and lacking any other agreements; pass is a negative, double is penalties and a bid shows a positive. If you play step responses then you would have to agree as to how high they apply after an overcall. Obviously you could still play them after a one level overcall but probably not over a high level overcall.
April 2, 2008 at 11:05 am |
I would appreciate it very much to have your opinion on the following question:
What are recomended ranges for multi-landy vs 15-17 HCP No Trump?
(I guess that your answer would apply for other conventions (when we have 2 suited hands)).
April 3, 2008 at 1:22 am |
Hi Michael
The general range for Multi Landy and similar defences to a strong NoTrump is about 9-15, depending upon shape. With 15-17 one would generally double. With 18 or more you can also use Multi Landy (to strong to double – partner will doubtless pull it).
This is also applicable against a weak NoTrump.
April 7, 2008 at 1:08 am |
My partner and I use Super Negative, where a 2H response to a strong 2C opening signals a very weak hand. My partner opened 2C and I held: JT, xxxx, xxxx, Qxx. I bid 2H to show a weak hand. After long deliberation, my partner bid 2S, which I passed. He ended up making 6S! His hand: AQxxxx, AKJx, x, AK. Should I have bid differently? Thank you for your time.
April 7, 2008 at 3:15 am |
Hi Justin.
In my opinion your bidding was perfect. You have said you are nearly bust and partner signed off in 2♠. With 9 1/2 – 10 playing tricks your partner was at fault. He should bid either 3♠ (which you would raise to 4♠) or else bid 4♠ himself. 6♠ is not a good contract and partner must have been very lucky to make 12 tricks, 4♠ is where the hand belongs.
April 7, 2008 at 1:41 pm |
Distributional Hands:
I have such trouble bidding the distributional hands, I have heard about the trick losing method to know how high to bid. Could you send me some info on this please.
April 8, 2008 at 3:57 am |
Hi Joy
First of all, the Losing trick Count (LTC) is really meant as a guide for how high to raise partner when he has opened one of a major.
There are two main points to consider with distributional hands: –
(a) how high to open or overcall with your distributional hand.
(b) How high to raise partner when you have a fit
(a) is generally covered by the Rule of 2,3,4.
(b) is generally covered by the Law of Total tricks.
Both of these are covered in the website, with word doc printouts available. Probably easiest is to go the ‘Abbreviations and terminology’ link in the links column and both pages are easily accessed from there.
July 1, 2008 at 7:01 am |
Hi,
What convention would you recommend for weak shapely hands as opener?
Thanks,
Roger Boyar
Los Angeles, CA
July 1, 2008 at 7:30 am |
Hi Roger.
There are a few conventions you might like to consider.
Some players play that an opening 2NT is the same as an Unusual NoTrump, showing at least 5-5 in the minors and weak. However, I don’t really like this as 2NT really is needed for the strong balanced hand.
So onto more popular stuff; the obvious ones are weak twos which are pretty standard these days.
Another possibility, popular in Holland, is the so called Rainbow convention. This involves playing an opening two diamonds as Multi, including weak twos in the majors. Two hearts and two spades are then Muiderberg, showing a weak hand with five cards in the Major opened and 4 or 5 cards in an unspecified minor.
If you want a more complex scheme involving all sorts of weak openings, have a look at D and A twos, in which all two-level suit openings are either weak or strong.
Regards,
Terry Quested
July 25, 2008 at 12:17 am |
what does it mean when someone says they play “four way transfers”?
July 25, 2008 at 2:36 am |
Hi Judy
4-way transfers are an extension of normal Jacoby Transfers. 2
♦and 2♥ are still used as transfers to 2♥ and 2♠ resp. but in addition 2♠ is a transfer to 3♣ and 2NT is a transfer to 3♦.Playing 4-way transfers has repercussions elsewhere. For example the 2NT response is no longer a natural invitation and a 2♣ Stayman bid no longer guarantees a 4-card major. The complete scheme for 4-way transfers is written up on the web site.
October 19, 2008 at 4:59 am |
When partner raises a bid in his own suit does this require a response?
October 20, 2008 at 4:13 am |
Hi Grayce.
In most situations – no. A simple rebid of your own suit in non-forcing.
For example. 1h – 1s – 2h.
or 1c – 1h – 1s – 2h
Both of these are non-forcing.
Also a jump is usually just invitational.
For example 1h – 1s – 3h
or 1c – 1h – 1s – 3h are both passable.
But there are exceptions and it depends upon the system you are playing.
Playing Standard American the sequence 1h – 2c – 3h is forcing, this is because the 2c bid in SA promises 10+ points. Playing Acol this sequence is just invitational.
December 6, 2008 at 5:29 pm |
If I am responding to partners one heart opening bid, and I have 15 points and four spades – do I reply one spade or 1nt?
December 7, 2008 at 2:04 am |
Hi Veronica
You should respond 1S – never (or hardly ever) deny a 4-card major. 1NT would, in any case, show 6-10 points and your hand is too strong. You did not give me your hand, but bid 1s and then make a forcing bid or bid game – 4h if you have 3 hearts (if partner promises a 5-card heart suit) or else 3NT.
December 20, 2008 at 8:32 pm |
re your page: “All about the 2NT bid (Standard American is assumed) item 6.
take a bidding sequence with no interference; 1D, 1H, 1S, 2NT – it appears 2NT = 11-12 points
But if partnership uses the SAYC direct 2NT over a 1 of a minor opening as having a stronger point range than 11-12, is 2NT in the above indirect sequence still 11-12 or does it require stronger point range?
Thanks for your help
December 21, 2008 at 3:50 am |
Hi Paul
2NT in the sequence 1d – 1h – 1s – 2NT should logically be exactly the same as 1d – 2NT, except that the latter denies a 4-card major. In strict SAYC that would be 12-14, but very few actually play that and the vast majority of players (even though they say that they play SAYC) play 2NT by responder (in either sequencr) as invitational. This anomoly is actually pointed out in the recent book on SAYC by Ned Downey.
February 11, 2009 at 8:34 pm |
I dealt and had the following
AKx diamonds
AKx clubs
AKx spades
AKQx hearts
Other than a laydown of 3 nt, what would be my opening bid and my parteners response to get to a 6/7 slam?
I turned out that my partener had the other 2 queens.
February 15, 2009 at 9:12 am |
Hi Larry
Interesting hand! You should clearly start with a 2♣ bid but what you have to avoid is ever bidding 3NT as partner will surely pass.
If you play Benjamin Twos or the Multi Two Diamonds then you can open your strongest bid and rebid 2NT which is then game forcing. If 2♣ is your only strong bid, then play the Kokish Relay, which enables you (after 2♣ – 2d – 2♥ – 2♠) to bid a forcing 2NT.
Anyway, you should have a forcing 2NT bid available in your bidding arsenal to allow partner to try Stayman or transfers with a poor hand but some shape.
If partner transfers to show 5 ♥’s then you can bid 6♥ and if partner bids Stayman and there turns out to be a 4-4 ♠ fit then bid 6♠. If partner does nothing (i.e. bids 3NT) over your forcing 2NT bid then you should try 4NT. This surely shows a huge hand and partner should bid 6NT with a queen and a bit of shape.
I cannot think of a sensible way to ask partner how many queens he has.
February 27, 2009 at 7:56 pm |
please can you give me details of your 6 table mitchell movement.
many thanks
March 1, 2009 at 2:08 am |
Hi Eileen.
The 6-table Howell is not totally satisfactory and you do not meet two pairs. Thus the 6-table Mitchell. Mitchell movements with an even number of tables are tricky – you need a relay/share or a skip. Obviously it’s a relay/share with only 6 tables – with tables numbers 1 and 6 sharing and a relay table between tables 3 and 4. I’ll send you movement cards by e-mail. You can have 24 or 30 boards. As a Mitchell is much quicker than a Howell I always play 30 boards.
March 28, 2009 at 1:42 am |
Please help. When someone opens for their partnership with 4 Spades what does that mean? They had 8 spades and 16 points but that is confusing to me. First it’s a close-out and secondly, isn’t that a pre-empt? (8 spades with 10 or less points). Please help…
March 28, 2009 at 4:22 am |
Hi Debbie
Yes, I agree. 16 points is a bit much for a four spades opening which should be basically pre-emptive.
There are various ways do bid such hands. Strong (Acol) twos or Benjamin twos. But with an 8 card major (especially if short in the other major) I prefer to open the auction at a higher level and the solution is to play Namyats. Then this 16 pointer can open 4 diamonds which shows a good 4 spade opener. A 4-spade opening can then be very weak and most definitely pre-emptive.
April 28, 2009 at 1:30 pm |
In our retirement community we have a variety of experience levels. This does however create some very difficult situations in establishing a larger groupof tables. Some insist on playing with specific partners (in order to play various conventions etc.) while others do not ever wish to “upgrade their game” with those confusing conventions. It is a retirement community – remember.
How can we mix these two groups of players into a common scoring method, in order that we can all play together – moving and mixing our play and our friends ?
Thank you.
May 1, 2009 at 5:20 pm |
Inasmuch as I/we have not received a response to our earlier e-mail, we’ll assume that we were not sufficiently clear in our query.
Thus, restating, we need to be able to make up a group of tables where some of the players request that they be able to compete and move as team pairs. Not a problem – except that there are other players who insist on being allowed to compete and advance as individuals
Therein lies the rub – how to mix these two groups to enable all to play at the same time, either with duplicate boards or equally divided numbers of hands per table sitting.
We need a workable response, please.
Thank you.
May 2, 2009 at 2:37 am |
Hi Richard. I’m not sure that I completely understand the question, but here goes. I assume that some wish to play in the normal Howell novement but some wish to play amongst themselves (say 1 or 2 tables) and perhaps get tuition/guidance? When I had this problem, I had a mitchell movement and so boards always over. The 4 beginners sat at their own table and simply played boards not in use at their own pace. If you have more players, so a Mitchell movement then you can do much the same but the odd table(s) would have to share boards with one of the normal tables. I hope this helps.
Regards, Terry
May 31, 2009 at 1:48 pm |
What does a redouble of a negative double show?
June 3, 2009 at 1:06 pm |
Probably the best use for the redouble of a negative double is the ‘Rosenkrantz redouble’. It shows a top honour (A or K) in partner’s suit. This can be very useful if you end up defending as he will know that a lead of his suit is safe (and there is also the information if there is no redouble that partner does not have a top honour).
June 5, 2009 at 8:30 pm |
If you bid Convenient Minors and have a hand with 4 spades, 4 hearts, 3 diamonds and 2 clubs, do you HAVE to bid the diamonds rather than the clubs to open? (14 points in hand) I prefer the clubs so that I can guarantee 4 diamonds if I bid that suit.
June 6, 2009 at 4:23 am |
Hi Neva.
I agree that playing a ’short club’ is a better system and I like to open 1c when 4432. This is no problem if you agree it and write it on your convention card or else alert the 1c opening as ‘could be two cards’. However, if your convention card says better minor then you are obliged to open a 3 card diamond suit rather than a two card club suit.
July 29, 2009 at 4:16 pm |
First of all , you made me very happy with the excellent NT book.
Many thanks for that.
Question about the strong 1nt book.
two bidding sequences
1.1NT 2Cl 2H 2NT invite without spades. non forcing
1.1NT 2Cl 2H 2S invite with spades. non forcing
now reverse these sequences and you get.
1.1NT 2Cl 2H 2NT invite with spades. non forcing
1.1NT 2Cl 2H 2S invite without spades. forcing
The last sequence is forcing now so you can input much more hands to it. Redefine last sequence in ; invite (without spades) or better ( than spades possible).
If 1NT opener has minimum then the only answer is 2SA. After this a strong responder can bid 3Cl . SARS .
If opener have maximum after 1NT 2Cl 2H 2S he must give answers like SARS. ( more space to give your distribution)
Pro ’s
You can start SARS 2 steps lower. So you can be more precise.
You get the information of minimum or maximum more quicker.
You free up the 3Cl (SARS) bid , that you can use for something else.
So I think this is better and also not complicated.
Have I overlooked some bad things ?
greetings,
Wop de Vries
August 2, 2009 at 4:22 am |
Hi Wop, thanks for the input. Interesting idea and certainly playable if you and your partner agree.
However, 4-way transfers are fairly common and I give the standard approach. The main advantage is that if opener is weak he can stop in 2s rather than being forced to play in 2NT or 3s. Fairly often a 2s contract on maybe a 4-3 fit will be the highest playable spot.
September 18, 2009 at 2:32 pm |
If someone brings a card into the playing field but does not take his hand off the card and the next player lays down a card, can the player replace that card since he did not remove his hand?
September 19, 2009 at 2:27 am |
Hi Dorothy
Whether a card has ben played on not is not really affected by whether it is still in your hand. The official definition runs something like this – a card is played if it is placed on or near the table in full view of everybody. So to answer your question, you cannot remove the card even if it is still in your hand if it has deemed to be played by the above definition.
September 26, 2009 at 2:04 pm |
In the bidding sequence – Opener 1c, pass, 1spade, pass, 2c, double, 2d,
Is the 2d bid forcing like new minor? My partner states that new minor is off after the double. I state that bidding one of the doublers advertised suits cannot possibly be to play.
What is the thinking on the above bidding sequence?
Thank you
September 27, 2009 at 4:23 am |
Presumably the double shows both red suits. I would play 2d as looking for 3NT. I play that is shows a diamond stop and asks opener to bid NoTrumps with a heart stop (2NT if min, 3NT if max) but you could play it the other way round if you wish. The 2d bid is focing and should show invitational values (+-11) or better.
September 26, 2009 at 2:08 pm |
When partner responds to an opening bid in “reverse” order, I contend that responder needs to have sufficient points to require opener to go to the preferential level. My partner disagrees. Comment please.
Bidding sequence 1 diamond, pass, 1h, pass
2 diamond, pass 2s, pass.
What is point level/shape requirements for responders bids?
September 27, 2009 at 4:26 am |
Hi again Art
The new suit by responder is forcing for one round. In this sequence it promises 5 hearts, four spades and at least invitational values (+-11). Of course it could well be much better and more shapely but it always shows more hearts than spades.
September 26, 2009 at 2:09 pm |
I sent two previous comments and forgot to check the E-Mail response. I would love an E- Mail response.\
Art Bonneau
September 27, 2009 at 4:28 am |
Hi Art
I just replied to your two queries and they are on this post. I think that WordPress automatically sends you an e-mail?
September 30, 2009 at 10:32 pm |
Please tell me the meaning or convetnion if I bid 1 spade and p bids 4 diamonds but he was void in diamonds
September 30, 2009 at 11:48 pm |
This is generally played as a splinter, agreing spades and showing at least opening values and shortage in diamonds (could be singleton or void). There is another convention, the Mini Splinter, where a bid of 3d shows a singleton and a bid of 4d shows a void.
October 11, 2009 at 9:50 pm |
What is the penalty if defenders renege when a certain suit is played?
October 12, 2009 at 2:30 am |
Hi Geraldine.
Generally speaking, the penalty is two tricks if the defender won the revoke trick and one trick if he did not win it.
October 31, 2009 at 2:33 pm |
I want to know if there is an anomaly in the way match point scores are determined by Scorebridge at Pairs in situations where:
1. there are two sections playing unequal number of boards (i.e. 20 on one section and 22 boards on the other); and
2. one section has a sit-out pair where the other one does not; and
3. all results of both sections are merged to arrive at the final ranking.
I seek both mathematical as well as the logical explanations because I believe that the system seems to be unfair. Any help you could provide to convince my club would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much
November 1, 2009 at 6:33 am |
Hi Fundi
I agree that this does not seem right. If there are two separate sections then that is two separate competitions (even if the boards are the same, the opponents are not). In my opinion there should be four winners – N-S and E-W for each section. Anything else is unfair.