Hi all, Came across a hand where p had 18 HCP in 4th seat, all passed to him. Shape was 5440 with 3.5 losers (short suit was AKJ). Was wondering whether there is merit in opening this hand 2♣. The obvious advantage being to force a response from p as opposed to opening 1 Major and risking a pass. Should the void be given a numeric value (e.g. A=4)? Furthermore, are there data sets available where this has been run through an algorithm (e.g. monte carlo) to determine the likelihood of making game given 18HCP and random shapes? Ultimately, could it be a simple case of applying the prababilistic expected value from partner to be 7.33HCP ( 7.33*3 + 18 = 40 ) assuming that a combined 25HCP is sufficient to achieve game most of the time or are there other considerations that I am missing? Many thanks!
