benlessard

I agree its a clear 5S, Its possible that 5S goes if there is a stiff D but its unlikely, making 6 would not surprised that much. I dont expect him to be 6-6 thought. With a weakish 65 or a 0553 W vs Red he probably has no hope to buy the contract at 4H so he might try 4Nt to find the best sac and to stop us from bidding slam.

I like to play that the cheapest bid after the reverse is the slow down everything else is GF. So you have an easy 2S wich is GF & showing at least a stopper and denying a fit or solid hearts.

From W POV what holding can East have to switch with the T of H ? He cant have only 2 because it would mean that south has 5 of them. With Txx and QJxx of spades he would exit a passive club. With Txxx he would play a low H not the T. IMO west had no reason not to cover the J♥.

In MP & in weak field IMPs its true also. But once you start missing some games because RHO opened 1Nt 15-17 with Kx xx QJT9xx AKx Its a different story. A pro just told me lately that he find the strong Nt much more preemptive then the weak Nt. He said that hes constantly upgrade any hand with a 5 card suit and frequently open 1Nt with 6m just because people dont bid game over it. IMO Against agressive opps that play 14-16 using a penalty X is essential because they will rob you big time. Playing weak Nt its clear that the opps will make game much more often then they will punish you. But that doesnt mean they shouldnt play penalty X.

At 14-16 im pretty sure penalty double is still best. The problems is againt tough opps who play 15-17 and frequently upgrade 13 count with 5M or minor 6carders. You might easily missed some good 3Nt or some good penalty.

Because for me X at 4D & higher is optionnal, it mean that if partner dont think he can make something he can pass the X no matter how weak he is. What would you do holding ? xxxx xx xxx xxxx So my X of 4H = im willing to play 4Hx vs a yardborough (im not saying i always like it). A 4S bid mean i think we can make 4S (and not "im afraid they make 4H"). So if the doubler is ready to play 4Hx and partner is hoping to make 4S then why not play FP ? Surely there is more slam probability then chance they make 5Hx.

South would have showned 5H over the 2Nt with a 2542. So not putting the K♥ is ugly. Switching with the Q♥ is best but its clear East has to have QT or JT for playing T of H. On a bad day switching the Q of ♥ will allow partner to be squeezed while the T♥ will be the correct play. Not on this hand but on very similar hand. So we cant say the Q of H is an automatic play.

its the opposite for me X with a balanced hand and 3C with short clubs.

A is 100% Gf no doubt about it, with a limit raise and long club you have to bid 3D instead of 3C. B isnt forcing in MP & probably not forcing in imps. The opener denied extras by passing 3D, he denied a stopper, he wasnt able to pass 3Dx. Responder doenst have a full fit. So wanting to play 3S is a real possibility.

Opening a weak nt with this is really disgusting for me. It might make sense to open a strong Nt as a tactical bid, but a weak nt ? Yurk

wtp X. My 1Nt overcall can be pretty strong but this hand is too nice.

Easy pass, I like to have a void to xx.

With a quick spade trick in my hand you can be sure i will discourage too with Qxxxx.

Not FP. I think FP are underused so im sure there is plenty of sequence where its not FP but should be FP, however i dont think this one is one of them.

Disagree 100% 5Nt pick-a-slam is the easiest way to win imps in slam bidding. Reaching beefy 5-2 fit instead of cheesy 4-4/5-3 can be very imps rewarding. The goal is honorable because i truly believe finding the best strain to play slam is the easiest way to win imps at a fairly high level. However I dont see why you should be forced to the 6 level after asking for the Q ?

I know most wont play FP on this but for me its a clear FP. Partner could have suggest slam with a H void and premium values.

With my hand my goal isnt to showing my shape its to stay low so partner can tell me what hes got. After 2D by partner he would have bid a 5M GF. So he doesnt have a 5M and hes got a huge clubs fit. I loathe 2H. At this point ill bid 5C to discourage partner as much i can.

1-- by default XX show a 1st round control. passing show no control. This is fairly standard imo. 2-WTP pass. 3- maybe LHO lead from Kx since he know strength is on dummy. So low S to Q. Not convinced at all.

Agree 100% 1S---followed by 2S has to be constructive. Easy 3S. IMO 2S is the best preempt and one of the best natural bid. No conventionnal use for 2S will bring me enough imps to compensate the loss of this premium bid.

5H because we dont open too light in 3rd, seat otherwise X.

Still trying to find out why West bid 5S and not 4Nt keycard. If i believe them to be strong players then its probably based on a diamond void so i lead low heart. Otherwise i lead Q of D maybe partner got a stiff diamond and quick S trick.

I like to have the agreement that 3S= 3♥ and a club stopper.

WTP 3C

3S for me.

Ive finished the whole chart. I dont think there any mistakes. But please double check A=reverser B=5-5 C=High short D= 5422 equal ----- 5-5 H short E= low short 1st hand ------55 (6511) F= low short 2nd hand ----- 55 low short 1st hand MY METHOD--------SYMM RELAYS 5422=D........3C......3C..........D 4522=AD......3C......3C..........AD 5431=BD......3C......3D..........E 4531=E........3D......3D...........AE 5413=AE......3D......3D...........CE 4513=BE......3D......3D...........ACE 5521=CE......3D......3H...........BF 5512=ACE....3D......3H...........BDF 6421=F........3H.......3H...........F 4621=AF......3H.......3H...........AF 6412=BF......3H.......3H...........CF 4612=CF......3H.......3H...........ACF 5530=ACF....3H.......3S...........BG 5503=G........3S.......3S..........BDG 6430=AG......3S.......3S..........G 4630=BG......3S.......3S..........AG 6403=CG......3S.......3S..........CG 4603=ACG....3S.......3S..........ACG 6511=H........3nt.......3S...........BEG (3D--3H---3S i assume) 5611=AH......3nt.......3Nt..........BEH (3D--3H--3Nt i assume) 6520=BH......3nt.......3Nt.........BH 5620=CH......3nt.......4C.........BI 6502=ACH....3nt......3Nt.........BDH 5602=I..........4C......4C.........BDI Not an important gain but a gain nonetheless.I expect the gain of my method to be smaller with balanced hands or when there is no reverser. Every new method is always more complex then methods you already known. The "core" of my method is certainly much easier then symm relays where you have 3 core(balanced,2 suiters single suiters) + reverser with sub menus everywhere. As for learning 3 full chart i would be kidding myself to say its easy but i dont think its that complicated. You always learn a couple by heart with mnemonics tricks and work downward. Also when you bidding practice on the net you can have them printed and slowly you will learn them by heart. Of course if you screw up you will be more screwed then symm relays because hand and not classified by familiarity. Another downside is if they X for lead and the other guy raise the X you are stuck because the information are worthless if they are not conveyed as a whole (but its quite rare)