pbleighton

The Limited Convention Chart The General Convention Chart The Midchart The Superchart Do these translate to types of games/tournaments they are allowed in? Are Limited conventions allowed everywhere, and Superchart conventions allowed only at regionals and above for example (or vice versa)?

In another thread (ACOL, in the Partner section), hrothgar made mention of rules banning certain conventions. I have been reading about a lot of artificial systems (new to me, and fascinating and promising), and are wondering which ones (and versions of others) fit under this definition, which I found on the web. It appraently applies to Europe: For the purpose of this Policy, a Highly Unusual Method (HUM) means any System that exhibits one or more of the following features, as a matter of partnership agreement: a) A Pass in the opening position may have the values generally accepted for an opening bid of one, and the player who passes may hold values a queen or more above the strength of an average hand (an average hand contains 10 HCP) :) By partnership agreement an opening bid at the one level may be weaker than pass. c) By partnership agreement an opening bid at the one level may be made with values a king or more below average strength. d) By partnership agreement an opening bid at the one level shows (a) either length or shortage in a specified suit or (B) either length in one suit or length in another Artificial: this category includes all artificial systems that do not fall under the definition of Highly Unusual Methods (HUM) systems [see definition below], other than Strong Club/Strong Diamond systems (see 'Blue'). Examples would be a system where one club shows one of three types - a natural club suit, a balanced hand of a specific range, or a Strong Club opener; or a system in which the basic methods (other than the no trump range) vary according to position, vulnerability and the like; or a system that uses conventional 'weak' or 'multi-meaning' bids (with or without some weak option) in potentially contestable auctions, other than those described in the main part of the WBF Convention Booklet Are the ACBL regs pretty much the same? Questions re U.S. practice, and where it varies from general world regs (I know that some countries are looser): 1) This means you can't Pass with an traditional opening hand, AND you also can't pass with a subopening hand, if there is a bid defined which is weaker than the subpopening hand you would like to pass with. 2) An opening bid at the one level can't be made with less than 8 hcp. Does this include 1NT? Can you have a range of 8-12, and open it with 6 or 7 with a long/strong suit? 3) "either length or shortage in a specified suit" - does this mean for example 1 heart showing either of a) stiff or void in hearts, or B) 6+ hearts. Is it OK to have 1 diamond show 5+ hearts? 4) What about subsequent bids - does using transfer positives in Precision cause it to be reclassfied as artificial or HUM, for example, or are relay bids so far safe from the regulatory grasp (I say this as a card-carrying liberal :)). 5) What about a system such as: 1 diamond - 9-11 pts, bal 1 heart - 11-15 pts, 5+ hearts 1 spade- 11-15 pts, 5+ spade 1 NT - 15-17 bal 2 clubs - 11-15 pts, 6+ clubs 2 diamonds- 11-15 pts, 6+ diamonds 2 hearts and up - weak 1 club would then have the 16+ hands, and a ton of 11-15 hands. Would this make it HUM, since it is more than "one of three types", and 1 diamond isn't about diamonds? 6) Would you give me an example of "a system that uses conventional 'weak' or 'multi-meaning' bids (with or without some weak option) in potentially contestable auctions", which would make a natural or Strong Club system into and Artificial system? 7) "By partnership agreement an opening bid at the one level shows (a) either length or shortage in a specified suit or (B) either length in one suit or length in another" - does anything like this apply at the two level? Is there a general rule about ambiguous bids at the two level - I've read that using 2D to show all 4441 shapes with sunopening hands is treated differently than if is 17-24 points. Is this so? 8) Can artificial systems be played at the club level? I know that this subject is huge, and that answers could be very long and involved, but I am looking for some general parameters.

Very general question: Similar to bidding, what do you assume about signalling when playing online with a pickup partner: 1) For self-described advanced and expert players (for me, an academic question!) and 2) For other players

A post in another thread gave me the impression that practice bidding is available in BBO. Is this the case? If so, how?

Have played Polish Club and also Svan. I have not noticed any greater/lesser intervention over 1C than say over a Precision C. Some will always try to intervene and this should be welcomed as it gives you a greater opportunity for a good score, by doubling the opponents. We are very happy when the opponents announce Twerb, (Suction), or wonder bids. Find the 1C bid has no significant loss over time, and you have big gains by keeping the bidding low on 17-19 hands eg 1C 1? 1NT 17-19 Thanks for the answer. Just to clarify though (maybe my post wasn't clear, or I'm not clear on your reply), I was mostly interested in your evaluation over strong/weak club versus strong club. You have said that there isn't any significant difference in interference between strong and weak/strong. Is the bidding in Polish (say) on the big hands as accurate as it is in (say) Precision, given that in Polish you have to distinguish between 17-22 any shape, 12-14 balanced, and 12-16 4+ clubs (in a writeup I looked at). This may be naive, as it is coming from someone who is just now making the transition from Standard to 2/1, and has never played a hand of any club system in his life, but it seems that the lesser bids will either take up bids (maybe only as relays) or cause uncertainty for the responder even after the opener's rebid, or both. Whereas in a strong club system such as Precision, all of opener's rebids explicate a 16+ opening. Or to put it another way, if there is no less interference over 1C in a weak/strong system than there is in the strong system, what is the advantage of playing them?

I have been reading about these systems. Questions for those who have a significant amount of experience with them - I'm interested in what happens in practice: 1) The theory is that weak/strong cuts down on interference, particularly on the part of opener's LHO. To what extent does this actually happen? 2) How much do the weak bids mess up the accuracy of the strong bids? 3) What is the net outcome on the weak bids? Is it a plus, or is it a cost to be subtracted from the advantage gained on the strong bids? 4) What system(s) do you base your comments on? 5) Has anyone played Tangerine? It looks like fun. Does it work? Do any world-class players currently play it?

All of the definitions of reversing I have seen have a strength requirements (usually 17+ HCP), and the requirement that the first suit bid be longer than the second. There is usually a hedge on the second requirement. My question is: how important is the second requirement? 1) On the following hands you have opened 1D, LHO passes, your partner has responded 1S, RHO passes: A) x AKQx AJxx Axxx B) x Axxx Axxx AKQJ C) x xxxx AKQx AKQx What do you rebid on these hands? If 2H is the right rebid, then could the length requirement be restated as "don't reverse if you can rebid 2NT" i.e. playing 15-17 NT, don't reverse in the above with Kx AQxx Axxx AQx, rebid 2NT? 2) What about competition? Holding xx AKxx AKQx Kxx, the bidding has gone 1D (you) - P - 1S - 2C - ?. What does 2NT show in this situation. Is it 18-19, even though it isn't a jump? If not would you rebid 2H? Does vulnerability matter? 3) When bidding a 5-4 or 6-4, for determining strength for deciding whether to reverse, do you count length, or is it strictly HCP?

Jx is too light - not a stopper at all. Make it Kx (and reduce HCP elsewhere so the hand is 17) and 1NT is fine, imo.

I agree completely, but I have to say that, as a recent convert to BBO from MSN Zone, that BBO has somewhat better behavior, especially when it comes to finishing a hand. It seems like close to 50% of Zoners leave in the middle of a hand, and most don't say goodbye. There will always be those who believe that with the right partner they would win the Bermuda Bowl 4 years out of 5, and treat their real partners accordingly. I find the best way to deal with them (whether they are a partner or an opponent) is to finish the hand, say goodbye politely, leave, and speculate with a fair degree of confidence as to the quality of the player's personal life.

As I understand it, unless I choose to go 2/1, I am forced with the choice of two fibs: 1) 2H (preferred by inquiry) - though my books (25 Steps to 2/1 byThurston and Understanding 1NT by Bergen) say this is weak, and not invitational, since it is at the 2 level (at the 3 level could be either) - so it's an underbid, but if partner has a fit and more than minimum values, he will invite. You miss just marginal games where partner has maybe 15 revalued in support of hearts, but doesn't go because he thinks you are 10 or less (or does he go because he knows this underbidding is common, and is willing to risk 3?). 2) 2NT (preferred by easy) - in spite of no club stopper - I should have both unbid suits stopped according to both books - but life is full of flawed notrump contracts, and don't let that stop you. So, if I am understanding correctly, this situation is a hole in 1NT Forcing, and I have to choose my fib. Correct?

So x-AKxxx-Axxx-xxx is good enough for 2/1 response. Interesting! I can see that, now that you point it out. But make it x-AKxxx-Kxxx-xxx (if you think that's not good enough, or something a little worse if you do, but still having invitational values). The real point of my question, obscured by my choice of hand, was is it wise/permissable for the responder to jump shift in hearts with invitational values not good enough for a 2/1 response, with a good 5 card (or OK 6 card) heart suit, given the fact that opener may well be 5-3-2-3, or is it better to follow the guideline and not bid it. If you don't bid it, would you pass 2C with 3 small, or correct to 2S with 1. My thought would be to pass.

I am new to 2/1, and to 1NT Forcing. What I have read is that after the sequence 1S-P-1NT-P-2C-P, the responder's showing a new suit shows: 1) At the 2 level, a weak hand and a 6 card suit, or a strong 5 card suit. 2) At the 3 level (jump), invitational values and a very good 6 card suit. Is this common practice, or just the sources I have read (or maybe I am misreading them)? If correct, how strict is it? What would you do in the above sequence holding: x-AKxxx-Axxx-xxx

When I was doing actuarial work, I was working on a product design project and my boss told me a story, told to him by a former boss, in the same context: The former boss had visited a friend of his, who took him out to an airfield, where he showed off his new airplane, which was new and fancy. The former boss exclaimed "Wow - what a sophisticated airplane. Look at all of the dials and levers!" to which the friend replied "If it really was a sophisticated airplane, there would be one lever and one dial.". The point of the shaggy dog story is that I completely agree with Hrothgar. But interesting responses, which is what I hoped for! P.S. I took the hint, and made the product simpler. That way the marketing folks could at least pretend to understand it :)

When you see these hands: 1) Do you ever open a 5 card major before a 6 card minor? 2) With 2 majors, do you ever open the 5 carder? In the above, does hand strength or seat matter?

I recently read through a book on Precision (Precision Today, by Berkowitz), and found it fascinating. While I won't be investing much more time on this for quite some time (I'm still making the jump from Standard to 2/1), long-term I'm quite interested in Precision and other strong club systems. I have the following questions for you strong clubbers out there. 1) How popular are strong club systems in the U.S.? My impression is that a significant minority of top U.S. players use strong club systems, but that the popularity drops quickly after that, and that few non-experts play them. 2) What are the systems played the most in the U.S., besides Precision (including its various flavors). Do any besides Precision have a significant following here? 3) Specifically - I haven't been playing long, and have only played online (except for a bit 30 years ago), so I don't know the local bridge club scene - I live in suburban Connecticut, about 60 miles from NYC. What would your guess be about the likelihood of finding a partner who was willing and able to play a strong club system in a non-urban environment? 4) How difficult is it to find partners to play online? 5) Are strong club systems subject to interference by narrow-minded club tournament directors (I've read about the ban of the Strong Pass), or would I be likely to be able to play Precision, say, without any official problem. 6) Which strong club system do you prefer, and why? 7) Since you have played your strong club system, do you find that it has significant practical advantages over natural methods, or do you play it more for reasons of intellectual and aesthetic gratification? 8) How good a player/bidder do you have to be to get an advantage playing a strong club versus a natural system? 9) How difficult is it to learn to play Precision? It seems to me that it isn't that much more difficult than natural systems, for someone with a good memory, who is willing to hit the books for a bit. Do you agree? 10) Bonus question (thought of when writing #1) - is there a generally agreed definition of what constitutes an expert versus an advanced player. Do they both play in the A flights, but the experts win, or win at a certain level (i.e. sectional or regional)? I hope you all have fun answering this one!

My opinion - 1) Doesn't depend on passed/non-passed. Depends on the quality of you suit. With 4 of the top 5 or the AKQ I would rebid my suit. With less I would bid 1 NT. 2) As a non-passed hand I would rebid my suit if it was strong (see above), and pass if it wasn't. As a passed hand I would pass, except with a strong suit AND I was at the top of the weak range (10 or a good 9).

This is an extension of the Preempt Styles thread, which dealt mostly with 3 level preempts. I'd like comments on weak 2's. I use the following guidelines: 1) Second seat - always sound. 2) First seat - vulnerable - always sound. Both nonvulnerable - tend to sound, but with shortness in majors (or unbid major if 2H or 2S) will be aggressive. Favorable vulnerability - aggressive (can be very aggressive with major shortness). 3) Third seat - unfavorable - sound. Both vul - can be aggressive, especially with with major shortness. Both nonvul - very aggressive. Favorable - Anything goes! "Aggressive" doesn't mean always - depends on the hand. "Sound" is strict. "Sound" generally means a 6 card suit that can almost certainly take 4 tricks if partner has nothing high and the trumps take 4 rounds to draw, or a 5 card suit with 4 of the top 5, or the AKQ. If I have outside values, trump quality relaxes a bit, but too much. I don't open with a 4 card major in the first two seats, but will in the third without hesitation. Will open with a little side-suit defense (an ace or king) - but not if I can stretch it to a 1 level bid. Also applies to 6 card 1 suiters "almost good enough to open 1" - I open 1 on those. AKQxxx in a major, a singleton, and nothing else is good enough for me to open 1, though many will disagree. Nothing exciting or original here - but I know there are differing styles out there, and would like to hear about them, and any critiques of the above.

For those who always bid 1 NT, even with a 5 card major, what Stayman variant do you use to try to find 5-3 major fits. Bergen recommends 3c as Puppet Stayman for game-going hands (he uses 2s as a transfer to clubs). What do you do?

To inquiry - interesting logic! I think you have a typo in 2H - did you mean 6-10 points? Also - what can/do you assume about which bid is the 10-12 and which is the 7-10 when an unknown player agrees to play Bergen with you? Do you ask?

In the notes for BB-Advanced 3C is specified as showing a limit raise, which means presumably that 3D is constuctive (7-10 points). The book I am learning from (Thurston), uses reversed meanings, but makes a reference a modern treatment reversing the meanings. A quick Google tour showed a split of views. My question: what can I assume at BBO - or can I assume nothing and clarify with each partner who agrees to play Bergen?

Hi! My name is Peter and though I learned to play bridge 30 years ago as a teenager, I hardly played at all until 6 months ago, when a friend introduced me to online bridge (in the intervening years I played chess, backgammon and (laugh if you will!) hearts). I got serious 3 months ago, and started playing a few times a week and reading a bunch of books. I am very new to BBO (a convert from MSN - BBO is DEFINITELY better). I have been playing Standard, have been studying 2/1, and am ready to make the leap. I find this forum to be highly informative and entertaining, and the response to my first posting (in the 2/1 ans SAYC section) was great!

In Fred Gitelman's article "Improving 2/1 Game Force - Part 1" in the BBO Articles section, he writes: The solution that I suggest is to use a 2NT response to a major suit opening just like Goren did - as a game-forcing balanced hand with 13-15 HCP (you can play that it could also show 19+ with a 3NT response showing 16-18). The 2NT response can (and frequently does) contain 3 card support for opener's major. 2NT usually should not contain a side 5 card suit (make a 2/1 with that), but if you have a really bad five card suit (like Qxxxx) in an otherwise suitable hand, it may be best to bid 2NT rather than make a 2/1. Opener's rebids after the 2NT bid are natural. Opener will bid another 4 card or longer suit if he has one giving responder a chance to take preference with 3 cards in opener's major. Opener can rebid his major when he has 6 or more cards or bid 3NT or 4NT (quantitative) with 5332. Over opener's 3NT rebid responder may elect to pass with 3 card support for opener's major, especially if he is 4333. As a consequence, a 2/1 response will almost always show a good 5 card or longer suit - a source of tricks. Having this information will frequently help opener decide how well the hands fit and if a slam try is warranted. It will also allow opener to feel more comfortable with raising the 2/1 suit with 3 card support. My questions are: 1) Does this imply that Fred is suggesting that the criteria for the 2NT response to one of a major no longer include the requirement that all unbid suits must be stopped (it seems to do so indirectly, but I may be misreading it). 2) Would this bid be used in response to a bid of one spade if the responder has a 4 card heart suit? Does the answer vary accoring to the strength of the heart suit? 3) Do 5422 hands qualify for this bid, if the 5 and 4 are in the minors, and are weak? 4) If the answer to 1) is yes, what is your experience with this (if you play it this way) in regard to landing in 3NT contracts with an unstopped suit? Does it happen more often with this approach than otherwise, resulting in more contracts going down, or do almost all of these contracts wind up in 3NT anyway, so there is no significant net increase in failed 3NT contracts?

To 2Over1's latest regarding point count and slams: I agree entirely that if I have 16 points with no indication (or denial) from partner that he has a more than minimum hand and/or distribution, that moving towards slam is unwise, and I wouldn't do it. What I have been trying to get is: Are there methods (apart from slow arrival) which will allow either the responder or the opener to show a good, but not maximum, hand, as would (in Standard) a jump rebid of own or resonder's suit (16-18), or a jump shift by the responder (17+). If there aren't, I can live with it, because of the advantages of 2/1. But if there are, I'd like to know about them. This gets to my question - if I have 16-17 and I know partner does, then I am interested. Is ther a way for partner to communicate this? In other words, this is a "conversion" question from a Standard bidder, who senses that something is taken away, while (more) is being added.

Thanks to all for the variety of opinions - it has been informative. For now, I think I will stick with my Standard practice of almost always bidding shape (in these cases 2d), but will keep an open mind for the future! I have 2 questions regarding 2over1's answer (for 2over1 or anyone else) 1) Raising to 3c with 3 over partner's response of 2c - do you require an honor? Does your partnership then heavily discount both the 2c bid and the response, and use it as information for a nt contract. 2) You suggestion of a control showing cuebid to show strength works fine with big hands (19+ revalued points), but what about 16-18, in cases where partner's strength is undisclosed by the bidding - he may have a dead minimum (no slam without shortness), or maybe 17+ (good prospects). The way I have understood control showing cue bidding is that it is forcing on partner to show a control (including second round control, if that's all you have), and partner isn't allowed to retreat to trumps because of strength, but only because of no controls. Is this right, and/or is it different in 2/1 versus Standard. If right, what do you do with 16 points (and no known shortness in either hand), in the auctions where all you know about partner is that he has 13 plus. I am committed to learning and playing 2/1, and am studying (25 Steps to 2/1, by Paul Thurston), but I haven't read anything there or elsewhere which addresses the issue of what I perceive (as a beginner in 2/1) to be it's relative weakness versus Standard in allowing the opener or resonder to show more than minimum strength in as many auctions as they can in Standard. I realize that the lack of jump raises conserves bidding space, and the low-level force avoids contorting auctions for fear of missing game, but it seems to me to be nonetheless a weakness. Does anyone have thoughts/solutions on this?

I forgot to say - my 5 card spade suit is too weak to rebid - so put some points in the 3 card club suit.