relknes

I would want 11 good HCP with this shape. I would pass some very bad 12 counts, but bid all 13 counts with this shape.

A frequent problem after opening 1♥ or 1♠ with a 6 card suit and hearing some response from partner is "Should I show my 4 card minor, or rebid the major to show 6 of them?" Personally, I show the second suit the majority of the time on the theory that it is better to let partner know about 9 cards (5+ in the major and 4+ in the minor) than letting them know about 6 cards (6+ in the major). I only rebid the 6 card suit if the suit is solid or semi-solid (say, AQJxxx) and the minor is very weak (say, Jxxx or worse). Partner will usually correct back to the major with a doubleton unless they have 4 card support for the minor. If I have 6 spades and 4 hearts, I always show the hearts with my second bid, regardless of the strength difference. What are other people's criteria?

1♠ for me, planning to treat it as 18 HCP on account of the 5 card suit. I would prefer to have more concentrated values for this (or at least not KJ tight), but still, that's my call. And no, it wouldn't matter if I had a way to find out about a 5 card major after 1N.

2♦ here as well. It is just shy of a 3♦ bid. Another point or another diamond and I will jump to 3♦, and if you switch the spades and clubs I would consider it (since partner's assumed spade shortage is likely to be working) though I would be much more likely to do so if I was bidding a major suit.

Would this still work over 1♦ and 1♥? Also, there does seem to be some disagreement on whether or not a combined ask is legal. Does anyone have a final answer on that?

1. More agressive than I bid, but acceptable at favorable vulnerability if you play a "Rule of 2/3/4" style. 2. Terrible. This would be bad with 4 spades, but with 5 spades? Never. 3. I would open 5♣ here. 5 losers at favorable vulnerability, with a great suit. Bidding 3♣ is bad, in my opinion, and then bidding again is worse. 1♣ is my second choice. If you are going to treat it as a preempt, go for the jugular, otherwise open it 1♣ and just keep competing in clubs, hoping they double you into game. 4. Bad, though not as bad as #2. Too many losers at equal vulnerability, even for a 2/3/4 style. 4 spades on the side is a minus. Just bad all around. Edit: on hand 3, I noticed 1♣ is not an option since RHO opened. Oposite a passed hand, I still vote for 5♣, but my second choice is 2♣ and competing until they double me.

I read in the GCC that responses that ask for singletons or voids are legal, as are trump quality asks. Is the following bid legal, as it combines a singleton/void ask with a trump quality ask? 1x - 2♣ = fit for partner, invitational or better values, asking for singleton/void and trump quality. Responses are: 2x = light opener, good 5+ suit 2y = sound opener and a singleton in the bid suit and 5+ trump 2N = sound values with only 4 in the opened suit 3♣ = sound opener with a singleton/void in clubs and 5+ trump 3x = sound opener with 5+ in the suit, but no singleton or void 3y = sound opener with a void in the bid suit and 5+ trump

Maybe he just miscounted the hand as 22 points today?

Ok, sorry I posted the first two already. I will stop now. I had thought Phantom Club would qualify since you start with a 1♣ "takeout double" with any hand too strong for a smple overcall.

Phantom 1♦ - 3♣ 3♥ - 3N 4♣ - 4N 5♣ - 5♥ 6♦ Translation: S: Overcall, N: this one takes some explaining... North is pretending East opened 1♣ and partner overcalled 1♦ (as usual for the system) but then West raised to 2♣, so this bid shows a diamond fit and invitational or better values (which is prety strong considering S could have 8 points with a good diamond suit) S: heart stopper and non-minimum values for the overcall, N: stoppers in clubs and spades S: Gerber, N: 3 aces S: Gerber, N: 1 king S: to play Akward auction. On a really bad day, South might even let things languish in 3N (though he shouldn't, given the strength that N showed with the phantom cuebid).

Phantom 1♣ - 2♥ 2♠ - 2N 4♥ Translation: S: takeout double of 1♣, N: 9-11, 5+ S: 17+, natural, GF N: balancedish S: 3+ heart support, no slam interest

I am currious how "Phantom Club" would perform compared to other strong/multi club systems. For those who don't know, Phantom is an approach that treats all auctions as competitive, with 1♣ being a takeout double of clubs. Opening bids are light, usually with stronger lead directing properties than standard openings, and some hands are passed in first or second seat that others might open if the long suit is weak. This system will vary considerably from partnership to partnership depending on their style of overcalls. I expect that it will not do so well in the slam auctions, since it is geared toward competitive bidding.

Hey, after quite a bit of research, I actually found one! It is called the "Valentine Club." It uses more of a relay structure than I am used to, so I will probably try to craft my own responses if I decide to pursue it (that is most of the fun of creating a system after all), but it is encouraging to know that someone has tried it before, so the basic premise should be sound.

I have long been interested in canape bidding, for a lot of reasons. However, I never liked the "ambiguous length" rebids that often happen in strong club systems that use canape with sequences like 1♥-1♠-2♣. Half of your two suited hands will have clubs as one of the suits, so these are fairly frequent. I have also been interested in two-way club systems that use a "strong or natural" 1♣ opening, which tends to leave the 2m bids open for preemptive actions as well as having a more useful 1♦ opening. I was currious if anyone has ever tried a 1♣ opening that was "Strong or canape"? In other words, it would more or less deny a 4 card major, but could have 4 clubs with a 5+ side suit, OR 6+ clubs, OR a strong hand. Would such an opening be workable?

I will take the finesse. The "8 ever, 9 never" rule is for situations when you have no reason to believe one or the other opponent has the missing card. It is only about 2% better than the finesse with no other information, and here I think the doubles swing the probabilities way more than 2% in favor of East having the ♠Q. Doing this, the slam should have play if the trump split 2-2, so long as the queen is onside, and if trump split 3-1 then we need something else good to happen. After the first 2 tricks, play the ♠5 from dummy and finesse the J (this preserves an entry at the cost of losing a trick when spades are 3-1 with the singleton Q in the West, which seems nearly impossible with East's double). If that holds, a low spade back to the king will tell if trump split 2-2, in which case you are basically home. If trump split 3-1, you have to play the diamonds, ditching two hearts unless East trumps in with the queen, when you overtrump and cash the ♥AK, then lead the ♥J back toward the board as a trump finesse (since West is basically marked with the ♥Q here). If East dosn't trump in with the Q, then after dumping 2 hearts on the ♦Q and ♦J you will trump a low diamond if the ten has not fallen, and hope that East still has at least 2 hearts left so you can cross back with a ruff to play the last diamond. This line should succeed when trump are 2-2, or when East trumps a diamond with the Q, or when the ♦T falls on the first 3 rounds, or when East still has 2+ hearts after four rounds of diamonds have been played (all assuming West has the ♥Q and East has the ♠Q, which seems likely given the bidding). Playing for the drop only succeeds when trump are 2-2. I think those extra chances more than make up for the times you lose out because the ♠Q was offside. Then again, it is very late and I might be missing something glaringly obvious...

The GCC says that conventional doubles and redoubles are allowed. It also says that you cannot use conventions after a 1N opening that has a lower limit of less than 10 HCP. So my question is, can you use conventional doubles and redoubles after partner opens a 1N that shows, say 9-12 points?

I am fine with that.

If East jump overcalls with 2♥, the auction will go: 1♣ - (P) - 1♦ - (2♥) 3♣ - (4♥) - X And now South has a tough decision. The double here is takeout (5-5 in the unbid suits with 8+ support points for either suit),as opposed to the double of the cuebid which allowed North to show club support, but it can be passed at the 4 level. So South can visualize the North hand as 5-1-5-2, 5-0-5-3, or a hand theat is 6-5 in the pointed suits (the 5-1-5-2 hand is less likely based on the opponent's bidding). Do they leave the double in for penalties, or bid 5♦ hoping partner dosn't have 5 spades to the KJ or something where we could be down off the top? I lean toward taking it out, I think, but I might very well make a different decision on a different day. If partner does have the ♦A or ♠A, we might set them severely if the opponents are at all mirrored in distribution, but then again those are the same cases we are making 5♦. With a lot of wasted values in spades, we might set them one or two while 5♦ goes down, but there is always the off chance they make it... so I think I bid 5♦.

For us, a double of NT is always penalty oriented. Constraints for doubling 1N: 17+ points. Should also have a good lead if minimum. Denying 5-5 majors?: Yes (in fact it even denies 5 spades with 4 hearts, or a 5 card major with a 5 card minor). It also denies a 6 card major. Could have a singleton or void, if for instance it has a long and strong minor suit. If partner has enough that a game is on, they will be in trouble in 1N. We have the lead, so we should get into our suits first. Not that it will always score better (hence why we prefer overcalling with very shapely major oriented hands). Partner should let the penalty double play unless they have 9+ points (8 if they have a good 5+ major). Are we alone in playing a double of 1N for penalty? I thought it was prety standard.

2N - 3♣ 3♠ - 3N P Translation: S: 20-21 balanced, N: Stayman S: 4+ spades, N: pass or correct S: lets play 3N

I know that some Easts would preempt 2♥ here, but to me the hand is 1 loser too many to do so when red (I use the rule of 2 and 3, not 2-3-4), so I vote 1♥. I also think that West's hand is worth the 3♣ cuebid. With 4 cards in the enemy suit, partner is likey to be short in clubs, and the shortness in diamonds is likely to be working. The ♣K is well placed over the strong hand, so doesn't lose quite as mich of its value oposite partner's presumed shortness, though it still isn't full value. All in all, I would say that the hand is worth about 11 and 1/2 support points (9 HCP, 3 points for the singleton with 4 card support, but discounting half a point for the ♣K). Others will value it differently, I am sure. Anyways, long way of saying that I agree with the auction that was posted for the opponents.

Some Easts maybe, but not many (at least in my area). And if they do, that's fine. I don't mind defending 1Nx, and if they play some kind of forced runout system (ie, they play 1Nxx or run to 2x) I will have a lot of fun doubling whatever contract they end up in (2♦x looks likely). Either way, it is better than 2N-1.

For partner to make the takeout double there, he should have 5-1-5-2 shape with 5-8 HCP or 5-2-5-1 shape with 7-8 HCP. They have to be at least 5-5 in the unbid suits, they can't have 3 hearts, or the opponents are just crazy, and they can't have a heart void or they would have doubled 3♣ (which for us means a hand that would have competed to 3♣ over an opponent's 2♥ bid). If partner has 5-1-5-2 shape, then I should only be able to make 5♦ if partner has the two of the ♣K and the other 3 aces, which is a real long shot, and 4♦ is probably the limit. If partner has 5-2-5-1 shape, I should make 5♦ most of the time if partner has one of the missing aces, and 5♦ is a good bet. All in all, I figure 5♦ is about 40-45% to make. How about 3N? Even if partner has the ♦A, I count 5 diamond tricks, a heart trick, a club trick, and whatever partner can produce in spades. After the obvious heart lead I don't think I will have the oportunity to establish 2 more tricks in clubs before the opponents can cash their hearts. If partner dosn't have the ♦A, things are even more dismal. All in all, I figure 3N is about 25-30% to make. All things considered, I sign off at 4♦. Edit: After looking at the hands, I see that North should have doubled the 3♣ cuebid. 3 card support, an outside ace, and a void in the opponent's suit should be plenty for partner to compete to 3♣. So our auction should go: 1♣ - P - 1♦ - (1♥) 2♣ - (3♣) - X - (3♥) And now I think that 5♣ looks good. Partner should be able to cover 2 losers easily.

That's fine. I have some system tweaking to do anyways. This has been a very helpful exercise!

6 KQ6 KQ73 AQJ75