mr1303

One from last night's Portland Bowl match: [hv=n=saxxhxxxdqxxxckxx&s=skxhakqxdkjtxxxcq]133|200|[/hv] Bidding went (dealer North) P 1D 2D 4NT 5D 6D 2D was inverted, limit +, 4NT was 1430 RKCB, 5D came after a big think I couldn't think of a good 9 count that would have 0 aces. Worst case scenario: QJx Jxx Qxxx KQxx and we were already down in 5D, so I decided to punt 6 for no good reason. 1 off.

Maybe the hand I gave as an example wasn't very good, but I want to be able to rebid my suit at the 2 level, and not have partner holding a singleton to pass it "because it looked like a misfit" Even more so, I hate that: 1S 2D 3D is not forcing, and that with stronger hands you have to jump to 4D. Uggghhh. You can make it forcing, but the more you change it the less Acol it becomes. Weak NT 4 card major systems aren't necessarily bad. And my biggest peeve of them all: 1C 1H 3NT Shows exactly 19 balanced HCP

This seems odd: I was told that in Keri GF hands with 5332 were dealt like this: Transfer followed by 3NT shows 5332 with Q9xxx or worse in the suit. Puppet then 2NT followed by a direct 3M after 3C would show 5 cards in that suit. 3D would be stayman. Transfer followed by 2NT ALWAYS promises a 4 card minor

Why is this hand not strong enough to force to game? As little as 3 hearts to the 10 is enough to make game opposite this hand. I open 2C if thats my strong opening without any problems. Equally I'll open 1C AND force to game if partner bids 1D (negative) if I play strong club

My apologies for not answering your question Hog The reason I don't like Acol is with hands like this: AKxxx xxx J AKxx when partner bids 2D after my 1S opening, I can't rebid 2S as forcing. I also hate having to open 1H on 3433 16 counts. When partner bids 1NT, I now don't know whether to look for a game, which usually ends up in 1 off in 2NT, or pass, with 9 tricks cold. I also hate having to invent suits to establish a force (also a problem in SAYC, but I'm going to limit this to Acol). I live in the UK, and started off learning bridge by playing exclusively Acol for the first 4 years. This is why I have come to dislike it. I accept that Acol can be improved on with lots of discussion, but the more you change it the less like Acol the system becomes

If you pass and then pull to 2S, this is showing a slam try surely? Or at least showing something like an Acol 2 in spades

Traditionally this is played as GF. I suppose you could play some kind of Blackout here where you say "Sorry I responded" and the next bid becomes not forcing, but I don't think this is standard

But I like humiliating myself :lol: Why do you hate the idea Bearmum?

Double is only correct there if it is penalty. Any bid other than 2NT is just downright poor. With only 4 to the 10 in spades, and no real support for a minor, why do you want to know partner's suit? As for jumping to 3S, that was bad as well. For one thing, it sounds forcing (if 2NT would be Lebensohl, and for game to be a good shot you need partner to have the kind of hand that would raise a 2S bid to 3S. But worst of all is the weak 2..... 6 to the 8 is not a weak 2. When will people learn this? Equally, that isn't a game I want to be in. needing trumps 2-2, a non-club lead, A of clubs onside and no nasty heart ruffs, entirely possible if he calls his 7 card suit a 6 carder. Can't quite work that lot off the top of my head, but I bet it isn't very much

Free makes a good case there: if I was playing strong club, I would open 1S not 2C on the North hand

Nice one Ben. Although you do seem to have put the same hand down twice...... This one happened a while back: [hv=n=sqxhkxdakqxxxxcak&w=skxxhqjxdjxxxcxxx&e=saxxxhaxxxxdcjxxx&s=sjxxxhxxxdxxcqxxx]399|300|[/hv] bidding went, with me (south) as dealer Pass Pass 2C Pass 2D Pass 3D Pass 3S Pass 4NT Pass 5D Pass 7S all pass 5D showed 0 or 3 keycards, 2C was strong. Managed to escape undoubled though, for -800 (we were vul)

OK give responder an extra spade and one less heart then. The point was that partner can have 0 aces quite happily on this sequence, and as Fred said, there are hands with 1 or 2 key cards where the 5 level isn't safe

At unfavourable, I might consider 2NT. But at any other score, 1D. This hand is FAR too good for 2NT 1st NV

1 I don't open 1S. I open 1C. I can count 4 losers here, so am more than happy to open my longest suit 2. I don't pass as S after 1S X. I bid 2H. If S passes, I bid 3D as W, not 2H. 3. If the bidding has gone that way, I try 4C I reckon, but partner will put me back to spades and so we play in the wrong place. Hence I open 1C. If I open 1C, a 1NT overcall doesn't seem so bad. So: 1C 1NT 2H 3D 3S X 4C P P X could well happen. If 3D is forcing or not I know not, but I can't see E/W ever buying the contract in 3NT.

Hi everyone. The Durham Uni website has a very good poor bridge of the week page, where those appallingly bad things we do get printed up so everyone can have a good laugh at our expense. What do people think about having something similar on here? I would suggest that you can only put your own mistakes up to avoid causing offense, or not give names or something Mark

Hmmm. How do you know partner doesn't have: Txxxxx Qx Qx KQx You should bid 5 spades, and if partner bids 6 (he should do with 3, since it's the strong hand asking), you can now bid 7 quite happily.

Playing weak NT, you really DON'T want to be looking for 3NT. Since partner either has a strong NT with 4+ clubs, or 5+ clubs unbalanced (if partner is 4414 there are a lot of diamonds not being bid by opponents). What would 2NT be here? If you play Baron 2NT after 1 of a minor, like lots of Acol players do (Acol is a revolting system btw) then that's the lie I'll tell, and correct 3NT to 4C as a slam try.

Whatever 4C is meant to mean, I wouldn't bid it unless I had specifically discussed what it would mean with a partner. No wonder people have done all sorts of random things after it. Without any discussion I would probably pass it as well, and tell partner off for making stupid random bids that don't have any agreement.

I play them because I think you lose a lot of space if you play that: 1S 2C 2 bananas 3C is not forcing. If I have to jump to the 4 level to show a game force with 6+ good clubs I want to play another system. Generally I find that the difference between the 6-9 Bergen raise and the 6-9 3 card support (single raise) is not so necessary, so as long as you can make pre-emptive and limit raises without overloading J2NT. 1 pair I know uses their Jacoby 2NT as limit +, but all of their continuations are designed for deciding when to bid game and when to stop in 3. Pointless

Mike Lawrence recommends this as a modified version of RKCB. Responses are: 4D = 0 4H = 1 4S = 1+ Q 4NT = 2 5C = 2+ Q

Some interesting thoughts there David. However, there are a few difficulties, especially since I play strong club with you. 1) Having up to 18-19 HCP hands in 1S and 1H will presumably restrict that hands you open these to unbalanced hands. However, how do you define unbalanced? Are 5422 hands unbalanced? I would like to open 5422s as NT hands, but I can see this leading to difficulties 2) Putting GF hands with diamonds into a nebulous 1D opening would, IMO, force partner to respond on virtual rubbish opposite a likely 11-13 NT. This makes defenders lives easier if the 1D opening becomes almost forcing as well. 3) If you take out the 11-13 NT hands out of 1D and put them into 1C, this will kill the symmetric relays that we play, since we either require a GF opposite 11-13 balanced, and our 1D response becomes WAY overloaded or :) we revert to complete Polish club, which has no relays

OK, so you're playing a teams match in some league event, and no-one's told you anything short of "turn up at 7.45 for a match, you'll have team-mates when you get there" so you do, and thankfully you're playing with your regular partner, and you're playing a level IV system At the half way stage, your new opponents look at your system card, and call a director because it's all gobbledegook to them, and ask if it's legal. The director doesn't know, and so rings the tournament secretary, who doesn't know either, and so consults some file written eons ago, and discovers it is level IV. The only level IV convention you have bid (so far) is 2NT, showing a bad pre-empt in either minor, on a board you gained 6 IMPs on What kind of ruling should occur here? Mark

I think double here should be strong balanced. Responder can do whatever he likes opposite a (presumed) 18-19 balanced hand. Playing horrible disgusting weak no trump I suppose this could have a good 16-17 count as well, which is another reason why I don't play it.

So give yourself: AKxxx x Axxx xxx and over their weak 2H, a 2S would be forcing for 1 round? THis not only gives them 1 opportunity to double you after an agressive overcall, but 2, the second 1 at a higher level. So an opponent with a 16 count and a misfit can pass the first round since it is forcing, and then crucify you the second time round for an extra undertrick. Incidently, does anyone think the 2H opening is a bit agressive given that North is vulnerable?

There is a version in a Khamerashi system I play, which uses Intermediate Lucas 2s (also known as khamerashi 2s), so the Kaplin Inversion can be even better defined: 1H 1s 1NT = balanced 2C = Flannery 2D = Bad 2H rebid (6+ hearts) 2H = Good 2H rebid (6+ hearts) 2S = reverse