[thepossum]

---

I am sorry but if you have 0 or 1 keycards and 7 points, firstly your voids are irrelevant (to me) and secondly you do not have the right to make the call in Blackwood

I don't care what the Sims say

I am not prepared to tolerate any defence

I did not exaggerate my hand at all and I was the one asking

That was a wonderful 5H hand and it cost me a tourney

I apologise for raising this specific systemic gripe yet again

EDIT I will add further. The keycard was not even an Ace

EDIT 2 I will go even further the the general point is that with 0 or 1 you do not push above 5 - that's how most people play - I believe some clever people even designed it that way. They could have made it the other way around but they didn't

EDIT 3 The other wonderful thing about that response is that it wonderfully wrongsides everything too. Sad

EDIT 4 People will say. Well I had no right to ask the question. With that hand

EDIT 5 Sorry for all the edits. I have checked other SW and other system (Acol) and bidding it more sysetmically (eg opening 1D) and the difference appears to be in the usage of Blackwood in 2/1. Sorry subtle difference between Keycard and RKCB in their system But my gripe stands that it is rubbish bidding. I ran a little Sim and despite the void its only Game. Maybe its not the Sim. Some stupid piece of bidding logic in code perhaps or on a spec somewhere. In defence of Sims and my bidding chance of Slam from North is not good but worth a Texas. Chance of slam from South is good enough to ask. I know people use Texas differently. Some with no interest in Slam and some with possible Slam interest. Well I was expressing possible slam interest too.

[smerriman]

If your partner held the ace of spades instead of a void, they would respond 5♠ and you'd be in exactly the same awful contract.

Sorry, but 110% of blame to South here. If you truly believe North is at fault, post this as an ATB on BridgeWinners and if you don't get a unanimous response, I will be stunned.

[helene_t]

GIB will actually show a void even with zero keycards.

This is not optimal but it is difficult to make rules for when to show the void.

BTW your 4NT bid was wrong. There is no such thing as a superaccept of Texas, but even if there were, the way to superaccept would be to bid 4♠ and then partner can decide whether to ask for keycards or not.

[thepossum]

Sorry. I figure the defenders would show up to defend the indefensible

There is no defence for going to 6H however you look at it sorry. Basic argument and logic

[thepossum]

Sorry. I figure the defenders would show up to defend the indefensible

There is no defence for going to 6H however you look at it sorry. Basic argument and logic

Why keep doing it.

If Texas doesnt mean any interest in Slam you sign off or respond below 5H
If Texas does mean slam interest I am entitled to ask

There is no defence for that bid

I will keep arguing and pointing out the rubbish

I ran the Sim with only two keys from North, 6 hearts and 10 points
2 Aces gives me almost a certain slam
1 Ace and a King gives me roughly Possum level gamble of a slam

I ignored voids. It is not up to North to make that call and any decent control asking system would have stopped in 5

Sorry. Morning rant over with. Sorry. As you were

[helene_t]

thepossum, on 2022-October-30, 18:45, said:

1 Ace and a King gives me roughly Possum level gamble of a slam

fair enough

[mycroft]

---

Yeah, it's one hell of a cherrypick, and there's no way of knowing, but it's literally one card.

I'm not going to comment on what the bots claim to have for a Texas Transfer (after all, I play a weak NT. I am au fait with Texas as a Preempt), but when someone limits their hand, their partner is Captain. When they then decide to not let the Captain captain, it's probably best to trust them and make the book bid.

But the bots are bad (odd how they tend to score 54% in a club field if playing with a partner that plays the same system another bot, though) and nothing is going to make them better this far along. Keep beating your head against a wall if you want to - and it is fun to see the latest insanity and laugh in commiseration, sure in the knowledge that tomorrow, It May Be Me - but there it is.

I do know that "bid 1NT" is a winning strategy for/against bots, but it is so tempting to try to catch up after.

[thorvald]

I think anyone who responds 4N to a Texas-transfer, should not be allowed to comment on partners bidding, not even when the partner is a bot.

Personally I think that the developers of the bot should hardcode Pass for a bid like 4N, unless the plan was to continue with 4N after the transfer

[AL78]

First question, what you expect for a Texas transfer?

Consider the following:

1NT - 4♥
1NT - 3♥
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♥
1NT - 4♦(Texas)

That is four ways of showing a game going hand and setting hearts as trumps. Two of these give the option of investigating slam. What categories of hands are being shown by responder through each of these auctions?

I thought you bid 4♣ to show a 0-1 loser heart suit and 4♦ to show a 0-1 loser spade suit but maybe I am thinking of something else.

[thorvald]

AL78, on 2022-October-31, 10:48, said:

First question, what you expect for a Texas transfer?

Consider the following:

1NT - 4♥
1NT - 3♥
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♥
1NT - 4♦(Texas)

That is four ways of showing a game going hand and setting hearts as trumps. Two of these give the option of investigating slam. What categories of hands are being shown by responder through each of these auctions?

I thought you bid 4♣ to show a 0-1 loser heart suit and 4♦ to show a 0-1 loser spade suit but maybe I am thinking of something else.

1N-4♣ is Gerber (But can be used to show both major, or something else)

Texas (1N-4Red is transfer) is used for a hand, whit either no slam interest, or a hand, that just want to set trump and ask for aces

1N-3♥ is not setting ♥, but could be, then it would be a hand looking for 3N

1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♥ is mildly slammish, and opener is expected to move on with max and controls

Transfer followed by jump in a new suit is splinter and looking for the perfect fit

[pescetom]

AL78, on 2022-October-31, 10:48, said:

First question, what you expect for a Texas transfer?

Consider the following:

1NT - 4♥
1NT - 3♥
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♥
1NT - 4♦(Texas)

That is four ways of showing a game going hand and setting hearts as trumps.

Maybe Acol is alive after all and oblivious to vaccines too
For most of us, the first is a Texas transfer to spades, the second 5-4 minors with a hearts singleton, the third six card hearts with mild slam interest, the fourth the same but without.

[mycroft]

I play South African Texas (heh), so that my partners don't bid Gerber. Seriously, we play it because playing a weak NT, we can "rightside" 4M, depending on who responder thinks the best hand to protect will be. "Nobody" else does, at least not in North America.

But standard, I sort of agree with PesceTom:

• 1NT-4♥ is spades;
  
• 1NT-3♥ is one of many many things, frequently conventional (31(45) as stated, 13(45) to impede the lead-directing double, 5-5 majors invitational,...) but also is very traditionally "Suit-Set Slam Try" - a hand good enough to not worry about protecting opener, forcing cuebids, and playing in the major or NT only. The "slam unless 2 losers" level try.
  
• 1NT-2♦; 2♥-4♥ is the milder slam try. "cuebid on a superaccept, especially one with 4-to-2+honours".
  
• 1NT-4♦ is either: to play 4♥, no interest in slam (as discussed earlier, it could be trying to beat 3 or even 4♠ by the opponents, but usually it's "expect to make"); or "I'm going to bid 4NT next, which is unambiguously RKC for hearts" (where 1NT-2♦; 2♥-4NT is quantitative with 5 hearts).

Of course, my weak NT partnership also plays Keri, so 1NT-3♥ is "three suited, short in spades", and 1NT-2♠; 2NT/3♣-3♥ is RKC for hearts. No idea what transfer to hearts and 4NT is :-) But we're weird.