[David Stevenson]

You are correct.  If you ask for a club that means the lowest one has to be played (unless that clearly makes no sense).

What you have been told is different: if you say ‘Play anything’ or similar then the opponents can decide what should be played (unless that makes no sense).

[David Stevenson]

… … … A K 7 4 2

… … … J 7
… … … A 6
… … … A 9 7 5
T … … … … … … 9 8 6

K Q 6 5 4 … … …2
K 7 5 3 2 … … … Q J T 4
8 2 … … … … …  K Q J T 3

… … … Q J 5 3
… … … A 10 9 8 3
… … … 9 8
… … … 6 4

It looks to me that 10 tricks can be made but it is easy to go wrong. It is interesting that declarer had tried to draw a round of trumps while ducking a club and going one off seems normal.

Declarer is the non-offending side. I would not object to giving him 9 tricks but I think I would give him a weighted score, perhaps 30% of 10 tricks and 70% of 9 tricks.

[David Stevenson]

If I have understood your diagram correctly the position was:

… … –

… … J

… … –

… … Jx

– … … … … 4

– … … … … T

– … … … … J

xxx … … … –

… … J

… … –

… … A6

… … –

Trick 10 N: Cx DJ SJ Cx

Now declarer claims. Certainly since he thinks the diamonds are winners it is perfectly possible for him to discard HJ on DA rather than CJ so defence get two tricks.

[David Stevenson]

My suggestions have not been incorporated. But it shows what is new so just have a look.

[David Stevenson]

Nobody tells me anything!!!

I knew there was a new Blue Book due but I have no details,. I have made a couple of suggestions but whether they are be followed or not I have no idea. Now I shall go and look for the draft you mention and see what it says.

The one thing that I do expect is that I have been told there will be no more Skyblue Books but that their contents will be incorporated in the Blue Book.

[David Stevenson]

I agree it says that but Helvic is the common name so I should stick with that!

[David Stevenson]

Yes to all questions!

When 1N is bid and the next hand doubles, if partner redoubles then that is showing a strong hand if the pair plays it as natural, so if there is no alert the opponents should take it as that. So if a person has any other meaning for redouble that requires an alert since it is artificial.

Similarly when 1N is bid and the next hand doubles, if partner bids 2C then that is showing a weak hand with clubs if the pair plays it as natural, so if there is no alert the opponents should take it as that. So if a person has any other meaning for 2C that requires an alert since it is artificial.

Since these are conventional responses they should be included in any convention card.

Incidentally, be careful with your description. There is a convention called Helvic and there are few conventions all using Wriggle as part of the name. I do not know of any convention called Helvic Wriggle and I fancy somewhere along the line there is some confusion. If you would like to see all the conventional responses I have been able to find have a look at

https://blakjak.org/dbl_1nt0.htm

[David Stevenson]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Now Julian is describing how I still play jump shift responses!</p>

[David Stevenson]

Perhaps I should make clear that ‘jump shift’ is not an agreement, it is a description of a variety of bids. A jump shift is any time you bid a new suit after your partner’s bid with a jump. It is clear you meant it as a response and Julian has answered that. But, for example, 1H – 1S – 3C, 1S – 1N – 3D and (1H) 1S (P) 3C are all jump shifts.  Some people refer to them as single jump shifts to distinguish them from double jump shifts, such as 1S – 4C or 1D – 1S – 4C.

Incidentally I am interested in Julian’s description of 20-40 years ago.  I think that means I play them as 50 years ago!

[David Stevenson]

You say slam makes on the second hand. Surely ♣️A, ♥️K is one off, or have I missed something?

[David Stevenson]

I used to play it as a forcing game try but now play it as a non-forcing game try. That is because we raise quite frequently with three cards in the major so with a minimum hand and only three cards in the major opener can pass in a nice part score.

[David Stevenson]

What was partner’s opening bid on the first hand? Was he dealer and was there a direct 5D bid next?

[David Stevenson]

Forget screens, the rules are complex and strange, and very few people play behind them in England, or anywhere in the British Isles.

When you play in an ordinary F2F tournament, whether club, regional or national, when there is an alleged break in tempo (often referred to as a BIT) it is perfectly normal to point it out at the time because it is far better to agree then rather than wait for the end of the hand when people’s memories have blurred. The general approach is to say “Do you agree that you thought for a time before bidding such and such?”. Now if the opponent agrees nothing more need to be done until the end of the hand, but if it is not agreed the director should be immediately called to sort out whether there was a BIT or not.

On BBO and RealBridge the director knows exactly how long each call or play took so there is no need to call the director until the end of the hand since there can be no question about whether there was a BIT or not.

To be honest I do not know the situation on BCL though I can find out from the chief tournament director whom I know very well. If they know how long each call takes them there is no need to call the director or to point out the BIT but if they don’t then it’s similar to F2F and it is sensible to establish the BIT.

So it may have been reasonable to point out the BIT at the time although I agree with you that the wording could have been improved upon. My experience as a director is that when people refer to a pause they always say it was a very long pause whether it was or not.

Incidentally, competent directors prefer the term BIT to hesitation for two reasons. One is that occasionally it is a very quick call rather than a slow call, but definitely out of tempo. But the most important reason is psychological: if you ask the average player whether he has hesitated it is completely automatic for him to say in quite a stroppy tone “No, of course I did not hesitate!”. If you ask him whether he thought about the hand before making his call he might easily say “Yes”.  There is something about the words hesitate and hesitation that puts people’s backs up.

[David Stevenson]

Ted Reveley is known for not suffering fools.  Playing with him in the Regional Masters over 40 years ago I led the ace from AKx in the trump suit. He had singleton queen and has not forgiven me yet.

[David Stevenson]

I am not sure what Julian thinks but the “inventors” of Halmic did come up with one new idea.  While responder’s pass is not forcing opener can redouble to show a five card suit.  Responder can choose to pass or bid 2C which asks opener to show his five card suit by passing or bidding it.

[Author]

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