[mikl_plkcc]

We used weak suit game try so there was no way to show a second fit. Our concern was one held xxx in a suit which could easily lose 3 quick tricks in a game.

[P_Marlowe]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-February-22, 14:32, said:

Anyway, I turned up at another bridge club today as a visitor and played with the host, and I finally broke even for the first time this year, at 54.2% MP in a 9-table 2-winner Mitchell truncated to 8x3-board rounds.

https://www.bridgewe...&club=wimbledon

I have marked a few boards which I want to discuss:

Board 4

---

I collected +500 for a top.

I bid 3♠ to strength, but I started to unsure if 4♠ would make as I held marginal game values. Was my 4♠ bid right? Should I doubled their 4♥ instead of risking a 4♠ that would be doubled?
<snip>

I think your p should make a XX to show a max.
And I am not sold on bidding 4S without encouragement from opener.

[mikl_plkcc]

It's another week of mess again.

https://www.bridgewe...ub=youngchelsea

On the very first board I played (board 3), our opponents bid a slam which was makeable. I then misjudged the auction (my partner raised my preempt on 2 trumps when I expected 3, and they bid the slam with a 7-card fit when I expected 8 to 9) and made a bad sacrifice and got down 7 (my target was down 4). The slam was solid but no other table could bid it.

Board 9, I didn't know what to do after LHO preempted 3S on my 1C opening and passed back to me, holding 16 points, as my shape was not the correct shape to make a takeout double. We let them played for 3S-4 instead of our making game in clubs. Possibly my partner should have bid 4C instead.

Board 17 was a misbid, the auction went (1D)-1H-(1S) and my partner suddenly bid 3D out of the blue which our agreement was unusual vs unusual (but we didn't expect a jump!), so I bid 4C, thinking we had a double fit, and partner corrected to 4H, and we should be in 2H instead.

Although we also gained some IMPs due to their partnership misunderstanding, including a sequence on board 24,
(/) - / - (1C) - X
(XX) - 1H - (X) - //
which ended up making due to a misunderstanding of the meaning of the final X, and on board 14 the opponents playing Polish Club misunderstood a splinter bid as natural resulting in a bad contract. Their auction went 1H - 1S - 3D (intended as splinter but treated as natural) - 3NT - 4H - 5D - 5H which ended up down 2 with 4H at other tables making.

Finally, I made 2 marginal doubles during the session, 1 paid off and 1 didn't. The one which paid off was board 4, my partner opened 1C, they bid to 4S and I held JT987 in spades and no other values, I doubled. Everyone was in the hopeless 4S but only 3 tables doubled.

The other one, board 27, the auction went
(/) - / - (1C) - X
(/) - 1S - (1NT) - X, judging that the points likely split 20-20 between me and RHO. My partner holding 6 ♠ didn't pull it and it ended up making.

And, for board 2, this time my partner finally remembered our convention of Checkback Stayman and reached a good 4H contract, whereas a number of tables ended up at 2H by the short hand, possibly as a result of opening 1NT on 18 count (2 AK, an unsupported K, and Jx doubleton) and Jacoby transfer.

On board 20, it might be better off to pass my partners preempt instead of raising from 3D to 5D, holding a 4333 quacky hand in the side suits.

I still perform badly in competitive auctions, having little idea when to balance / bid / double / sacrifice and misjudging the exact number of trumps each side has, losing us a lot of IMPs in the process.

In terms of play, there was a board 13 where the opponents bid a bad 4S contract. We played the first few tricks brilliantly, partner led a K, covered by dummy's A, the trump finesse failed and partner played a small H. I ate it and returned for a ruff, but my partner didn't return the setting club for me anymore and played to the dummy's ♦A instead, and they discarded all their clubs afterwards, giving away our opportunity to earn big IMPs.

[smerriman]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-February-28, 18:31, said:

I then misjudged the auction (my partner raised my preempt on 2 trumps when I expected 3, and they bid the slam with a 7-card fit when I expected 8 to 9) and made a bad sacrifice and got down 7 (my target was down 4).

If you preempted then there's nothing to misjudge, your partner is the only one allowed to make later decisions..

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-February-28, 18:31, said:

In terms of play, there was a board 13 where the opponents bid a bad 4S contract. We played the first few tricks brilliantly, partner led a K, covered by dummy's A, the trump finesse failed and partner played a small H. I ate it and returned for a ruff, but my partner didn't return the setting club for me anymore and played to the dummy's ♦A instead, and they discarded all their clubs afterwards, giving away our opportunity to earn big IMPs.

Which heart did you return? The ♥2 (or 3, if 2 was encouragement on the first round) should be a pretty strong request for a club.

[P_Marlowe]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-February-28, 18:31, said:

It's another week of mess again.

https://www.bridgewe...ub=youngchelsea

On the very first board I played (board 3), our opponents bid a slam which was makeable. I then misjudged the auction (my partner raised my preempt on 2 trumps when I expected 3, and they bid the slam with a 7-card fit when I expected 8 to 9) and made a bad sacrifice and got down 7 (my target was down 4). The slam was solid but no other table could bid it.
<nsip>

The quality of the opponents fit does not matter. Similar, the actions of your p dont really matter,
in the given auction p made a move, selling Qx as xxx is not bad.

It is quite simple: you made your preempt, and after that you shut up, if you feel sry, remember this
next time and preempt higher.

#20: I would not have made the 3D preempt, in 1st pos. and all being Red, I may not even have opened with a w2
due to suit quality and position, but this is a style question.
A equal vul. you are asking for -1100. Anyway, you only have 2-3 tricks and you are raising the bar by 2 tricks,
the 4333 has nothing to do with this AQ in the trump suit should be 2 tricks.
I.e. if you have agreed to go all in with the first preemptive move (the opening) you need to put on the brakes
in the follow up.
The take away from this hand is, that you should discuss your preempt style.

#27 Your p should pull. A advice from Ron Klinger: Go for your own contract.

[mikl_plkcc]

On board 13, the first ♥ I played was 2 (encourage), the second was 3 (opponent led, therefore give count as even), so when I returned, I played the 4.

Sorry I was speaking bull, please disregard the above.

On board 3, my initial preempt was 2♠, and the auction went
S - W - N - E
/ - (1H) - 2S - (3D)
3S - (4H) - / - (4NT)
/ - (5S) - X - (6H)
/ - (/) - 6S - (X)
//

All other tables stopped at 3NT by E or 4H by W due to the misfit.

It was obvious that the opponents held the majority of values, but my suit quality was not enough to preempt 3S right at the beginning.

[P_Marlowe]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-March-01, 05:20, said:

On board 13, the first ♥ I played was 2 (encourage), the second was 3 (opponent led, therefore give count as even), so when I returned, I played the 4.

On board 3, my initial preempt was 2♠, and the auction went
S - W - N - E
/ - (1H) - 2S - (3D)
3S - (4H) - / - (4NT)
/ - (5S) - X - (6H)
/ - (/) - 6S - (X)
//

All other tables stopped at 3NT by E or 4H by W due to the misfit.

It was obvious that the opponents held the majority of values, but my suit quality was not enough to preempt 3S right at the beginning.

The suit quality did not improve during the bidding, if it was not good enough to preempt higher, it was not good enough later.

[smerriman]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-March-01, 05:20, said:

On board 13, the first ♥ I played was 2 (encourage), the second was 3 (opponent led, therefore give count as even), so when I returned, I played the 4.

When did the opponents lead a heart? You said your partner led the ♥K (to your 2), then after winning the trump finesse led their other heart (which you won with your ♥Q). So you must still have the 3 to return..

[mikl_plkcc]

smerriman, on 2025-March-01, 13:27, said:

When did the opponents lead a heart? You said your partner led the ♥K (to your 2), then after winning the trump finesse led their other heart (which you won with your ♥Q). So you must still have the 3 to return..

Sorry, I can't remember now exactly which card I pulled out from my hand, probably a small card but I can't remember if I pulled the 3 or just randomly pulled out a small card.

[helene_t]

Lots of good advice here already.

One thing you could consider is to find some comprehensive set of textbooks, e.g., Robson, or Bergen, Lawrence, or Bridge for Dummies. And then agree to follow those books 100%. It is a huge work to work out partnership agreements. David and I have a system book of 100 pages and we still run into details we haven't discussed.

It sounds like you need to put time and energy into developing judgement and probably also card play. So it is best if system agreements don't take too much of your time.

Bidding is overrated. Some of the best results I got with Whist players who could play cards but knew almost nothing about bidding.

[blackshoe]

It's usual here to indicate passes with p (or P) and 3 passes in sequence with AP. Your / notation stumped me for a second.

[jillybean]

Obviously, they are using bidding pads

[mikl_plkcc]

I'm sorry, another week of negative scores again.

When the auction goes like (1NT) - 2♦! (single suited) - (6♦) making and the field was in 5♦, or 1♥ - (/) - 1♠ - (3NT) making on the basis of a long minor and the field are in 3♦, we couldn't do anything on it, and we were letting the opponents making their games and slams not being able to do anything.

[mike777]

Please keep at it. You will see improvement.

Are you able to review the hand records after your game.
Try and pick one general issue, bidding or defense or play of the hand and work on that.

I know for me it is concentration, focus right now...

Today I played in 6-0 trump fit and right away at trick one I made the wrong decision..
Two
I got to sub in a team game. Competitive auction, I bid 4s to make
, WC opponents bid 5h vul, I was NV,
I hesitated and failed to double, lack of clarity and focus..

Good luck you will improve

[smerriman]

mikl_plkcc, on 2025-March-07, 18:06, said:

or 1♥ - (/) - 1♠ - (3NT) making on the basis of a long minor and the field are in 3♦, we couldn't do anything on it

I pried and found the hand (not sure what the exact auction was, don't think there would have been a spade bid):

---

Lead 6♥ Would others have led the club ace here?

Edit - oh doh, there were two hands in a row with long diamond suits and I picked the wrong one. Still, an interesting decision on this one nonetheless.

Yeah, the other one you had no hope, but bridge is like that; you just have to hope it averages out over the full set of hands. The hard thing about analysing your hands is that you can't just look at the ones you got the worst scores on or what double dummy says is making.. usually there are just as many if not more mistakes made in hands where the score looks flat or that you even got a plus score on. And the mistakes which you make regularly and don't even know about are often the most costly in the long run..

[helene_t]

Yes always lead an ace against a gambling 3nt.

[mikl_plkcc]

It was board 11 with a jump to 3NT, not this board, I asked the opponents about the meaning of 3NT but they didn't have an explicit agreement, just as "to play".

For the board you quoted (board 12), the auction was
(1D) - 1H - (/) - 2H
(3D) - 3H - (X) - /
(3NT) - //

[blackshoe]

jillybean, on 2025-March-05, 07:09, said:

Obviously, they are using bidding pads

Of course. Is it obvious to someone who has never seen nor heard of bidding pads?

[jillybean]

blackshoe, on 2025-March-11, 15:18, said:

Of course. Is it obvious to someone who has never seen nor heard of bidding pads?

I was being cheeky, obviously.

But do we really have anyone young enough not to have seen nor heard of bidding pads?

[awm]

I have never seen nor heard of bidding pads, though perhaps I could guess what they are from context. And I’m not that young anymore, 49 years old and playing duplicate bridge for 27 or so years.