From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

Sometimes a hand that comes up that's so unusual it's hard to know where
to start.

At matchpoints, both sides vulnerable, my hand was:

S A764 H AKT9853 D T3 C void

That's a pretty weird hand to start with, but what made this even
weirder was that my partner, as dealer, opened 1H! This was a natural
bid in a 4-card major system, and thus showed one of two hand types:
- 5+ hearts, 12-19 HCP
- 4+ hearts, balanced, 15-19 HCP, usually no 4-card minor
(The first hand type is much more common, although looking at my own
hand skewed the odds a bit.)

RHO passed, so it was up to me to find a bid.

This isn't an ATB (I'm happy with the result we obtained at the table),
but more a "how do you even approach a hand like this after an opening
like that?" question. I assume it's really easy in a relay system, but
we didn't have anything like that available, so I felt like I was
guessing all the way through. Other than relays, what sort of tools do
you have for bidding something like this, and what's your plan?
--
ais523
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

ais523 skrev:

S A764 H AKT9853 D T3 C void

Side comment:

I find such a line quite confusing to read. My being a Dane
doesn't make it easier because Q in Danish is D (for Dame). I
wish people would use this format:

A764 AKT9853 T3 -
--
/Bertel
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

In message <r24qfb$458$1@dont-email.me>, ais523 <ais523@nethack4.org>
writes

Sometimes a hand that comes up that's so unusual it's hard to know where
to start.

At matchpoints, both sides vulnerable, my hand was:

S A764 H AKT9853 D T3 C void

That's a pretty weird hand to start with, but what made this even
weirder was that my partner, as dealer, opened 1H! This was a natural
bid in a 4-card major system, and thus showed one of two hand types:
- 5+ hearts, 12-19 HCP
- 4+ hearts, balanced, 15-19 HCP, usually no 4-card minor
(The first hand type is much more common, although looking at my own
hand skewed the odds a bit.)

RHO passed, so it was up to me to find a bid.

This isn't an ATB (I'm happy with the result we obtained at the table),
but more a "how do you even approach a hand like this after an opening
like that?" question. I assume it's really easy in a relay system, but
we didn't have anything like that available, so I felt like I was
guessing all the way through. Other than relays, what sort of tools do
you have for bidding something like this, and what's your plan?

Do I have a forcing bid agreeing hearts available? I play Acol, but
since there's never any need on the first round to respond 2NT to show a balanced 11-12 (as in traditional Acol), I like to play the Jacoby 2NT response. (I might not have as many HCP points as normal, but that's
hardly a worry here. Whatever partner's rebid, with hearts agreed I can
start cue-bidding. I hope to find out that partner has both the Ace of diamonds and the King of spades, in which case I'll bid 7H, as it would
be unlucky to have a third-round loser in spades. Otherwise I'll settle
for 6.
--
John Hall
"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come
sit next to me."
Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980)
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

In article <30lsf5vdgs4z$.dlg@lundhansen.dk>,
Bertel Lund Hansen <gadekryds@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

ais523 skrev:

S A764 H AKT9853 D T3 C void

Side comment:

I find such a line quite confusing to read. My being a Dane
doesn't make it easier because Q in Danish is D (for Dame). I
wish people would use this format:

A764 AKT9853 T3 -

I get where you're coming from. I much prefer the following format:

4720 with A, AK ,,
--
Trump has normalized hate.

The media has normalized Trump.

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From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

In article <r24qfb$458$1@dont-email.me>, ais523 <ais523@nethack4.org> wrote: >Sometimes a hand that comes up that's so unusual it's hard to know where

to start.

At matchpoints, both sides vulnerable, my hand was:

S A764 H AKT9853 D T3 C void

That's a pretty weird hand to start with, but what made this even
weirder was that my partner, as dealer, opened 1H! This was a natural
bid in a 4-card major system, and thus showed one of two hand types:
- 5+ hearts, 12-19 HCP
- 4+ hearts, balanced, 15-19 HCP, usually no 4-card minor
(The first hand type is much more common, although looking at my own
hand skewed the odds a bit.)

RHO passed, so it was up to me to find a bid.

From a theoretical POV, most people will say something like "I'm bidding at least 6H, but what about 7?" - though of course, 6H might not make.

So, they're taking 6H as the baseline and setting 7H as the target. From a theoretical POV, this is a reasonable thing to do.

But, IRL, and since we are playing matchpoints, maybe a better target is 6Hx.

I think that what I would try to do is make the auction sound stupid, so
that when we eventually reach 6H, we attract a double.
--
The randomly chosen signature file that would have appeared here is more than 4 lines long. As such, it violates one or more Usenet RFCs. In order to remain in compliance with said RFCs, the actual sig can be found at the following URL:
http://user.xmission.com/~gazelle/Sigs/Aspergers
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

In message <r267qh$lvk$1@news.xmission.com>, Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> writes

I think that what I would try to do is make the auction sound stupid,
so that when we eventually reach 6H, we attract a double.

Isn't the danger with that the possibility of so confusing partner that
he/she does something unfortunate like passing what should be a forcing
bid or converting 6H doubled to 6NT when one of the minors is wide open?

Also there's a fair chance that the opponents have sufficient values
that they may double anyway, not realising that your distribution is
quite so extreme.

One other thought. We're told that after 1H our RHO passes, but with
such distribution around it seems highly likely that LHO will intervene,
and the opponents may well subsequently compete quite vigorously in one
of the minors. I suppose that makes it more likely that we will have to eventually choose between 6H and 7H without knowing too much about where partner's high cards are located.
--
John Hall
"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come
sit next to me."
Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980)
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

On Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 6:43:25 PM UTC-6, ais523 wrote:

Sometimes a hand that comes up that's so unusual it's hard to know where
to start.

At matchpoints, both sides vulnerable, my hand was:

S A764 H AKT9853 D T3 C void

That's a pretty weird hand to start with, but what made this even
weirder was that my partner, as dealer, opened 1H! This was a natural
bid in a 4-card major system, and thus showed one of two hand types:
- 5+ hearts, 12-19 HCP
- 4+ hearts, balanced, 15-19 HCP, usually no 4-card minor
(The first hand type is much more common, although looking at my own
hand skewed the odds a bit.)

RHO passed, so it was up to me to find a bid.

This isn't an ATB (I'm happy with the result we obtained at the table),
but more a "how do you even approach a hand like this after an opening
like that?" question. I assume it's really easy in a relay system, but
we didn't have anything like that available, so I felt like I was
guessing all the way through. Other than relays, what sort of tools do
you have for bidding something like this, and what's your plan?

--
ais523

My fantasy auction(s) would be 1H-1S, 2S-3C(control), 3D(control)-5C(Exclusion Blackwood) or 3D-5NT(Grand Slam Force in spades).
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

Kenny McCormack wrote:

In article <r24qfb$458$1@dont-email.me>, ais523 <ais523@nethack4.org> wrote:

[snip]

At matchpoints, both sides vulnerable, my hand was:

S A764 H AKT9853 D T3 C void

That's a pretty weird hand to start with, but what made this even
weirder was that my partner, as dealer, opened 1H! This was a natural
bid in a 4-card major system, and thus showed one of two hand types:
- 5+ hearts, 12-19 HCP
- 4+ hearts, balanced, 15-19 HCP, usually no 4-card minor
(The first hand type is much more common, although looking at my own
hand skewed the odds a bit.)

RHO passed, so it was up to me to find a bid.

[snip]

But, IRL, and since we are playing matchpoints, maybe a better target is 6Hx.

I think that what I would try to do is make the auction sound stupid, so
that when we eventually reach 6H, we attract a double.

If I were thinking along those lines, I'd probably splinter in diamonds (assuming I had a specifically void-showing splinter), then bid 6H
regardless of what partner did. Who knows, maybe we make an overtrick,
or make when we would have failed, because they decide not to lead
diamonds at trick 1, and it probably increases the chance of being
doubled by an opponent who has the Ace of Clubs. That might not sound
stupid enough, though (unless partner bid Blackwood; a 6H response to
that would be pretty stupid but would almost certainly be passed out).
--
ais523
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From Newsgroup: rec.games.bridge

I'd probably just bit 4C showing a Club Void (as I play it). If I don't get a bid showing a Diamond control, I sign off.
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