[lowerline]

Free, on May 22 2006, 07:46 AM, said:

I bid 2NT, the classic bid, and everyone passes.

LHO leads ♥4, 4th best.

Dealer: North Vul: N/S Scoring: IMP

♠ J872 ♥ K5 ♦ AQT72 ♣ Q9 ♠ 954 ♥ T63 ♦ K98 ♣ AKJ4

It is now or never: 50% chance for a disaster.  Do you play the K or the 5 in dummy?

This example shows that bidding 2♣ or 2♦ would have led to a better contract (2NT played by north, or even better: 3♦)

Now, cross your fingers and put up the king... (playing low is against the odds)

[FrancesHinden]

Free, on May 22 2006, 01:46 PM, said:

It is now or never: 50% chance for a disaster. Do you play the K or the 5 in dummy?

That's the whole point, isn't it? It isn't a 50% chance for a disaster: playing the King is right if LHO has the ace. Playing low is only right if LHO has the QJ without the ace (and not QJ9 or he would have led the queen). So it's rather better than 2:1 in your favour to put the king up.

[MickyB]

1♦:2♣, 2N has to be forcing unless you are using a lot of system. 1♦:2♣, 2♦:2N can be NF. 2♣ isn't ridiculous given the benefits of right-siding it but I'll stick with 1NT. I'm not a fan of 2NT, which is likely to get us too high from the wrong side.

[foo]

Free, on May 20 2006, 05:11 PM, said:

Partner opens 1♦ in 1st seat, RHO passes. You're playing standard 2/1 GF (so NO FANCY CONVENTIONS). You hold:

Scoring: IMP

---

What do you bid?

1D-??

Put me down for 2D! Inverted Minor Raise.

Much as I like to have 4 pieces when I raise partner, I do have K98 and I dislike all my other bids even more.

This also maximizes the chance that GOP will declare any NT contracts.

[mike777]

foo, on May 22 2006, 02:29 PM, said:

Free, on May 20 2006, 05:11 PM, said:

Partner opens 1♦ in 1st seat, RHO passes.  You're playing standard 2/1 GF (so NO FANCY CONVENTIONS).  You hold:
<!-- ONEHAND begin --><table border='1'> <tr> <td> <table> <tr> <td> Dealer: </td> <td> North </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Vul: </td> <td> N/S </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Scoring: </td> <td> IMP </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td> <table> <tr> <th> <span class='spades'> ♠ </span> </th> <td> 954 </td> </tr> <tr> <th> <span class='hearts'> ♥ </span> </th> <td> T63 </td> </tr> <tr> <th> <span class='diamonds'> ♦ </span> </th> <td> K98 </td> </tr> <tr> <th> <span class='clubs'> ♣ </span> </th> <td> AKJ4 </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td>  </td> </tr> </table><!-- ONEHAND end -->

What do you bid?

1D-??

Put me down for 2D! Inverted Minor Raise.

Much as I like to have 4 pieces when I raise partner, I do have K98 and I dislike all my other bids even more.
I can live with 1d=1nt as a weak part of the system


This also maximizes the chance that GOP will declare any NT contracts.

Ok one more reason to not play inverted minors, put me down!

[mike777]

edit

[Codo]

[QUOTE] lowerline,May 22 2006, 11:19 PM][quote name='Free' date='May 22 2006, 07:46 AM']I bid 2NT, the classic bid, and everyone passes.

LHO leads [he]4, 4th best.

This example shows that bidding 2[cl] or 2[di] would have led to a better contract (2NT played by north, or even better: 3[di])
[/QUOTE]
In 3 [di] you loose 3 Spade tricks before you gain the lead. And after that, you will loose 2 more Heart tricks if the king is not winning a trick....

So zero points for any bidding, that reaches 3 Diamond.....

If you look at both hands, you want to be in 3 NT. After any major lead, you have a chance of about 50 % of success.

Openers hand with just Txxx, Ax, AQTxx, Qx makes game nearly a certainity.
So no points for 1 NT in this hand...

So, if you think, that to care about rightsighting the contract is it worth, that you bid 2 Club or Diamond with balanced and unbalanced hands and with 11 to 30 HCPs, then these bids had been the winners.

This is impossible to proove (in both directions), but I don´t share this view.

[Kalvan14]

pbleighton, on May 21 2006, 08:44 PM, said:

"The standard 2/1 does not include 2N as a balanced hand 11-12 (or stronger): 2N is a weak pre-emptive raise in diamonds"

Where do you play, Kalvan? 2N as balanced invitational is standard 2/1 where I live.

Peter

In Australia. But I learnt 2/1 (many) years ago from Hardy's book.
And IMHO inverting the meaning of 3m and 2N is quite a good idea.

[lowerline]

Quote

In 3 ♦ you loose 3 Spade tricks before you gain the lead. And after that, you will loose 2 more Heart tricks if the king is not winning a trick....

So zero points for any bidding, that reaches 3 Diamond.....

If you look at both hands, you want to be in 3 NT. After any major lead, you have a chance of about 50 % of success.

Openers hand with just Txxx, Ax,  AQTxx, Qx makes game nearly a certainity.
So no points for 1 NT in this hand...

So, if you think, that to care about rightsighting the contract is it worth, that you bid 2 Club or Diamond with balanced and unbalanced hands and with 11 to 30 HCPs, then these bids had been the winners.

This is impossible to proove (in both directions), but I don´t share this view.

If the ace of hearts is offside and the defenders don't screw up, you will make 4 to 6 tricks in NT. If the ace of hearts is onside, you might still go down if they can take 4 spade tricks. Ofcourse a vulnerable game swing is worth that risk.

Unfortunately you don't know both hands beforehand. So it is more likely you will end up in 2NT or 3♦. Compared to 2NT 3♦ will loose 1imp half the time, but will win 3 to 7 imps the rest of the time.

"So zero points for any bidding, that reaches 3 Diamond....." must be a misjudgement...

[Free]

First of all, MyHands database seems to have erased my results, so I can't find the full hand anymore.

I played the K, the Ace was offside and I went -4! If I put small I'd made it because lefty had QJxxx. But the lead wasn't that good. If LHO lead ♥Q you're screwed.
It also didn't matter who played NT. After a ♠ lead you get a ♥ switch... Only 2♦ was makeble (unless some error in defense, 3♦ should do ok most of the time).

Afterwards, I realised that playing NT from my side is wrong, always. Bidding 1M is no real alternative, so I guess the best thing is either 2♣ or 2♦. Since 2♣ may bring some confusion about GF or not, I think 2♦ is the best bid.

[Codo]

Okay, to all 2 Club and2 diamond bidders:

What is your bidding plan after this?
1 ♦ 2 ♣ 2 NT?
1 ♦ 2 ♣ 2 ♦?
1 ♦ 2 ♦ 2 NT?

I think avm made some suggestions, why this won´t reach a better contract, so plaese tell me how you can reach a better contract with this method.

[mr1303]

Well, it depends.

If 1D 2D 2NT is forcing, I bid 3NT.

If 1D 2D 2NT is passable, I'll probably raise, since I'm vulnerable at imps, and have no way of involving partner here.

If I'd bid 2C and partner bid 2D, I'd raise 2D to 3D, and see what partner does from there.

Any number of NT is better played from my partner's side.

[Kalvan14]

After 1♦-2♦ (IM), 2N guarantees stoppers in the majors and it is not forcing.

It is now a bit of tossing a coin: opener most likely has a balanced hand, 12-14 HCP. Advancer has 12 HCP, in a very flat hand.

At IMP and vul, advancer should raise to 3N.

[lowerline]

Codo, on May 23 2006, 06:27 AM, said:

Okay, to all 2 Club and2 diamond bidders:

What is your bidding plan after this?
1 ♦ 2 ♣ 2 NT?
1 ♦ 2 ♣ 2 ♦?
1 ♦ 2 ♦ 2 NT?

I think avm made some suggestions, why this won´t reach a better contract, so plaese tell me how you can reach a better contract with this method.

1♦ 2♣ 2NT = 12-14
1♦ 2♦ 2NT = 12-14
Pass most of the time, but in this case (vul at imps) 3NT is probably worth the risk.
Whether you play 2NT or 3NT, it will be played from the right side (a heart lead is not unlikely).
As a side note: I don't think anyone will bid 3NT with the north hand after 1♦ 2NT...

1♦ 2♣ 2♦
3♦
3♦ is very likely to beat 2NT played by south...