[mike777]

Playing at the local club yesterday.
Do you play new minor forcing?
Yes I say


Turns out
1h-1s
2D-3D
P

I play in a 4-3 fit
But it happens a second time
During a break I ask why he keeps raising me with only 3 Diamonds, did he think I promise 5?

His response made me smile
2D was new minor forcing
He had to bid

Two days ago at local club.
A new partner asks do you play puppet stayman
I respond I just learned it over the weekend. Never played it, but I am ready ..

Yes very first hand partner opens 2NT.
I am a hawk
I quickly glance at my hand
3 spades in my hand
Yes
I gleefully bid 3C
Partner bids 3D , no problem
I look at my hand again and notice 5HEARTS
Hmm I say...ooppps..
3NT I say as I sheepishly put down my hand. Please bridge Gods don't have given partner 3H

Rats..

[hrothgar]

It sounds like your partner has a bunch of rules that she uses to make decisions.
These rules look to be just a silly as the ones that you frequently cite.

With this said and done:

On hand one: not scraping up some kind of Spade raise is suspect
4!S is aggressive, but not insane

One hand 2: While you have 15 points, its far from clear what you should bid with your hand

Double is insane with a stiff heart and no good rebid
4!C seems really bad. You're bypassing 3N and your suit is bad for a 4 level overcall
3N isn't completely unreasonable
I think that your pass is fine

On hand 3: I don't have a big problem with your partner's decision to pass
I think selling out to 1!S with your hand is a big mistake

[helene_t]

Hand 1: p apparently is not quite ready for gong beyond point counting, I think you have to live with this for now unless she shows an interest in learning modern princíples for competitive bidding. Don't force it down her throat.

Hand 2: You could have tried 3NT, I am not sure if I would have passed or bid 3NT. She should obviously double instead of 4♣ and this is something she really needs to understand

Hand 3: again, p just counts points and you have to accept that for now. I am not sure about your decision to pass. I would have passed also but I am not convinced that it is right.

Hand 4: She has to bid 4♥ as she has already ostensibly denied four hearts. You may not have promised hearts with you double but you are very likely to have them and otherwise you will be able to correct 4♥ to 5♣. So she doesnt have to worry. Also, she has extras so she doesn't have to worry that 5♣ may be too high. Finally, you can't bid 4♥ of a 4-card suit, even with 5 it would have been a bit dubiuos. It is important that she understands this.

[johnu]

mike777, on 2025-June-04, 16:20, said:

His response made me smile
2D was new minor forcing

Good thing you didn't rebid 2♣. That's Puppet Stayman.

[mikl_plkcc]

helene_t, on 2025-June-06, 01:52, said:

Hand 1: p apparently is not quite ready for gong beyond point counting, I think you have to live with this for now unless she shows an interest in learning modern princíples for competitive bidding. Don't force it down her throat.

Hand 2: You could have tried 3NT, I am not sure if I would have passed or bid 3NT. She should obviously double instead of 4♣ and this is something she really needs to understand

Hand 3: again, p just counts points and you have to accept that for now. I am not sure about your decision to pass. I would have passed also but I am not convinced that it is right.

Hand 4: She has to bid 4♥ as she has already ostensibly denied four hearts. You may not have promised hearts with you double but you are very likely to have them and otherwise you will be able to correct 4♥ to 5♣. So she doesnt have to worry. Also, she has extras so she doesn't have to worry that 5♣ may be too high. Finally, you can't bid 4♥ of a 4-card suit, even with 5 it would have been a bit dubiuos. It is important that she understands this.

I know she is old-fashioned (in the sense that a raise of 1♥-3♥ is game forcing and a response of 1♣-2NT is also game-forcing), but if old-fashioned competitive bidding means counting points instead of counting trumps, honestly there is no way we can communicate our hands properly because we are not on the same unit of measurement and I have no idea how to count points (instead of trumps) in competitive bidding.

[mycroft]

I am going to *love* hearing your reaction to Bridge in the Menagerie, which I pointed you to before. Not just because it is a fun book to read and a great book to learn the (dis)advantages of different styles of thinking, and (maybe) learn to moderate the ones that apply to you.

I am also going to love watching you learn to play with Mrs. Guggenheim (and Futile Willie, and the rest) after reading Simon and trying to practise what he teaches.

[hrothgar]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-06, 04:57, said:

I know she is old-fashioned (in the sense that a raise of 1♥-3♥ is game forcing and a response of 1♣-2NT is also game-forcing), but if old-fashioned competitive bidding means counting points instead of counting trumps, honestly there is no way we can communicate our hands properly because we are not on the same unit of measurement and I have no idea how to count points (instead of trumps) in competitive bidding.

Yes

It can be extremely frustrating when people start citing "rules" that govern their bidding, refusing to allow for any nuance.
It is even more frustrating when those rules are stupid.

[mikl_plkcc]

Unfortunately I got my worst ever result at Young Chelsea last evening: -75.74 IMPs / 26.

https://www.bridgewe...a&param=res2022

There were a few particularly damaging boards. The worst was a misunderstanding:

Board 10
1♠ - (2♥) - 3♥ - (/)
4♠ - (/) - / - (X)
/ - (/) - 4NT - (X)
5♦ - (/) - 5♠ - (X)
//

I thought 3♥ showed a limit raise or better in ♠, and he intended to show a ♥ stopper. When 4♠ was doubled, he bid 4NT intending to play, I thought he wanted me to find somewhere to escape.

Our best contract was in ♣, and a slam in ♣ was possible. -15.55 IMPs

Board 14 was the board where I overcalled a two-way 2♣ (Acol or weak in ♦) with a weak hand, and got doubled after partner showed a fit. Despite having a fit in the boss suit it was a bad move. -14.55 IMPs.

There were also a number of boards where they found games which the field didn't find, or they bid game and made where game shouldn't be available. On sacrificing, we didn't find a good sac on board 6 because we didn't have enough trump length, however on board 16 we made a bad sacrifice because they wouldn't make the contract and we didn't make too because of
bad trump break.

On the other hand, even if I derailed there bidding by overcalling their short club in board 1, I only got +5.82 IMPs as no one had a game.

[shyams]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-07, 00:55, said:

Board 10
1♠ - (2♥) - 3♥ - (/)
4♠ - (/) - / - (X)
/ - (/) - 4NT - (X)
5♦ - (/) - 5♠ - (X)
//

This one is entirely your partner's fault. Absent a detailed discussion, the assumption would be what you assumed i.e. a good raise in spades.

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-07, 00:55, said:

Board 14 was the board where I overcalled a two-way 2♣ (Acol or weak in ♦) with a weak hand, and got doubled after partner showed a fit. Despite having a fit in the boss suit it was a bad move. -14.55 IMPs.

If it matters, the 2♣ bidder has won over half a dozen European and World women's title. Your attempt to interfere with a flat 5332 hand wasn't likely to prevent her from locating a slam if her side had one. I think others pointed out that your overcall was a poor choice. Maybe there is something to learn from that.

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-07, 00:55, said:

Unfortunately I got my worst ever result at Young Chelsea last evening: -75.74 IMPs / 26.

You seem to focus a lot on the bidding, perhaps not realising that declarer play and defence also contributes to a session score. e.g. you created a new thread on Board 14 misunderstanding, but failed to mention the defence on Board 13. This was 13-14 IMPs dropped because you forgot to switch to ♦10 after your opening lead of ♥A.

[mikl_plkcc]

On board 13, why do I need to switch to ♦10? The auction started with 1♦-(2♠)-X and partner showed a 4-4 ♥ fit, so I thought we needed to cash the ♥AK by playing the ♥A then small.

And during the whole night I got doubled twice with dodgy trump holdings (one of them was void in trumps!), which I never do (the minimum criteria for me to double a suit contract for penalty at IMPs is 4 strong trumps at a high level, or 5 strong for a partscore not doubled to game), and both contracts were defeated. How did they know that my contracts will be defeated not holding 4 strong in trumps?

[mw64ahw]

As shymans says it looks like the card play is what's letting you down, plus a little bit of judging where to play competition.

Hand 24 looks interesting. Only 3 pairs in 3N
2♠-3♥-3♠-3N looks fairly straightforward

[shyams]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-07, 03:07, said:

On board 13, why do I need to switch to ♦10?

You are serious, aren't you? Maybe you should post it as a trick 2 defence problem on that other forum and see how many choose to lead a heart at trick 2.

[smerriman]

 mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-07, 03:07, said:

And during the whole night I got doubled twice with dodgy trump holdings (one of them was void in trumps!), which I never do (the minimum criteria for me to double a suit contract for penalty at IMPs is 4 strong trumps at a high level, or 5 strong for a partscore not doubled to game), and both contracts were defeated. How did they know that my contracts will be defeated not holding 4 strong in trumps?

Because if you still haven't learnt yet, other bridge players do not stick to silly rules. If your opponents have a clear balance of strength and no better place to play, not only can you be doubled without a trump stack, expecting to beat it on power alone, but in many cases they are in a situation where they are *forced* to double.

[mikl_plkcc]

 mw64ahw, on 2025-June-07, 04:18, said:

As shymans says it looks like the card play is what's letting you down, plus a little bit of judging where to play competition.

Hand 24 looks interesting. Only 3 pairs in 3N
2♠-3♥-3♠-3N looks fairly straightforward

Hand 24: I expect most tables will open 1♠ or 3♠, not 2♠.

On our table, it went
(3♠) - X - (/) - 4♦
(/) - 4♥ - //

[mikl_plkcc]

 shyams, on 2025-June-07, 04:55, said:

You are serious, aren't you? Maybe you should post it as a trick 2 defence problem on that other forum and see how many choose to lead a heart at trick 2.

I was serious. There was another hand where I never won my A because of "2nd hand low", the lead from that suit was always from the declarer, and it was unlikely that the declarer was short in the suit. The declarer eventually established another suit in the dummy to discard the losers.

[shyams]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-07, 06:19, said:

I was serious. There was another hand where I never won my A because of "2nd hand low", the lead from that suit was always from the declarer, and it was unlikely that the declarer was short in the suit. The declarer eventually established another suit in the dummy to discard the losers.

How does your "another hand" example in any way influence the correct continuation on Board 13?

[mikl_plkcc]

 shyams, on 2025-June-07, 07:02, said:

How does your "another hand" example in any way influence the correct continuation on Board 13?

I suspect my partner had the K and I was afraid that if we didn't cash the K we would never have a chance to do that.

[hrothgar]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-07, 03:07, said:

How did they know that my contracts will be defeated not holding 4 strong in trumps?

The didn't know that the contract would be defeated, rather they believed that doubling the contract had a positive expected value.

> the minimum criteria for me to double a suit contract for penalty at IMPs is
> 4 strong trumps at a high level, or 5 strong for a partscore not doubled to game

given your defense, this might work well for you.


Not sure how far it generalizes

[AL78]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-07, 03:07, said:

On board 13, why do I need to switch to ♦10? The auction started with 1♦-(2♠)-X and partner showed a 4-4 ♥ fit, so I thought we needed to cash the ♥AK by playing the ♥A then small.

And during the whole night I got doubled twice with dodgy trump holdings (one of them was void in trumps!), which I never do (the minimum criteria for me to double a suit contract for penalty at IMPs is 4 strong trumps at a high level, or 5 strong for a partscore not doubled to game), and both contracts were defeated. How did they know that my contracts will be defeated not holding 4 strong in trumps?

What signal did partner give on trick one?

[AL78]

AL78, on 2025-June-07, 10:44, said:

What signal did partner give on trick one?

Forget that it doesn't matter. When dummy comes down, you have to consider what hands declarer is likely to hold. You know they have 5-9 HCP and six spades. Assuming at this club they don't jump-overcall vulnerable on junk, declarer is almost certain to hold six spades to the ace. With the known favourable spade layout, that gives declarer six spade tricks and at least two club tricks. If they hold the ace of diamonds as well, they have 10 tricks off the top and the contract is cold. If they hold the queen of diamonds, they can establish two diamond tricks and the contract is cold. You have to visualise layouts where the contract can be defeated. If you give partner the diamond ace and queen, the winning defence becomes clear, fire a diamond through dummy and that gives you two diamond tricks to go with your two heart tricks.