[42]

Hi!
I would like to explain and discuss the bridge tips here because it would blow up the several collections too much when the discussion or deeper explanations are made in the collection thread (imo). Thx!
Caren

[42]

free gave that tip in the BIDDING section:

Quote

In doubt after a preempt, pass in second seat but bid in 4th seat.

Please, Frederick, can you explain it a bit deeper? I do not understand all, e.g. what handtypes are required, what about strength?
Ty!
Caren

[epeeist]

Read in the ACBL bridge magazine, I can't recall the author, and it's probably not new anyway, but:

ASBAF

(All Strange Bids Are Forcing)

That's the full explanation. Remembering it helps especially when one's partner is more skilled and one is uncomfortable with/ignorant of cuebids, or splinters, or (whatever).

You bid one spade and p jumps to 4 diamonds? Strange bid, it's forcing. If you know what it means, great. If not, it's a strange bid, and thus forcing, and you'll bid 4 spades.

LHO bids one spade and p bids 2 spades? Strange bid, maybe you don't know Michaels or cuebids generally, but you know that unless RHO bids you have to bid.

Etcetera.

Only exception, if p's "strange" bid is 3NT, it might be to play (e.g. even if opps have found a suit fit, a stopper/double stopper may justify the bid...)

EDIT: To avoid overlengthening this thread, I'm replying by edit. From what I've read (of more experienced players) and my own experience, making doubled contracts are generally worth a good score, at matchpoints or IMPs (unless you missed out on slam or something), and so redoubling a bid that's already doubled and worth game, is not to play? But I'll defer to others' expertise, and deleted the example I had given of 3NTXX.

[han]

epeeist, I think that your rule is good but your example is not:

Your 3NT contract is doubled and partner redoubles...


I can't imagine that this is ever an SOS double. It can mean two things: (1) partner has serious doubts about 3NT and suggest that you pull if you do too. (2) partner thinks that 3NT redoubled is worth more points than 3NT doubled.

[42]

With 6-5 come alive

As far as I understand this tip, it means that one should bid on with such extreme distribution because it might be worthless in defence.

Questions:
What is the range (HCP), if there is any?
Is it ALWAYS right to bid on ?
Does anyone have examples for this tip?

Caren

[Free]

42, on Oct 6 2005, 01:55 PM, said:

free gave that tip in the BIDDING section:

Quote

In doubt after a preempt, pass in second seat but bid in 4th seat.

Please, Frederick, can you explain it a bit deeper? I do not understand all, e.g. what handtypes are required, what about strength?
Ty!
Caren

Maybe it's a wrong translation... An example will probably help:

Say your opponents open with 3♦. You hold a nice 6 card ♠, but not much strength. If it was RHO that opened, then pass. However, if it was LHO that opened and the bidding went 3♦-pass-pass to you, bid 3♠.
So it depends on seat if you bid or not, less about the hand.

---

3♦-? -> PASS!
3♦-pass-pass? -> 3♠!

[helene_t]

42, on Oct 6 2005, 02:55 PM, said:

Quote

In doubt after a preempt, pass in second seat but bid in 4th seat.

Please, Frederick, can you explain it a bit deeper? I do not understand all, e.g. what handtypes are required, what about strength?

I would argue the opposite: In direct seat, you put partner under ethical presure if you passed after he noticed that you were hesitating.

Of course, if you are confident in your own poker face, this is not an issue.

[Free]

helene_t, on Oct 19 2005, 11:59 AM, said:

42, on Oct 6 2005, 02:55 PM, said:

Quote

In doubt after a preempt, pass in second seat but bid in 4th seat.

Please, Frederick, can you explain it a bit deeper? I do not understand all, e.g. what handtypes are required, what about strength?

I would argue the opposite: In direct seat, you put partner under ethical presure if you passed after he noticed that you were hesitating.

Of course, if you are confident in your own poker face, this is not an issue.

If they open high (jump), you get a pauze to think... P can't make unethical decisions if the pause is not too long.

[Chamaco]

Free, on Oct 19 2005, 09:58 AM, said:

42, on Oct 6 2005, 01:55 PM, said:

free gave that tip in the BIDDING section:

Quote

In doubt after a preempt, pass in second seat but bid in 4th seat.

Please, Frederick, can you explain it a bit deeper? I do not understand all, e.g. what handtypes are required, what about strength?
Ty!
Caren

Maybe it's a wrong translation... An example will probably help:

Say your opponents open with 3♦. You hold a nice 6 card ♠, but not much strength. If it was RHO that opened, then pass. However, if it was LHO that opened and the bidding went 3♦-pass-pass to you, bid 3♠.
So it depends on seat if you bid or not, less about the hand.

---

3♦-? -> PASS!
3♦-pass-pass? -> 3♠!

With *this* hand I'd bid 3S even in direct seat: I need only 1.5 cover card from my pard to make 3S and that complies with Mike Lawrence's "rule of 7" : over a preempt, bid or pass, assuming pard can provide on average 7 "normal" hcp (not wasted)

[Free]

ok, then just make it a little weaker

[han]

I think the example is marginal, but I completely agree with Free's rule.

[barmar]

42, on Oct 19 2005, 03:45 AM, said:

With 6-5 come alive

As far as I understand this tip, it means that one should bid on with such extreme distribution because it might be worthless in defence.

Questions:
What is the range (HCP), if there is any?
Is it ALWAYS right to bid on ?
Does anyone have examples for this tip?

Caren

I don't know if there are any hard-and-fast rules. Besides the fact that you have little defense, you're also very likely to have a fit with partner in one of the suits (the worst case is when he's something like 6-5 in the other two suits), few side losers, and may not be hurt too much by a forcing defense (you can do your own forcing with the other long suit, if necessary).

If I had to suggest a rule of thumb, I'd say that you should bid constructively as if you have an additional King. With 10-11 HCP concentrated in the two suits you should treat it as a decent opener, and probably accept most invitations. With 14-15 you can reverse, and with anything more than this you should probably always bid game if partner shows up with anything useful. But you probably shouldn't open 2C, as it will be virtually impossible to describe your hand when you preempt your own auction; it's also not likely to be necessary, as the auction will rarely pass out at the one level when there's so much shape going around (if you have extreme shape, usually someone else does, too).

If you have a decent hand and the opponents get into the auction, you can usually bid your second suit at the 3 level, and sometimes even the 4 or 5 level. And with a weak hand you may be able to get away with opening a weak 2 in the 6-card suit and then bidding the 5-card suit if the opponents compete.

The tricky part of handling 6-5 auctions is what to do if partner doubles them. Since you opened, he's usually going to expect some defense from you.

[42]

This hand

♠ KQJ1095
♥ 10
♦ 7
♣ Q9532

is from here: http://forums.bridge...showtopic=10685

Despite the question of unauthorized information: is it a hand you would compete "alone" against 4♥ (if it comes to that...)?
The bidding starts with 2♥ (w2) and you have to find the best bid (2♠, 4♣, 4♠?).
What would you do over a number of ♥? What if partner dbls any ♥ bid?

[Al_U_Card]

Free, on Oct 19 2005, 06:52 AM, said:

ok, then just make it a little weaker

It resembles, when bidding in balancing seat, add a king to your hand. (But remember to subract it from partner's....lol)

[Al_U_Card]

42, on Oct 19 2005, 12:31 PM, said:

This hand

♠ KQJ1095
♥ 10
♦ 7
♣ Q9532

is from here: http://forums.bridge...showtopic=10685

Despite the question of unauthorized information: is it a hand you would compete "alone" against 4♥ (if it comes to that...)?
The bidding starts with 2♥ (w2) and you have to find the best bid (2♠, 4♣, 4♠?).
What would you do over a number of ♥? What if partner dbls any ♥ bid?

If the random 7 hcp from above includes the KJ of C then you are bidding 4S like a shot (once pard balances with a DBL) Pre-balancing sacrifices belong where they end up (usually)

[MickyB]

Al_U_Card, on Oct 19 2005, 06:46 PM, said:

Free, on Oct 19 2005, 06:52 AM, said:

ok, then just make it a little weaker 

It resembles, when bidding in balancing seat, add a king to your hand. (But remember to subract it from partner's....lol)

As I said recently, I don't believe this is justified. However, I am of an open mind Is anyone able to explain to me why this is the case? I can think of only one reason - preemptor's partner may have a huge misfitting hand, whereas once he has passed he can only have a fairly strong misfitting hand. Against this, it can be important for direct seat to get a bid in before responder furthers the preempt.

[Al_U_Card]

Perhaps the "last chance" effect has something to do with it. When you take action in the direct seat, you are stating values categorically (the opp that has yet to bid doesn't have what you are showing). When you balance (your RHO has now revealed that he has less values than he might so they are in pard's hand) you are the last chance to get a word in, so you can stretch a bit.

[han]

MickyB,

As far as I can see, all the usual arguments for balancing light apply. If they stop in a partscore and we have 8 HCP's, we know that partner is not broke. This is especially true when we are short in their suit (since they are more likely to have a fit). It is also likely that they are in a good spot, so we'd like to stretch to bid. This only works if partner knows that we can do this, so we agree that we can "add a king" and partner "substracts a king".

Of course, the more cards we have in their suit, the less you want to stretch to bid in balancing seat. Partner is more likely to have have shortness so his silence suggest a fairly weak hand, and RHO is more likely to be short in the preemptor's suit, so is more likely to have a good hand. But most importantly, they are less likely in a good spot.

So over 2S-pass-pass, I still want at least 15 HCP's for 2NT, but for a double or 3C/3D/3H I require about a king less than in direct seat.