[John Josephs]

I think I would have bid it as you did, Brian. You have a 5 loser hand with a fit and a void in the opponents’ suit opposite an anticipated 9 losers.  Assuming IMPS scoring, a splinter describes your hand perfectly as I can’t see you staying out of game.  Partner is unlimited at this stage and you might be playing with a 30 point pack.

The play is tricky.  You haven’t given the lead. You could lose 2 top clubs and a ruff although ironically that might help you by setting up a club trick and removing one of the opponents’ trumps.  If they lead a diamond there is a risk of being forced to ruff in both hands reducing you to three each.  I reckon you need to set up the hearts.  If they are 3/3 and the trumps break reasonably you have 4 trump tricks, 4 hearts, a heart ruff and hopefully a club.   If not…..

[John Josephs]

Tricky one. With a weak hand and 5-4 in the majors it is always better to use Stayman and, over 2D response bid the 5 card suit.  Opener must pass. It is not invitational.

With a strong hand, it’s best to transfer and then bid your other 4 card major as most people play this as forcing to game.

Your problem is that you are slap bang in the middle and you only want to be in game if you have a fit or if partner is maximum especially as 5-4-2-2 is not a good shape.  You need to evaluate your hand.  Are all your points in the majors and do you have 10s and 9s?

If you feel that game is possible  you could use Stayman  and over the 2D response bid 3H instead of 2H.  Opener then knows you are strongish and have 5/4 shape.

[John Josephs]

Usually, people play Michaels as showing either a weak hand or a strong hand  but not in between.  Most of the points should be in your long suits, especially if weak.  Of course, if you are going to bid it with a weak hand, you need to watch the vulnerability.  With an in between hand, it’s usually better just to bid one of your suits.

Having said that, some people play Michaels with any strength hand.

[John Josephs]

In some of my play, I go one further than Shirley. I seem to follow the rule of sixes and sevens.

[John Josephs]

I have played the higher NT range as described by Brian with my regular partner since seeing it in Bernard’s DVD “Bidding strong hands”. I don’t find the 20-22 range for opening 2NT difficult. We have modified the 2C opening though to cater for a weak 2 in diamonds. Our “treatment”is very simple compared with more sophisticated ones.

[John Josephs]

There is usually a director.  Obviously something went wrong.

[John Josephs]

I would ask for a refund of your table money

[John Josephs]

After you log in, click on Account, the bottom tab to the right.  Your profile details are shown under “other” just below “real name”.

Change it how you like and then click “save changes”

[John Josephs]

The emboldened numbers relate to BBO masterpoints for playing (and doing well in) BBO tournaments . They are completely different from EBU and WBU master points.

The stars are supposed to show compatibility between you and the other person based on your playing system profile. So in theory if you and the other person play exactly the same system you should be totally compatible. Personally, and this is only my view, the compatibility star system is nonsensical as it is based on some sort of algorithm. Somebody might claim to play the same system as you but not have a clue how to bid it. And their play might be lousy.

[John Josephs]

This depends very much on the type of game. In casual online bridge it’s entirely up to the players. Most will always agree to a misclick  in the bidding. Not all will agree to undos in the play because the card has been disclosed. Sometimes the “misclick” in play isn’t a misclick at all but a misplay usually because they have been hovering over a certain card in anticipation of what they expect their RHO to play.

But when we are playing against inexperienced players we tend to be tolerant

[John Josephs]

This is a good idea but what would be better would be for everyone to complete their profile so that you have some idea of what your partner plays. At the very least, NT range, 4 or 5CM, weak or strong twos etc.

[John Josephs]

The downside to Benji is that you lose a weak two in diamonds.

We have got ruins this by playing Benji with the 2 club bid being a multi. As well as being a strong balanced hand (we play it as 23-24, as per Bernard’s DVD) and a near game hand with 8 playing tricks in a major or 9 in a minor, we also include a weak 2 in diamonds.

We have changed  the responses in that 2D shows a negative and any other bid shows a positive. Suits show at least  5 cards and with balanced hands you bid 2NT. With the weak 2D hand opener passes the 2D negative and bids 3D over a positive. Similarly, over intervention opener passes with the weak 2 in diamonds and bids his suit or NT with the strong version.

 

[John Josephs]

I think it’s something to do with your teeth falling out

[John Josephs]

I think BBO are setting up a dating agency for bridge players.

[John Josephs]

If you are new to BBO I suggest that you either play in Bernard’s POCO club or the Acol Club. If your profiles state that you are new to BBO, most people will make allowances. Much better than robots.

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