chiel

Hello (rapid reaction) Flame, a: I play MAF for about 15 years; during the first 10 years the system was developed. b: It was fun, and that's exactly why I play bridge for. I do not play for results, but nevertheless results generally are not bad. c: There is no contradiction between the two. Only in case of a singleton/void in clubs you may have to open 1D and also posess a 4-caed major. This is exceptional but, in my opinion,beautifully solved in the system. Finally I planned to rewrite my site on MAF, but I have many other things which should be done .............. look again after e.g. one year. I hope this is a correct reply to your questions, Chiel

Sorry I gave a wrong link, the correct one is: http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/M.A.F/1r.htm Chiel

As the designer of MAF and author of its website I appreciate your interest very much. I can see from some of the remarks in this thread that are some misunderstandings. I can grasp this easily because the description on my internet site is rather tiresome. Therefore I'll repeat shortly the basics of the minor suit opening bids. In MAF balanced hands with 15-17 HCP are opened 1NT. For opening a major suit you need at least 5 cards in the suit opened. Hands that are opened with 1♣ always contain at least a 2-card in ♣, and also have one of the next properties: a: balanced hands........18-19 b: 5+card ♣.................11-19 c: 6+card ♣..................8-11 d: 4-card ♥ or ♠...........11-14 e: 4/5,4,4,1/0-distr. .....15-19 (with singleton/void in ♣ open 1♦ :unsure:) All remaining hands holding 11-19 HCP are opened with 1♦. As a matter of fact, this is the only correct definition of the 1♦-opening bid. Please note that this also applies to all hands containing less than 2 clubs. These 1D-opening hands can now be devided in two classes: ..................................................♠........♥........♦........♣...........HCP's A: 2, 3- or 4-card ♣:................<=3....<=3....>=3....2,3,4......11-14 B: void or singleton ♣:............<=4....<=4....>=4......0,1.......11-19 Class A: contains also the 3-3-3-4 hands with for clubs. This occurs in roughly 10% of the hands that force you to open 1♦, while as you can see easily most of the 1♦- distributions allow for many diamonds. Calculation shows that over 50% of the 1♦-hands contain 5 or more diamonds :D When class B: hands contain a 4-card major you can show this by rebidding this major suit on your second turn; the major suit rebid is normally is impossible, because you would have had to open differently then :D You may find more on this on http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/M.A.F/2r.htm MAF not only stands for 'Majors Always First' but also for, among many other things: 'Minors Always Forcing' and 'Multi's Are Favorite' :) Chiel ps Within a few days I'll leave for a 8-or-so week holiday in Spain/Portugal. My wife insists that I leave all computers back home. So I cannot discuss on the net NE> during that period :(