pbleighton

"this is the "other" way to play 5332 hands... the 12, 13 point hands open 1M and rebid cheapest/best minor over a forcing nt... another problem is the 12, 13 1H bid when partner responds 1S... 1nt now promises 14-16 (playing mini) i've about come to the conclusion that 1nt should be semi-forcing when playing a mini nt, but ONLY if one has opened 1M with a 5332 hand in the nt range... then partner won't go into seizures when 1nt is passed" We play 1M-1NT as natural, 2/1 as F1. The 1H rebid problem is why we open 1NT with 5H through 12(13). With a decent 13, we call it 14 when it comes to the rebid. I played a semi-forcing NT for a while - it had advantages, but you can miss games once in a while. Peter

"If you go weaker than about 12-14, then it's probably better not have the 5cM. Tysen" Playing a 10-13 NT when NV, we open 1NT with 5S with 10-11, and 1NT with 5H with 10-12. A reasonable 5cM with a max is too strong for any NT range IMO. 1X openers for us are Rule of 18, so 5332 10/11 counts qualify, but... The main reason for the mini is offense - but it's also nice to let it take the balanced trash out of your openings, including 1M. Yes, we do miss fits, but since the field isn't opening these hands... With 12-14 (vul) we open 1NT except for decent 14 pointers. Peter

"I am a strong advocate of "Real Diamond Precision". I believe that the losses on 5C-4M hands are substantitally less than the losses from the nebulous 2D. Precison 2D uses up a valuable bid for your preemptive sysatem and is very infrequent." Do you open 4-4-1-4 hands 1H then? Peter

"Really? 2C openings are my second favorite opening in Precision, right behind 1NT. When we have game, it's easy to find. When we don't, it's usually very difficult for opponents. It's a perfect pre-empt when responder is weak, because opponents usually don't have the tools to explore game properly, while the clubs are long enough to sit after an X. Do most people find otherwise?" Two questions: 1) Do you put 4-3-1-5 and 3-4-1-5 hands into your 2D opening? If so, how do they perform? 2) How much of a loss do you find not being able to use 2D as preemptive? Peter

"2/1 is imo good for slam bidding, better than any natural system" I agree, for pairs who play it right (BTW, I don't) but not for most pairs who play it. At my club, almost all LM pairs play 2/1, but most play the auctions as totally natural and shape showing, with no way to show extra strength. This is nice and easy, and there are certainly some auctions which are superior to Standard American. However, IMO, this doesn't make up for the loss of the natural 1NT response to 1M. Richard's point about light openings is valid. I tried 2/1 with light openings, and quickly switched back to "forcing for one round". If you are content to play sound openings (no lighter than Rule of 20), then 2/1 can be good if: 1) You are in a serious partnership, and are willing to learn how to use its slam-bidding strengths, and 2)You play a lot of IMPs Otherwise, I think you are better off with modern Standard American - but not SAYC :) Peter

Free - I have been considering a somewhat similar system: Because of the hands like the one Richard posted, would you consider giving up 2D as weak, putting 4-4-1-4, 4-4-0-5, 4-3-1-5, and 3-4-1-5 hands into it, and putting 4-1-3-5 and 1-4-3-5 hands into 1D. If you pass the 4-1-3-5 and 1-4-3-5 hands below 12 points, 1D is 4+ 95% of the time. If you open them down to 10, it's still over 90%. In this way, 2C is 6+ cards, and 1D is quite playable - I think you could assume 4D and have decent success. 2D would be ugly (but rare), and forbids 2D as weak, but I think it might be an acceptable price to pay. Peter

I agree with Helene - I like 5 card weak 2s (including 2D) NV and in the 3rd seat V. It's true that they aren't LOTT-safe, but the opps (even decent ones) frequently wind up in terrible contracts. Having said that, if the ACBL's GCC were modified to allow the multi, I would certainly try some sort of 2D = multi, 2M = Muiderberg or some other 2 suiter. I looked at a bunch of the ccs from the Bermuda Bowl, and this type of arrangement was the choice of the overwhelming majority of pairs. Peter

1) With a 4333 shape, I never use Stayman. 2) As a couple of posters have mentioned, 3NT can be the best place with 28+ points, so with a 4 (but not a decent 5) card major and extra values I frequently go direct to 3NT, especially at MPs. With a decent 5 card major I always wish to hear a super-accept from partner :) Some pairs at my club frequently bypass Stayman at MPs, even with a shortage and without extra values, to try to get a top. They are generally pretty good players. What do you think of this strategy? It seems to me to be "first place or bust", not that this is necessarily bad, if that is what you want. Peter

"Far better still is to play 2H or 2S as majors or minors, but I guess this is another banned convention in ACBL land. " 3NT as 5-5 must have at least 10 hcp to be GCC legal, but maybe this was a midchart event. I like cool-sounding premmptive bids B) but not this one. The opps don't have a major suit game they want to be in. Why do you want to play at the 4 level with a likely 8 card (maybe 9 card) fit to stop an improbable game? If I was going to play it, it would be NV only with 0-4 hcp, but I still wouldn't be happy. Peter

4H. You have 23-24 hcp between you, you have a doubleton, pd has a singleton, and either 1) pd has a 5+ card suit, or 2) you have 8 clubs between you. Nice to know scoring, vulnerability, and bidding, though! Peter

1) As others have said, bid 2C. A general rule - if you can bid, do so as early as possible. Your partner can then support you, if he can. If you have passed, then 3D is sufficient in the second round. 2) If you don't know it already, learn the Law of Total Tricks. Larry Cohen's Book To Bid Or Not To Bid is excellent. I won't go into it here, but it is a relatively simple tool which can keep you out of a lot of trouble in competitive auctions, while allowing you to bid in the ones you should be in. 3) Old bridge saying "the five level belongs to the opponents". This is not always true, but 90% of the time, it is. 4) My partner used to ignore 2) and 3) on a regular basis, with usually bad results. He would, however, get hands such as the one you posted, and feel that his intuition was vindicated. He finally came to the conclusion (with a little bit of help from me :blink: ) that he should be more careful. 5) I've been playing less than 2 years, and have learned a lot from this Forum. You will get a lot of input, though sometimes contradictory and not always polite ;) Keep reading and posting! Peter

First choice double, second choice 1NT - this hand is too good for 1H. Peter

Bid 1S, whatever vul/scoring. With exactly 5 cards, there is over 50% chance pd has 3+ and can raise, and over 20% chance of 4+ and can raise to 3(both actually increased somewhat by the fact opp opened 1C). This is IMHO a Good Thing, and the fact that your suit is spades makes it a Very Good Thing. The downside - you give away some distributional info. Getting doubled after pd's raise is OK - you are Law protected. Doesn't always work, but close enough. If this hand doesn't meet your one level overcall criteria, then of course you can't bid, but then... you are passing LOTTs of hands :) Peter

Ron - from the GCC, under Disallowed: 6. Opening one bids which by partnership agreement could show fewer than 8 HCP. (Not applicable to a psych.) At least it's not 12 :P Peter

If you open in a suit with a decent 9 to a good-but-not-great 14, what is your invitational range as responder? Assume that 3NT is the target game contract, and that your hand quality as responder is average (for your raw point count). 12-14? Ignore 11 (responder) vs 14(opener)? Related question - do you respond with 6 hcp in you non-fit 1 level responses, or do you raise the level to 8 or so, so that the opener can jump with a maximum hand? Peter

2S. Peter

Well, weren't we unobservant.... Pass.

1) Pass. -200 more likely than not. 2) Tough - 2H, and 3H both have something to recommend them. 2H - the third spade makes the opps fit less likely. This is after I thought about it. At the table, I probably bid 3H :angry: Peter

"All too true ... but the pair that is on the lookout for blood will get a lot more than a pair that is totally focused on finding its own contract in spite of the intervention. I have seen too many Precision (and other systems as well) players pass up too many golden opportunites for satisfying penalties." Mike - after 2 level interference, followed by pd's card showing double, would you give a few hands where you would leave in the double for penalties, but it is a close decision, and other strong club pairs may not. Would you ever do it with Axx and enough points to drive to game? Peter

"1m-1M is often a 3 carder when you have minor support and don´t play inverted minors, so can´t find a reason why not to show any 4 card suit. That is another reason why opener should never ever raise directly with 3 cards." No, it's another reason to play inverted minors :rolleyes: Peter

EarlPurple writes: "Maybe you don't realise the power of being to pre-empt more, but you'll gain more in the long run." I agree with your point regarding the value of preempting, but you might want to work on your phrasing :lol:

"With this said and done, HCP and shape are independant of one another, so its pretty east to multiple the percentage chance that opener has shape ABC by the chance that opener has HCP XZY... " http://www.bridgeguys.com/MGlossary/MathTables.html or Mathematical Tables in the Encycolopedia Of Bridge. Peter

"the 'old' way (down 2 if vul, 3 if not) shows 7 losers for -500, if allowed to play 2♠, and if it's doubled... i don't know the feeling on this rule anymore, things have changed... but it seems sound to me" Agree when vul, not when NV. My rule of thumb is - do you want to play the hand undoubled opposite a partner with nothing. I'm a lot more aggressive NV than the 'old' way, but not vul. Peter

Pass with a, b, and c, bid 1S with d and e. 1S is borderline with c, particularly when NV. I wouldn't do it this morning, but some other morning.... :blink: Slightly off-topic, with my regular pd (but not with anyone else), in the sequences P-1C/1D/1H-? and 1C/1D/1H-? I would bid 2S when NV with all 5 hands (and pass when vul with all 5). Peter

13.7% Peter