[PhilKing]

1eyedjack, on 2013-May-14, 05:29, said:

Perhaps it doesn't matter too much provided that both members of the partnership adopt the same style. Both Lee-style or both Cohen-style, but never the twain should meet?

I don't think they are in any way mutually exclusive (think of the Bergen/Cohen partnership - one of the most aggressive of all time). And as pointed out the only way to stop people taking the proverbial is by punishing them when they get out of line.

[cherdano]

JLOGIC, on 2013-May-13, 19:34, said:

Adapt and start doubling 3m when theyre red and you have 23 HCP. People overcompeting vul because they think they can't sell out is a great spot if you know how to X and defend well, lots of tops.

But defending is more difficult than declaring, and with 23 hcp I am entitled to my +140. No reason to risk that good score. So I usually take the push.

[gwnn]

Flem72, on 2013-May-13, 08:04, said:

I'm interested in the theoretical basis for doubling in front of partner, who will balance with virtually any hand that would make the double successful. HCP distribution? I note that on hands 5 & 6, doubler's partner has a pretty normal balancing call.

On hands 5&6, we are the ones who are balancing (rogerclee wasn't advocating a 1st round double), which hands are you talking about exactly?

[barmar]

cherdano, on 2013-May-13, 18:05, said:

Will I ever get to play 2H in the club any more?

I recall reading about a bridge teacher who had some classes where he told the students that they were simply not allowed to let the opponents play 2-level undoubled contracts, to get them comfortable with competing and balancing.

[JLOGIC]

cherdano, on 2013-May-14, 06:49, said:

But defending is more difficult than declaring, and with 23 hcp I am entitled to my +140. No reason to risk that good score. So I usually take the push.

I dunno. I played in a regional with haspel once and we started calling people like this "balancing wizards." They are my favorite kind of opp, those who will never sell out to 2M. The other obvious thing to do against those kind of people is to not game try (eg 1D p 1H p 2H just pass with 11) since they are very likely to balance, andif they don't playing 2 is often fine anyways.

[Flem72]

gwnn, on 2013-May-14, 07:31, said:

On hands 5&6, we are the ones who are balancing (rogerclee wasn't advocating a 1st round double), which hands are you talking about exactly?

OOPS. Got those auctions backward and very very wrong....NO problem with the actions as given.

[benlessard]

Raising with 2 cards is also great to nail some "balancing wizards"

I remember a hand

1S--(p*)---2S----(P)
P----(X)---xx

* with hesitation

and ive decided to bid 2S with 2 cards and 10 pts. they went -500(NV) against a partscore

[benlessard]

On hand 7 any1 willing to double 1S ?

---

Its close for me and I could go both way. But I think much prefer to double 1S than to balance over 2S. Usually when I pass and double on turn 2 I have opener suit or I always have a stiff in their trump suit and a weaker hand.

[jogs]

rogerclee, on 2013-May-11, 09:40, said:

TBH I would not be surprised to learn that a lot of good players disagree with something I wrote. That seems fine to me, it was not geared towards top players. The thing I wanted to underscore the most is that non-experts tend to be too passive in the auction. I wanted to show a lot of hands where a non-expert would probably consider it insane to bid, when in reality it is reasonably close.

Most contested auctions bidding is still influenced by 1950's thinking.

In your example from your link, a trump lead would force North to play
carefully to make 10 tricks in spades. West would win the first heart.
Return his singleton diamond.

[gnasher]

benlessard, on 2013-May-14, 11:57, said:

On hand 7 any1 willing to double 1S ?

Yes, I would. Against most pairs this is fairly safe, because they probably play support redoubles, and opener usually finds a reason to bid when he has a weak notrump. It's certainly safer than a delayed double of 2♠.

[akwoo]

I wonder if this is pointing to a significant advantage for Kaplan-Sheinwold style 12-14 1N. With K-S, a 1 of a suit opening now guarantees either 15 points or an unbalanced hand, so competing is more dangerous (vs. balanced 15+) or less effective (vs. unbalanced hand).

At the same time, against a 12-14 1N opening, players tend to want to interfere only with constructive values, because otherwise it's too hard to find your games when opps open a 12-14 1N.

[y66]

Good stuff. Very clearly presented.

[Vampyr]

gnasher, on 2013-May-14, 13:18, said:

Yes, I would. Against most pairs this is fairly safe, because they probably play support redoubles,

Just as an aside, do you find this to be true in England?

[gnasher]

Vampyr, on 2013-May-16, 07:48, said:

Just as an aside, do you find this to be true in England?

Not as much as elsewhere, obviously, and not at club level, and not in the parts of the country where Acol is still the dominant system. But in a tournament in London I'd expect that more than half the field would be playing something like 2/1, and I assume that most of these would be playing support redoubles.

[diana_eva]

clee will be back on sunday with another free lecture on doubles:

http://webutil.bridg...tch.php?id=1644

[MrAce]

I have a question to those who (if) developed a strategy like not making game tries or raising with 2 cards. Is this alertable ? Do we need to prealert this ?

[diana_eva]

Lecture over, notes available.

http://webutil.bridg...tch.php?id=1648

[diana_eva]

Roger Lee on responsive doubles:

http://webutil.bridg...tch.php?id=1741

[karlson]

I think Roger has done an excellent job with the last two lectures and I would encourage all intermediate level players to check them out.

[jogs]

rogerclee, on 2013-May-11, 08:50, said:

There's gonna be a few more, stay tuned!

On these boards where there is a possibility of a strip end play, why don't players just lead a trump?