32519

Sorry guys, but I have never heard of the sequence you are all proposing as Michael’s. Is this expert standard? I want to hear how many other experts agree with this sequence as being Michael’s. What do you do after this sequence (the OP says all vul)? [hv=d=n&v=b&b=13&a=1sp1n2s4sppp]133|100[/hv] Already you know that partner is left with the scraps regarding HCP? With this extreme distribution, I suggest the following: 1♠-P-1NT-2♥ ? If N jumps to 4♠, feeling frisky, I can now bid 4NT as 2-places to play. Partner already knows 1. I am happy to Pass 5♣ as pass/correct.

This doesn’t help me anything. The problem is not the opening bid, but the continuation bidding. How does the opening bidder get the 4441 message across? In the post below, this was one of the ways I used to show a 4441 max. I can live with brian_m’s suggestion of opening 1NT if your hand falls into the 13-15 HCP range. The corollary here would be opening 1♦ and possibly bidding 1NT with a ♠ singleton when partner responds 1♠ and you have 11-12 HCP. However, your problems are compounded with 16+ and a 4441 hand pattern. Any bid you make over 1♣ 1♦ ? distorts your hand pattern. I have seen Precision players moving these hand types out of the 1♣ opener into the 2♦ bid, Multi style. But this also gets messy when you have to show the singleton on level 4 (all depends on how the bidding has progressed). FWIW the Precision players using the 2♦ bid as Multi style have changed their responses as follows: 1. 2♥ = artificial, 0-13 HCP, no interest in game unless one of the strong hand patterns has been opened. This is basically Pass/Correct whenever opener has a weak 2 in ♥ or ♠. 2. 2♠ = artificial, 14+ HCP, game interest if opener is in the upper end of the weak 2 bid.

How does Precision now bid - 1. A 4441 hand pattern 11-15 HCP (the singleton anything else except ♦)? 2. A 4441 hand pattern 16+ HCP (the singleton anything else except ♦)?

You have made a lengthy post here arguing why something will work or won’t work. Let me fill you in on the finer detail of how and why we play fourth seat 2♥ or 2♠ promising a 6-card suit and 14-15 HCP. Here’s the deal: In 1st and 2nd seat we open standard weak 2’s with 5-11 HCP. When responder has 15+ HCP and game interest, we play “Feature Showing” 2NT. In 4th seat this basic agreement has been “flipped.” Now it is opener showing the 6-card suit and 14-15 HCP. Armed with this information, responder has plenty of options. Your partnership can agree on which of the following you wish to incorporate: 1. Pass is obvious. No interest in further exploration. 2. 2NT = interest in playing 3NT from responders side, 10-11 HCP. Responder has some guarded Kings and wishes to protect them. Responder is also showing a 2-card fit with openers major and is hoping to make 6 tricks in openers major plus another 3 anywhere else. 3. 3 any = shortness and game interest in openers major. Opener can decide if the shortness fits in with the rest of his hand. Due to lack of trumps in responders hand, this option is not recommended. 4. 3 any = length and game interest in openers major. A possible source of tricks and is a better option than 3. 5. Picture Showing = showing an Ace or King in the suit bid and interest in game in openers suit. 6. 3M = balanced/semi balanced with 10-11 HCP, no Kings needing protection. The bid invites 3NT from opener's side or 4M.

You can also show 10-cards in one bid. To be fair though, I have included this hand pattern into my version of the Multi alongside three other hand patterns. The frequency of occurrence is too low to use on its own.

:unsure: Ever since Mr. Ace made a scathing post here it seems as though people are hesitant to post in the expert forum. :rolleyes:

I’m sorry but the only guy I agree with here is brian_m. If you are playing Precision, I don’t see how you can open the ♦ suit first. How do you bid a 4441 hand with 14-15 HCP (max)? After 1♦, partner makes the expected ♥ response and now you jump to 2♠? How do you think partner is going to interpret the bid? He will understand 4144 (singleton ♥) and 14-15 HCP (or 13-15 depending on your style). If you are playing Precision, you need to open the ♠ suit first and then jump bid in ♦ second time round.

I’m not sure how to respond to this. It simply had to be on BBO where I saw this more than once (you just wouldn’t find it anywhere else). But if these guys were egotistical wannabe’s, passing themselves off as experts, surely they would be unmasking themselves as not being true experts if they never had a legitimate reason for saying “NO DRURY” in their profiles. Any pickup partner could easily ask them their reasons for not playing Drury. If their reason wasn’t convincing, the pickup partner would just tell them to bugger off and stop trying to pass themselves off as an expert when they clearly are not.

This article makes a compelling argument as to why everyone should include Drury / Reverse Drury into their bag of tricks. Yet I have seen on many expert CCs absolutely insisting: NO DRURY / REVERSE DRURY. What have these players discovered about Drury / Reverse Drury that less experienced players don’t know about? My guess is that it has something to do with “everything comes at a cost.” What have these experts discovered about Drury / Reverse Drury that lesser players have yet to discover? Thank you.

In 4th seat we open 2♥ or 2♠ with a 14-15 HCP hand. Knowing within 1 HCP what opener's hand looks like, places partner in a better position to decide whether game is on or not.

I think Cthulhu and I have similar (or the same?) question: How do I play Transfer Walsh and XYZ in the same bidding system? Both seem to be quite popular now.

Another strange defense to a 1NT opening bid I stumbled across. It's called VROOM

I wanted to post this in the Novice Forum to avoid embarrassing myself, but then decided to go ahead and embarrass myself anyway. Mike 777’s reply here made me realise just how little I understand the differences between similar yet different conventions. Can someone kindly explain the differences between these conventions at Novice level for me please? 1. Checkback Stayman 2. New Minor Forcing 3. Two-Way New Minor Forcing 4. XYZ 5. Fourth Suit Forcing 6. Roudi (added, I found this in a different thread and then looked it up here) 7. Crowhurst (added, I found this in a different thread and then looked it up here) 8. The Weak 6-4 Method (added, I found this here) To me there appears to be a certain amount of overlap between these conventions. I have never played Two-Way New Minor Forcing, nor XYZ before so I have absolutely no idea as to their effectiveness. That said, I am repeating my request a second time: 1. Can someone explain the differences between these conventions to me at Novice level (maybe there are more similar conventions that can be added to this list)? 2. Can you kindly include some example auctions accompanied by a typical hand for each partner for each convention? 3. Which one is better to use and why? WHAT SCARES ME NOW IS THE NUMBER OF VARIATIONS AVAILABLE IN THIS WONDERFUL GAME OF OURS FOR SIMILAR BIDDING SEQUENCES!! Thank you. This post has been edited.

Marvin French has his own website. This guy is currently 85 years old. There is a tab on his web page "About Me." This is an extract from his website: Duplicate Bridge Life Master ranking (LM number 1023) in 1956, author of many articles on the game in Popular Bridge and Bridge World magazines and in the American Contract Bridge League's Bridge Bulletin. An ACBL casebook "expert panelist," critiquing the performance of tournament directors and appeals committees in regard to disputed table rulings at North American Bridge Championships

Marvin French has made this contribution challenging those who use any convention mechanistically without properly thinking through the ups and downs. Does Marvin have a point here? Or are there other benefits not covered in the article?

This thread has received a lot of emotional feedback defending Puppet Stayman, probably from people who use it. All the negatives listed on Chris Ryall's website posed the question, “Is Puppet Stayman really worth the effort?” Maybe I’m wrong, but these forums are here for less experienced players to learn from the more experienced ones. I am now asking these more experienced players to compile a comprehensive convincing list of advantages “Why anyone should switch to Puppet Stayman?” I will place the first one. Kindly add the rest: Advantages of playing Puppet Stayman: Over 1NT 1. Can include a 5-card major suit holding within your 1NT range. 2. 3. 4. Advantages of playing Puppet Stayman: Over 2NT 1. Can include a 5-card major suit holding within your 1NT range 2. 3. 4. I will be the first to apologise if the list of advantages are enough, therein not requiring a rethink of Puppet Stayman

So let’s try and analyse what we win and what we lose playing Puppet Stayman. Over a 1NT Opening Bid Advantages: 1. You can include 5-card majors within your 1NT range 2. You can have the best of both worlds by playing 2♣ as Standard Stayman and 3♣ as Puppet Stayman. The downside with this approach is that you need 10-12 HCP to initiate Puppet Stayman. Disadvantages: 1. You lose Garbage Stayman 2. Brain drain in the follow up bidding 3. The auction is now forced to 2NT, so you need at least invitational values (8-9 HCP) 4. Opponents can double artificial bids during the bidding for lead direction or even sacrifice 5. When playing 1NT-3♣ as Puppet Stayman, you lose an alternate meaning for the 3♣ bid Over a 2NT Opening Bid: Advantages: 1. You can include 5-card majors within your 2NT range 2. Play in a 5-3 major fit instead of 3NT 3. It is easier to bid a slam in the majors 4. Over the sequence over 2N-3♣-3♦-4♣ use RKC with double agreement 5. Forbids opening 2NT with 5-4 in the majors Disadvantages: 1. You lose Garbage Stayman 2. Brain drain in the follow up bidding 3. Forgetting that you are playing Puppet Stayman and not Standard Stayman 4. More information disclosed to the opponents 5. Opponents can double artificial bids during the bidding for lead direction or even sacrifice 6. Responder with 5♠+3♥, the partnership may have a 5-3 ♠ or ♥ fit. If you play Puppet the 5-3 ♠ fit is lost. If you transfer to ♠ then the 5-3 ♥ fit is lost. You cannot butter your bread on both sides. The odds say that it is better to transfer into the ♠ suit. 7. You cannot show a 5♠+4♥ holding effectively (with 4♠+5♥ it is easy to transfer into the ♥ suit and then bid the ♠ suit). Niemeijer can fix this problem but you run the risk of forgetting what the bids mean (2NT-3NT = Niemeijer, 5♠+4♥). To play in 3NT you must first bid 3♣. Others use 3♠ to play in 3NT but this also comes at a cost. 3♠ either MSS or a transfer to ♣ is lost. Others play 3♠ = 5♠+4♥ but again at a cost. The strong hand is exposed on the table when in ♠. 8. The purpose of Puppet Stayman is to find 5-3 major fits when opener has opened 2NT with a 5-card major. Thus, responder will use puppet Stayman more often than he would use regular Stayman, since responder will use it on some hands with just a 3-card major as well as on hands with a 4-card major. This means that information about opener's hand will be revealed to the opponents more often. (If responder never uses puppet Stayman without a 4-card major, then I don't see the point of playing Puppet). 9. How often do you and your partner open 2NT with a 5-card major? If the answer is only if the 5-card major is so good that no 3-card support will help it or only if the 5-card major is so bad that you need 3 honors to make it worthwhile to play as a trump suit, then you don't need puppet Stayman at all. 10. How often do you open 2NT when you are precisely 4-4 in the majors? If the answer is as often as possible, then the more common variation of Stayman is far more useful. 11. The loss of Smolen 12. How do you show minor suit hands after: 2NT-3♣-3♦-? 13. The 5-3 major fit is not that important at IMPS. The major suit fit most often produces 10 tricks versus 9 in NT. 1 IMP is lost. 4M plus 3NT both making 10 tricks is a push. 3NT making versus 4M down 1 is a huge gain. Chris Ryall’s website on the plusses and minuses of playing Puppet Stayman should be read by all. Click here I have seen and read enough on Puppet Stayman. Topic closed. Thank you.

If you are interested in exotic sequences which you will see like once every 2 years, here is something to chew on: [hv=pc=n&s=sakq7hkq83datck53&w=s632ht972d542ct84&n=s98hdkq973caqj962&e=sjt54haj654dj86c7]399|300[/hv] The Bidding: 2NT-3NT (3NT = 6-5-2-0 in the minors and 8+ HCP slam interest) 4♥ = confirm the void 4NT = confirms ♥ as the void (4♠ would show a ♠ void) 5♥ = 6-card RKC Blackwood for the minors (5 of either minor would be a signoff, therefore 1 step above a signoff becomes RKC Blackwood) Responses are: 1 step = 1 or 4 keycards 2 steps = 3 or 0 keycards 3 steps = 2 keycards with neither Queen 4 steps = 2 keycards with lower Queen 5 steps = 2 keycards with higher Queen 6 steps = 2 keycards with both Queens So after the 5♥ ask, North replies 6♠ (6-steps showing 2 keycards and both minor suit Queens) 7♣ from South ends the auction. You’re going to find some auctions where opener can bid 7NT holding both major suit Aces.

For those who don’t know what mgoetze is referring to, you will need the read the thread Defence to a 1NT Opening Bid (post 83 on page 5 of this thread and post 97 also on page 5). Aguahombre is partially correct. I often post on topics I already have SOME of the answers. Posts in other threads sometimes flick the switch for possible alternative ways for using “mainstream” bids differently. Case in point here is the current Multi and Defence to a 1NT Opening Bid. The thread on Jacoby 2NT hopefully got those interested to reconsider whether their current use of Jacoby 2NT is optimal. This thread on Puppet Stayman is no different. Posts in other threads got me thinking about the effectiveness of the current conventional agreements. But before I can decide whether any “tweak” will work better or not, I try to get some feedback on things I may not have thought of previously. So thanks to those who chose to answer honestly and sensibly. The day we meet, I am sure that mgoetze and I will become good friends. Until then, I would like to request mgoetze to do a review of my book and do a write up in the Bridge Material Review Forum. When you do, please bear in mind what I said in the “Defence to a 1NT Opening Bid” thread. The book won’t become popular as a “stand alone” convention. Build it into a Multi purpose bid as suggested and suddenly it becomes very attractive indeed. What is Muppet Stayman? How does it differ from Stayman and Puppet Stayman? Thanks again all.

If you allow 5-card majors in your 1NT 15-17 HCP range, what does one do in this bidding sequence? [hv=pc=n&s=s92haqt64daqtckq5&n=sk8654hj9d76cjt83&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1np2h(Transfer%20to%20Spades)p]266|200[/hv] You have a good 5-card ♥ suit. Partner is asking you to transfer into your worst suit. Do you pass 2♥ or do you complete the transfer?

Is this the regular treatment when bidding Puppet Stayman over 1NT? 1. With 8-9 HCP, bid 2♣ as standard Stayman? 2. With 10-12 HCP and 3-3 or 4-3 in the majors, Puppet Stayman? It's starting to make more sense now. The first sequence is game invitational. The second sequence is obviously game forcing.

How do you treat your 5332 hand in the 1NT range (15-17 HCP)?

Did someone mention lurkers? The BBO Member List currently contains 609 pages of members. With 20 members per page, that totals 12180 members. Out of this total, the first 205 pages (ranking the members by the number of posts made) contain at least 1 post made by the member. That equates to 4100 or 33,7% of the members who were active at least once. Members who have made 10+ posts, make up the first 56 pages. That equates to 1120 or 9,2 % of the members. The first 23 pages contain the members who have made 100+ posts. That equates to 460 or 3,8%. So what do we make of these stats?

For every gadget that you include in your system agreements, there is a price to pay somewhere else. Puppet Stayman is no different. Convince me why YOU use it.

1. What is the connection between “Reputation” and the number of starts against anyone’s profile? 2. Who or how are the stars assigned?