daffydoc

I have one partner with whom I play a big Roman - 17-24 - we use the one under the singleton approach, allow u to bid the singleton to. either ask total controls or min max. Seems clearly more effective than bidding the singling - gives you an extra bid which can mean something.

I know a lot of players don't particularly like opening 2c on 2 suiters - I tend to disagree and with 5 defensive tricks would have opened 2c and over 4s bid 4NT as two places to play - obviously correcting 5d to 5H but would raise 5c to 6c. Given the Polish club opener i would bid the same 4NT as two places to play, daffydoc

For the one person who said pass - if thats your action hope you have a large stable of partners cause you will lose this one quickly - one CANNOT pass forcing bids and expect partner to be understanding about it - it would a a unilateral action which serious players cannot abide. Better you bid something and perhaps land in a horrible spot then be right and lose a partner. Daffydoc

well is this much different from what partner did to me today in National Fast Pair event? With no interference from opp 1S 1nt 3H 4C 4S 5H 5NT(pick a slam) 6H P P was akqjxx KQJ Kx xx opp xxx AT9x xx AQxx made 6H as hearts 42 on a diam lead. but how did Pard not respect the fact that I bid 4S over 4C - slam should be 6S or 6NT but luckily hearts were not 5-1 daffydoc

this is a standard play and fairly automatic - the nearly 100% play is spade king daffydoc

I use 2D to show the 17-24 4441 - traditionally a very hard hand to bid. One year at the nationals came up 5 times in 10 days, Last year once. Effective tool when it comes up. daffydoc

my first db showed 4H and enough to likely beat 1Hx - the second dbl continues the theme that it is our hand - NOT penalty - unless somehow partner has a hand that can convert. daffydoc

preemts work - while i would try 5C and bid 5NT over 5D I think that trying for 7 is ok but with such limited room most likely will end in 6 as unless i pin point AQ spades and diamond K with the above calls it will be difficult to bid an accurate 7. daffydoc

clear 4H bid I believe - also would have dbl. 2S - and these baby psyches do work - in local KO match last week it went 3D P and on xxxx xx xxx qT8x (white vs red) I bid a 3NT in tempo as RHO had also passed pretty much in tempo - LHO with 15 balanced was stuck and passed. down 6 while teamates made 6M at the other table - so they can work if one gets lucky. daffydoc

With my regular partner at national events - Pecoks - we have an explicit agreement that 4NT on this auction is minors. So easy to bid 4NT - the problem will be to bid 7 - a problem that many might solve by blasting after 5C response( an enterprising partner might bid 6C with heart ace and 4clubs to A - then 7 is easy. daffydoc

Well - very interesting responses - every bidder is happily assuming that partner holds the balancing hand of 10+hcp and opponents are stopping in 2S - WELL LHO has opened and is unlimited - RHO bid 2S which most of the time these days shows a constructive raise - why would anyone think that pard holds 10+ hcp - that is a rosy view - must be looking thru tinted glasses - anyone who bids on this hand has not played serious money bridge - that I am 100% sure of - the bidders apparently do not care that they go for a number - after all its only a number - NOT CASH. daffydoc

personally in real live bridge to even consider a bid at any color is BBO style bidding - in real bridge with real partners I wait for pard to reopen - if he can't its not our hand - and occasionally I will be stolen from - but if there is anyone out there who believes this is a 3C bid - please lets set up a big money match - would be my pleasure to play you! daffydoc

on both hands 5S says bid 6 with 2nd round heart control so in first case i don't like my hand but have control so bid 6, in second case i love my hand and bid 6H or cue my minor ace trying for a grand. over 5H I don't care for my hand on first but do on second - so since pard may have a void my ace is wasted - bid 5s on first and 6 spades on the second. daffydoc

3H is misdirected and just wrong - while i am sure no one is thrilled with 2nt at least it gets shape and strength correct - now whatever methods u play should be able to find 6d - personally I like and play transfers - so would bid 3H xfer to 3s and then bid 4d - and 5D over 4s pref - gets across shape and slam interesl - have run out of room for more exploration. daffydoc

opening NT with singletons is an epidemic on BBO - my pards would always transfer to my singleton - rarely think its right. daffydoc

by definition ( at least old school) 4S denies any 1st or 2nd round controls - with 5 trumps this hand is way too good - would opt for simple 3S bid - or 4C but reluctant since king is a huge card - provides parking spot for heart loser if pard has both round aces. dyadic

used to play pen on two level - neg on 3 level - have changed to both neg with NT opener responsible to balance with dbl if short in opp suit. However your question is only answerable if partnership has an agreement - otherwise its a guess. daffydoc

I do not particularly care for heart lead - where are your entries to lead them again? given your lack of HCP seems more likely pard has two entries which means 2 ruffs - singleton is pretty clear - See Garozzo for details - as he believes singletons are among the best leads. daffydoc

This distortion of suit lengths that is popular on BBO is really somewhat disturbing - I have seen many people bid 5 card majors before 7 card minors and similar actions which do usually result in bad contracts. With a two card differential it is pretty clear to bid the longer suit first. daffydoc

Not sure why but no one has suggested 3c as the immediate response? 6 card suit and a void - great playing hand - if pard happens to now bid 3d showing good suit and good hand i have a pure 3S bid available. And pard should now know i have 9+ cards in the blacks with some values. pretty clear to me. daffydoc

If you play jump reverse( don't like that term - it was a jump shift) GF then either you pass the opening bid or respond - you lose all partnership trust if you make unilateral decisions like that - besides you have quite a nice dam stop with AJ9x - but the main thing is if you want to keep this partner DONT pass forcing bids. daffydoc

Before focusing on conventions and bidding - learn to Play Bridge - that means card play and Defense. Read Watson on Play of the Hand, and I believe Reese has a good book on defense. My advie, learn to play then add the bidding toys later. Stayman and Jacoby are good bidding tools in the framework of 2/1 - but until you learn play and defense all the bidding toys in the world will do you NO GOOD. daffydco

old fashioned meaning of the bid was to ask for controls in steps - none second first - I still like it and use it in my regular partnership with Pecoks 2H 4C asks for controls in clubs in steps - so when one employs this one needs to be able to handle the response - works spectacularly well when responder has a great hand but xx or xxx type holding in a side suit.

I would not care for 2nt to show both majors and would not play it myself - as I have a distinct preference for garbage stayman. To my recollection I have not seen this treatment as yet at the nationals in the USA - perhaps it is more a foreign treatment? Am sure it has merits - but still don't think I would adopt it - particularly if it would mean adding even more to remember on follow-ups to a 2nt response. Particularly for anyone below world class level - learn to defend and play and stop adding conventions. daffydoc

while on the subject of pet peeves( last one was hesitations) my pet peeve is when opponents say well done when declarer has taken his top tricks without a finesse, coup, squeeze, or even a nice counting of the hand. Even worse when a contract was made because of a defensive error - which really seems rude as it rubs salt in the wound. I save well done for a declarer play or defensive play that was truly exceptional - and would like to see others follow suit( pun intended). daffydoc