tolvyrj

Actually yes it had happened :rolleyes: . In those cases i have either bid my ♠ directly ( women, children and majors first principle) or if cards been very good (aka. distribution or something else indicates slam even against weak balanced prd) start with ♦ and via FSF wait for prds response and bid ♠ again; this time as a genuine suit.

Ok i feel free and make exception and open 1[club. First i dont know what prd is going to respond, s/he might bid 1♦ or even better 1♥ and now my time has come B-) . Second even if prds bid is 1♠ i can always bid my 44 minors by reversing in ♦ so i wont be forced to choose between 2 and 3 ♣. In a real world my bid is of course 2 ♥. If prd now bids 2 ♠ i continue with 3 ♦ forcing to game ( ok i did that round earlier) if prd is good enough to respond my possible bal. 11 count we must at least have a chance to make game somehow.

This is one my pet topics and almost always im on the opposite side at least here in Finland and last time i asked this one here in discusion forum i was told that BBO standard take 1♠in auction as natural and 2♠ as FSF. Why is that so beats the hell out me jump in 2 level especially in ♠ is terrible waist of bidding space. And what do u respond to that 2♠ when u have 3424 shape without ♠ control. I prefer system where they both r GF; one level without ♠ suit or control and 2 level with 5 card ♠ suit and 6 card ♦ suit.

In Finland we use this method; 2♥ is 4th suit and game forcing and responses r, here: 2Nt: Yes i do have a ♥ stopper; all others deny it 2♠: 5 ♠ aka 6♣ 3♣: 5+ ♣ 3♦: 4+ ♦ 3♥: No ♥ stopper, no extra length in black suits, no 4 card ♦ First u answer the question do u have a ♥ stopper, if not then something else. Of course if u black suits; here, r something exceptional then u can use u imagination, or if u bal. say 18-19 then jump in Nt.

My wife is afraid of spiders and i think thats also irrational :rolleyes: . Though i must say araknofobia is more difficult because u meet spiders more often than situations where u need to ask aces from prds hand :lol: . Seriously, u system is harder to learn than RKCB; 0314 or 1403 2 without and 2 with the trump Q.

Ok, now i know i reveal my self as an old school guy, but we play it as weak ( and i mean weak) long suit 7 carder. Why is that so. Invitation can be done other way and even if u have long spade suit it is not sure prd has them. Another point is that if u bid it normal way 1 over 1 and then keep bidding them prd assumes u have something u dont have aka hcp.

I agree that souths 1♣ opening is... aggressive, but norths 3♣ is outlandish. Im sure it was meant as forcing, but it aint and it turns out that south shares my opinion B-) . 3♦ as FG and when south bid 3Nt u take it away bidding 4♣. That way u should be able to find u 6♣.

Im north and its my turn after prd has bid 3♣ the oppos suit my RHO has dbled that; what to i do now? Do i start to second guess my prds bidding, because opps bid like they do? Do i start to find answers to questions prd didnt ask? Nope. I bid 3Nt because prd asked me to bid it if i have a stopper in ♣ suit. I trust my partner not to oppos for the obvious reason that hes the only guy in the table at my side. North cant know what is going on, he cant decide not to bid 3 Nt; if he does so hes second guessing his own pard bidding.

Thx :)

I can think many hands where both 4♠ and 5♦ makes :lol: . But back into the real world, IMO what ever i do means something, so i must do the least wrong thing here. I think pass is the strongest bid here, double advocates weak hand with no desire to go further in ♠ and 5♠ denotes weak hand with some support, so thats what im going to bid. Ok 6♦ or 6♠ r stronger than pass. What will happend next...gee lets hope the guy in the other table is in same place as im :lol: .

We once upon a time played strong pass system, which was a simplified version of No Name orginally polish i guess. Basicly it goes that Pass was forcing any 13+ hand and 1♦ was any weak under 8 hcp. Most intresting was the treatment of 1 of a major bids. Their poínt range was 8-12 hcp. and they promise either 0-2 cards or 5+ cards in suit that was bid. 1C was balanced, semi-balanced or 3-suited and 1Nt promise major or minor 2-suiter. Does that ring any bells cause i would like to find out more information bout this system. Any hints will be appreciated :) .

And far too many times :lol: .

I think souths 3♣ made things go this way. Its a bit heavy but understandable. What would have Norths dbl have been after 1♠, why didnt s/he told s/he has a ♥?

Unusual positives r new for me, but i remeber bout a book from 60`s or 70`s made by Belladonna or Garozzo or one of those "Blue boys". They used impossible negative bids in responsing strong ♣ opening. Basicly u respond 1♦ negative with positive 4441 hand and then u jump next round in suit below the singleton. I do hope that my memory serves me correctly :lol: .

How very true, when we started to play split-range :lol: . But many hard lessons has taught us how to use this right.

IMO 3♥promises someting in ♥, not necessarily genuine suit HHx is enough, it shows a) im not willing to play ♠contract unless u have extra length b) my strength is in ♣and in ♥ c) i cant bid 3Nt for some reason or another and d) my bid is GF so bid something that helps me to know what to do im not going to pass under game. Sure 3♥ may very well be 5 cards long in which case ♣ r 6+ cards long; but if that is the case it will be shown next round :rolleyes: .

We stopped the endless arguments bout that in our partnership by starting to play split-range michaels. User of the convention has either hand without opening strength ( less than 10 hcp. in any vulnerabilty) or 16+(15+) hcp. The strenght is in your long suits, so u dont have like 3 defence tricks in your hand. Wheter the opps open with major or minor has no influence.

U can sign me up to -800 camp too, no way im going to pass with this hand in MP`s. Ok they hammered me down -800, but im not alone u see, most of the field r in the same mess, so i havent lost anyzing ( well not much). This is a horror film case what can happen if u take action here, most likely u get a bad result if u dont take the action here. Lets see; u pass - LHO bid 1Nt - prd pass- RHO bids 2♦and now? Do u take action now, or become the legendary 2♦guys; those who let oppos play 2♦when all others where from +110 to +170 in they own game :rolleyes: Thats MP´s; u bid like others do, not as u shld do.

Theres a convention invented for these type of hands by polish i guess; its called the Raptor. After one level opening u bid 1Nt which tells just this type of hand, one four card major and 5 card minor. Its designed to help in situations just like this, no T/O dbl possibility and if u bid u minor in 2 level u 4 card major will bite the dust. They say its more useful in long run to use 1Nt as Raptor than a bid that tells 15-18 bal. hand. Is it, i dont know, but i know its pretty popular convention at least among tournament players in Europe.

Errare humanum est said the romans. The difference between experts and the rest of the lot is not that they dont make mistakes; they just dont make so many mistakes. Wheter u right or wrong in 2♣ response is not the issue here, at lesat not the biggest issue.If u prd makes a mistake s/he will either know it, in case its pointless to rub his/hers nose in it; or s/he does not understand it, in which case its even more futile to nack about it, cause u wont have time for theory lessons in the middle of the game huh. Keep u prd happy, npp and :) face r good policy. It will rewrd u handsomly in a long run believe me.

Opps, those goulash deals have just bit us in the ass :lol: . Someone does not have the cards s/he has promised and there r plenty of voids in here. But ok lets try to deduct who is closest to have what s/he has promised. If u meant that we r in vuln. and they r not my guess is that its prd. S/he has 10 ♥in hand and 2 minor suit honors. My bid would be 7♥ and if we go one down...well its goulash and i wont be alone with my dedcision and there r 2 plus sides in that bid u either can go for a smoke when prd struggles or get to defend ♠ contract in 7 level which is easier :D

If we r cold to say slam 2♥dbl wont be just 2 down. Im not trying to tell u what gospel says bout this hand, simply that i dont think there is a WTP solution. If we end up 2♠, say what r u going to do when it is dbled for example? 3Nt is a live possibility here too.

Up to 19 hcp....starting from where? Dosent matter, 2♥passing is not even close. To be able to collect 500 they shld be able to dbl my contract for penalties. Wont be easy, and after that they shld get me 3 down that wont be easy either.

Ok u can play 3♥here as it sets the trump, but why? U prd has introduced natural 5+ cards ♣suit to which u have KJx support.

I dont try to tell that i know the answer to this one, all i know that i hate the Lebensohl convention right now :lol: . But that 2♠ is a WTP solution, how? U bidding 3 card suit, i would understand it if there really is no choice. Pass is one of them, is it a good one i dont know, but it is an alternative. After 2♠ u may very well be playing 3-3 trump and even in Moysian fit u will be taking second ♥ruff in long trump and be victim of an over ruff. Ok if prd is bidding distributional 11- count, defending 2♥dbl aint such a great idea either. What am i going to do.... Pass