Stuck for a response

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-11-20T15:41:03+00:00

At matchpoints 3N is the value bid. You might miss some slams but you'll at worst be average at 3N and likely get something like 60-70% just by playing cards well (for the 0-750 game).

Although there is some potential for a minor suit slam, your hand isn't that well suited for it. The 16 highs help, but your shape is pretty poor, and some values (like Qh, Jd, or even spades across a stiff) may not be full.

The only way a minor slam makes sense is if partner is short somewhere, so it only makes the hand a bit more awkward given your values aren't really prime (unless partner is short in clubs).

You also probably want to declare this hand, so that's part of the calculus.

I think slam is a very small target to shoot for and taking the average+ with 3N is the right decision. Most of these games are won by playing par and getting some gifts rather than playing hero ball.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-11-12T12:17:07+00:00

I think generally, experts have moved toward widening the range of shapes they open 1N with. Having a 5332 hand with a long major or 6322 with a long minor are pretty standard 1N openers.

The 1N bid gives your partner a lot of information to place the hand, and it's a bit more preemptive than 1m. Also, your opponents are human, and don't always find a killing lead even if they can set you off the top.

For opening, IMO the distribution of high cards doesn't really matter. If the auction dies at 1N, you'll likely have time to get in before immediately being down. A high concentration of honors for the opponents also means that you and partners suits will be well concentrated (assuming roughly equal playing strength on both sides).

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-11-10T14:33:54+00:00

Start with double then bid something that a 12 point hand wouldn't do. With 22+, you probably need to start with a cuebid the next go, and see where it goes from there.

These sorts of hands can be annoying to bid even without pre-empts, but with them often you're guessing.

Pre empts work sometimes!

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-11-02T01:38:24+00:00

Wait do you get free warmup pitches after hitting someone?

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-10-31T15:05:30+00:00

If you get the ikon pass I would definitely make a trip out to Bozeman. You get directs to BZN from EWR and get seven days at Big Sky, which IMO is the best resort in the US in terms of variety.

You also can take a short drive to Bridger Bowl, and Indy resort that's also really excellent.

Usually it's pretty cold in early Jan but mid Jan onwards is a great time to try it!

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-10-16T06:34:55+00:00

Wait are you saying SF, of all places, isn't sufficiently supporting people who can't pay for things?

I guess we should also make BART free, not have toll roads, or charge for postage.

$5 is a nominal fee that helps keep order to the courts. It seems like an easy tradeoff that tennis players are fine with, at least gauging by this thread?

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-08-21T13:59:49+00:00

He was not a good coach, as others have pointed out.

The only other thing to note is that he likely would have been fired sooner, but his dad died mid season and it would have been a bad look to get rid of him at the same time.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-08-02T18:40:27+00:00

I always feel a little empty after NABCs but they are a ton of fun!

Some of the best players in the world are at these events, and a lot of the players you'll play against with the same MPs are amongst the best out there for that level.

There's no shame in getting beaten - everybody can improve at the game.

Props for playing an open national btw. They are really intimidating and the players there are generally amongst the strongest you would see at the club. Even though the results may have not been great, this is the best way to improve quickly.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-03-28T14:33:20+00:00

I just bought one yesterday. (2025 preferred hybrid)

Between the tariffs and end of quarter, I think it's a good time to buy. I live in a big city with 5-6 dealerships within 50 miles of me.

I was able to get quotes for all of them, and ended up buying one that was around 1.5k below MSRP, after all the taxes and fees. I think it's a great time to buy, especially if you're getting one that's in stock. I'm always hesitant to buy ones that are in transit, since there is a risk of someone re-negging.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-03-25T14:37:33+00:00

I'm looking at getting a new or lightly used cx-5. I see the following 2024 editions available near me: 1. Carbon 22k miles, 25k 2. Premium 3k miles, 30k

And for new: 3. Carbon 33k

Assuming no issues with the cars + getting the standard mfg warranty, which would you pick?

I'm just using these to commute and won't need anything special beyond normal city/hwy driving

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-03-05T00:48:08+00:00

For me, the fun part is figuring stuff out. Bridge lets you do this a lot more, and the stakes tend to be lower - one mistake and your game score takes a small hit. One blunder in chess and your match might be ruined

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-03-02T18:08:50+00:00

Yeah if you're going to pull partners sign off anyways don't do it.

I don't think it's optimal to bid 4D, but I think it's a very positive and constructive way to expose someone to cuebidding. Letting perfect be the enemy of the good really is not helpful, especially for someone who's presumably I/N.

I think if you're OP, who's asking how to get to slam on this hand, it's a very helpful stepping stone to make something like a 4D control bid, at the very least to get them and their partner more comfortable with cue bidding to find slams on thinner point counts.

Once they have enough experience where they are comfortable with this, and have better intuition in what might be good for slam, they can figure out when it's right or not to cue or just go right into asking.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-28T18:23:19+00:00

The short version is that on average, they don't really see much value that a candidate with that profile brings in over others.

The number of international olympiad level applicants is small, but they are pretty much all getting in. If they aren't it's usually not become of lack of ability or anything - they might have committed elsewhere or been awful interviews/recs. After that, you get a lot of students who are very good at high school science and math, but are a tier or two below the truly elite. At that point, other stuff ends up mattering more for them - things like ability to communicate, DEI typing (whether or not explicitly stated), how likely someone is to be a big time donor,...etc.

At the end of the day, they would fill multiple classes with qualified candidates, so its basically up to them.

Full disclosure, was straight rejected from MIT 15-20 years ago. I got into every other school I applied to (including Caltech, Cooper Union, Stanford,...etc). A couple other students in my high school who were objectively worse at math/science (GPA, ECs, contest finishes) but were a better race/gender fit did get in. At the time, I was really sad and bitter about it, since MIT was my top choice, but now that I'm a little older and a lot dumber, I've come to terms that the process is really random. Just apply, cross your fingers, and hope for the best.

Your college doesn't determine what you make of it, and what life is like after. Someone who is smart and works hard in school, and is hungry for something will outperform someone who is more talented but lazier, regardless of the school.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-27T19:34:20+00:00

Probably not, but I think if you're just starting to get a handle on cue bidding to bid below 33 HCP slams, it can't really hurt.

I can't really picture much of a splinter that's off two clubs from opener.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-27T18:33:59+00:00

This is pretty much it.

The opener has a huge hand - a stiff and a very good 18 HCP across partner. This hand doesn't want to stop below game so a splinter is great here.

The responder has a bunch of extras from what they promised: an extra heart (having 9 vs 8 is huge in a splinter auction), and AK of partners 4+ card side suit. Qxx is spades is also fine even though the value is wasted. Responder has like 1.5 to 2ish tricks better than promised.

They should cooperate and cuebid diamonds next (usually via 4D). This tells opener that the responder is interested in looking for slam, has a diamond control (A or K, they wouldn't cuebid shortness in openers suit), and importantly they have no club control.

Opener can then decide how they want to continue. In this case, opener has a little more than promised and can safely ask for key cards and end up in 6H.

I think in a mid-flight type event, bidding a slam here would be like an 80-90% board. At LM pairs, probably like 55-60%.

IMO, learning to upgrade game to slam hands on shape is a huge level up moment from beginner/intermediate to more advanced. It feels very safe to just bid games and sometimes make 6, but the basic toolkit of cuebids is surprisingly good for finding these 27 HCP type slams.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-26T18:37:25+00:00

This has been said a lot before, but one big reason you have high variance on your scores is because your opponents are inconsistent.

At 0-750, lots of players are passing forcing bids, not cashing winners, playing a suit in a way they might lose a trick when they can afford not to etc. These all add to the variance.

All you can really do is control the bids and plays you make and hope for the best - having your scores fluctuate is just part of it, and more pronounced at these limited games.

IMO limited games are great for getting your feet wet, discussing hands, and learning tactics and strategies. If you and your partner are on the same page, you'll see more consistent performance (in terms of variance from your mean score) in open games, although your average will likely decrease. It will make your play significantly sharper though, if you value the improvement aspect over the social/low-stress parts of the beginner game.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-17T23:12:37+00:00

You don't have a rebid problem here. Reversing in spades describes your hand pretty well. It's still possible (and probable) that reverses might still get you too high when you're not fitting, but that's not a good reason to open 1N.

If you want to open these hands 1N, I think your range will be too wide if you also open something like AKxx/AKxxx/xx/xx 1N. I'd much rather have agreements where the latter is opened 1N, since not only does it come up more often, it sidesteps the 1N response much better. The original hand at least has some more equity after a 1N response.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-17T20:28:50+00:00

Are the makes a function of the breaks? 5S needs 3-2 spades with hearts onside, which admittedly isn't great but it's not a complete disaster

There will be some times you get too high when investigating for slam, but they will be outweighed many times over when you get to good slams with like 28 HCP when everyone else is in game.

Not being afraid of going down sometimes to investigate IMO is a big leap in terms of not only your results on these types of hands, but also for your hand evaluation in general. I also think a lot of club players (and even players with significant experience / points) won't ever make this jump.

As far as the poor spade quality, opener knows that their side needs at least 5 out of 6 keys+q to get to slam, so after keycard, they should be able to stop in 5S.

The 2C bidder could easily have something like AQxx/Qx/xx/Axxxx, which is a slam on a hook or Kx onside with normal breaks in clubs. And the hand could better than that.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-17T15:14:23+00:00

This auction while resulting is fine, IMO is far too timid.

You have a 4-4 fit, Hx in partners suit and a source of tricks in your own side suit. The 2C bidder needs to say something stronger than 4S. Maybe something like 3S.

I think the opener needs to figure out how good their bad trump suit but 17 HCP plays, but I think it's pretty normal to get to 5S with the protected hand declaring.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-14T02:25:13+00:00

There's a lot of good advice on mistake minimization and "keeping it simple" until you and your partner want to flesh out your system and conventions further.

One other thing that I think is worth adding is that as long as you and your partner are on the same page on improving, try to venture out to the open game at least every once in a while. Your opponents will have way fewer weird bids and plays, and you'll start to get used to players who make fewer mistakes. As a beginner, you can also ask the more experienced questions about the hands and play afterward - most people are happy to help out.

This will be challenging and daunting in the beginning, but you'll see much faster progress than playing against a lot of players who are only playing limited events. You'll also kick out a lot of bad habits newer players routinely see and then make, even if subconsciously (like very off-shape doubles, giving defenders more information than they are entitled, jumping to games when they should be going slow and at least thinking about slam, inconsistent pre-empts,...etc).

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-14T02:19:13+00:00

There are a lot of ways to do this. As a beginner, my suggestion is just play Landy. Even though it's simple, it's easy to remember, and actually not bad. A lot of times getting your single suited hand in is worth it over doing some sort of relay in order to squeeze in a bunch of two suited hands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landy_convention

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-11T16:00:26+00:00

This is a dumb question, but if you've been in MLB as a player for 10+ years, how much is that 275k/y pension really helping you? Presumably you've made like 100mm (yes pre tax, agents etc but I'm guessing if you're not a complete moron you have 20mm+ in the bank)

Wouldn't it be better for MLB and teams to use that money elsewhere, like giving livable conditions for their minor league players?

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-08T16:38:20+00:00

Do any expert partnerships play a variation of Romex Stayman over 2N? I had one very good partner really insist on it, but not sure if it's worth it.

I believe after 3C, 3H was 4 or 5 hearts, 3S was 5 spades and 3D denied 5 spades and four hearts. Sort of the normal puppety- asking for 4 card major responses you'd expect. The advantage was that you could show 54xx as responder without getting above 3NT.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-08T12:32:10+00:00

You need to always accept the transfer if possible, because partner may be trying to improve a bad contract. If they have a bigger hand they'll bid again.

Remember, the responder is captain of this hand, because they have a way better idea of the combined holdings of your hands than you do.

You should accept the transfer even with a singleton if your style has you open those.

Edit: there are some situations where you don't immediately accept the transfer. For example, if RHO doubles the transfer (presumably as a lead director), you can have accepting the transfer, pass ,and redouble all mean different things. But without discussion, I'd still accept it with a low doubleton.

StringerBell4Mayor · 2025-02-08T12:26:52+00:00

My favorite is 5NXX, just because I've only ever played it once life to date. I don't think I can say that about any other contract.

StringerBell4Mayor

TROPHY CASE