HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bs@gauss.mitre.org (Robert D. Silverman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Bid this one for me
Date: 21 Aug 92 18:33:38 GMT
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA

In article <1992Aug21.110226.1660@gacvx2.gac.edu> jengelha@nic.gac.edu (Jeff Engelhardt) writes:
:I was playing a quick one over break and we had an interesting hand.
:
:North dealing
:
:N:	A K Q J 9 6 5 3 2
:	4
:	J 9
:	4
:
:S:	T
:	A K 8 3
:	A 7 6 5
:	A K Q T
:
:How would you bid this?
 
Simple:

4D (1)  5NT (2)
7S	7NT
 
(1) Namyats. Shows at least 8-1/2 playing tricks with spades as trumps
and not more than a 1 loser suit opposite a stiff. [variations are
possible]

(2) How good are your trumps?

--
Bob Silverman
These are my opinions and not MITRE's.
Mitre Corporation, Bedford, MA 01730
"You can lead a horse's ass to knowledge, but you can't make him think"
From: mike@archsci.arch.su.oz.au ()
Subject: bidding
Reply-To: mike@archsci.arch.su.oz.au ()
Organization: Dept of Architectural & Design Science, University of Sydney, Australia
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 23:14:36 GMT

This hand came up at friendly game last night. A discussion ensued on
how to bid it. What contract should one get to (as against what might be the
actual best? At what stage of the bidding does either E or W become aware
of each other's strength?

      W (Dealer)            E

	  Kxx                   AJ
	  K10xxx                Ax
	  A                     KQ10xxx
	  AKxx                  Jxx


Dr Mike Rosenman                         Ph:   +61-2-692 3549
Key Centre of Design Quality G04         Fax:  +61-2-692 3031
University of Sydney                     Email: mike@archsci.arch.su.oz.au
NSW 2006 Australia
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: pynq@quads.uchicago.edu (George Jetson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: you be the judge
Date: 12 Aug 92 13:42:07 GMT
Reply-To: pynq@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: D. J. Dougherty & Associates

In article <VARIS.92Aug11214228@trillian.ae.utexas.edu> varis@trillian.ae.utexas.edu (Varis (Carey)) writes:

>98xxx AQTx QT Qx is better than a limit raise.  LTC is the way to go, guys.
>Nuff said there.

All generalizations are false.

The point has been made before that it depends entirely on what system
you are playing.  Playing Precision (or Acol, if I understand it correctly),
or any other light opener system, I cannot force to game with the above.

Playing a LOS, I agree with the earlier poster that you will get to an
unmakeable game 3 times for every once that you will miss a makeable one.

BTW, is the following auction possible in Precision:

	1D - 1H - P (me) - 3H
	3S

Can a limited opener possibly have enough to bid freely at the 3 level?

(FWIW, this was matchpoints; we were vul)

************************************************************************
Please don't drink the battery acid, it tastes bad and will hurt you.
Also, don't bite the tyres, especially when the bike is moving.
(Our lawyers made us put this in this manual.)

	- pynq@quads.uchicago.edu, who is still costing the net
	  hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, every time he posts -
************************************************************************
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: bharat@cs.uiuc.edu (R. Bharat Rao)
Subject: Re: Bid this monster
Reply-To: bharat@cs.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 20:48:42 GMT

sgm@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Myerson) writes:
>Matchpoints. North. EW Vul.

>  N:  xx, T98xx,   KQxx, Kx
>  S:  Ax, AKQJxxx, ---,  Axxx

>The bidding at our table:
>West   North  East   South
>       pass   1D-1   1H       1. Precision, < 17 HCP, 3+ diamonds
>pass   4H     pass   4N
>pass   5C     pass   5H
>pass   pass   pass

>The ace of diamonds, as expected, is over the KQ, so NS scored +510.
>After the hand, South admitted not knowing what to do with her monster.
>She said she knew Blackwood was silly, so no flames about that.
>She asked us how it should be bid (sure, like we're the local experts - NOT),
>so I'm asking for suggestions.
>Constructive comments appreciated, and I'll give them to her next Monday.

With the S monster, I would simply bid 6H.  Exploring slam is hard,
and there are too many ways it can make; the chance of 7H is quite
unlikely... so, just blast to 6H....

>Steve Myerson (sgm@sgfb.ssd.ray.com)

Bharat
From: jiang@liasun5.epfl.ch (Tao JIANG)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: bridge program for PC
Date: 16 Aug 92 16:01:17 GMT
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne


Does anyone know where I can get bridge programs for PC?
Thanks.

--
Tao Jiang
Swiss Federal Inst. of Tech., Lausanne
From: willner@cfa.harvard.edu (Steve Willner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Toronto Nationals selection #1
Date: 12 Aug 92 22:09:18 GMT
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA,  USA


In article <1992Aug10.170717.17161@galois.mit.edu>, Professor WHO? writes:
> RED, you hold S:AJ3 H:J984 D:K3 C:QT82.  RHO opened 1NT (11-14) third in
> hand.  All pass.  Select your opening lead.

Club.  Heart is reasonable, but the slight preference to lead a major
is not enough to offset the better suit in the minor.

> RED, you hold S:KT95 H:7 D:QJT9 C:J653.  LHO opened 1NT (11-14) in third
> seat.  Do you think you should balance?

No.  Balance could go for 800 against a part score.

> RED, you hold S:AT9 H:K92 D:QJT2 C:KQ6.  RHO opened 1D first in hand.  What
> is your action and why?

Pass.  This is a minimal 15 with no shape and not improved by the
opening bid.

> YELLOW, you hold S:T98 H:KJ43 D:Q7 C:AK86 and opened 1C first in hand.
> Partner responded 1S (you play Walsh style).  What is your rebid?  

1NT.  Not 2S with a tenace, fairly strong doubleton, and no spade
honor.  (I would have opened a weak NT so cannot have this problem.) 

> WHITE, you hold S:KQ9743 H:J2 D:AKJ C:K7 and opened 1S first in hand.  If
> partner responds one forcing no-trump (2/1 style) then how do you rebid?

2D.  Too strong for 2S, suit too poor for 3S.  2NT is not crazy, but
it seems misdirected.

> YELLOW, you hold S:AQ52 H:J862 D:AKT C:AJ and opened 1S second to speak
> (you are playing 4-card majors).  LHO doubled for take-out and partner
> passed (denying any kind of a six-card suit or a good five bagger, as well
> as support).  RHO advanced to 2D.  Your call.

Pass.  Bidding is dangerous, and if partner has anything we might
beat 2D.  Even if we have a 4-4 heart fit, we might not make 2H.
-- 
Steve Willner            Phone 617-495-7123         Bitnet:   willner@cfa
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA                 Internet: willner@cfa.harvard.edu
  member, League for Programming Freedom; contact league@prep.ai.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: The Butler Scoring Method (was Re: Toronto Nationals selection #1)
From: avir@chen.bgu.ac.il (Avi Roy Shapira)
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 03:22:13 GMT
Organization: Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

Professor WHO? writes:
:
: Some background:
: The Finals of the National Imp Pairs was depressing for the pairs who was
: sitting E-W in the evening and N-S in the afternoon.  It is public
: knowledge that when opponents bid and make a flat game against you, you
: will lose about 2 imps on the Butler scoring method - average over all
: tables of a large field is imped against your score.

The above statement is true, provided all the scores are used to calculate
the reference point for the IMP score. Here and elsewhere, it is common
practice to eliminate the extreme scores before calculating the average.
This practice eliminates the  bias against normal game and slam contracts.

To illustrate, lets assume a nine table game where on a given hand, the
normal result is 4S made. Typically, one pait will miss the game. Another
will overbid and go down in 5. One pair will get doubled and make, while
another will score an OT.  If you calculate an avarage score with all nine
results, the avarage will come out to 510 (rounded) which penalizes the
pairs against which game was bid by 3 imps. On the other hand, if you eliminate
the two extreme results from both ends, the average is exactly 620, as it
should be.

There is a debate as to how many extreme results should be removed. IMHO,
it is probably best to keep more than half the scores, while removing as
close to half the scores as possible. This means that if you have 5-8
scores, you take out one score from each end, with 9-12, you remove
2 scores from each end,  with 13-16 you remove 6 scores, and so on.

Naturally, one can have situations where this method creates biases too, but
on the whole it is better than calculating a straight average.

Avi

Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: bill@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: Precision, anyone?
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 15:22:29 GMT

I'm new to this group, and out of touch with ACBL rules etc for the
past decade. My partner of ten years ago (he moved) called
me last night and we are going to play a provincial open! YEAH!

We used to play Precision, and will try it again this weekend, even
though we are both very rusty.

My question is : Does anybody still play Precision, and if not, why
not? It seemed to work very well for us, when we weren't mixing up
conventions. Admitedly it took a little work to get into it, but the
rewards were there. The difficulty is finding other people to play
it with.

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|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Missing Slam
From: avir@chen.bgu.ac.il (Avi Roy Shapira)
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 05:09:13 GMT
Organization: Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

kibler@turing.ICS.UCI.EDU (Dennis Kibler) writes:
:
: Suggestions  on how to bid this will be appreciated.
:
:  North: xxx, Jxx, xxx, AQxx
:
:  South: Ax, AKQxxxx, Kx, Kx
:
: The bidding:
:
:    East   South    West    North
:     1d     x        p       2c
:     2d     3d       p       3h*
:     p      4h**     p       p***
:     p
:
I don't think South hand can force to game, since if partner has no entery
you can make only 8 tricks, even though both kings are likely to be well
placed.  Bidding 2H over 2D is a strong enough bid, IMHO. Both Reese and
Morehead have long advocated that it is usually better to hold something in
reserve in these situation, and 2H comsumes less bidding space.

If south bids 2H, North should bid 3D to indicate a fit and a maximum for
his previous holding, and South should have no trouble using old Blackwood
and bidding the slam.

However, the Q bid as south second turn is tempting. With his maximum,
including 1.5 QT North should realize that the partnership is in the slam
zone, and not bid a 3 card heart suit, which will prevent him from exploring
a slam later on, fearing trump weakness, so a 4D Q-bid is clearly indicated,
implying a maximum and support for any suit parnter would bid.

Finally, since North's first 2 bids were forced, he had shown 0 HCP, and
South should bid not 4H but 3NT!. From South's point of view, 9 tricks
are virtually guaranteed on the moral certainty of a diamond lead. While
West will surely lead diamonds - his partner bid the suit twice, and has
entries - East, on lead against 4H may very well choose a passive defence.


:
: I expect that the unstarred bids are routine.

See above.
:
: *   Should North bid 4d to show  values?
YES
: **  Should  South bid 4d to push auction in to cue bidding?
No, South had done enough.

: *** Should North cue 5 clubs?
I suppose so. He must show his strength some time.

Avi
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: olle@astro.uu.se (Olof Morell)
Subject: Re: How to bid this one?
Organization: UDAC, Uppsala, Sweden
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 12:14:52 GMT

|> >:>Last night (pairs event) i got the following west hand, N dealer , All:
|> >:
|> >:>AT9
|> >:>AKJ92
|> >:>-
|> >:>AKQ75

It has been suggested by several people to open this hand with one heart.

WHY?

21 HCP, eight controls, first controls in all suits, three losers,
six missing points, whatever your prefer...

Isn't that putting too much pressure on your one bids? And on partner?
Especially since you do not have any real difficulties with rebids after 2C, 
or 2H as I would open it playing Acol - which was the stated condition 
for the problem.

It is NOT inconceivable that you may get 1H passed out, giving partner 4-5
points could give the opps about 7 each, and I would not balance often after
pass - pass - pass - 1H
pass - pass - ?
since LHO is bound to have a strong hand, partner could neither open nor
enter the bidding the second time.

Three pass before you change conditions a lot, since the opponents need not
protect their partner.

I also think Bob's sequence is a little unrealistic:
a hand which has no controls at all and without extreme playing strength
is not likely to push very hard for slam opposite an opening
at the one level.

Heavy openers, ok, but this is overdoing it...

*** Olle ***
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail - Olle.Morell@astro.uu.se

Snail Mail - Astronomical Observatory, Box 515, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: thomaso@centerline.com (Thomas Andrews)
Subject: Re: Bid this one for me
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 22:33:56 GMT

>
>As Bob pointed out, this is the hand Namyats was invented for.  But, if we
>don't happen to be playing Namyats, the opening alternatives are 1S, 2C, and
>4NT (Blackwood).
>

How many people play 4NT openings as Blackwood?  Anybody play it as
a 2-suited minor pre-empt?  Just wondering, because I took my partner's
opening 4NT bid to be Blackwood the other day, and he meant it as
showing the minors.  This did not lead to a good result...

Another question:

LHO	You	RHO	Partner
1H	P	1S	1NT

What do people play 1NT as?  This time my partner had intended to show
a strong NT and I thought it was the minors.  Another bad result.
So what would people play by default?
--
Thomas Andrews
CenterLine Software
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: smart@wanda.mel.dit.CSIRO.AU (Robert Smart)
Subject: Reports on the World Championship?
Organization: CSIRO, Division of Information Technology, Melbourne
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 08:12:05 GMT

Any hope of reports from the World Championship (Olympiad?) in Italy
starting next week?

Bob Smart  <smart@mel.dit.csiro.au>
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: brdgstar@wam.umd.edu (Paul Grossman)
Subject: Re:Appeals Committee Ruling
Followup-To: Ted Ying et al
Originator: brdgstar@rac1.wam.umd.edu
Keywords: ethics
Organization: University of Maryland at College Park
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 01:26:56 GMT

The original hand (as I best remember it):

                        North
                  
                        -
                        KQJ10x
                        xxx
                        Qxxxx

West                                 East

x                                   109xxx
x                                   xxx
AKQJxxxx                            x
xxx                                 AJ10x

                      South

                      AKQJxxx
                      Axxx
                      x
                      K

vul: none
dealer: South
Bidding: S   W   N   E
        1S  3S   P   3NT
         X  4D   X   P
         P   P
This response is prompted by what I deem to be two unhealthy references
to West's and North's ethics in the discussion which ensued from this hand.
I agree with Steve Willner that we needn't impugn West's ethics (for running
from 3NT doubled) to justify a procedural penalty against E-W. By the same
token, one doesn't have to suggest that North is trying for a 'double shot'
in order to assign N-S the score they actually got (+100). North made a couple
of questionable calls, beginning with pass over 3S. What would double mean?
(suggested answer: either the hand he held, or some specific spade holding
with the intent of (a) suggesting a save, or (b) doubling the final contract)
Needless to say, such a double should have a prior agreement attached to it.
Did N-S have such an agreement? Doubtful. What proportion of experienced
pairs in a given field would have such an agreement?
Clearly, North felt he hadn't 'shown his values' when he passed over 3S, and
so, took his chances when he speculatively axed 4D (which could well have
been the winning call, especially if South had fewer than four hearts).
Thus, I agree with those who have argued for allowing N-S to retain their
(somewhat unlucky) result, but not because North may have had questionable
motives in doubling 4D.
Incidentally, from my point of view, 3S was the worst call (East is unlikely
to have the right tickets for 3NT and be allowed to play it there), but West was
certainly justified in 'continuing the operation' if that is what it was.
Next time, however, N-S will get to 4H when every other N-S is +300  for
5D doubled, down two. Unlucky.
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: Professor WHO?
Subject: Re: No-trump indicates stopper, but--!
Summary: Not the only situation!
Originator: boyiny@minkowski
Keywords: double, shape, power, stopper.
Reply-To: boyiny@math.mit.edu (Dr. Weird)
Organization: Ayatollah's Correct Bidding Lessons
X-Subliminal-Message: Italianate doubles are more fun!
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 21:05:27 GMT

 (Eric Taylor) writes:
>|> The Master Solvers Club is full of experts who opt for stopperless
>|> no-trumps.  Miles is just one example.  Kit Woolsey is another.  They do
>|> not seem to have too many problems finding partners in general.
>I think this is out of context.  Bidding stopperless NT's is
>ok when you can reasonably expect partner to have one.

A couple of example auctions from recent Master Solvers Club questions:

The first one was

1H-(1S)-X- with 3-5-2-3 and no spade stop.  Woolsey and Miles, among
others, went for 1N.  Other experts selected 2C (the majority choice) and 2H.

The other one I think was 1H-(2D)-2S- with 2-5-3-3 and again no stop.
Again W and M both went for 2N, as opposed to 3C, 3S and 3D selected by the
other panelists.  In neither case were they in the majority.

Partner should at least be likely to hold a half stopper in hearts IF the
bidding did go (1H)-X-1S.

>With LHO openings and you having a 20 points hand, you can expect
>your partner to have 1 ace or 1 king 50% of the time.  And the lead
>will be from the dangerous side.  I would guess that a NT contract would go
>down more than 50% of the time with a lead of the original bid suit.

Depends, I guess.  Still, if partner has shape it can be shown over 1N
and we would not be playing no-trump.  Certainly I expect that to happen if
the opponents had nine hearts.

>Part of the problem is with methods.  There is no way to show a strong
>balanced hand without a stopper in the opponents suit. 

Agreed.  Of course, I happen to like Italianate methods.
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: sgm@sgfb.ssd.ray.com (Myerson)
Subject: Re: cue-bidding question
Organization: Raytheon Company, Portsmouth, RI
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 20:59:05 GMT

In article <1992Aug13.135627.24202@Princeton.EDU> S. Spencer Sun writes:
* 
* When cue-bidding, if one has multiple potential cue-bids, is there any
* particular rule you can use as to which one to bid first, or do you sort
* of just play it by ear... (if you consider this a stupid, flame-worthy
* question, I'll be happy to accept it in e-mail so that it doesn't
* pollute the newsgroup).
* 
*           AT954
*           Q92
*           KQ94
*           A
* J                   32
* AT875               K43
* J652                T83
* T52                 Q8764
*           KQ876
*           J6
*           A7
*           KJ93 
* 
* The bidding was, I think, fairly straightforward.  Duplicate scoring,
* both vul, dealer north (my partner).  Opponents were silent throughout
* the auction.  It went...
* 
*    1S - 2N (Jacoby)
*    3C - 3D
*    3S - 4C
*    4N - 5S (RKC)
*    6S - all pass
* 	
* opponents did not lead a heart for unknown reasons (it's the only unbid
* suit) and the contract makes (my partner was aware he was bidding a slam
* that goes down with the correct lead, but bid it anyway, dunno why)
* 
* Commentary on the hand thus far is welcome, but my real question is,
* suppose either of us had held the HA?  If I have it, then at round two, do
* I show DA or HA first?  How about round 3, do I show CK or the other ace
* first?  Are there any sort of guidelines or do you just wing it...

The way my partner and I play it, we bid our cheapest previously
unshown ace (or if aces have been shown, king).

To answer your questions with respect to our bidding agreements,
at round two you bid the DA. At round three, your cheapest cue-bid
is 4C (showing the king since the ace of that suit has been shown).

Instead of North bidding 3S, I would have bid 4D (showing that
king since south has shown the ace). This would also
deny the ace of hearts, and south could sign off in 4S,
since it seems like hearts are wide open.

If South had the king of hearts, he could have continued
with 5C over 4D, showing the king of clubs, and probably
suggesting second round control of hearts,
since otherwise it would be suicidal to head to slam off
two cashable hearts.

On that bidding a heart lead stands out a mile,
and you're lucky the opponents didn't find it.

Steve Myerson (sgm@sgfb.ssd.ray.com)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: daveshao@leland.stanford.edu (David Shao)
Subject: One last correction to Re: Play 6H (corrected version)
Originator: daveshao@leland.Stanford.EDU
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 20:13:35 GMT

>From: mlg@siemens.com. (Michael Greenberg)
>Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
>Subject: Play 6H (corrected version)
 
>Yet another slam to play:
 
>IMPS
>Neither
>South
 
>N: -,AKJTxx,Qxx,Axxx
 
>S: KJ8x,xx,AKx,KQT9
 
>Bidding
 
>1N - 2D* - 2H - 6H
 
>2D is transfer
 
>Lead 2s

Assuming opponents can win at most one trick with their trumps,
the only problem is to avoid a club loser.  On the opening lead 
RHO is marked with the SA.  At some point you will want to cash trumps
and diamonds bringing yourself down to the following cards with
RHO to play:

N -  -  -  Axxx

S K  -  -  KQT9

Clearly RHO can't discard SA, so he can't keep 4 clubs.

If trumps split 4-1 you will want the opponent
with the queen of trumps to win this trick while you have at least
two spades in hand, for if you are left with only one spade the
SK threat can be erased if the opponent returns a spade.  But when
you lead trumps from dummy the spades in your hand are the only
convenient cards to discard.

The problem with my two previous lines is that I failed to take
into account that drawing trump after two spade ruffs, then cashing
diamonds is incompatible with implementing the squeeze.  But within the
problem lies the very seeds of its solution.

Come to your hand with a high diamond, then finesse in trumps once.

If RHO takes he can't lead another spade because you would then
eventually score your SK.  A diamond return probably would not be
ruffed, for that would mean LHO started with a singleton which he
did not lead. 

If RHO does not take, even if hearts split 4-1 any ruff by opponents
merely costs them their natural trump trick--the point of the early
trump finesse.
  
Run the diamonds starting with the high one in your hand, then play
on trumps again.  This will induce
the aforementioned squeeze position on RHO no matter when the HQ
is won.




Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge