BBO Discussion Forums: Brad and Fred - BBO Discussion Forums

Brad just made an interesting bid that got the kibs wondering:

imps...nv vs nv


(1d)=1h=(1s)=3h?


Fred overcalled 1h....Brad jumped to 3h on


85....KJ4....J9..Q8xxxx

Seems like a normal pre-emptive raise - there might be a double fit in the rounded suits.

To call that a normal preemptive raise is quite a stretch, since a normal preemptive raise implies 4 card support.

And there is no basis to assume a double fit.

Ok, but it's pretty good 3-card support, we have nothing in either of opps suits, and we're NV. What else are you bidding?

Looks like a good "fudge" on the preemptive jump raise agreement. Makes it hard for responder to know what strength 3S by opener will show. Kinda puts it to em. I wouldn't call it "normal", though. Just a good bid.

Often showing 4 trumps stop them from leading trumps. It also give the opponent with xxx the illusion that his partner has a stiff. I would just bid 2H but i think 3H is just a small fudge.

I can't say I like it. Competing to 3H over 2S may well be right, but if partner competes to 5H over 4S then he'll likely be disappointed that we only have 3 trumps. Or perhaps he expects. Maybe some of the time we'll be able to set up the clubs but I think more often we can not. Perhaps Brad knows that Fred's overcalls are more sound than what I am used to, and Fred knows that Brad's raises are more undisciplined than I am used to. I wouldn't be surprised if Fred knows that Brad's bids in general are more undisciplined than what I am used to.

If Fred will think twice before sacrificing after Brad's weak raise then it may well be +EV to jump to 3H with this hand.

From what I saw (and it was like 3minutes of browsing played hands) gambling mood dominated this friendly game of bridge My guess is this is the explanation of 3H bid, not some kind of super deep sophisticated trap set for opponents...

bluecalm, on 2012-March-12, 17:16, said:

lol. Was gonna say "Maybe Brad was just having fun" but decided not to post. Clee asked me about a hand where hampson passed with a good 12 count w/r in third seat. I said he probably wanted to practice and knew it wasn't a game hand or a system hand so maybe he just passed hoping to pass it out and get to the next deal.

Of course I could be wrong and maybe 3H is a normal bid for Brad and maybe pass was normal for Hampson, but the reality is these guys are great friends playing online with each other and the main goal is probably having system/carding stuff come up for practice or interesting situations for their own personal enjoyment and to create situations to talk about, and I'm sure that affects their play a little. And maybe bidding 3H is like an experiment since it's not like you can experiment in real matches, but you want to get some experience seeing how bids like that work out.

Brad actually does that roughly once per tournament. By "that" I mean jump raise with 3 strong trumps, typically in hearts, typically not vulnerable, and never with 4333 (I won't jump raise with 4333 even if I have 4-card support) . It has definitely worked well for him so I have started doing it on occasion too - it also seems to work for me

It should perhaps be noted that even on normal occasions when we have 4-card support, we have a strong tendency not to jump raise with competely terrible hands. Even at favorable vulnerability we will always have *some* positive feature. Also note, perhaps needless to say, that we don't pay that much attention to "The Law" and that it is very rare for us to overcall with a 4-card suit.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com