[mikl_plkcc]

Douglas43, on 2025-April-27, 02:46, said:

Re the earlier comment about which 4 card suit to open in Acol with a 4-4-3-2 that is outside your no-trump range, I would suggest don't over-think it. I tend to look at suit quality and ease of making a rebid, so quite often bid 1m-response-1NT. My regular partner is keener to get the major in. Both seem to work OK.

The only exception is 4-4 majors and 15+ hcp, when you open 1H.

We have to have exact rules on which suit to bid in order to have infererences because the other suits are not bid, such that we can work out the exact number of cards in each suit when trying to find a fit, and in competitive auctions.

For example, in a 5-card major system, if 1♣-1♦-1NT does not deny a 4-card major, responder must use checkback Stayman whenever holding a 4-card major to avoid losing a fit, similar to a 1NT opening; if 1♣-1♦-1NT denies a 4-card major, responder can raise direct to 3NT holding 13 HCP 2=4=5=2 and a ♠ stopper without the need to disclose the ♥ holding.

[shyams]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-April-28, 08:50, said:

... if 1♣-1♦-1NT denies a 4-card major, responder can raise direct to 3NT holding 13 HCP 2=4=5=2 and a ♠ stopper without the need to disclose the ♥ holding.

What, according to your exact rules, is responder supposed to do with 13 HCP 2=4=5=2 but missing a ♠ stopper?

[mike777]

Interestingly the first 4 months of ACBL F2F bridge attendance is about the same as 2024.

However the Gatlinburg regional, by far the the year's largest, was down almost 30%. KO teams attendance was the only event with an increase in tables.

Virtual club online attendance was decimated.

[mikl_plkcc]

shyams, on 2025-April-28, 09:30, said:

What, according to your exact rules, is responder supposed to do with 13 HCP 2=4=5=2 but missing a ♠ stopper?

I will first reverse to 2♥, if partner has a ♠ stopper he can rebid NT, but if not we will have to stay out of game.

[akwoo]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-April-28, 16:28, said:

I will first reverse to 2♥, if partner has a ♠ stopper he can rebid NT, but if not we will have to stay out of game.

Long experience of many bridge players has shown that staying out of game on these hands is losing bridge.

Sometimes the spades will be 4-4 and you will still get 9 tricks.

Sometimes your spades are Qx opposite Jxx and that will add up to a stopper.

Sometimes your opponents won't lead spades, especially at matchpoints, where leading away from KJxx could be a disaster.

If your 3N bid doesn't promise a stopper, sometimes opponents will now lead spades to your AQxx (when they wouldn't have if it promised a stopper), giving you a trick (or at least a tempo) you wouldn't have otherwise gotten.

All this adds up to gaining more often than it loses. Sure you go down sometimes, but you will lose even more from missing games that would turn out to have made (even if they wouldn't make if opponents knew where all the cards were).

Bridge is not a game of figuring out as much as possible, then doing the right thing based on the known information.

Instead, bridge is a game of managing known unknowns, doing what is the probabilistically overall more likely to gain thing given you don't know everything. The right action isn't the one that works all the time - it's the one that wins 10 IMPs 45% of the time and loses 6 IMPs 55% of the time. (Or, if you're behind by 8 IMPs going into the last board, it's the action that wins 10 IMPs 5% of the time and loses 6 IMPs 95% of the time.)

There are definitely parts of bidding systems I play that are designed to keep opponents in the dark, even though it keeps partner in the dark at the same time, because opponents would be able to use the information better than partner.

[mikl_plkcc]

We played again tonight, this time in matchpoints, and kept doing silly things.

On a board, partner thought that my 3♣ overcall to a 1NT opening was a transfer to ♦, and ended up in a wrong contract.

On another board, I tried to finesse against the trump K to make the contract, but there were no entries left. I tried to lose my lead but the opponents refused to lead a trump back and kept playing into my hand until I only had trumps left, then I lost count and allowed the opponents an extra ruff! I got down 2 instead of down 1 at the other tables (all tables were in the same contract), which was fatal at matchpoints.

On a defence hand in a suit contract, the declarer was on my right, I got the ♦A and the ♦K and Q were not known, so I refused to play the suit. The declarer ended up discarding the final ♦ loser to the dummy and we never won the trick, where the ♦K was in my partner's hand (there were no hint from the bidding about that).

[mikl_plkcc]

Unfortunately I have lost my regular partner (he is away for weeks) and now my ranking has dropped a level since he has left.

Yesterday (Tuesday evening) I got matched with a lady who I hadn't played with before, and during the game we blamed each other on our chronic underbidding (e.g. when we let them off at a low-level ♥ contract where everyone else made a ♠ contract by our side). She blamed me passing my strong hands (e.g. I passed hands with 12 or even 15 HCPs, which I didn't have a (good) 5-card suit to overcall) and I blamed her passing her hands with long suit / huge support (she passed hands with 7-card spade suit, or bid at a minimum level with a weak hand and 5-card support to my Michaels cuebid), along with a few bad plays and misunderstandings and risky matchpoint behaviour which was lost (I doubled a 4-minor contract into game - which I would never do when playing IMPs - with 3 tricks in my hand, with my partner overcalled a suit earlier; my partner couldn't give me a trick in the overcalled suit because the declarer only had a singleton and I got the A, and it turned out that my partner had a 7-card suit heading with KQJ but she didn't bid it twice), we got the worst performance in the year.

Unfortunately as I don't have regular availability on any days (apart from Friday evening at Young Chelsea for the IMP game, or Wednesday evening when no local clubs play) it is hard for me to get a regular; Tuesday evening is the day when local orienteering clubs do their park races (so I am doing orienteering for 10 weeks in a row) and I only put my name on the partner finder a few days ago after I found out that the orienteering race venue was close enough to the bridge club that I could play bridge after I raced orienteering.

It was so difficult for me to get a good game.

[hrothgar]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-04, 03:38, said:

It was so difficult for me to get a good game.

There are a number of quite good standalone bridge programs out there.

I was always quite fond of Jack
There are likely better ones available now

your best option might be practicing with a good bot rather than butting yourself at the mercy of the partnership desk

[AL78]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-04, 03:38, said:

Unfortunately I have lost my regular partner (he is away for weeks) and now my ranking has dropped a level since he has left.

Yesterday (Tuesday evening) I got matched with a lady who I hadn't played with before, and during the game we blamed each other on our chronic underbidding (e.g. when we let them off at a low-level ♥ contract where everyone else made a ♠ contract by our side). She blamed me passing my strong hands (e.g. I passed hands with 12 or even 15 HCPs, which I didn't have a (good) 5-card suit to overcall) and I blamed her passing her hands with long suit / huge support (she passed hands with 7-card spade suit, or bid at a minimum level with a weak hand and 5-card support to my Michaels cuebid), along with a few bad plays and misunderstandings and risky matchpoint behaviour which was lost (I doubled a 4-minor contract into game - which I would never do when playing IMPs - with 3 tricks in my hand, with my partner overcalled a suit earlier; my partner couldn't give me a trick in the overcalled suit because the declarer only had a singleton and I got the A, and it turned out that my partner had a 7-card suit heading with KQJ but she didn't bid it twice), we got the worst performance in the year.

Unfortunately as I don't have regular availability on any days (apart from Friday evening at Young Chelsea for the IMP game, or Wednesday evening when no local clubs play) it is hard for me to get a regular; Tuesday evening is the day when local orienteering clubs do their park races (so I am doing orienteering for 10 weeks in a row) and I only put my name on the partner finder a few days ago after I found out that the orienteering race venue was close enough to the bridge club that I could play bridge after I raced orienteering.

It was so difficult for me to get a good game.

That is standard when you haven't got a regular partner you can work with and you have to rely on pickups.

I play at a club with a low standard (NGS down in the mid 40's) and prior to their AGM evening, agreed to play with someone who was looking for a partner on that evening (otherwise I am travelling a 23 mile round trip for the sake of a 30 minute AGM). The first board it goes 1♣ - 1♥; 2♣ - 2♠; pass. I was checking to see if partner had 3 card heart support and depending on the response, was going to look for slam in either hearts or clubs. I made 2♠ on a 2-2 fit when 6♣ was cold. If your partner cannot recognise a 100% forcing situation, you know you are going to struggle to score well.

[P_Marlowe]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-04, 03:38, said:

Unfortunately I have lost my regular partner (he is away for weeks) and now my ranking has dropped a level since he has left.

Yesterday (Tuesday evening) I got matched with a lady who I hadn't played with before, and during the game we blamed each other
<snip>

As an opponent I always like it, when they start blaming each other.

The truth is, you need to learn the style of your p, it looks like you and your partner did underbid in different situations,
that is ok.

The first thing to do is finding out, if you have other shared interests, that makes playing with each other worthwhile,
so that you get to know each others style.
In the discussion it was mentioned a couple of times, that you have certain views, that are a bit of the beaten path, ... I am
not saying those views are wrong, but lots of them are nonstandard. Having nonstandard views / believes is not bad, but if you play
a stranger, you cannot expect that he knowes your nonstandard views, i.e. you need to revert to standard.

Also in lots of discussion you raised points that highlighted certain bad outcomes, IMP scoreing favors a more positive outloook,
and you can always hide behind the proverb "One down is good bridge", ..., i always followed this, although nowadays I prefer to go plus.

[mw64ahw]

P_Marlowe, on 2025-June-04, 05:12, said:

As an opponent I always like it, when they start blaming each other.

The truth is, you need to learn the style of your p, it looks like you and your partner did underbid in different situations,
that is ok.

The first thing to do is finding out, if you have other shared interests, that makes playing with each other worthwhile,
so that you get to know each others style.
In the discussion it was mentioned a couple of times, that you have certain views, that are a bit of the beaten path, ... I am
not saying those views are wrong, but lots of them are nonstandard. Having nonstandard views / believes is not bad, but if you play
a stranger, you cannot expect that he knowes your nonstandard views, i.e. you need to revert to standard.

Also in lots of discussion you raised points that highlighted certain bad outcomes, IMP scoreing favors a more positive outloook,
and you can always hide behind the proverb "One down is good bridge", ..., i always followed this, although nowadays I prefer to go plus.

One down is good when they're making

[mikl_plkcc]

I nearly found a new regular who is known to play nearly all the gadgets I usually play (with minor differences), but unfortunately the Friday evening session is too late for him to go home so he no longer comes.

[P_Marlowe]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-04, 07:19, said:

I nearly found a new regular who is known to play nearly all the gadgets I usually play (with minor differences), but unfortunately the Friday evening session is too late for him to go home so he no longer comes.

Good luck, ... but try to learn the standard way, whatever this means, it helps, not only finding pickup p, also in understanding what they are doing.

[jillybean]

Good luck, it's brutal to play with pickups but stick with it. Once you are established getting good partners isn't difficult.
Oh, and be good to your partner and opponents, play your best, disciplined game, don't mastermind (tattooed on my left wrist) , players will notice and start asking you to play.

[mycroft]

Bridge is hard.

Life is also hard.

The combination is even harder.

"Blaming" partner (or being blamed by partner) makes things harder and unproductive. Doing so at the table is all of that and gives the opponents confidence (especially if they're good enough to know where the blame should lie, and it's not what's being said).

Especially pickup, "thank you partner, nice hand" and play. Maybe a "do we play..." after the hand to ensure you know what partner is going to think of your bids later. Possibly even a "do you need a refill on the coffee/tea/coke/water/..."

And read that chapter of Simon (read all of Simon, frankly, but know that the bidding is archaic). Your job is to get the best out of partner (however good or bad that can be) so that:

• Tomorrow she's someone else's problem; and
  
• if you do cut her again, she will be happy about it, not like "those other players".

If it turns out that you are compatible, then develop a partnership, but again, no blaming. My current "new partnership" (over a year old, and years of experience playing against each other, we're still *very new*) has a style of "nothing at the table" (unless we have to check our system to determine if what we did was correct/what would be correct), and a drink at the bar/a phone call after walking through the hands. At least 70% of the games we play we do that (time permitting sometimes, or just that one "disaster game" that isn't worth discussing because we know it's not a learning experience, it's "where were you, and who did you hire to impersonate yourself tonight?") If it's a mentoring game, same thing. But pickup? or "I've never played with you, let's do it sometime?" Almost everything partner does is brilliant, even the revokes.

Because bridge, when you're happy and concentrating fully on the game, is hard. Anything that makes it harder won't help.

"There is exactly one person in the room who wants you to do well. It is easy to turn them to the other side."

[mikl_plkcc]

mw64ahw, on 2025-June-04, 05:54, said:

One down is good when they're making

One down in red, doubled, is a 0 in matchpoints.

Back to yesterday evening.

---

We missed a game in ♠ then blamed each other. I blamed my partner not bidding a 7-card suit and she blamed me not bidding my 12 HCP hand.

[hrothgar]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-04, 12:03, said:

We missed a game in ♠ then blamed each other. I blamed my partner not bidding a 7-card suit and she blamed me not bidding my 12 HCP hand.

1. Getting to games after the opponents open a strong NT is not always easy

2. Unless you are playing a very aggressive style, I think that you (West) have a clear pass. I have played some methods where you could overcall 2!D showing either Diamonds and Hearts or Diamonds and a major. However, this involved specific agreements about overcalling with 4-4 patterns and the like.

3. I think that partner's decision not to balance with 2!S is conservative, but I wouldn't get too bent out of shape

[mikl_plkcc]

---

I blamed her not responding 4♠ in place of 2♠ with a known 10-card fit and she told me that she wouldn't do that with 4 HCP at red. There were 9 tricks available to us in ♠.

---

We made the game but only got 30%, because 4♠ would also make. Then she blamed me not bidding with 15 HCP.

---

She then blamed me not bidding again with 15 HCP, where I thought there was a misfit and 1♠ would go down. It made with an overtrick. At the same time I blamed her not raising my 1♦ to 2♦ with 4-card support, causing me to misjudge a misfit and she told me she couldn't do that with 4 points at red.

---

We missed a ♥ game. I blamed her not bidding her 4-card major to my double and she thought I should bid it myself.

[P_Marlowe]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-June-04, 12:03, said:

One down in red, doubled, is a 0 in matchpoints.

Back to yesterday evening.

---

We missed a game in ♠ then blamed each other. I blamed my partner not bidding a 7-card suit and she blamed me not bidding my 12 HCP hand.

2S in the pass out seat is obv., this does not mean you reach game.
I would passed 1NT as well with the West hand, but I would also have passed a reopening 2S.
You could make an (good) argument, that the 7-4 is strong enough to act directly, in which case you
will reach game, but first ... lets talk about the obv. stuff, and this is bidding 2S in the pass out.

[P_Marlowe]

#1 4S is more or less obv.
#2 Either open with the East hand or make a T/O, at least your p did not pass
#3 Given your spade length pass is ok, you did beat it?
#4 Instead of bidding 3C, what is wrong with a T/O?
Your double is not T/O, it is just cards, 5C also makes