22
votes
Accepted
Is it unethical to "mislead" partner if s/he is the weakest player at the table?
Playing cards in such a way as to not accurately reflect your hand is perfectly fine - as long as that's actually what you're doing. There are plenty of hands where you're on defense and you know ...
- 4,053
19
votes
Accepted
Why don't bridge players try to surprise their opponents by learning a different bidding system?
Most players play variants of the same bidding system because learning a significantly new bidding system is a significant amount of effort. Most players aren't very good even with the only bidding ...
- 2,194
18
votes
Accepted
Why is the King of Spades the best opening lead with this hand?
Against No Trump the point is to set up tricks that will be guaranteed. Here the KQJT9 is four safe tricks - so you lead from that hoping to later get in with the diamond King.
When you do get in, ...
- 4,053
15
votes
Accepted
How close are top Bridge players to perfect play?
I don't remember who was attributed to this quote, but I think it was Bob Hamman, who at the time could legitimately argue this:
I am not a good bridge player. I am a bad bridge player. It's just ...
- 2,548
13
votes
Why is the King of Spades the best opening lead with this hand?
Joe has absolutely correctly answered your question. Let me discuss why this argument is being made.
Part of what makes bridge so challenging is that unlike chess, it is a game of incomplete ...
- 2,548
12
votes
Accepted
Can opponents ask for "alerts" in bridge?
Law 20 of The Laws of Duplicate Bridge deals with review and explanation of calls. Quoting partially:
F. Explanation of Calls
During the auction and before the final pass, any
player may request, ...
- 5,773
12
votes
Accepted
Why is there a Dummy in Bridge?
This isn't for the purpose of excluding the player from the game - and typically the player in that seat will physically move the cards requested by the declarer to be played. The idea is that dummy's ...
- 543
10
votes
Why open 1NT with a 6 card minor?
Holding AKx Kx QJxxxx Kx, it is unsatisfying and misleading to open 1D and rebid 3D. Most of your values are outside of diamonds and in fact you have decent stopping positions in all other suits. ...
- 5,773
10
votes
Why is there a "no man's land" between 1NT 15-17 and 2NT 20-21?
Because the level of 3NT is too high to be supported by opener's values with only 20-21 HCP. Even 2NT is challenging if partner shows up with a bust opposite 20-21.
The appropriate way to show an 18-...
- 11.9k
10
votes
Is it unethical to "mislead" partner if s/he is the weakest player at the table?
Is it ethical? Sure, and it's done all the time (for real bridge reasons, see Joe's answer). It is not required to help declarer when it won't help partner.
What's not ethical is telling the ...
- 2,548
9
votes
Accepted
How are new conventions established in Contract Bridge?
Subject to certain constraints set by the governing authority (the A.C.B.L. in North America) mostly to restrict agreements intended primarily to interfere with opponents bidding, a bridge pair is ...
- 3,247
9
votes
Opening bidder steals my bid
There are several common situations with different handlings:
Opener to your right bids your best suit and you have 12+ points:
Pass and hope partner can make a balancing double, which you can then ...
- 11.9k
9
votes
Rubber bridge: when must honours be declared in order to be scored?
From Law 76 in the American Contract Bridge League laws,
Honours may be claimed until the next hand has been dealt or the rubber has been completed and scored – whichever comes sooner.
Law 78 also ...
- 3,521
9
votes
Was this a reasonable redouble?
2c seems clear.
This redouble doesn't offer good matchpoint odds. +180 and +380 rate to both score well, but -200 will often be much worse than -100. The reason is that -200 will lose to any part-...
- 1,012
9
votes
Whatever happened to leading the 4th highest card of your longest suit?
Fourth highest is from a suit with no sequence - four small, or one honor and three small, that sort of thing. It’s a good lead, it gives you some chance to promote one or more of the small to a trick....
- 4,053
9
votes
How close are top Bridge players to perfect play?
The comparison to chess and checkers is somewhat irrelevant, because they are games of perfect information: it’s possible to play them perfectly as a result.
Bridge is not; a player does not have ...
- 4,053
8
votes
Accepted
Does a bid of 'Double' make you the declarer?
Your understanding is correct: South would be the declarer, playing a contract of two spades doubled. Doubles (and redoubles) never change who is declarer, just the scores for making or failing to ...
- 10.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Why are Bridge's bid meanings public?
Note, the agreed meanings of bids must be agreed in advance, they may not be changed on the fly. In serious duplicate play, players have a written description of their agreements available to the ...
- 1,197
8
votes
Premptive bid with too much strength in Bridge
Whatever the result of playing 3D was stands. Bidding incorrectly is not (usually) a violation of the laws of contract bridge.
- 5,773
8
votes
Has Marty Bergen's hand evaluation system been validated experimentally?
Has Marty Bergen's hand evaluation system been validated experimentally?
Yes - but not (as far as I know) with a Monte Carlo simulation. Experts have long known (and I mean long known - since before ...
- 11.9k
8
votes
Are there times when "doubling" will not help the opponents make the hand?
Other than the pedantic answer (any time Declarer can't possibly make), there are plenty of times that it doesn't have the impact you're suggesting.
First off, there are a lot of ways you can end up ...
- 4,053
8
votes
In Duplicate Bridge, does the person holding a particular set of cards open the bidding in all times that particular deal is played?
In pair competitions, yes absolutely ; everything about each hand is identical every time it is played. The dealer and vulnerability is determined by the board number usually - a sixteen board ...
- 4,053
8
votes
Accepted
Why do the same as others in matchpoint bridge?
In matchpoints, your score is based on how many people you got a better score than. Doesn’t matter what the score is - just is it better.
So if 10 pairs play a hand, and 8 bid the game; one bids part ...
- 4,053
8
votes
Why do the same as others in matchpoint bridge?
When you bid differently from most of the other players, you increase your variance. Being in a different contract than everyone else makes it more likely you will get a very good score, but also ...
- 2,194
7
votes
In duplicate, is it ethical to base your play on other people's body language?
Under no circumstances is one entitled to draw inferences from the actions of a partner or teammate.
Under certain circumstances one is entitled to draw inferences from the behavior of the opponents ...
- 11.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Should I alert a conventional 'Pass'
From the English Bridge Union Blue Book (Rules and Ethics):
Unless it is announceable (
see 4
D
, 4
E, 4
F
and 4
G
), a pass
or bid must be alerted if
it
:
(a)
is not ...
- 2,608
7
votes
Does the "Rule of 15" suggest that you should pass with 13 points (and short spades) in fourth seat?
Rule of 13 trumps Rule of 15.
If you have 13 points you open.
If you read the first few sentences of the article you linked, it says clearly you only apply that when you have 9-12 points.
- 4,313
7
votes
Jacoby transfer bid after responder bids
tl;dr 2H
I think you need to understand the concept of Captaincy.
During the process of bidding, it is not always the case where both players are trying to exchange information on an even ground. ...
- 293
7
votes
Accepted
Bridge Scoring and sacrifice optimization against slam bids?
In duplicate bridge, 6 spades making 6 is 980 not vulnerable, and 7 clubs doubled down 8 not vulnerable (5 tricks made out of 13 contracted) is -2000. With nobody vulnerable, you'd have to make 9 ...
- 5,773
7
votes
Accepted
How can 7NT be played for this hand?
There is a pentagonal squeeze on this hand. One line of play:
Win the club lead in dummy, cross to hand with the spade ace, take the diamond finesse, and play on diamonds, pitching spades. Eventually, ...
- 5,773
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible