Quote from: Masse24 on June 07, 2020, 08:06:14 PM

Anyone have any words of wisdom on PROBLEM E?
 
I could go with any of about four answers -- none of them based on a moment of clarity. I usually have some clue. Not here.

Help? 

Blu says Pass
Hoki says Pass
Babs says Pass
I say Pass
So obviously, as a contrarian, you must exclude that option and now you are down to three choices.  I have just resolved 25% of your angst.   

    it took two weeks til I noticed  the opps probably have something in clubs  despite the obvious misfits in all other suits.   but  i agree  that either simple new suit bid is more constructive than  I am worth.   So  we are left with THREE diams  as the alternative bid.  Scarey,  yes?   Have we  narrowed the field  down  to a single choice,  or are you going with me  down that rabbit hole?

Edited by jcreech to take Blu's new reasoning out of the jcreech quote

The July set caucht me saying to myself  "What ELSE?"   about 5 times.  Those answers i will tack on  "**"  at the end.  Then in a couple weeks i will change four of them and be wrong every time .
A:>>   pass   **
B:>>   1NT    **
C:>>   1NT    ?
D:>>   b2      **
E:>>   pass
F:>>   pass    **
G:>>  3 Dia   **
H:>>  Club 2

Problem A:>>   1 Spade on AJx .  this works  almost always-- trust me
Problem B>>     leave in the neg double..  DOWNSIDE  should be  mins  140---and you and I see 3nt with presumed 27                           or so points having 2 in-cards + 3 spades, to beat. i see small loss  ,often  chunky gain-- sue me!
Problem C>>     pass   "STAY FIXED, WHEN THEY HAVE FIXED YOU"---  my hero,  Al Roth. 
Problem D>>     open 1H,  reverse into spades:   "scientific" reversing rules  do not apply to THIS auction
pROBLEM E>>   4 Spades. 5 looser hand anyway,  and  BOTH help-suit asks  are flawed ,    so, why bother!.  only  SSGT                            3 Hearts would change my mind, ..and i don't need to hunt through  the  BWS-2017  listings,  since i                                    have a blast to spade game ANYWAY...yes?
Problem F >>     3 diams now,  and spades later   ( at 3 or 4). 
Problem G>>>    2!D --VERY distant 2nd choice  =  1NT    barff  (must have read the problem wrong   change to  2H
Problem H>>>   interior-sequence spade card..  jack or ten-- whichever the bws polling has agreed is the normal .  --cannot wait for JULY,   folks!!!

Please,  will you several solid THINKERS  in this forum  get some ideas up,  while you are supposedly housebound!?   I have nothing for two weeks to bounce thoughts with except creech's trigger-pull YESTERDAY,  with which i have too many agreements already!   (Jim  i want to turn your lead-problem comment on it's head and  suggest the OPPONENTS  my be the ones that have some cross-ruffing,  not us defenders.   but of course  throwing winning spades at them  may still be in the cards:)   
    sure hope i dont' mess up a nice set by the re-opening cubid with the 'wrong' two suits  on #1!  .
    much more tractable set of deals than the hateful april 2020  set
  (ps:  did we notice our lionesses cranked utup with "2NT"  on misfit problem G,   while  the boss  just sat on his hands,  and moi  "quaisi-raised" pard's overcall with lone queen?)

Jock McQuade here
[/size]    All the great choices have been touched on above,  and I would only  put in a second or third mention  for C. Love's  'Bridge squeezes complete'.   IT is the only one  that never gets pitched when i did housecleaning, and in fact we often had two copies--one to give away to an up-and-coming acquaintance!  Love got the tools for 'getting' squeezes just right in my opinion -no more complicated than necessary and clear as can be,  with his BLUE acronym.  My screen name would be BLUEbayou but thats one too many letters for BBO ;>

anonymous PAT (ccr)?   and my other pal  shawn not evn entering??   come on you two!  GROW a pair  and get into ths great forum!!!!
    And  i am glad so glad to look forward to a ne BETTERbunch of problems.      THESE AS A GROUP  ARE THE MOST SICK THAT I CANRECALL IN60 ISSUES IF Bridge WoRLD  in my possession.   Bar none 

SOLVER: Jock McQuade
        Gresham OR
As i feared, no  "AH-HA" moments will come for me this month..I "know"  4 or 5 spades will score higher  on #F, than either 3NT or leave-in of double,   but I stick with my true at the table choice,  since i am screwed for good score this month anyway.
PROBLEM A: 2 Hearts   --( seriously,   no two-over-one???)
PROBLEM B: 1 Diamond
PROBLEM C: Pass  --- 26 of 27 panelists unless some just DEFY the system note
PROBLEM D: 4 Hearts   --   5 spades or mousey 4   will beat this score
PROBLEM E: 1 Notrump
PROBLEM F: 3 Notrump -- see top.
PROBLEM G: 2 Hearts not popular in our club--- we shall see how the big boys treat me 
PROBLEM H: Heart 4--  (only switch  in 3 weeks  --  From "punting' with spade ten )   

I KNOW one thing only about this month :  750 WILL NOT be the cut-off for getting on the honor-roll!  Thank you for participating in the Master Solvers Club.

It's small wonder that the early offerings covered problem A,  and left it at that!   I am finding not a thing to get on a soap box over on any of the other problems in this miserable set:(  ( Well-  maybe problem D has potential.)  If lightning strikes me in the next 18 days,  it had better do it 7 times, or i am a cooked goose,  but here goes...
A:  2 hearts      -  No rebidding problems in the quizz, eh?
B:  1 diamond  -  3 or 4 miserable choices--pick one
C:  pass           -  forced upon us by the system note, though 50 of my Boomer friends are spinning in their grave over it.
D:  4 hearts  -  now, we're talking folks!   only 4 spades and 5 spades  came to mind, then i recalled the suprize winner from last month--a lead  directing advance of partner's noise in a four-bagger.  I reject "3H" because it's not jamming enough
E:  1NT            - pick one again
F:  3NT            -  ditto ,  this time four ungeussable choices,  including leave in the double
G:  2 hearts     - gonna let your 5-3-2  spots frighten you?
H:  spade 10   - no confidence