Douglas43

I'm with you. If you don't bid 4♠ first round because you think you are too strong, you might as well try it the second time.

I'm with mikeh. Having seen a good pair get worse as their system got more complex, I think relays work best if you are (a) ferociously dedicated and (b) probably, young.

As somebody with no intention of playing forcing pass, I am beginning to think that it should be legalised. Mind you, I still think opponents should be allowed to double "pass".

The shape is tempting at pairs, but the two Aces and empty suits are more defensive than offensive.

Hi, I believe that you can get the information at: Club Affiliation | English Bridge Union (ebu.co.uk) and the linked document https://www.ebu.co.uk/documents/membership/Club-Membership-Fees.pdf

I would expect 6♦ to make more often than not. For me, it's a clear 4♦. Bypassing 3NT is risky at pairs, but worth it.

Hi Cyberyeti, it's a bit unorthodox to have a four card major on the side when opening a weak 2♦, particularly first or second in hand. What has your experience been with that please? Do you have some sort of checkback in place?

At pairs, I would double and lead a trump, hoping for 500. Slam may be on but getting there is not easy. I think most pairs will be in game, or defending. At teams 5♦ or 4NT as there is still space for partner to go on.

Assuming "pass over" means you are in second seat, then probably.

This looks like a routine double at this score. 1♦ is a bad suit and takes up no bidding space. 1 ♠ shuts out hearts which is good news if they have hearts, bad news if we do. But if we have the spades, double will still get us there.

Most people would bid 4♥ on the North hand. Why GiB selected 2♥ goodness knows.

Just for interest, if you had downgraded and opened 1NT would it have bid 3NT?

1♣ is the best way to describe your hand. But especially at red and with an inexperienced partner I wouldn't criticise you for bidding 1♥. treating the hand like 5-5 and getting the major in.

I think the auction strongly implies that partner has 5 hearts anyway? Not 4 spades, no more than 3 diamonds, unlikely to have 4 clubs. Might be 3=4=3=3 or maybe 3=4=2=4 and outside the 1NT range, but if playing 4cM/weak NT I'd probably double 2♥ as "extras" with that. Having seen the comments above I would still vote for 3♥ as the bid not implied by the hesitation

Would 1♦ -1♠ - 2♦- 3♣ not fit the bill? Or does 3♣ have some special meaning? (Genuine question, I usually play Acol not 2/1)

I'd prefer 1♥ opener, playing 4cM

it seems clear-cut to support hearts. Could have done without the hesitation. The hesitation tends to imply extras, so I'd expect my proper action to be 3H rather than 4H, trying not to take advantage

That's the trouble with that sequence, usually more informative to bid suit-suit-NT where you can

It would help to see the discards on the spades, but isn't West squeezed anyway? HA, D ruff, Spade, HK

If 3D is the book bid, buy a new book.

As smerriman says if you'd like to post where you are from gilan, I expect somebody could let you know what's usual in your region. Meantime, BBO has a summary of what the robots play here GIB System Notes (bridgebase.com). You will see a 1NT response is forcing over a Major but not a minor. Two of a suit is forcing (to game).

Apart from the intellectual quality of his posts he was always a friendly and polite poster too.

Goodness, how bizarre. If you had corrected it would probably bid 7.

Well, to be fair, 1♦ is probably making

The main club where I play has quite a few newer players. It started a scheme now picked up by our "county" of running seminars and mentoring for improvers. This avoids any "them and us" and the improvers genuinely improve