msjennifer

As per Super Precision,3S ,if made with NT in mind, denies a guard in H.To ask for a spade guard he bids 3H not 3S. Obviously,opener can not have a heart suit as he would either have bid it or doubled the 2S bid. I give one example( without intervention), 1S-2C 2S-3D. Denies a guard in Heart suit .It also may be an advance Diamond cue bid with S support,( This will be made clear later if responder bids 4S on openers bid over 3D.) Whether to adopt this method or not ,of course,is upto individual preference or liking.

It looks as though you have NOT played bridge for 45 years rather than the other way round. DA and duck the next.Hearts will break if they are 3/2 always.This way you can cater 4/0 with West void.East will have to put up an honor which you duck and finesse his other honor later.If East is void in D you can easily switch back to hearts and duck a round catering for4/1 break.And if both suits fail you have the spade finesse in reserve for the 9 th trick.

You said that you bid 3C which responder passed holding only 4 Cards and he had 6 Diamond cards.I don't blame him as 3C was taken by your partner ,perhaps,as a 5 card suit and a dislike for diamonds.To show support for both minors you should bid ,if at all,2NT a bid which is easy to understand as no one will bid 2Nt when 1NT itself was doubled and more so when partner has shown a poor hand.He would then have easily bid 3 diamonds.You have solid winners and no wasted honors in both majors.Playing Wriggling,I ,in your position ,would certainly have bid 2NT with the given cards.Good Luck with wriggling.

The "WRIGGLING" convention says it all.With a poor hand with 5+ suit the responder does not wish to play in 1NTx bids xx requesting ,or rather forcing, opener to bid 2C and if that is actually the responders suit he passes or corrects to D/H/S whichever is his suit.Since this is showing a very weak hand opener has to pass compulsorily.With a good hand with which,(when not playing this convention,)normally have redoubled ,or any 4333 hand even if poor ,PASSES.For example,holding 8+ HCP and balanced hand he does not xx but passes.If openers RHO passes the opener if he does not wish to play in 1NTx redoubles asking responder to pass with 8 or more and bid the 4card suit with less HCP. After1NTx with a poor hand and having no long suit but having two four carder suits ,bids the lower ranking suit e.g.with xx,Jxxx,xxx,xxxx he bids 2C.!and opener passes with at least three cards in clubs and else bids 2D without them.In the e.g.hand respnder bids 2H, his other 4 card suit and opener passes since he must possess at least three cards in H as he has only 2 cards in clubs.The general idea of the convention is "To Wriggle" out.There are less chances now that opponents will double a 2 level suit contract (as there can be even a 4-4 fit ).And when the long suit approach has been used there can be even 5-3 or better fit,Anyhow they may find it difficult to x that contract.Somehow,we may escape playing in 1NTx with a poor hand or even penalize opponents (when the 8+ hand passes and opener redoubles).It is advisable that only regular partnerships use this convention. As regards what to do in the diagrammed example,it is advisable to pass since one knows nothing about partners hand.It may prove costly if any other competitive bid like 3C is thought of.

I We do not mind giving info to our opponents.As I said, we adjust the bidding to give information to partner if, as and when needed.We do not mind sharing it with our opponents if the method helps us to reach par contracts and certainly all four at the table enjoy and appreciate it.Please see the bidding for the diagrammed deal by our methods.We enjoy playing many conventions and gadgets which have been used gainfully all over the world by the best of them.We discuss and modify crude Stayman and SST and LST etc.We like enjoying the game together with our opponents.We try to ensure that we leave the table with 'friendly' feelings.But then there do exist players who play with the intention of putting a hammer in opponents 'works'.

I did expect statement like this.And that is why I wrote "unmindful of result".We play the LTC once a suit fit is established.Here the spade suit is solid as per our contentions.In fact the 4 S bid shows exactly seven losers with no support needed.18-(7+7)=4. Remove the SQ and put it elsewhere in exchange for an x ,and then the bid is not 4S but 1S. With such a hand we find it beneficial to use the PFA.Opener can go ahead with a stronger hand and less losers.Of course some may say"but opener may be void .....etc".We don't bother about it! We assume normal hands ,more so if partner opens 1NT.We have hardly ever lost a hand using these conventions.And so be it.!

Whether you use Stayman or not depends upon how conservative and technical your style is.In practice,one cannot find out if partner has 15/bad16 or 16good/17 HCP by using Stayman,one only knows whether opener possesses a major or not.Playing match point game I have found the bang bang system works well.When playing IMP or team of four IMP matches it is advisable to use Stayman if responders hand is any 4432,with one or both majors, and the doubleton does not have a honor.With any 4333 with a 4 card major one should use Stayman only if almost all the points are in the major suit,e.g.Qxx,AKJx,xxx,xxx.Playing Stayman modified,we use openers 2H bid to show both majors holding 15/bad16 HCP and 2S to show both majors with good 16/17 HCP.Holding or not holding only one major the opener bids 2Diamonds.The further bidding after 2D proceeds with responder biding his four card major with a nonforcing 8/9 bad 10 and using 3C Baron with 10+ HCP when he wishes to force a game.Almost all good Bridge players can easily work out the rest of the bidding for hands with only a game forcing or non game forcing hands.I have restrictions of space to describe the entire structure ,useful only for regular pairs,as it runs into more than 10 pages.We also do not open 1NT when Two suits are open.To give an example, holding xx,AKJX,AKxx,xxx, we deviate from the system and open it 1Heart.I opened the hand so and opponents played in 3S making comfortably.The international in my seat opened this hand 1NT and went minus 300 when opponents did not bid and cashed the first nine tricks.Partner held ,xx,Qxxx,Qxxx,xxx a mirror ,so to say. In the diagrammed deal we would bid 1D-4S,unmindful of the results,since both opener as well as responders hands holding two suits open are not fit for bidding No Trumps. Note:-We do not play Garbage Stayman .However, we do play four suits transfers.Lastly,our chief intentions are not preventing opponents from bidding but to bid the hands more descriptively.

The question asked is "what now"? Are you going to bid 4S/ 3NT or Pass.? .

4S looks attractive and automatic but can go down on 2 diamond ruffs and DA (or HA) and SA on a diamond lead !I If so, one should consider oneself unlucky.

Partners 1NT followed by 3NT shows life.4H or 5 C must certainly be on.Hence I bid 4C.

As far as playing a Standard System,We have found a simple solution which any beginner can practice ."ANY NEWSUIT BID by the Responder at THREE level is absolutely forcing to game".It may also be a slam ambition bid,which will be clear by his next round bid,inviting cue bids up the line.

I would like to invite every friend's attention to "the theory of fourth suiting forcing at least for one round "in the "Super Precision By Belladonna and Garozzo"published quite some years back.They give the following interpretation on the fourth suit bid as under, A) A genuine suit.OR B)A cue bid with support in one of the two suits bid by the opener.OR C) Denying a guard in the suit for NT. Whether it was A, B,or C is made clear by his bid on the next round.Opener bids NT with a NT guard in the fourth suit. It is easy for Precision system players where 1DHS are limited to 11/15 HCP. to adopt to this scheme.Any Standard System players can easily fit the same in their system as I personally do. In the book it is made explicitly clear that," Opener NEVER bids the fourth suit for the © mentioned above At a personal level,I have found this method of interpreting the fourth suit bid by responder as the least confusing method

I personally do not like the 1NT bid made earlier.Considering the total misfit in hearts,some may laugh ,playing negative dbl I would have made it over opponents 1S.And over partners 2C I will respond 2D.Since I have not bid 2D earlier and neither have bid 2 H(doubleton support)or passed or raised clubs opener can plainly see my hand as 4153 with 10/11HCP and a fairly decent diamond suit.

Wanks hand does not deserve a 5H bid at all!If no agreement about dealing with such situations has been done earlier it is worth only abid of 4H and nothing more.It's a five loser hand and 2S over callers hand is completely unknown.It has not promised anything except a good spade suit and an Ace outside perhaps.Keeping this in mind there is nothing to get excited about in this hand .As a 2S overcaller,I will note a thing or two. Such a bid asks overcaller to bid six holding a top honor in Heart is one way and the other is to bid six with aces of D and S. Since there is much darkness surrounding partners expectations I shall PASS to be on a safe side.

I too will open.Rebid is easy 2Spade.This DOES NOT show six spades.

Personally I find it wise not to play fourth suit forcing to game.Playing the fourth suit forcing upto 2NT or 3 of suit is much much better.If played this way then over 2C opener will be able to show a three card heart support if his hand is 4342.Else, it is very difficult to show a five card decent heart suit as 3H will show a different picture I.e a six card suit and 2H will be treated as sign off.No point in bidding an invitational 2Nt as Opener can not have balanced 15 HCP .He would have opened 1 No trump if he had.Of course,if responder has a certain game going hand he is free to continue biding a game or even a slam if his hand warrants.Opener has to proceed with a little caution after a 4thsuit bid as it may well be check-back for support.

Fast reply is a fast PASS.

Opener CAN have a 4 card spade suit without an honor.For example ,holding S-5432,H-void,D-AQxxx,C-AKxx.Bidding 1S over 1H is then stretching the things too far! Make the hand S-Qxxx,H-void,D-Axxxx,C-AKxx, and then 1 S is obvious.

Or perhaps he was playing for marbles and not money !

Even conceding that in your so called "system" fourth suit is not forcing,the 2S bid is forcing ,in the example here ,as it is not only a fourth suit but is " a responders reverse", since it forces you to choose the first bid suit ,with a 3 card support ,one level higher.A reverse by responder is forcing in any system.Your profile says you prefer Acol system.If so your system ,where 2S is nonforcing ,is a grand new Acol system invented by you..My rather crude sounding unasked-for " comment" is "back to school and try and learn any logical system and that includes Acol".Even Victor Mollo's Rueful Rabbit will not pass a 2S bid in this example ! ,

If my partner is not too modern or too unscientific and since I am an aggressive bidder i bid 3 NT and should make it comfortably.I will stay put if doubled.If 3NT goes down I I won't mind it and shall discuss after the deal is over.

We prefer a jump to 4 in the nonagreed minor (if we wish to play in an agreed minor ) as RKCB followed as usual by the Spiral.

This rule modification is a most highly welcome change made till now.Hearty thanks to ACBL.

I have seen the great bridge player Hamman opening 1NT with a singleton King and 444 in the remaining 3 suits.