On 12/12/11 12:26 PM, songbird wrote:
David E. Ross wrote:
songbird wrote:
...
hehe, helps to know which ones your partner
actually knows and uses. do you play duplicate
bridge?

I play duplicate most Mondays and Fridays. It's a "seniors" program at
a local city's recreation center. At 70, I'm the third youngest player.

years ago, when learning, the bridge club on
campus was a pretty good distribution of age
ranges. around here i have not investigated
the bridge scene.


My partner and I even invented a convention, the Lozano-Ross Convention.
It's similar to a transfer bid after a no-trump opening, but it's the
response to your partner's take-out double. It serves the same purpose
as a transfer by keeping the stronger hand (the hand that doubled)
concealed while the supposedly weaker partner's hand becomes the dummy.
Unlike a transfer, however, if I bid 1 heart indicating spades is my
best suit, my partner (the doubler) is NOT required to actually bid
spades.

ok, so opponents open 1NT, your partner doubles
indicating strength enough to defeat the opponents
hand, you bid hearts saying you have strength in
spades, but your partner may bid on with something
else from there or leave you in 2 hearts.

(i'm confused here a bit, you did mean 2h above
right?)


songbird

Doubling an opening suit bid is a take-out. That is, it forces the
doubler's partner to bid even with a worthless hand unless there is an
intervening bid by an opponent. A take-out double generally means: "I
too have a hand worth an opening bid, and I can accept (but might not
prefer) playing in any suit other than the suit I doubled." In this
case, our convention requires the doubler not to pass unless there is a
bid by the opponents that will allow the doubler's partner to bid again.
Thus, with the bid sequence 1 club, double, pass, 1 heart, we would not
remain in hearts unless the doubler has an exceptionally strong heart
suit; but in that case, we would probably wind up at 4 hearts (game) and
not merely 1 heart.

We are still developing this convention. We will have to discuss it
further regarding a double of an opening no trump bid. Some players do
not consider such a double to be a take-out. If that is how my partner
and I want to play, then our convention would not apply since it applies
only over a take-out double.

Yes, all this seems complicated. I hope that dealing with such
complications helps me to avoid the deterioration of mental capabilities
as I continue to age.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary