msjennifer

I agree entirely.Fun(?)at what costs.!,,

I have serious doubts if anyone ,barring perhaps a handful,has even heard of Oklahoma convention leave alone play it in tournaments.

After seeing all 26 cards it is easy to say that "I will splinter a 4D bid".Let alone slam even 4H will go down if partners hand has xxx in spades with either diamond or club Ace to lose.Since the hand lacks at least a King in the remaining two suits we will never make a splinter bid but make a direct limit raise in hearts.One does not know how much value to give to the two Queens.I would not mind if someone suggests a "temporising" response of 1S ,if the partnership knows how to handle the auction afterwards.

Covering most similar situations.Good examples for starters.

It appears to me that a few are following mini-splinters just as some ,or may be many perhaps ,use Stayman 2C even with a practically useless hand,the so called Garbage Stayman.Personally, I dislike both as it only leads to confusion unless used judiciously.They are alright for regular partners who also know the same.We use a splinter bid to promise a four card support with two top honors,no five carder side suit with two top honors and a guarantee of at least a King in the the two remaining suits.We do not make a splinter bid in a suit headed by K or Ace. With the given hand with no King even in anyone of the remaining two suits,I,personally, feel it very unwise to use a splinter in Club with Ace in it. A temporising bid of 1Spade allowing partner to describe his hand at a very economic level is not going to confuse partner at all.(unless you only have the devious intention of preventing opponents from preempting in clubs).

I feel we can't beat them in 2 diamonds]I cannot make a TOD as I do not wish P to bid 2♠..A 2♥ bid appears the only solution(personal opinion) and that's what is my bid.

With a regular partner ( we play Precision) either of us will NOT open this except in the 3rd seat.Change the club Q to K and we will open it in all positions.Playing standard system and irregular partner I shall open this at match points but think twice at IMP event.It is not wise (again my personal opinion) only to take rule of 20,LTC in isolation.Partner will count on you for two defensive tricks if the auction becomes competitive.

I, personally,cannot imagine anyone bidding 1♠ after the bidding which preceded.It must be a psychic bid.With a 4-5 weak hand anyone will pass or bid 2H but not 1S.In view of the circumstances described 3S has to be a natural bid.His partner is free to pass this bid.With a game forcing hand the bid would have been 2H over 1S and later followed by 3S.

A certain clarification is necessary about what are the requirements, (a) A simple reverse bid and (b A Jump Shift reverse bid. 1D-1S-2H is what I take as simple reverse with 5 losers and a holing of Axxxx or equivalent is an enough holding in Hearts. A jump shift as 1D-1S-3H is "an almost 2 Club " opening with 4 or even less losers.( a hand not opened 2C because of difficulty in further rebids as the minor suit is longer and stronger than the major suit) Some players,for reasons best known to themselves , play 1D-1S-3H as "splinter with spade fit".Personally I don't and will never like this interpretation.

Quite right.Personally, I would double the 1S bid.Question of bidding 2♥ will never ever will be there.With a regular partner I would have bid a Michaels 2♠ bid guaranteeing hearts and a minor.( The Ace of D is a compensatory additional value.).

PFA.4♥ Let them find out their minor fit at the five level. .if we are white against red I shall bid 5♥.

Whereas,here in England,in most clubs the older members are still addicted to Acol,many of them have modified it as given in the book " Acol in the Nineties".In some clubs I found players playing the Four card major Standard system as devised by Terence Reese.But the "little major system " is not used by any.I found three couples in their nineties playing Culbertson Honor Tricks system with Culbertson asking bids etc.in their household " evening tea" sessions.Younger layers are using all sorts of systems with their own modifications. in the USA,many pairs are using Meckwell.Standard American or versions of Strong Club e.g. Precision or Blue Club.Roman club and Neapolitan club,Leghorn diamond are nowhere seen.2/1 is certainly becoming popular over there.I regret that I was unsuccessful in communicating with other countries in such a short time.

I have it from most authentic sources that almost all (90 plus percent) players in Maharashtra state India play a peculiar Strong club(18+) system with 15/17 NT and a 1 D opening(diamond may be void),and a modified precision type of 2 C opening.,5 or 4 card majors etc No one has heard of standard system except those who play on BBO.A few beginners play the ladder system ( 12-14C,15/17D,18-20 H,21/24S and 25 plus NT.) Very few (20percent) know about uncommon gadgets and conventions.2/1 is usually GF but it is nonforcing on a passed hand and also the volume of the bid or the swiftness or slowness of putting the call card on the table.In Bengal, most play old fashioned 5 card major system with gadgets,some others play a Precision.,In North India ,it is practically all strong club system,I am grateful to some Indian players who play onBBO regularly,for supplying the facts.

So that leaves 67-75 percent who DO NOT !

No one has done a massive statistical survey in each and every country to demonstrate in actual percentage the number of players playing different systems.It is nor very wise to conclude that 2/1 GF is becoming popular all over.Even most of the average players find it difficult to handle 2/1 as they get stuck when the partner opens 1S/H and they have 10/11 goodish HCP,withoutresorting to a forcing 1NT response.Further difficulties in other distributional hands require the knowledge of NSF,4th suit,New suit by opener or responder forcing or not,what to do when opponents intervene and many other situations require partnership development or a thorough knowledge of conventions and gadgets if one wants to reach a higher level.In this respect I wish to politely point out that many players who play a standard system have resorted to 2/1 forcing only upto 2NT or 3 of Rebid suit. Precision,Meckstroth,Polish club,Acol ,French,Strong club,and even Papa-Momma system,Standard with four card majors,and some uncommon ones like the ladder system,I have personally played against all of them.Every system has its merits and demerits and if one has to reach an expert level one has to know and understand innumerable artificial bids and conventions.For day to day or BBO ,I ,personally , feel SAYC is "the least of all evils" so to say.

I am thoroughly amused and at the same time confused and flabbergasted after reading the various interpretations of various bids made and could have been made in this particular hand.I sincerely thank and congratulate the problem poser. As one of the old expert(?) remarked that in his days the bidding would have gone 1C-1S-2C-3D-3Nt-4C-5C-pass He was shrewd enough to ask me " can't the opener have xx,AJ10x,K,AQxxxx ?"I could only politely reply that I shall put his view in this forum.Thanks all and warm regards.

one can make. 2 D artificial bid only if one can take the final control of the bidding in ones hand and overrule his partner.It is dangerous with a new or unknown partner.As I was taught the standard bidding the responder always bids up the line and hence in this particular example of bidding 3H over openers 2H will most certainly and naturally show a 5440 hand.

Personally,I would have bid 3D (and NOT 2D) over 2Clubs.Over 2H bid,which must be showing a suit (as responder can still have a 5440 hand),there is a genuine problem as I have club KJ in addition to values which I have described so far. Bidding 3D now is a bad bid since that is what one would bid missing club KJ.

Leaving aside the fact that the major suits are going to break badly,Six D is an over bid.Going by LTC,this hand has 7 (seven)losers when keeping in mind that opener "may" have only three cards 7+7=14 and that gives a contract of 4(four) diamonds only..My answer is therefore DOUBLE.What to bid if the intervening bid was four clubs is for you to decide on the agreed gadgets and conventions which you use.

I will pass of course.There are 10 losers,practically no ruffing values.If partner has a very strong hand,little short of 2 C opening he will definitely get an opportunity as these days very few opponents will allow you to play in 1 S.Pass is my answer to the 2nd question also.No question of fooling not only your opponents but your partner also.

With due respect to Helene t,I wish to point out that there are 7 (seven) losers in the 3442 hand given by her,Any SST or LST is made only if ones hand has 6 (six) losers.Suppose partner produces xxx,KJxx,Kxx,xxx will he not respond 2 Hearts? Or is he supposed to bid 1NT to show a balanced hand.!!!Your side can't score more than 8 or sometimes 9 tricks ! That your opponent lady smilingly and politely ignored your advice was fair enough.

The rich looking 14 HCP are deceptive points. The 2 queens are only semi supporting on their own.One of them may be useless.Since I want partner to describe his hand comfortably( since playing Standard he may have a stronger hand),a temporising 2C bid is what I will bid.(If My hand did not possess the queens I would certainly have thought about bidding 2 NT.).

Once I got a hand,AKQxxx,void,void,AKxxxxx, RHO ,Red,opened 1D and I not knowing what to do ( I was 16 then in 2008) overcalled 1S. LHO 2H,Pass,RHO 4 NT. I paused naturally.I then thought what according to me was a common sense bid and bid 5NT.I imagined,this will show S and C.LHO doubled, Pass pass,and to wake up partner I redoubled.All Pass. Minus 4600. On top of this my partner ,aged 58,told me never to make such silly bids.!

Guess I shall never ever get a hand which I shall open 5 NT.

Pass.Having ni idea whatsoever what partner has got,it's no use going ahead