[Tramticket]

msjennifer, on 2018-August-23, 02:37, said:

SIR,Thanks a lot for your valued comments .I shall certainly give them a try. HOWEVER, I am a ,what many would call , BOOKWORM.I do not deviate from the logics put therein as it would amount to insulting those experts.And truthfully following those have always helped me in that partner can not blame me.for making any fancy bids .However,there is no harm in trying after prior agreements.To give a paradoxical example.many players in our local sessions open a hand freely holding QJx-QJx-QJx-QJxx as 1 Club.
They justify that by pointing out that they have 12 HCP which is 2HCP more than the arithmetical average of 10 HCP.

There is nothing wrong with learning from books - I have quite a large collection.

There are some good books around which will help you develop your judgement around hand valuation and move on from a simple counting exercise. I recommend Hand Evaluation in Bridge - Brian senior. The book is now 20 years old, but I certainly found it very helpful and it improved my bridge judgement. There are other books that I am sure others have found helpful.

[Cyberyeti]

msjennifer, on 2018-August-23, 02:37, said:

SIR,Thanks a lot for your valued comments .I shall certainly give them a try. HOWEVER, I am a ,what many would call , BOOKWORM.I do not deviate from the logics put therein as it would amount to insulting those experts.And truthfully following those have always helped me in that partner can not blame me.for making any fancy bids .However,there is no harm in trying after prior agreements.To give a paradoxical example.many players in our local sessions open a hand freely holding QJx-QJx-QJx-QJxx as 1 Club.
They justify that by pointing out that they have 12 HCP which is 2HCP more than the arithmetical average of 10 HCP.

As you get more experienced, you learn to adjust what the cards say. The hand you quote K&R assesses as 7.4 points which I think is an underestimate, but no way is it worth anywhere close to 12.

The previous hand you gave was a slightly below average 12 count, but nothing like as sub par as this one.

[maartenxq]

gszes, on 2018-August-21, 19:43, said:

---

4 ♠or 2 nt if this agreed as forcing with possible 4n card fit. Now 3 ♣relay. Now you must differentiate between 3 and 4 crd fit.

By no means splinter.

Maarten Baltussen

[pescetom]

irishcafes, on 2018-August-22, 19:08, said:

Nobody appears to have directly asked the key question - What did Pd promise with her one spade bid?

"without special agreements" and in a Novice forum, it sounds reasonable to assume that partner promises 6 HCP.

irishcafes, on 2018-August-22, 19:08, said:

My partnership will answer with any reasonable 5hcp. Thus, our 3 spade bid is much stronger than average. 3S says - Did you really have your 1S call? (about 6+) If so, bid 4.

I don't understand this. If you will answer 1S with 5hcp, then why do you consider "really having" 1S to be 6+? And why should partner raise 3S with just 1hcp more than minimum? That gives you very little space to invite.

[RD350LC]

gszes, on 2018-August-21, 19:43, said:

---

You are the opening bidder imps no one vulnerable close match 10 boards to go 2/1 no special agreements 5533
1c p 1s p

There was a fairly lively discussion on how best to proceed when this hand hit the table as dummy:))) sooooo I decided it might be a good idea to hear from the best of the best on how to proceed:

If you have no special agreement, then I would not consider a splinter bid-not that this hand qualifies.
You do have a good 18 hcp, and would add 1 (at least) for having all 4 aces. The simplest bid would be 4♠, as you do have 4 of them, and a potentially useful ruffing value.

Some people would consider a 2NT (or 3NT) bid, as the hand is somewhat balanced. My preference is for 4♠, though.

[steve2005]

irishcafes, on 2018-August-22, 19:08, said:

Nobody appears to have directly asked the key question - What did Pd promise with her one spade bid? My partnership will answer with any reasonable 5hcp. Thus, our 3 spade bid is much stronger than average. 3S says - Did you really have your 1S call? (about 6+) If so, bid 4. However, if 1S shows 7+ always, then 3 spades is too weak at IMPS, as Pd's minimum hand is sufficient for game. When asking what is the right bid in any auction, one must know the language being used or the answer is useless.

I had a similar thought too. But responding on 7+ is not the norm 6+ is.
To me this is a max 3S bid. Yes is imps but partner knows this too.
With most of my partners we respond on 5 hcp. Sometimes even less especially with a 5-card suit and no fit for partners opening.
With some hands we respond with 4S won't have a good play.
Also we play weak NT so we try to respond so opener can rebid 1NT.

[Cyberyeti]

steve2005, on 2018-August-23, 19:33, said:

I had a similar thought too. But responding on 7+ is not the norm 6+ is.
To me this is a max 3S bid. Yes is imps but partner knows this too.
With most of my partners we respond on 5 hcp. Sometimes even less especially with a 5-card suit and no fit for partners opening.
With some hands we respond with 4S won't have a good play.
Also we play weak NT so we try to respond so opener can rebid 1NT.

We bid 1♠ pretty freely, but also raise to 3♠ more often then most, is partner expected to bid 4 with any hand with 5 spades and 2 kings ? Not for us, so I'm bidding game and yes it can be horribly wrong.

[JanisW]

This is a such a maximum 3♠-bid, that you want Partner to accept with less than is considered sufficient.
But it is also no 4♠-bid yet, as everybody responded 1♠ to 1♣ where 3♠ might already be tough to make.

The reason I advocate bidding 3♠ are:

• LTC = 6
  
• poor ♠-suit I'd much rather have AQxx,Axxx,Ax,Axx
  
• no intermediates whatsoever to potentially complement some Quacks P might hold. QJxx♣ is so much more powerful if you bring the T to the party...

regards
JW

[akwoo]

Play weak NT. Then this is an easy 3!S bid.

[Cyberyeti]

akwoo, on 2018-August-24, 20:50, said:

Play weak NT. Then this is an easy 3!S bid.

Not true at all. We play a weak NT, but this is far too good for 3♠ which we'd do on 16 balanced or 14-15 4??5

My question above stands, do you expect partner to bid 4♠ with 5 spades, 2 kings and out ?

[steve2005]

Del dup

[steve2005]

Why would ypu needt to jump playing weak nt? A simple raise to 2S shows at least 25 in hcp or support pt
Jumping on 16 simply unnecessary

[Cyberyeti]

steve2005, on 2018-August-27, 08:04, said:

Why would ypu needt to jump playing weak nt? A simple raise to 2S shows at least 25 in hcp or support pt
Jumping on 26 simply unnecessary

What? 2♠ can be a 35(14) 10 count, an ace and a trump better than that is worth a jump.

[steve2005]

Your opening has 13 support points but doesnt satisfy rule of 19 or 20
If you had 11 hcp it would have 14 support points and thus a nonminimum

[Cyberyeti]

steve2005, on 2018-August-27, 08:11, said:

Your opening has 13 support points but doesnt satisfy rule of 19 or 20
If you had 11 hcp it would have 14 support points and thus a nonminimum

err 5+4+10 = 19 it is rule of 19, that's the basis on which we open it (I never use support points), 3604 9 count we would also open at the one level.

[kuhchung]

I usually bid 3S with 18 bal, but considering how pure this hand is and it even has a doubleton i'll bid 4S.

Really though is everyone bidding 4S with a bunch of random 18s? I thought BBF duked this out long ago

i don't want to be in 4S with 18 opposite 0-6!

[Tramticket]

kuhchung, on 2018-August-28, 11:25, said:

Really though is everyone bidding 4S with a bunch of random 18s? I thought BBF duked this out long ago

Not with a bunch of random 18s. But I value this as worth more than 19.

[Cyberyeti]

Tramticket, on 2018-August-28, 14:12, said:

Not with a bunch of random 18s. But I value this as worth more than 19.

I was considering what I opened it, we play that the bottom of a 2N opener is a better than average 19, and I thought this was VERY close, if it had been any 19 I'd have opened 2N in a heartbeat.