HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: maceache@fox.nstn.ns.ca (Tim Maceachern)
Subject: Re: alerted double; opening lead
Keywords: double, lead
Organization: NSTN Network Operations Centre, Nova Scotia, Canada
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 02:03:43 GMT

nissim@mary.fordham.edu (Leonard J. Nissim) writes:

>At a 13-table duplicate game in a local club on board 10 (both
>vulnerable, East dealer) I held as South:  
>           S-xx H-Axx D-KJTx C-AKJ9
>East opened 2H, weak.  I bid 2N, which for my partnership shows 15-18hcp
>and a definite heart stopper.  (Qxx would not qualify, QJx would.) West
>passed, and my partner bid 3N.  East doubled, alerted.  I asked for an 
>explanation, and got:  "*Demands* a heart lead."  

>I passed, partly on the assurance of a heart lead.  All passed.  The ace of
>spades hit the table as the opening lead (asks for honor to be dropped under 
>it or for count, according to  their card).  "Director!" by me produced West's 
>assurance that he had no hearts, and so couldn't lead one.  Not much to the 
>play; West ran his 7-card spade suit for down 3, doubled:

>                        North
>                        S-Qx
>                        H-xxxx
>                        D-AQxx
>                        C-Qxx

>West                                   East
>S-AKJTxxx                              S-xx
>H-                                     H-KQJTxx
>D-xx                                   D-9xx
>C-Txxx                                 C-xx

>                       South
>                       S-xx 
>                       H-Axx 
>                       D-KJTx 
>                       C-AKJ9

>-800 was of course a bottom.  With no outside entry, East's double seems
>really strange.  I have two questions:

>1) If West had had a heart and still led the ace of spades, what would the
>director have ruled?

West can lead anything he or she likes, regardless of the bidding sequence.
There is no infraction here whether or not West has a heart.  BUT West must
have a reason for leading a spade - a good suit, maybe.  West cannot take
any assurance from your question that you will make the contract on a heart
lead (i.e. West must behave as if he/she didn't hear your question about
the bidding).

West did commit an offence by disclosing that he/she had no hearts.  I
doubt that there would be an adjustment for that, though.

>2) Was I a fool, or just fixed? 

Depends on whether you had a bidding method to check for a spade (plus
club and diamond) stopper.  Probably just a bad result owing to a pre-empt,
not a fix.

>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Leonard J. Nissim  (nissim@mary.fordham.edu)   
>Disclaimer:  "I speak only for myself."
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*******************************************************************
*         Tim MacEachern         * Tim_MacEachern@hawk.nstn.ns.ca *
*     Software Kinetics Ltd.     *  or maceache@hawk.nstn.ns.ca   *
* Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada *                                *
*           Opinions expressed are the author's only              *
*******************************************************************
From: i13mufel@aud2.aud.auc.dk
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: A Grand Slam?
Date: 28 Dec 92 09:52:12 GMT
Organization: Aalborg University Center, Denmark

In article <1992Dec27.042715.4667@actrix.gen.nz>, John.Roseveare@bbs.actrix.gen.nz writes:
> 
> I have not been able to solve the following problem.  All
> responses/suggestions (by E-mail or posting) gratefully received.  If the
> problem is just too trvial/easy/"old hat" please accept my apologies in
> advance!
> 
> 		(S) J 10 8 4
> 		(H) A 10 7
> 		(D) K Q 6 3
> 		(C) J 8
> 
>    (S) 9 6		   (S) Q 2
>    (H) K 9 8 5 2           (H) 3
>    D) 10 7 5              (D) J 9 4 2
>    (C) Q 9 6               (C) A 10 7 5 3 2
> 
> 		(S) A K 7 5 3
> 		(H) Q J 6 4
> 		(D) A 8
> 		(C) K 4
> 
> Lead: 5H
		N	E	S	W
	1)	XH	3H	6H	5H
				--
	2)	XS	XS	AS	XS
				--
	3)	XS	XS	KS	XS
				--
	4)	TH	XC	XH	XH
		--			
	5)	AH	XC	XH	XH
		--
	6)	XD	XD	AD	XD
				--
	7)	XS	XC	XH	XH
		--
	8)	XS	XC	XS	XX
				--
	9)	XC	?	XS	XX
				--



		(D) KQXX



XXXX				(D)JXXX               (D)JXX      
                                (C)    		OR    (C)A



		(D)XX
		(C)KX

THEN YOU GOT IT!!!!
> Can a 7 Spades contract be made against competent defence?  I am told it
> can but I can not see how!
> 
> John Roseveare
> USEnet John.Roseveare@bbs.actrix.gen.nz
> FAX (NZ) 4 4992295
> 66 Dowse Drive, Lower Hutt, NZ
> 
> 
> -- 
> John Roseveare
> 66 Dowse Drive,Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Pasadena KO Trump Suit
From: avir@chen.bgu.ac.il (Avi Roy Shapira)
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 21:48:09 GMT
Organization: Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

jschuler@dcs.simpact.com writes:
:
: Your in 4 Spades and
: your trump suit is:
:
: 	K	Declarer has 2 hearts, dummy 3+. The defense
: 	J	start with a diamond to Easts Ace, the King of Hearts,
: 	7	a Heart to Wests Ace, Heart ruffed by East with the
: 	6	Eight and overruffed with your Ace. A trump to dummy
: 		draws the Nine from West and you play the ???????
: 	A
: 	5
: 	4
: 	3
: 	2
:
:
: This problem was given to me by Jon Wright.

I like this problem!  Declarer can make the contract only if East
started with Q8 or T8.  With T8 East would have ruffed with the T to
force out the Ace, in case declarer has the 9.

You should therefore play the K!

Avi
--
Aviel Roy-Shapira, M.D.         Ben-Gurion University Medical School
Dept. of Surgery A.             POB 151, Beer Sheva, Israel
avir@chen.bgu.ac.il             AVIR@BGUVM.BITNET
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: zhang@me.utoronto.ca (Xiaodong Zhang)
Subject: slam bidding problem
Organization: UofT Mechanical Engineering
Distribution: rec
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 18:00:53 GMT


We play precision, my hand is: 
S: AKQJ987
H: -
D: AKQ
C: XXX

my partner open 1C! (16+ hcp), the bidding is:

pard  I
1c!   1S
2h    3S
4c    4nt
5s*   5nt
6d    7nt

* we use RKC

The full hand is:

partner              I
S: T              AKQJXXX
H: AKQXXX         -  
D: X              AKQ
C: KQJXX          XXX


The opponents cashed CA and down one. My question is:
How to avoid grand slam using precision?

Xiaodong 
:w
From: varvel@cs.utexas.edu (Donald A. Varvel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Ancient history
Date: 30 Dec 1992 22:30:20 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: im4u.cs.utexas.edu

Today I received a response from The Bridge World to a letter I
sent August 16 (!).  The letter:

   Oh great answerer of questions:

   The newsgroup rec.games.bridge has been kicking this around
   for a week or so.  Vul vs. not, RHO opens 1H.
      S: AK  H: Jxx  D: AKxx  C: KQT9

   Ron Rubin in the Spingold doubled and bid 2C over partner's
   1S response.  The net.experts seem divided between passing
   over 1H and doubling and rebidding 1NT.  An immediate 1NT
   has been suggested as well.

   What I would really like is to see this put to a panel.
   Lacking that, your thoughts would be appreciated.

The response:

   Opinion here leans towards double-then-one notrump, with a
   strong minority choosing Rubin's sequence.  We'll try the
   rebid problem in Master Solvers.

My own thought is that if everything goes as you expect (here,
opponents passing and partner bidding 1S) and your next call
is posed as a problem in a bidding competition, there's something
wrong in any case.  ("There is something to be said for not
bidding 4H if, when your opponents bid a not unexpected 4S,
your next action gets into Bidding Forum."  -- Jeff Rubens,
commenting on a different hand.)  The problem is that using
standard methods this hand is simply unbiddable.

-- Don Varvel (varvel@cs.utexas.edu)
From: nstraguz@atl.ge.com (Nick Straguzzi)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: A Defensive Problem
Date: 29 Dec 1992 22:41:03 GMT
Organization: GE Aerospace, Advanced Technology Labs
NNTP-Posting-Host: dinsdale.atl.ge.com

In article <1992Dec29.160100.1@aud2.aud.auc.dk> i13mufel@aud2.aud.auc.dk writes:
>In article <1992Dec29.152155.18908@ramon.bgu.ac.il>, avir@chen.bgu.ac.il (Avi Roy Shapira) writes:
>> Anyhow, playing with a good partner, 2/1 with g[a]dgets I picked up in
>> 4th seat, W v R, the following collection of tickets:
>>    JT72, K983, A74, K6
>> 
>> After 3 passes, do you open?  

Yes.  No choice at matchpoints.  What form of scoring is okbridge?

>> I guess it is close but the possesion of both majors made me open
>> 1D (weird huh?)  RHO overcalls 1NT Pard X's LHO XX's.  and there it
>> stands.

Just out of curiosity, how many netters play 1NT in this sequence as
natural?  I play it as Unusual, which I believe is the expert
treatment in my neck of the woods.  Is it true, as it appears here,
that the Standard Earth expert treatment of a fifth seat 1NT overcall
is natural?  Even red vs. white??
 
>>              98,
>>              QT,
>>              QJT3
>>              A9752
>>                        JT72
>>                        K983
>>                        A73
>>                        K6
>> 
>> Parter leads the SK, and follows with SQ, SA and small spade to the J.
>> dummy discards two small clubs. Declarer follows three times and discards
>> a diamond on the J of spades.
>> 
>> How do you continue?
>> 
>> Aviel Roy-Shapira, M.D.         Ben-Gurion University Medical School
>
>kC!

I admit the CK is an attractive play, if only for its sense of high
drama and the potential for building a worldwide reputation for
brilliance.  :-)

Nonetheless, my vote is for a low heart.

If declarer (who, BTW, is either 3-4-4-2 or 3-3-4-3) has the CQ and HJ
to go along with his marked HA and DK, you are done for.  So you may
as well play partner for one or the other.  For the CK to work, pard
must hold not only the CQ but the CT as well.  Otherwise, declarer
will get home with two clubs, three diamonds, and two hearts on the
hook.  (Please don't tell me declarer is missing the CJ or HJ too --
his bidding is weird enough as it is.)

Yes, partner's spade carding *suggests* club values.  But for him to
hold the CQ is very unlikely and the CT as well even less so.  If
you're going to play him for a useful card, better it be a jack.

(Let me guess: -760, right?)

Nick
-- 
 Nick Straguzzi / GE Advanced Technology Labs / Moorestown NJ / (609) 866-6646
---------- nstraguz@atl.ge.com ----------- #include <stddisclaimer.h> ---------
                "Got no use for the tricks of modern times..."
							- Al Stewart
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: adam@irvine.com (Adam Beneschan)
Subject: Re: A Grand Slam?
Organization: Irvine Compiler Corp., Irvine, California, USA
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 22:46:20 GMT

In article <1992Dec27.042715.4667@actrix.gen.nz> John.Roseveare@bbs.actrix.gen.nz writes:

>   I have not been able to solve the following problem.  All
>   responses/suggestions (by E-mail or posting) gratefully received.  If the
>   problem is just too trvial/easy/"old hat" please accept my apologies in
>   advance!
>
>                   (S) J 10 8 4
>                   (H) A 10 7
>                   (D) K Q 6 3
>                   (C) J 8
>
>      (S) 9 6		       (S) Q 2
>      (H) K 9 8 5 2           (H) 3
>      (D) 10 7 5              (D) J 9 4 2
>      (C) Q 9 6               (C) A 10 7 5 3 2
>
>                   (S) A K 7 5 3
>                   (H) Q J 6 4
>                   (D) A 8
>                   (C) K 4
>
>   Lead: 5H
    Contract: 7 spades

It makes on a minor-suit squeeze against East.  You have to play it
carefully, though, because of entry problems.  Win the H7, draw trumps
playing the 8 and 10 from dummy.  Lead to the heart 10, cash the heart
ace, diamond ace, ruff a heart with the jack.  Now lead the 4 of
trumps back to your hand and play out your trumps, pitching clubs from
dummy, leaving this position with East still to discard:

                    (S) ---
                    (H) ---
                    (D) K Q 6 
                    (C) ---
 
       (S) --- 		       (S) ---
       (H) ---                 (H) ---
       (D) 10 7                (D) J 9 4 
       (C) Q                   (C) A 
 
                    (S) ---       
                    (H) ---    
                    (D) 8
                    (C) K 4



                                -- Adam
From: bharat@cs.uiuc.edu (R. Bharat Rao)
Subject: Re: alerted double; opening lead
Keywords:  double, lead
Organization: University of Illinois, Dept of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 22:50:48 GMT

In article <21DEC199211131587@mary.fordham.edu>, nissim@mary.fordham.edu (Leonard J. Nissim) writes:
|> At a 13-table duplicate game in a local club on board 10 (both
|> vulnerable, East dealer) I held as South:  
|>            S-xx H-Axx D-KJTx C-AKJ9
|> East opened 2H, weak.  I bid 2N, which for my partnership shows 15-18hcp
|> and a definite heart stopper.  (Qxx would not qualify, QJx would.) West
|> passed, and my partner bid 3N.  East doubled, alerted.  I asked for an 
|> explanation, and got:  "*Demands* a heart lead."  
|> 
|> I passed, partly on the assurance of a heart lead.  All passed.  The ace of
|> spades hit the table as the opening lead (asks for honor to be dropped under 
|> it or for count, according to  their card).  "Director!" by me produced West's 
|> assurance that he had no hearts, and so couldn't lead one.  
 
|> 1) If West had had a heart and still led the ace of spades, what would the
|> director have ruled?

No penalty at all.  West told you (correctly) what their agreement was.  There are no penalties for  disregard partnership agreements whenever a player thinks it is good bridge (or even when s/he doesn't:-); the only penalty would be if West had misinformed you.

Assume West held AKQJTxx,x,xxx,xx.  How can there be a law that penalizes you for cashing out your tricks.  Take another situation.  After 1S-2D-2S-3N partner doubles.  This calls for a spade lead, but you are looking at x,KQJT9,Axx,xxxx and you reason that you can lead a heart, win the DA when declarer leads diamonds and cash out your hearts.  If my partner held that hand and lead a spade "because you doubled for a spade lead partner", I would think s/he had lost his/her marbles:-)

> 2) Was I a fool, or just fixed? 

Nothing foolish.  With xx,Axx,KJTx,AKJx you certainly had your 2NT.  Partner had his raise to 3NT as well.  You said you passed on the assurance of a heart lead -- where would you run to anyway?  If you run whenever the opponents double you,
they will soon be doubling you in cold contracts and watching you play in other lousy contracts.  Just bid your cards and occasionally you go down.  Nothing you can do about it.

You were fixed, because East made an idiotic double on his lousy hand.  So your -800 was a zero against the fields -300 on the same auction (without the final double).  And you can see why it would be wrong to even think about running.  If N has one more little spade you have 9 tricks on top, and a 10th when you establish the SQ....

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|> Leonard J. Nissim  (nissim@mary.fordham.edu)   
|
Bharat

-- 
R. Bharat Rao                         E-mail: bharat@cs.uiuc.edu
AI Group, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
405 N. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801   (217)-333-5978 (O), 337-6498(H)
Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana
From: jacobson@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (Eliot T. Jacobson )
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Internet Bridge anyone?
Date: 3 Jan 93 01:19:58 GMT
Organization: Ohio University CS Dept,. Athens

So, chess has valkyries.andrew.cmu.edu 5000 and
GO has its server also, and many thousands of us
enjoy these games in real time against real human
opponents, anytime night or day.  So when is bridge
going to come of age?  Is there such a server for
bridge yet?  Is there P.C. software available as
an interface?

It seems so easy.

Eliot
(I have 6000 gold points... just kidding)
From: pynq@quads.uchicago.edu (Jeremy Mathers)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Place the Blame
Date: 21 Dec 92 19:01:22 GMT
Reply-To: pynq@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: D. J. Dougherty & Associates

In article <BzM9B5.D06@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
...
>>Unfortunately, in this case, there is only one entry to the table, and
>>declarer needs it for the heart finesse (which is almost certainly on).
>
>>Thus, he has to pray for a favorable spade position.
>
>HOWEVER, what will East lead if, by some chance, he wins the first spade?

Suppose you play to the heart Ace, then play a spade.  Now, West should
split his honors, win the next spade, and shift to a diamond.  Now you
are back to 4 losers.

>Unless East has 2 spades, declarer can take the heart finesse first and
>ruff the fourth heart for an entry to take the spade finesse.  Assuming
>that the heart finesse wins and that East has 1 spade, only the singleton
>queen of diamonds in West or 9 clubs in East can give a problem.  Even 
>if West has all 4 spades, the defense must play well to give problems.

This is pretty cool, but a bit far-fetched (IMNSHO).

************************************************************************
The Zapruder film was a snuff film.

	- pynq@quads.uchicago.edu, who is still costing the net
	  hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, every time he posts -
************************************************************************
From: varvel@cs.utexas.edu (Donald A. Varvel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: Re: Reading List?
Date: 3 Jan 1993 20:34:31 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: im4u.cs.utexas.edu
Keywords: books

In article <1993Jan3.193903.1604@netcom.com> ditt@netcom.com (Debora Dittmar) writes:
>What books would rgbers recommend for a bridge novice to read? I want to stick
>to Standard American bidding for the present. I've already got Root's
>Commonsense Bidding, Root and Pavlicek's Modern Bridge Conventions
>and Kantar's Bridge Conventions. 

>Something on actually playing the hand comes to mind, but what's good? Also, 
>what books would be useful on the strategies that duplicate requires?

1. I'm not familiar with Kantar's book.  Bear in mind that the treatments
   recommended by Root and Pavlicek are in many cases *far* from being
   standard.  Not bad.  Just not recommended anywhere but in that book.
   Things that come to mind are new suits not forcing over weak 2's and
   the treatment of 4th suit forcing.
2. I'm not a great admirer of Standard American.  I wish somebody would
   do an update of Kaplan-Sheinwold.  The first book on bidding I ever
   read that made sense was the 1963 K-S book.  American bidding methods
   have fragmented to the point that there is no good book on bidding
   that I know of.  Acol types have it better.  Lawrence has written
   a number of good books on specific areas of bidding.
3. In answer to the direct question:
   a. Watson's Classic Book on the Play of the Hand at Bridge is pretty
      standard.  The first part teaches elementary play.  I first read
      it after I had started playing duplicate and found it useful.  The
      second part is more advanced.  It's still interesting reading after
      over 60 years in print.
   b. It's hardly a beginner's text, but Kantar's Defensive Bridge Play
      Complete, "the big red book," is required reading for intermediate
      players.  There are books by Kantar and Kelsey on defense that are
      good after you've gotten through the big red book a time or two.

-- Don Varvel (varvel@cs.utexas.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: OAISEH0@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Elie)
Subject: Bridge game for DOS/Windows
Date: 29 Dec 92 22:51:00 PST

Is anyone familiar with a good graphical Bridge game for MS Windows?
Thanks.
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: zhang@me.utoronto.ca (Xiaodong Zhang)
Subject: Re: How do you play this 6c?
Organization: UofT Mechanical Engineering
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 08:36:40 GMT

ding@msc.cornell.edu (Gary Ding) writes:

>	IMP match, favorable vul.
>	bidding went:  dealer S
>	E 	S 	W	N
>		p	2d*	X
>	p	3d	p	6c
>	p 	p	p	
>	* 2d is weak 2.
>	South came down with:        You (north) have:
>	S	ATXX			S Kx
>	H	AQxx			H Jx
>	D	xx			D A9X
>	C	xxx			C AKQxxx
>	
>	E leads DT, West plays D8. What's best line of play?


	Seems the best chance is to play East hold HK:

Play low at first trick, if east shift to H then play low, else win
by north and play two rounds of C. When east got 3 C, play 3 round of
S ruff by north and try to squeez EW, the final holding are:

	south				north
	S: T
	H: AQx				H: JX
	D:				D: 9
	C: 				C: x

when north play C, east has to keep S and west has to keep D, so the 
3rd H is good.

Xiaodong Zhang

Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: ditt@netcom.com (Debora Dittmar)
Subject: Reading List?
Summary: what to read?
Keywords: books 
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 19:39:03 GMT

What books would rgbers recommend for a bridge novice to read? I want to stick
to Standard American bidding for the present. I've already got Root's
Commonsense Bidding, Root and Pavlicek's Modern Bridge Conventions
and Kantar's Bridge Conventions. 

Something on actually playing the hand comes to mind, but what's good? Also, 
what books would be useful on the strategies that duplicate requires?

Thanks,

Deb Dittmar
ditt@genie.gene.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
From: bs@gauss.mitre.org (Robert D. Silverman)
Subject: Re: A Defensive Problem
Organization: Research Computer Facility, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, MA
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 16:30:24 GMT

In article <1hqk5vINNm17@rifraf.atl.ge.com> nstraguz@atl.ge.com (Nick Straguzzi) writes:
:>In article <1992Dec29.152155.18908@ramon.bgu.ac.il>, avir@chen.bgu.ac.il (Avi Roy Shapira) writes:
:>> 4th seat, W v R, the following collection of tickets:
:>>    JT72, K983, A74, K6
:>> 

stuff deleted....

:>>              98,
:>>              QT,
:>>              QJT3
:>>              A9752
:>>                        JT72
:>>                        K983
:>>                        A73
:>>                        K6
:>> 
:>> Parter leads the SK, and follows with SQ, SA and small spade to the J.
:>> dummy discards two small clubs. Declarer follows three times and discards
:>> a diamond on the J of spades.
:>> 
:>> How do you continue?
 
Please allow me to say that if you had not already mis-defended, you would
not be in this position.

You should have unblocked the spades so that PARTNER would be on lead now.

In any event, it is clear that declarer has both the heart A and the diamond K.
Partner, with AKQx spades and one of these cards would not have passed in first
seat. The only question is: what has partner got? The only missing cards are
the QJ clubs and the J hearts. 
 
The question is how is declarer going to get 7 tricks? Suppose you lead
a heart; he wins the Q. What happens next depends whether he holds the Q
clubs; if so he leads a club toward the Q. You win and lead K hearts,
hoping partner has the J. Declarer still needs to set up diamonds; you get
in and cash hearts.

The point is that declarer cannot steal the contract provided partner
holds either the J hearts or Q clubs: --> lead a heart

Leading a club can give the contract if declarer holds the Q. Declarer
wins the Q and drives diamonds. You win and????

--
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"
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge