luis

Most people that play 15-17 play actually a 4 point range. I've never seen a good player open 1NT with 18 playing 15-17 I see them opening 1NT with 14 a lot instead, they even upgrade some good 17s to 18 and open 1x rebidding 2NT. Modern 15-17 is 14-17, players playing 12-14 open with good 11 counts (and not so good ones often). So 12-15 is fine, you are going to pass some horrible 12 counts and you are going to upgrade some good 15s to 16 as your judgement indicates.

First my opinion about the bids: I pass and then pass. About the UI case: I think you are going to lose the board, I would rule against you, if you didn't bid in your first turn I doubt you would bid after a quick 4♠ and pass by your pd so you are indeed bidding based on UI, pass is a logical alternative with your hand. Scored changed to 4♠ by your opponents. BTW: Your pd's pass over 4♠ is quite terrible.

Did somebody mention a slam try? That's quite insane because the hand despite the point count is absolutely horrible, I don't think it can even contribute a single trick to any contract we play. Not vulnerable I just pass 2♠ I don't mind missing a non vulnerable game, they can bid 3♦ and I will be happy to double, the hand is 100% defense.

When you are defending and you are not sure about what's going on try to find a natural looking play, don't do strange things unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing. With a 4333 hand try strongly to play in NT. 5332 hands opposite 4333 or 4432 hands opposite a 4333 play better in NT even with an 8 card fit. Upgrade 14 counts with a 5 card suit to a 1NT opening, opening 1NT prevents competition and is usually a good start to your constructive auction. Preempt more, preempt light, preempt. Preempts work even against world class players, it's a myth that they will get you or they will end in the right contract anyway. If you "feel" your side may have a slam but you don't see a way to find what you need it is best to just bid the slam than to miss it. Short tip: Play more slams Reaching good 3NT games is only cool in challenge the champs, at the table the bad 3NT games are the ones that pay if you make them, don't look for perfect hands to bid 3NT, the defense is not as easy as you think it is when you are declarer and many times you will get away with an impossible game. Going down in 3NT is normal not bad bidding. The gods of bridge smile when you make a deceptive or imaginative lead but they don't like it when they gave you a very natural lead like KQJ or AKx, short tip: Don't do strange things when you don't need to. When the distribution seems to be wild and both sides are competing try to make a lead-directing bid as soon as you can, the lead is very important when the contract is going to be a doubled high level game or slam. 1♠ is never wrong, other bids can be wrong but never 1♠ More later :-) Luis

Just bad luck, an unfortunate coincidence, I think South can't go on over 4♠ he knows he is going to lose the heart ace and on a diamond lead which is marked he needs to be able to discard 2 diamonds and pick up the trumps so he needs exactly AK AK in the black suits in pd's hand and I doubt that is a high percentage action.

Yes we use Gazzilli for 5332 hands we just rebid 2M but if we have a nice 3 card minor we rebid 2m for example with KQx in a minor we bid as if it were a 5-4 hand. Luis

Try to keep in touch, even in the most remote locations there is a way to get connected. Threads are a lot of fun if you post. Cheers for a new start! Luis

To me this is a bad 1♥ overcall, 4+ cards and about 7-10HCP.

Nice writeup Gerben, As some of you know I've been playing Fantunes with my pd here in Argentina for about 1 year now, we started in November 2004. Both my pd and I used to be too undisciplined to be able to play together, the tight 14+ 1 level openings and 9-13 2 level openings let us bid a lot as we like but we have a better control of what is going on. We are also using Keri over our 12-14 NT openings and some good results must be attributed to Keri. Some assorted comments I have about this system so far: - The 2 level openings generate a lot of good results for us, the most typical examples are FAST arrivals to games that work as a save against something they can't find or thet prevent them from saving since they have no way to get in. - The 1 level openings are very good for slam investigations, we are not using Turbo as F&N just normal cuebidding and keycard, no big difference I think. - For some strange reason some players can't get used to 2♣ showing clubs, one player actually asked if that was legal, it was quite funny. - After a 1-level opening showing where your values are is sometimes better than showing the distribution of the hand, specially when deciding between 3NT and 4M. - From time to time we have missed a game when opening at the 2 level Luis

I will try to bid with my pd Fantunes-Style This is going to be quite fun :-) Luis

Those that are worried about not being able to overcall in spades should be aware that the problem is symmetric. For example after 1d - p - 1h if you have 5 clubs and 3 spades if you bid 2c you can lose a spade fit, when you have spades and 3+ clubs bidding 2c automatically shows the spade suit so you are not losing it at all and if you only have spades you bid 1NT and it's either spades or clubs without tolerance for the other suit.

1. 3NT in 5 seconds with a happy expresion :-) If 3NT is doubled I stand for it. 2. Diamond automatic, trying to ruin the communications in the critical suit inmediately.

This is a development I've made with a friend specific for the Sandwich position: The idea is not to lose the fit in the remaning suit when you have a hand suitable to overcall in one suit in the sandwich position. 1x - Pass - 1Y - ? Now: New suit: 3+ cards in the suit bid and 5+ in the remaining suit Jump in a new suit: 4+ cards in the suit bid and 6+ in the remaning suit 1NT: One suited hand in one of the unmentioned suits with 2 or less cards in the other Cue-x: 5-5 hand in the unbid suits with a bad hand Cue-y: 5-5 hand in the unbid suits with a good hand Dbl: Takeoutish, showing values and denying the other bids available If you want to try it, feedback and comments to improve this are welcome. Luis

I agree with 2♠, then hearts and I'm lying about only 1 card, to my standards that is close to a record :-)

I play that 2h shows spades so I bid 2h and over 2 spades I bid 3NT. Quite simple.

I say "Yikes, I need to buy cigarrettes" Then I stand up and hurry to the door and they will never see me again... Seriously what the heck is 4♣ ?

Pass, automatic, 3 low diamonds :-)

Pass I don't think this hand can make a 5 level overcall, I would bid 5♠ if pd reopens with a double. I pass if he reopens with 5♥ he may have 8 hearts and 1 spade and my 5♠ overcall will kill him.

That's very interesting and it makes sense. I assume that you only follow this guideline when you think it is close between passing and overcalling. Yes whenever I think I can either pass or overcall I pass with xxx in the suit opened, but I've also experimented with not overcalling hands where an overcall is clearly marked with xxx in their suit. As I sad I got mixed results, if you want to try for yourself I would love to get some feedback :-)

Pass but I would probably bid 1♠ with 4 clubs and 3 diamonds (!) There's an interesting study that says that the worst holding you can have in your had to make an overcall is 3 low cards in the suit they just opened. So with xxx in clubs I pass this hand quickly, I've been experimenting passing when I have xxx in their suit in hands where the normal action seems to be an overcall, I got mixed results so I can't make a definitive conclusion on the topic, I'm still experimenting.

I don't think you can say that judgment is mechanic. With the same hand after the same bidding I might take a different decision based on the state of the match, scoring, pd, opponents, what happened in the day so far, etc etc.

Indeed the fate of 2NT and 3NT is probably the same, it depends on what pd has in diamonds.

4♦ because of tactical considerations. opener has now the option of doubling 4♦ instead of bidding 5♦, and pd has the chance to show the heart ace if he has it. He will realize I have a strong hand with clubs looking at his own hand. I think 4♦ gives our side more chances of success than 5♣ specially if playing with a good pd. Luis

The LAW is a good tool, as any tool it is not perfect for every problem you have. But it is indeed a good tool, adjustments and general judgment are still needed, there's no way to blindly take a decision just based on the LAW. "I fought the LAW" is in my view a poor attempt to sell a book attacking a popular topic. The stats are completely biased, I can write a book titled "I fought the finesse" presenting 1000 hands where kings are singleton offside and what does it prove? Absolutely nothing. Instead of "fighting" the law a book about guidelines to understand how to better use the law, applying adjustments and generic statistics would be much better.

Of course I bid there are many 2NT hands that can produce 4♠ or 3NT