[johnu]

Cyberyeti, on 2016-May-18, 12:21, said:

I would echo what Phil King says, I think a lot of people will bid a slam here due to inability to stop particularly with competition. A slam which is a J off being good is very difficult to get right either way.

A common theme in these forums is for posters to ask how to get to a slam that is

1) Odds against, or even terrible, but make due to a fortunate lie of the cards
2) Excellent, but depend on having a key J or 10 that wouldn't really affect the hand valuation

[neilkaz]

johnu, on 2016-May-18, 12:39, said:

A common theme in these forums is for posters to ask how to get to a slam that is

1) Odds against, or even terrible, but make due to a fortunate lie of the cards
2) Excellent, but depend on having a key J or 10 that wouldn't really affect the hand valuation

Yes, agreed completely. Here's the traveler. http://www.bridgebas...ername=philg007 14 of 39 pairs bid the slam. 12 were allowed to play and 2 had opps sac 6♠.

There have been some surprising comments by some good players here in this thread regarding ♠ competition. While I didn't check all 39 hands, I checked most of them and in no case did some wild person bid 2♠
over a 1♥ opening. Apparently making a WJO with a 5 card suit and 3 HCP vul is too much even on BBO! The ♠ competition came later typically after a 2/1 from responder.(Not everyone plays J2NT or would use it here).

As for the weak 2 opening, like many I clearly prefer 1♥. Of course bidding 4♥ over 2♥ is a must as it should usually make and on a bad day the opps make 4♠.

Those who follow the Law will note than it breaks down here as it can at high levels. There are 21 trumps but only 19 tricks, and the flat lie of the ♦ suit has to factor into that.

[kenrexford]

Zelandakh, on 2016-May-18, 07:04, said:

Any chance of making a diagram Ken?

I don't know how to do it on my cell phone.

[PhilKing]

neilkaz, on 2016-May-18, 13:06, said:

Yes, agreed completely. Here's the traveler. http://www.bridgebas...ername=philg007 14 of 39 pairs bid the slam. 12 were allowed to play and 2 had opps sac 6♠.

There have been some surprising comments by some good players here in this thread regarding ♠ competition. While I didn't check all 39 hands, I checked most of them and in no case did some wild person bid 2♠
over a 1♥ opening. Apparently making a WJO with a 5 card suit and 3 HCP vul is too much even on BBO! The ♠ competition came later typically after a 2/1 from responder.(Not everyone plays J2NT or would use it here).

As for the weak 2 opening, like many I clearly prefer 1♥. Of course bidding 4♥ over 2♥ is a must as it should usually make and on a bad day the opps make 4♠.

Those who follow the Law will note than it breaks down here as it can at high levels. There are 21 trumps but only 19 tricks, and the flat lie of the ♦ suit has to factor into that.

Only surprising if one somehow does not realise that the points were theoretical rather than pertaining to the actual layout. The point is that actions taken by the opponents are far from irrelevant and under certain circumstances the slam could be odds on.