THE WEEKLY CHALLENGE (Vol 112 / Event 1)

Rob's back with his Robot Olympics! Our first challenge is a 4 board imps challenge against the robots.
Things you'll see here;
- When is it right to play 5 of a minor.
- The Law of Total Tricks discussion.
- A discussion about Invitational values after one no-trump openings.

[@David.M.]

Thanks Rob, enjoy your travels.

[@dougedwards3537]

Great to see these starting again, enjoy you talking through the logic on bid and play

[@chrismcguire6423]

Love your commentary.

[@kevinmichael9933]

I learn a lot by listening to you think out loud when playing through the hands. You're a great teacher.

[@bridgelesson]

@@kevinmichael9933 thank you so much.

[@benthomas3395]

Board 2: you said that opening 1NT would be illegal. Unwise possibly, but providing there is no agreement with partner, why shouldn’t you open NT? Is this a US thing?

[@bridgelesson]

@@benthomas3395 yes it became an ACBL rule.

[@benthomas3395]

@@bridgelesson The obvious question is, why. Providing there is no understanding with partner or such a bid is alerted, I would have thought one could bid what one wants. If one can make psychic bids, why not NT with a singleton?

[@twostate7822]

@@benthomas3395 One of the ACBL rules is that 1NT openers can have a singleton (no void either) only if it is an ace, king, or queen. This applies except in some high level events where there are 6 or more boards per round. If you opened with a smaller singleton, that would be an illegal bid, not a psychic bid.
Since this isn't an ACBL event, you could easily ignore that ACBL rule, but for teaching purposes, why not follow some rules?
Actually on Bridgebase, some of the top ACBL masterpoint winners who play against the robots routinely open all sorts of hands 1NT that don't conform to ACBL rules, among other unusual bids that don't match their hands. In theory, a director could probably adjust their scores for making an illegal bid, but there are no directors in robot games so who would you complain to, and who would make an adjustment? Those players make those nondescriptive bids because the robots are easily confused when the points and distributions make no sense, and then frequently make horrible plays based on the bad information they got.

[@pamalaoberg628]

Turn on your volume

[@bridgelesson]

@@pamalaoberg628 check yours