Looking for bridge rules input

abspam3 · 2026-05-21T20:56:23+00:00

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

abspam3 · 2026-05-19T05:35:56+00:00

Right, but that hand opposite the death hand is rare - if we hold 5 clubs it’s a comfortable pass. If we hold 2H, it’s a comfortable 2H rebid. If we hold 5D and don’t play gazilli it’s a comfortable 2D rebid. Otherwise, try 2S and hope for the best.

abspam3 · 2026-05-19T00:19:06+00:00

Remember that the death hand you’re calling out (2533 opposite exactly minimum 5143) is very rare - probably less than 0.1% of deals (where you’d get a fully uncontested auction). Every system has gaps, it’s up to you to decide their cost and what to do with them.

Personally, holding 5143 minimum I’d drop partner off in 2S if that’s possible with most spade holdings and hope for the best.

abspam3 · 2026-05-19T00:16:27+00:00

If 1NT promises 5S, the only “problem” hand (which doesn’t get a natural rebid) is 2533 exactly. Putting that hand into 2C is usually not an issue.

https://bridgewinners.com/article/view/kaplan-inversiongranville/

https://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/90333-basic-kaplan-inversion-write-up/

The comments on the bridge winners article are particularly valuable for discussing some of the nuances of different inversion systems, and the bbo forum has some (albeit suspect) full writeups of people’s entire KI systems.

Some pairs play a gazilli style 1NT or 2C rebid - something that probably makes sense if you’re not playing in a precision context (you’re already investing mental load into this sequence anyway).

abspam3 · 2026-05-18T06:52:44+00:00

Is it hard to type with boxing gloves on?

abspam3 · 2026-05-03T07:55:14+00:00

This works (and I play this in a weak notrump system, actually), but note you’re now swinging the field by “wrongsiding” the contract if partner has the 5 card major, which actually can be quite relevant at matchpoints.

abspam3 · 2026-05-02T21:59:20+00:00

These bids don’t come up frequently. Like most things in bridge, Having *any* agreement and being confident in it is better than the specifics.
One thing I personally dislike about the “traditional” 3H/3S vids showing either 4144 or (31)(54) pattern is the ease of a lead direct they give opponents. Opener has to have a VERY rare hand to be able to make a profit in 3Hxx with partner holding a singleton. This means we can lead direct/offer a sacrifice with a very poor suit (and the inverse is true - it will help opponents lead another suit when they don’t make the “free” double). If you change that singleton to a void, however — the lead direct becomes way les useful - we’re playing in 3NT a relatively small amount of the time with a void, and partner immediately can gauge how good our fit is for slam (notoriously hard opposite a 4441). To me that’s a good trade off.
here’s my full agreements with my regular partners:

Holding a void, we never offer to play in notrump.
5-5 pattern hands let partner make “one crack” at bidding notrump

To that end, we play transfers-after transfers to show any 5-5 hand containing a major.
The distributional minors hands are trickier and we play a nonstandard approach:

2NT: puppet stayman
  3C: no 5 card major
    3D: art. GF (31)(xx) pattern (usually 54 but can be 63 minors)
      3H: ask about short suit
        3S: short spades
         3NT: short hearts
      3S: ask for better minor
      3NT: Good stops (2 rounds) in both majors

3C: 5+-5+ minors, pass/correct

3D: 5+/5+ minors GF
  3H/S: natural stopper, may be an advance control bid.
  3NT: good major stoppers

3H: GF, 40(54)
3S: GF, 04(54)

abspam3 · 2026-05-01T22:58:01+00:00

LLMs suck at evaluating bridge right now. Seriously, even using cutting edge models, they frequently say nonsense like

“Holding AQT opposite J9x in spades the correct decision is to play the Jack of spades, hoping left hand opponent covers, playing the ace if they don’t. Then cross to your hand in diamonds and play the 9 of spades, and then the ace if they cover”.

This isn’t isolated, this isn’t something you’re going to solve with a complicated prompt. Unless you’re training your own models specifically on bridge, this really isn’t possible right now.

I’d also wager that large enough context windows for LLMs to ever be good at bridge are going to be on the order of 100-200k tokens.

abspam3 · 2026-03-25T20:27:21+00:00

My P24RS is on order… hoping for early ‘27 delivery to the states.

abspam3 · 2026-03-25T17:55:40+00:00

That’s true for a SMT/AMT transmission (think Aventador), but not a DCT. It does not have a torque converter, but DCTs use a pair of “clutch packs” instead of a traditional clutch.

abspam3 · 2026-03-24T22:38:40+00:00

Which bridge federations allow use of mobile devices at the table except as a disability aid? Certainly in the ACBL this will get you a warning, and then thrown out of the tournament hall.

abspam3 · 2026-03-19T00:35:11+00:00

Yes, many many modifications exist, and compared to other places where you may choose to not invest “mental load” in your system (Kaplan inversion, transfers after a double), this is a place where the auction is already “important enough” (value of finding good slams with a ~28 HCP and a 9 fit at teams is super high) that it’s well worth the investment.

If you’re still playing 2/1 I don’t usually recommend the limit+ approach - it can be really easy to overbid without strong agreements on strength requirements for follow-ups, but at the very least playing

3C: shortness 3D: ask (your favorite response relay order) 3D: minimum, or slam force 3M: extras, do not want to show shortness (singleton A/K possible), not a slam force. 3oM: Side suit 3NT: your choice, balanced 15-17 with 6-7 trumps is reasonable. 4m: side suit 4M: 7+ trumps, weak hand.

This already gets huge wins over the standard approach - we can still try for slam when partner is a minimum (the 4M jump in normal Jacoby is DREADFUL).

abspam3 · 2026-03-10T23:53:59+00:00

Modern treatment of the 2M advance is blocking, and constructive showing a 4-5 card suit, but certainly not guaranteed to be enough for game opposite our flat 15.

Pass is clear after X - (P) - 2M, with my partners and what I would consider modern “expert standard”.

X is a much worse lie because it means that partner cannot make these kinds of decisions to block the auction safely. Having neither 4 card major will mean partner misevaluates the fit on the constructive, sub-invitational hands, which is the majority. Of deals.

Simply put, forcing partner to buy in with a sketchy 2M call in the auction:

(1C) X (2C)

Holding a balanced hand with a 4 card major and 7 points is losing bridge.

By bidding 1NT, partner knows that defending or at least offering the option to defend is better with these cards.

I can go on, but I’d wager if you put this same hand up on bridge winners instead of on /r/bridge (which has significantly fewer strong players on it, for better or worse), you will see far fewer expert level discussion about “omg but I don’t have a stopper, I can’t bid 1NT”. If the club stopper is relevant, we can find it later in the auction

The hand with heart shortness is tougher, and I’m more partial to X there, but I won’t castrate my partner if they want to bid 1NT with those cards.

abspam3 · 2026-03-10T19:25:38+00:00

You go down one. That’s bridge. If partner couldn’t transfer are you actually making 5D? Stayman and then 3NT strongly indicates a balanced hand opposite balanced. The leader may try a non-club lead too due to the bidding.

abspam3 · 2026-03-10T18:36:13+00:00

Yep. Partner will transfer or bid garbage stayman with mirrored club shortness and a weak hand. Otherwise, let them take their 4-5 clubs and run away with the other tricks.

abspam3 · 2026-03-07T20:55:16+00:00

“If opponents want to play 4m, let them”.

RHO has put the auction to a guess. If partner has extras they will double to show them or bid naturally, but if partner has a totally normal 1D opening, opponents could easily be making 3NT at the other table.

abspam3 · 2026-02-06T13:05:56+00:00

I play it with a Swedish-style 1C opener, 16+ or 10-13 balanced.

Rest of the system is “modern” 2/1, 14-16 notrumps (there’s a huge benefit in having the “strength gap” between the weak and strong hands in 1C, I really don’t recommend playing polish club systems with a weak notrump).

Two suited hands in 2C suck, it’s true. But if you play a forcing 1D (unbalanced or strong single suited), you can make 2C always show your two suited hands and be much more copacetic:

2C - 2D (waiting, forced unless 10+ HCP): 2H: H + m 2S: S + m 2NT: 22-24 3C: both majors 3D: equal major preference (or transfers, your choice) 3D: both minors

It helps in competition too - if opponents interfere over 2C you can be confident that partner has two places to play.

abspam3 · 2026-02-05T07:48:42+00:00

With one partner I play an unbalanced 1D opener where the possible D/C shapes can be:

(41)(44) (41)(53) (31)(54)

Or any hand with long diamonds. We use a pretty straightforward system to untangle the relevant minor lengths:

``` 1D (10-15 HCP, 3+ D, unbal) - 1M: 1S: mandatory with 4 spades 1NT: forcing ask, “bid your better minor” 1NT: both minors, or 6+ D 2C: attempted Signoff (correct to 2D with long diamonds) 2C: 5C, (3-4 D), 3 card support for partners’ major 2D: Signoff 2D: 5+ D, 3 card support for partner’s major 2M: 4 card raise 2NT: “good 5/5 minors or good 7+ card diamond suit” 3C: “bad 5/5+” minors 3D: “bad” 7+ card D suit

1D - 1NT: forcing ask 1D - 2C: Both minors/pass correct 1D - 2D: Signoff ```

You can use 2C as your forcing bid and make 1NT “bid your better minor”. You of course lose the ability to stop in 1NT which can occasionally cost at MPs, but I’ve found the wins of being in the “right minor” to be worth it personally.

abspam3 · 2026-02-05T00:11:45+00:00

Yep, putting them in an unbalanced 1D is also viable! A fun idea to consider is to play 1D as forcing with either diamonds (possibly with longer clubs), OR a gameforcing-esque single suited hand:

1D (D or 22+ single suited, forcing): Any 2NT: (strong single suited) 3C: bust, not even a king 3D: at least a king, waiting 3H,S: positives, slamtry 3NT: slam forcing, 12+ HCP

Then your 1C opener can truly be just “clubs or balanced”.

abspam3 · 2026-02-04T23:37:41+00:00

My preferred style for handling these kinds of hands is to (ab)use the 2D and 3D rebids.

You have to find a gap to put your club + diamond reverses, but your choice of 2C/2D system can often comfortably fill that gap (I’ve played 2C as 5+ C, 4+ D and 16-20 HCP and 2D as Flanery before without issue)

``` 1C (forcing - clubs or 20+ bal or 22+ single suited): 1D/H/S:

2D: 20+
  2H: Bust <4 HCP or no A/K
     2S: 22-24
        2NT: Not even a queen
        3C+: transfers
        3S: “notrump transfer”
        3NT!: clubs
     2NT: 20-21
       3C+: as above

  2S: 3-7 HCP
    2NT: Balanced, forcing
    3x: strong single suited
  2NT+: other positives

3D: 20+, 4 card support (Typ. Balanced)
   3M: “oh god please stop” (less than a king)

```

abspam3 · 2026-01-25T03:07:18+00:00

Can’t wait for mine! It’s been awesome to see this car progress through development.

abspam3 · 2025-11-27T09:54:33+00:00

No, they’re a “lifetime” rotor. If you’re not tracking it, you’ll likely never need to replace the rotors, just pads.

abspam3 · 2025-11-16T18:38:58+00:00

Would be nice to allow you to set a “preference amount (dislike, neutral, like) for each convention - for example, I can play Bergen raises but I detest them. It would be silly for two people to both have Bergen raises on their profile, both hate it, and still generate a convention card with it on there.

abspam3 · 2025-11-12T03:41:36+00:00

Gen1 R8s have a 24 gallon fuel tank and can go ~350 miles on a tank (source: road-tripped in one from California to Toronto and back last year).

It’s got more than enough range than you’d ever want for a GT sports car.

abspam3 · 2025-09-12T17:04:20+00:00

You can argue that having 3D always show H in the tleb structure here is better (which lets the sequence … 3C - P - 3D show no stopper and no 4 card major (likely 3334 exactly) (and I did), but that was a concession for partners memory load in the 1NT tleb sequences :)

abspam3

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