phoenix214

I was checking out some 1NT response structures, but i don`t know which is the better one to use(Any complexity level is ok). I do not know anything much about the older ones, like 2-way Stayman and stuff. I have tried playing a 4way transfer over NT with a full relay for finding openers distribution, but that didn't feel best. For the last two years or so, i did play a version where responder shows his shape to opener. Checking out more modern structures i have noticed that most of them use 2♣ as a puppet to 2♦(Keri, Heeman). Is hiding the openers distribution that much of a gain? Does anyone have any opinions on what NT structure is the better one.

My 2 cents. 5-7 does not help to know what responder has, he may have lots of hands. Better is to have X as a +/- balanced GF hand. Bids w/o a jump are natural and around the same 5-7 level. Jump bids are GF with a suit. Do this if you want to insist on this suit. That helps a lot. Id suggest reading up Revision Club. It has some good points about opps biding after your 1C. The best bid there as well is the cue-bid, which is used as a GF three-suiter.

Actually while on the note on NT systems. Which is the best NT system available now. I was looking at some and its a bit hard to tell.

Actually how do you bid the hands which use yellow rose of Texas?, IF you have some better conventions then it is easier. I know that if your not using balanced invites to games after 1NT, then you can use 1NT-2C, 2M-3M for the fitting hands and 1NT-2C, 2M-4NT if not. But if using invites, then it becomes harder. Do you have alternatives besides CONFIT?

Depends on what methods you play, X is for penalty so we dismiss that. The question is what you use the rest bids for, With a partner with 0 discussion all bids probably are NFB or the thing you do usually for 1x-(1y/2y)-2z. What i have played in this position is something like Cappeleti. 2♣ is onesuited. 2♦, ♦+M, 2♥-Majors, 2♠, ♠+minor. I think you can use any normal defense to 1NT with some modifications here as well probably, but it depends as well on the 1♦ opening, does it actually promise real diamonds or it is just better minor

Sorry, forgot to add a link to the convention, my bad http://www.bridgebum.com/yellow_rose_of_texas.php

Today browsing the web i found a convention called - "Yellow rose of Texas" which is an extension of the Texas transfers used after NT opening. The idea is that it shows a balanced slam try with exact distribution by responder. I was wondering if someone has tried it, and do if it is usable. And following things up, how do in natural biding you normally drive to slam with lets say an 16 count 4432, with lets say 4 spades and 4 diamonds

In our partnership we play that 1M-(x)-xx shows some values(6+ usually) and exactly 2M. This treatment has 2 good things going for it. With max opener (Our 1M is limited to 15) and 6M, opener can jump to game(15+6+2+2+2+2=29) 29/3=9,66 which is aprox 10 :), Also there if partner pass, you can assume that he either does not have points or is with short hearts. I remember this being helpful in world youth championship last year, were we did set a contract because of this. Partner led A of the major and gave me a ruff. That was the only way to beat the contract(although i do not remember what kind of it was)

Yesterday i got dealt this hand as South(South dealer, E-W red, scoring is Imps), ♠:KQJ6 ♥:KT5 ♦:T95 ♣:QJT Playing precision with an (12)13-15 NT and an unbalanced 1♦ opening i decided to pass.(I suppose some would want to open 1NT with this hand, because of the good honor combinations in the black suits + the three tens) After my pass, lefty did as well and pard opened 1♥. Now i did use Drury and checked how strong my pard is and found out he had a super minimum, less then 11HCP, so we got to play 2♥. My pards hand was: ♠:987 ♥:A9874 ♦:QJ7 ♣:K7 The play started with A,K of diamonds and a ruff. Since the ruff was from Qxx, he did not have extra heart losers. Funny thing is that nor 2NT nor 3♥ are making. If i would have opened 1NT, we would be playing higher, because of the fact that my p would have invited me to game, and we would be too high already. Checking the hand playing natural seems that it is easy to stop in 2♥, after 1m-1♥, 1NT-2♣(2wayCB), 2♦, 2♥. Lessons learnt from the deal: It is nice to have ways to stop low with invitational hands(1NT/2M) and that we should know how to pass with some good hands once in a while

Well checked system notes, which usually has solutions to these problems, and it actually says that i should open 1♣ with those, at least learnt something from the experience

Well my partners hand was something like the one you described(could have been 4432, but that is my fault of posting this about 4 days after the tournament with no hand records :D) Well this is not the first time we have the problem as well with such hands, although i suppose a non-sophisticated natural system would not found the slam anyway. I think the bidding we had was - 2NT-3♣(Asking), 3♥(4 or 5)-4♥. There is a trick to show slam tryish hands, but i do not think it helps. The reason we open with such hands 2NT is because were playing a strong club that excludes minimum balanced hands(If opps interfere, we are sure that partner has more then a flat minimum). The thing that worries me the most about this is, that how the playing strength of hand of shape 2-4-3-4 and 2-4-2-5 changes even in the same interval of high cards.

Had a problem in a recent tournament where we failed to bid slam. I do not remember the hands precisely, which is a bit of a problem, but some general advice could help. In our system we systematically open 2NT with all 4333//4432/5332/5422(not 54M) and some 6m322 hands in the range of 19-20 points. I got a hand that was of 2-4-2-5 shape, and 19 points. Had lots of controls, also points in the short suits. I opened on 4th hand 2NT. Partner asked for 4M, found out i had 4♥ and raised to 4. Turned out he had 4th ace of hearts, 3rd king of clubs and a queen and a jack. Long story short, i got 12 tricks easily. The problem is. How can you sort out problems with hands like these when you open 2NT? And are there ways to check for slams like these?

Is there any place i can get partnership bidding tests besides random hand generators and rpbridge.net? Thanks

IF you blast, id say blast 5NT, which would be :"Partner, i want to play slam but i don`t know which suit, show me prefence" or Pick-a-slam.

I didnt know this was in the secret bridge Olympiad o.O Anyway well but you still use the double as general points, takeoutish, so it does not change that position

Depends on what you want X to be, if it long spades, then it can work. Im thinking that using the bid 1♠ here should be the raptor(transfer raptor), Now 1NT can be asking 1NT/2♣ is the minor w/o 4 spades. 2♦ is a good heart suit. 2♥ is one suited in spades, good hand 2♠ is 5spades and 5 in a minor(transfer to the unusual 2nt), Here we win because we can play 2♠ and at the same time we can show the two suited hand. This leaves X with hand that lots of points, and maybe hands weak enough not to bid 2♥.

Thanks for the answer, the sequence i meant is (1M)-pass-(1NT), and now the transfers. For the Rubens transfers, i play them, but i was wanting to increase to look at specifically the place like (1♦)-pass-(1♠), and now use 1nt as clubs, 2d- diamonds, and so on. 2NT as the big two-suiter, and X as power double. And for raptor, i was reading an blog post by Nil Ulsen where he suggested using canape jump overcalls in situations like (1m)-2M where 2M means 4Mand 5(6) of om, and similar. + if vs the polish club and precison diamond im using such structures, where i do not have a strong nt, im have been thinking to remove it from other places as well and use X as power.(Like the overcall system, which uses PD and 1NT for take-out)

I know i read on brideguys the Vasilevsky convention which is basically transfers in the position (1M)-(1NT), now X is transfer to ♣, 2♣-Diamonds, opps major is Strong take-out, OM is weak take-out with 4+OM. I had the idea of using them in similar positions such as, 1m-1M, and the likes(basically all 1/1 positions). And on a side note, does anybody know how often do you get a strong NT overcall, cause i was thinking, isnt it better to use 1NT as raptor/take-out/Something else

A side note, with a hand with crappy suit and relatively balanced(like those who open 1NT with 6322), bid 1NT and after 2NT(invite to 3N) so 3D is more like the part - if you help me out in diamonds then we have game, kinda like the 3m sound preempts which promise 2/3. and a side topic, lets say part has 5431 (10-12) points and singleton diamond, Is 3nt even a good bet now? If diamonds work out, you go +600, if they don`t then we go for (200-400), expecting 110 for the other table?

I was wanting to hear the opinion for the following hand ♠:J ♥:Jxx ♦:AKJxxxx(maybe was with 9, dont recall) ♣:Kx Red vs Green, Imps Partner opens 1♠(11-15 5+♠, virtually all crappy 11 counts possible as well)-(p) What is your bid? Options: 1NT - One round forcing(no exceptions) 2♦(GF with ♦) 3♦ (Invitational with long diamonds w/o supp for spades) Other bids are out of question cause they have other meanings

Well i can imagine some toys to figure stuff out, but they are not definitely mainstream so ill pass on those. With the hand, probably bid 3H or 3NT, depends on how you value the high spots, although on the other hand, what is the point of using an invitational bid after 1NT opening with a point-range of 3?

In the system i play the bidding would go 1♥-2♦ 2♥(nothing extra, only 5♥)-4♥(Most points in diamonds and hearts) P As you can see this bid helps to find out that responder has lots of diamond points but opener has a void, so he clearly passes

What would 4♦ be now? :) I know that i have an agreement that we show splinters only if ops suit, if they bid one. That means that 4♦ should be naturalish, although what it means is a different story. Since we had a bid of 3♦ it show a good hand. If partner reads this as good 2-suiter in ♠ and ♦, with the message of taking only aces in account for the other suits, i think we would have described our hand perfectly, although it may be a bit too weak in terms of pure strength. That also means that he will only look at key cards, like all the aces + queen of diamonds/jack of spades, i think if he sees 3 aces of QoD then it is an easy slam :)

I have been thinking, about the bidding 1♦-2♣ and 1♦-2♦. In standard when one plays a nebulous diamond(2+♦) Is it worth to use both 2m responses as natural? Both of them seem a bit old-fashioned(at least the way i play them now)-with showing 5+ in suit and at least invitational strength. I remember reading Andrew Grumpez blog, where he suggested a bid of 2♥ after 1♦ to be balanced and invitational hand. The benefits would be that there is chance to SO at the 2nd level. I was thinking of maybe using the 2♣ bid as such kind of a bid - after it you can find loads of 4-3 fits + it acts somewhat like Stayman, so it is possible to bid it with 4 card majors. The 2♦ bid can be used as a reversed Flannery with less the game going hands. This leaves with the problem - what to do with minor suited hands. The balanced invitational hands can bid 2♣, any GF hand bids 1♥, this leaves me with the unbalanced invitational hands, which i have not solved yet. Although as there seems to be room because of all the 2NT bids open, i think it can be squeezed somewhere. Any thoughts about the idea, can it work or not?

Well this isn't designed too good because i had an idea for these somewhat over a weak ago. Well 1C as the 8-9 balanced needs tweaks anyway, and should it be used or not is a question anyway. 1D denies 4card major if unbalanced. Like 1M is canapeish with 4-5 or 4-6 to open 1M, only with 4432; 4333;5322 you should open 1D. Those were at least the basic ideas.