MickyB

1C = nat/17-19 NT, 1D = nat/11-13 NT. Completing the transfer shows various unbalanced hands. This give you accurate auctions with little downside on the club/strong balanced hands, while bidding naturally on the weak NTs reduces 4th seat's options and will tend to right-side major contracts when 4th seat overcalls. If forced to open 1C on both 11-13 and 17-19 NTs, I think I'd play that the transfer complete shows/includes the weak NT and 1NT shows 17-19.

I'd say most 8s are good enough to Drury and most 11s will already have opened. Not bidding Drury on this hand is lolworthy IMO. I signed off at the table without much thought, we missed a decent slam when partner held AJxx AJT8x AQJx void. A player I respect suggested I was worth 4D. I was unsure - 7 hcp outside of clubs is ok, but stiff king must be a fair bit worse than Kx here.

P P 1H P 2C P 4C P 2C = Drury (one-way) [Edit 4C = splinter] QT9x Q9x K KT9xx

Compared with Philly - Open teams 145 entries (down to 120, according to Versace) Women's 31 (28) Seniors 34 (22)

They used the same schedule in the mixed pairs as well, perhaps it was partly to avoid exempting more than two teams to the final of their respective pairs events.

Yes, two day quali, one day semi, two day final. In Philly each stage was 2.5 days. Even having decided to shorten the event it seems bizarre to make the semi so short, especially as there was no carry-forward.

2NXX+3 or 4MXX+2?

Indeed - I suspect Phil's reference to "my mother's bridge club" actually referred to similar if rather inferior method. Simple version - 1N:2S = 11 points [i.e. bad invite opposite 12-14] 1N:2N = 12 points "Club expert" version - 1N:2S = 11 points or weak with one minor 1N:2N = 12 points

One option is to play 1N:3D as NAT INV and 1N:3M as 5-5 minors. Playing 1N:3C as your diamond transfer has an unexpected gain - now 1N:3C, 3D:3N can't be just "to play". I like 3H/3S/3N to show shortage.

If forced to play 1C as nat/weak bal/strong bal, perhaps Phil would advocate something like - 1C:1H (spades) - 1N = weak bal 2D = strong bal, NF 1S = various, somewhat similar to his existing kit Having said that, the trade-offs are larger for this than in Phil's methods. Maybe he just meant people were misguided for opening 1C on both balanced ranges!

Looks like he'd open the longer, although I could certainly see opening 1D with 4C5D if it led to nicer sequences after a 1C opening.

The 1C isn't as 'overloaded' as it seems. Putting diamonds into it instead of clubs reduces the load compared with Baltic Club, because you have more space below one of your most likely low-level contracts, 2D. Think about it this way - a 1C opening showing 5+spades is underloaded, this doesn't mean that a 1S opening showing 5+spades is underloaded. Also, putting the sequence 1C:1D, P to good use reduces the load on other sequences. Similarly, while 1D as a 12-14 NT or diamonds works well, 1D as a 12-14 NT or clubs would definitely be overloaded. 1D showing an unbal hand with clubs seems pretty sensible, you've got a descriptive opening bid in terms of contested auctions, and just enough space to make everything work in uncontested auctions.

This is a big improvement on Baltic Club IMO. 1C:1D as a NF negative would work really well, it's not the first time I've seen it suggested, but it is the first time I've seen it combined with a system that needs the negative for other reasons. 1D:1S, 1N should definitely be the minors, you'll miss a lot of diamond fits otherwise. You could play 1D:2H as 5S4H 6-10 to find heart fits. 1D:1S, 2D = reverse in hearts 1D:1S, 2H and 1D:1H, 2D would be free, maybe "min with three trumps or extras with four", with the latter bidding again. 1D:1M, 3M = 6-4 minimum Opener being unbal with both minors is no problem after 1D:1N, worst case scenario is both sides have two eight-card fits, going to 3m on those hands is fine. I'd do something different with the two-level openings - perhaps 2C = 18-19 NT [often a tricky hand to show in competition having opened 1C] 2D = sound weak two [you don't want to open 1C with unbal 10-counts when the dominant handtype is 12-14 balanced] 2M = weak 2C as a weak 2D or an 18-19 NT is tempting, but I don't think it's actually sound.

I think you're the only one who wasn't already on board with this

Eagles123 obviously knows the whole hand. I'm guessing a diamond was required

HJ seems obvious. I could imagine Bird-Anthias preferring a spade if your pips were roughly equal in both suits, but as it is, a heart is much less likely to cost a trick in the suit.

2D multi having as many dots as 2H multi seems questionable. If your short diamond shows diamonds or balanced but "balanced" can mean (42)25, is this 2 dots or 3 dots?

I think this might well be an improvement on other natural methods of responding to 1C. What would you rebid over 1D with 4423 and 3433? You can avoid this issue by playing short diamond, four-card club! This would allow you to find fits in either minor when opener is 4-4, and 1C:1D, 1H would promise 4-4. The disadvantage of doing this is that, if you play 2wcb, you can never sign off in a known 4-4 minor fit at the two-level over a 1NT rebid, as it is now 1C:1X, 1N that promises four clubs.

Wouldn't this make 1♦ *more* nebulous? Polish Club can be played either way, I think most believe it's superior to play 1♦ as unbalanced.

Weird - when I was given the hand, North had doubled 6S.

If you swapped my red suits, and I had 2♦ available to show ♦+major, I'd consider it automatic to bid at these conditions. Given I actually have both majors, it's...automatic-er.

I'm guessing you'd just pass 1H with this at IMPs? Obviously it's more useful at pairs.

Will try to dig it out of my hotmail account when I have the time. I think that, over 1D, one of 1M showed hearts, the other was ART INV [important given the wide-ranging balanced option that I was putting through it]. 1N:2C was asking for four hearts with 1N:2C, 2D:2M showing a 5-card invite.

http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/18091-gemini-moscito/page__p__177434__hl__gemini__fromsearch__1#entry177434 That's my system, Gemini. 1NT denied 4 spades but not 4 hearts, 1H was unbal (or perhaps 5332). Played it a few times, it was pretty effective at speedball! Didn't take it further, mainly because most of my potential partners didn't have any experience with strong club. Suspect it would be a good system to play in 1st [not unfav].

What's wrong with 7S at IMPs?