How to copy hand in BBO and move to Email in BBO

 Copying a bridge hand in BridgeBase Online (BBO) is actually fairly easy.  No really, it is easy.  Just follow these steps.

Step 1:  Go to the BBO History area. The History tab is either located on the right side of your screen if using a personal computer or on the bottom of the screen if using an IPAD or cellphone.

Step 2:  Find "Recent Hands" which is located under "History".

Step 3: Highlight the hand you want to send via Email to someone that has a BBO ID.

Step 4:  Find the blue box located on the upper right corner of the bridge hand.  Click on that box.  You will see a drop down menu.  Click on "Export".

Step 5: You will see another drop down menu.  Click on "Save to member".

Step 6:  Place the BBO ID of the person you want to send a copy of the bridge hand.  You can also supply a comment on why you are sending the bridge hand.

Step 7:   Success.  A copy of the bridge hand is sent to the BBO ID mailbox for the person to review.

Hand of the Week - Vic Johnson - October 5, 2020

 

Problem: What is the proper bidding sequence for this hand?

Vic:

Pass - 1NT (15-17) - Pass - 2D (Transfer to Hearts) - Pass - 2H - Pass - 4NT (Blackwood - asking for Aces) - Pass - 5H (two Aces) - Pass - 5NT (promises all four Aces - asks for Kings) - Pass - 6H (two Kings) - Pass - 7NT 

Note: East should not use Gerber. Gerber is a baby food. It has no place in modern bridge.

Hand of the Week - Glenna Shanahan - September 21, 2020 - Bidding light

 Problem: How do you bid something like this?  It probably played better in no trump even though there was a void.

Glenna:

This is a typical hand where people overbid! South has a very light 1 ♦️ bid, N might bid 1 ♥️ and E bids 2 ♣️, S shouldn’t, but bids 2 ♠️ (shows 17+ points which he doesn’t have), N passes and E corrects to 3 ♦️ and it goes P, P and P. Every bid made should show shape and value, Everybody at this table bid with very light values. Good partnerships try to have sound values for their bids, but of course, nothing works all the time!

Hand of the Week - Vic Johnson - September 21, 2020 - Botched Bidding

 

Problem:  Larry Johnson and I freely admit we botched the bidding on this hand.  However, surprise, we made the bid.  We invited Vic to comment on the bidding and hand.  I asked a question about Gerber regarding asking for aces.  That was not necessarily a good question, either.  I would say after his critique that we will try not to make the same mistakes again.

Vic:

I assume 2C is the commonly used Strong 2C bid that promises 22+ points, but says nothing about distribution. Is that correct? 

Over a Strong 2C opening bid the most common partnership agreement is that Responder automatically bids 2D (a "waiting" bid that gives Opener the chance to make a call that describes their distribution - it says nothing about diamonds). 

What on earth is Responders 4C bid? I do not have a clue. 

If Responder bid 2D as I would have expected, Opener would then bid 2S, saying they have at least a 5-card spade suit. That bid is forcing. Responder MUST bid again, even with the pitiful hand they have. 

Ideally, the partnership agreement includes a way for Responder to warn Opener they are weak. A good agreement for inexperienced players is that a second bid of 3C by Responder warns Opener of a weak hand. It also warns that Opener should not expect Responder to bid a third time. It says nothing about Clubs. This agreement is often called "Second Negative". 

Subsequent to a "Second Negative" bid of 3C by Responder, Opener needs to set the contract they want to play the hand in, knowling that partner's hand will be of little help. If I held the West hand above, my third bid would be 3H, describing a two-suited hand & asking Responder to let me play at the three level in which ever one of the two majors they can help with the most. Obviously, Responder should Pass & let Opener play in 3H. Depending on the skill level of the Declarer & the Defenders, West might even make 3H. 

As for Gerber, I have been averaging 2-3 duplicate bridge games a week for almost 20 years & have found myself sitting at a table where Gerber was used I am guessing a half dozen times or less. I was informed roughly 18 years ago by a woman with over 10,,000 master points at the time that "Even Gerber does not use Gerber any more.". Gerber is the name of a baby food. It has no place in modern bridge. You should forget you ever heard about it. 

Also, there is no point in asking for Aces with the pitiful hand East is holding above. For that reason as well I certainly hope the 4C bid above was not intended to be Gerber.

 

Hand of the Week - September 14, 2020 - Glenna Shanahan - Preempt or bid suit?

 

Problem: What does one do with a hand like this for West?  Do you automatically go to game? 

Glenna:

  All preempts are less than opening bids: 6-card suit open 2; 7-card suit open 3; 8-card suit- open 4; with 9-card major or minor just bid 4 of M and 5 of m!

  So when you have an opening hand, open 1 ♥️, P bids whatever and you reverse into 2 ♠️ —that promises 17+ points and says the 1st suit is 1-card longer than the 2nd suit.  Also, it’s a 1-round force so P must bid 1 more time to give you the right to the final decision. That’s how partner can figure out where your partnership more likely belongs. When you include P in the decision making process, you achieve better results.

  As a side: When you have 2 suits of equal length with a good hand, open the higher ranking suit and jump in the lower ranking—regardless of quality of the suits—you want to invite game and show P both suits. This is fine tune bidding at its best.

Victor Johnson - Stolen Bid Doubles - September 7, 2020

Victor Johnson - Dealing with Interference over Opening 1NT Bids - September 7, 2020

 

First Step: a partnership agreement that any/all the regular agreements you have for responding to 1NT Opening bids (Stayman - Jacoby Transfer - whatever) are now OFF (they simply go away & you start again from scratch). 

Simplest New Agreement: All bids made by Responder or Opener subsequent to an interfering bid by Opponents are Natural (clubs means clubs, diamonds mean diamonds, and so on). You also need to decide on length (that is, if responder bids diamonds how many are they promising - if opener next bids hearts how many are they promising - and so on). Any subsequent bid of NT by either partner should promise a stopper in opponent's suit. 

Simplest Conventional Agreement: There is a very common & simple conventional agreement new players can easily adopt for use when the interfering bid is 2C (it does not matter if the 2C is natural or a conventional bid). The most descriptive name for this agreement is "Stolen Bid Double", but it goes by other names as well. It should only be used when the interfering bid is 2C (just trust me on this one). 

More Complex Agreements: The Cadillac agreement commonly used by experienced players is a scheme called Lebensohl. Lebensohl, however, is reasonably complicated & I do not recommend it for less experienced players.

Hand of the Week - September 7 , 2020 - Glenna Shanahan - Stop or go

 

Problem: How do you bid a hand like this below so you do not stop at 3NT.  3NT is a closing bid.

Glenna: I bid 4NT (quantative, not Blackwood)[on this hand] and my partner passed me! My bid showed a really good hand and he didn’t like his 16 points I guess. If I had held his hand, think I would have tried 6NT.

 You have to know that when NT is bid, 4Nt shows 16+ points. If you want Ace’s, you use 4 ♣️. 

Hand of the Week - September 7, 2020 - Victor Johnson - Opponents Interference

 

Problem:  Bryan Naab and I played this hand. West interfered which messed me up and I missed the transfer to hearts.  If you notice West does have 5 Spades and could have said 2S.  But West chose to give a 2C bid.  If West would have bid 2S would North need to go to 3S for a transfer.  If North went to 3S could that be interpreted as a cue bid rather than a transfer?  I guess this is a hand where the opponent seeks to mess up the communications.  West did because I was confused with the 2C bid.

Vic:

I count 6 spades in the West hand not 5. I believe the 2C bid by West is a conventional bid telling partner they have a long suit, but not specifying the suit which in this case was of course spades. It is the kickoff bid for a Convention called Cappelletti which is a popular scheme for interfering over opponents opening 1NT. The 2C bid should have been alerted & explained. Just identifying it by name is NOT an acceptable explanation. East must tell you what it means, not just name it & imply that you are stupid if you do not know the details. 

If North subsequently passes the 2C bid by West, then East is required to bid 2D (also artificial) so that West is sure to have a second chance to bid & identify their suit. West absolutely does not want to be passed out in 2C. If their long suit by some chance happens to be clubs, they will have to rebid it at the three level.

Given that north was kind enough to bid, East is free to pass which they did. 

Had you & partner ever talked about how to respond to interfering bids over an opening 1NT? If not, you have no way of knowing the meaning of the 2D bid by North. It could still be a transfer to hearts. It could also be natural, showing diamonds. Or it could be something else. 

How many points is north promising by bidding in that scenario? Had you ever talked about that? 

The answers to the above questions depend on your partnership agreement. if this is a scenario you have never discussed then you have no agreement. All you can do is guess. 

The 2NT bid by south should promise a stopper in West's long suit. Given that no one yet knows West's long suit, this is a strange bid, although South does in fact have a stopper in each of the four suits. 

North did well to subsequently bid hearts, but their bid should have been 3H not 4H. Their 8 HCPs is enough to invite game, but not enough to go to game. My guess is that 4H went down. 

Holding the proper hand for it, interfering against opening 1NT bids is a powerful defensive bidding tool, especially against inexperienced players. But then I don't have to tell you that any more do I? An important thing to do early in a partnership is to formulate an agreement for dealing with interference. For that, you will need to seek some consul. It is not intuitive. 

Failing to have an agreement leaves you open to having a lot of strong (15-17 point) hands ruined by aggressive opponents