Tryggolaf

Pass might be forcing red vs. white.

Well, I've got to add this: if you look at the auction, I'd take it as a take-out double. If I were to look at my hand, I'd take it as a penalty double. I play take-out doubles as well after 1NT - (2x) - ... Playing take-out doubles, you keep your old fashioned penalty doubles through partner's aggressive balancing.

Transfering to diamonds seems safer than bidding Stayman since you're virtually certain to have a ♦-fit (unless your partner fancies opening 1NT with a singleton). Staymaning is a gamble: you either get lucky in 2♦/2♥ or end up in 2♠ in the Moysian-fit. It's not at all obvious that the double is a penalty double. I'd interpret it as a take-out double: preferably (443)2 and in an unlikely case (335)2 with a hand willing to play on the 3-level and/or defend 3♣x. Regardless of whether the double is penalty/take-out, I would bid 3♦ with East. I won't take the risk of seeing the opponents make a doubled partscore at IMPs.

I opened 1♣ in second seat. It's correctly stated in the opening post, but in a misguided attempt not to overcomplicate the thread title I didn't include it there. Perhaps one of the mods can edit another change the title of the thread to '(pass) - 1C - (pass) - 4NT'. The danger of your concern is a lot less after I opened in 2nd seat, but the opponent in 1st seat might still enter the auction with a shapely hand unfit for a pre-empt in his methods and to a lesser extent, the opponent in 3rd seat might do the same with long ♣ if he wasn't able to bid 2/3 ♣ natural after he faced the 1♣-opening.

Playing in a pick-up partnership in a natural 5 card majors context, you open 1♣ showing 2+♣. Your responses are up the line and you are nearly certain you play inverted minors. Partner manages to surprise you with a 4NT-bid. Regardless of the actual hand you hold, what would you think the 4NT-bid means? In addition to that question, what is your agreement on the 4NT-bid in your regular partnership? (pass) - 1♣ [= 2+ ♣] - (pass) - 4NT

Wow, I wish I'd found this thread weeks or months back instead of diligently working myself through the forum archives and its search function. Thank you very much and keep up the good work goetze!

[hv=pc=n&w=st42haq52d8cq6432&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1d2h(Weak%20jump)d4h4spp]133|200[/hv] At IMPs, would you bid 5H or pass? Pro 5H: - Not much defence (possibly a ♥ trick with opps's ♥ 2-1 since partner has to have 6♥, and something in ♣) - You could lure them into bidding 5♠ which might be down Pro pass: - Possibility of phantom saving, not certain 4♠ makes - 5♥ might go -3 I don't have specific agreements with this partner with regards to the upper and lower limit of the 2♥-bid.

Not particularly concise, but really helpful if you want to play Polish Club: the complete English translation of Jassem's WJ2005 is available free of charge. (http://www.bridgewithdan.com/systems/WJ2005webpage.htm)

The 1♣-opening of Fantunes promises 14+ HCP with 5+♣/14+ HCP with a 4441 and a red singleton/15+ HCP balanced. Over 1♣, they used to play transfers only on the 1-level with responder's rebids 2♣/♦/♥/♠ being a game forcing bid showing 10+ HCP and 5+♣/♦/♥/♠. Bill Jacobs's Fantunes Revealed (2012) contained this set-up. Approximately around the end of 2012, Fantunes revised their system and they started to play transfers over 1♣ on the 2-level as well with 2♣/♦/♥/♠ showing 10+ HCP and 5+♦/♥/♠/♣. My question: do you know a good way (preferably Fantunes's way) to proceed over those transfers? Fantunes's 2-level transfers over 1♣: 1♣ - pass - ... 2♣ = 10+ HCP with 5+♦ 2♦ = 10+ HCP with 5+♥ 2♥ = 10+ HCP with 5+♠ 2♠ = 10+ HCP with 5+♣ I've already done a little bit of research and I found a comment by Fantoni about 2-level transfer responses after the 1♣-opening. (Source: http://fulviofantoni.com/en/domande-risposte/390-two-level-transfer-responses-to-one-club-michael-cartmell.html) Accepting the transfer shows a balanced hand with 3+ suit support (e.g., 1♣ - pass - 2♦ - pass - ... 2♥ shows a balanced hand with 3+♥) and 2NT shows a balanced hand wanting to rightside the contract, almost always without support for the bid suit.

My 1NT is 15-17 and 2NT is 20-21. Does the security you receive by increasing the amount of ♣ in the inverted minors direct club raise (i.e. 1♣-2♣) from 4 to 5 outweigh the reduced effictiveness of all the open bidding space you lose with responder having just 4 ♣ and 10+? The way I envisioned it, although I have to admit it hasn't occured in a live game yet, after 1♣-2♣ opener should only embark past 2NT holding 4+ ♣. With regard to overcalls or preempts, I guess they're a bit tricky after both players of the opener's side know they hold at least half the points in the game but they shouldn't surprise us in the aggressive game of these days. Couldn't you have the (implicit) agreement that after an overcall/preempt, only opener is to bid ♣ since he knows whether or not there is a club fit with partner's 4(+) ♣? Combined with situational awareness: after an overcall/preempt, even responder might be able to figure out opener's minimum ♣ length since opener has to have exactly a 43 in the majors if he is to have precisely 3 ♣. For example: 1♣-1♥-pass-2♥-pass-pass and responder knows there is ♣ fit if he holds 3+ ♥ with the opponents holding 8+ ♥ which makes it impossible for partner to hold 3 ♥ and thus rules out the possibility of opener holding 3 ♣. Inspecting the NT line, opener holds 4+ ♣ 80% of the time. But I guess the inverted minors thingy increases the chance of shorter clubs since responder has clubs and is short in the majors (while opener needs to have some length, 43/44, in the majors in order to have shorter clubs). We might need specific inverted odds. Do you think the apparently high possibility of playing 3♣ in a 5-2 fit would be detrimental to your side in comparison with leaving the space wide open for the opponents to investigate their likely major fit?

Recently I've switched from playing four card majors to five card majors. I open 1♣ with a doubleton (4432) and a trebleton (4333, 3433, 4423) as well. This change leads to some uncertainty about partner's club length when he opens 1♣, although experienced players have told me that most of the time the clubs are real (4+) and I should treat opponents' 1♣-openings with at least a doubleton as a real ♣ bid (for example, treating it as a real color for a take-out double). It would be interesting and handy to know the percentages behind the club length: how often does the 1♣ opener have exactly 2♣, 3♣, 4♣, 5♣, 6♣, 3+ ♣, 4+ ♣, 5+ ♣ (on the premise of a 1♣ opening with 2+♣)? Another related question. Recently we've started playing a basic version of inverted minors: 1♣-2♣ (10+ and 4+♣). Over 2♣, stoppers are shown on the two-level and the bidding only becomes FG if someone bypasses both 2NT and 3♣. 1♣-3♣ is 6-9 and 5+♣ and every continuation asks for a stopper and is FG. How does the fact that I have switched to a short club opening affect my inverted minors?

For some odd reason, after changing the font color of the hearts symbol to red and keeping the symbol highlighted while opening the AutoCorrect menu (File-Options-Proofing-AutoCorrect Options in Microsoft Word 2010) it still remains black. So the !H-command in Word gives me ♥ instead of ♥ and a related problem I encounter is all the text after the ♥-symbol automatically turning red as well. So it seems like I'm changing the color of the entire text and symbols instead of only the ♥-symbol. Does anyone know how I can fix this problem?

Originally I started out playing ACOL, but I would like to try a Precision system. So far I know the following bids/system: 1♣ = 16+ (negative 1♦ response) 1♦ = 11-15, 4+ ♦ 1♥ = 11-15, 5+ ♥ 1♠ = 11-15, 5+ ♠ 1NT = 12-15 balanced 2♣ = 11-15, 6+ ♣ or 5+ ♣ & 4+ M (2♦ asking bid) 2♦ = 11-15 with 4♠-4♥-1♦-4♣ I would like to explore a bit more precise continuations to make the system true to its name. Do any of you know some bids/sequences I should learn or good books/sites on this topic?