benlessard

Im thinking exactly the opposite. (1) yes but when the 3 suiter is fitted or semi-fitted ? 1D---1S AQxx Kxx Axxxx x vs AQxx Kxx Axx xxx You may bid 3S with the 1st if you like but i dont like it. Only when 1444 its annoying to rebid 2C. But still im not convinced rebidding 1nt is better. (2) Trust me it doesnt help that the worst possible hand is the most frequent, what is helping is that the worst hand more frequent hand is out of the way. 1C----2S-----??? much easier to compete knowing partner is unbalanced or that hes got extra values. Again im thinking exactly the opposite, weak ntromper will fare much better in those situation & its not close at all. When opening 1 of a suit with 12-14 then its possible to see good unbalanced 15 and garbage 12 count. When you play weak nt and open 1m then its either 15-17 balanced or shapely minimums that are the worst hands. With the shapely 13 and the balanced 15 opener has no extras. But if you play Strong Nt where the range is balanced crap and + Do you consider a shapely 13 to be extra values ? To have a strenght gap you need to have similar strenght of hand in 1 place and other strenght type of hand elsewhere. Clearly the most probable hands are the worst 12-14 balanced. Once you get them out the only remaining are + values (more HCP or a 5 card suit) the only annoying hand are lousy misfitted 4441 hands where you can lie showing them as 54.

Transfers openings are great for relay but allowing the cue-bid, the X and the pass & bid to show a powerhouse is a too big price to pay. You have to remember that the gain are only the slam that reyour regular relay will fail to find. Its sure fun to ask for Aces at 3C and bid 6H after the responses but you gain nothing compared to the regular relay that ask for aces at 4C and endup in 6H too. Having too efficient relays means the 4-5 level become idle or unused However here are some possible structure. 1S---Nt or clubs 1Nt diamonds 2+ preemptive whatever. 1S---C 1Nt--balanced 2C---D 2D---D 2nd types 1S---balanced 1Nt--1 or the other minors type 1 2C---C type 2 2D ---type 2 Another interesting thing is to play that 1D could be 4H, so many 4H +m or 4441 are in the 1D opening. My feeling is that if in 1C there is only balanced hands 12+ its playable. If you had some clubs or 4441 in it then its not that playable anymore.

The fact that 2Nt is scrambling make it sure the X is penalty. [hv=n=sjtxxxxhjxxxxdxcx&w=saxxxxhaqxdxckqxx&e=skqhxxdqxxxxxcxxx&s=shkxxdakjxxcajxxx]399|300|[/hv] Or a similar variant ?

3C make sense. IMHO partner cannot pass 1S without 3S so from my point of view game is possible maybe even likely, so i want to wake-up partner. XX might work but LHO can find an annoying bid like 3D. The only drawback is that you need to be sure 3C doesnt show a weak 4??7

My experience tell me that unless they are complete beginners (you can hear them counting HCP) the weaker the pair the weaker the crap they open in 3rd seat. Once they learn to open light in 3rd seat there is just no way to stop them ! The question should be do i want to defend 2S X because if the opps compete partner going to think MP and be quick with those X. I guess i would open 1Nt but im not convinced

[hv=n=sax&w=s&e=s&s=skt87xx]399|300|[/hv] plenty of communications. [hv=n=sax&w=s&e=s&s=skt87xx]399|300|[/hv] West play a low and east put up the A. [hv=n=sax&w=s&e=s&s=skt87xx]399|300|[/hv] Dummy(north) to play may or may not have plenty of communication. --edited, North hand has no entry or unsure entry but maybe south is short of entry. So can declarer start the suit from north if so what happens ?

If partner has 4H then its surely GF worthy, if he has 3H then its probably a limit if he has 2 then its surely a limit. KQxxx KQxx ?? ?? + a little extra KQxxxx Qxx Axx x KQxxx Kx Axxx xx KJxxx Kx KQxx xx Qxxxx QJx AKx xx My feeling is that if your opening requirement a are a bit under these hands (clear but minimum openings) then a limit raise is probably better. This is 1 advantage of non-Gf relays, having opener make a 2nd bids before GF.

X and if partner bid 5D, i bid 5H. A direct 5H is a close 2nd.

First of all partner shouldnt X 7Nt with the A of S, you might easily be void, he will pass and if you find a spade in your sleeve you can X and lead your spade. (edited ! in this case I had a S and had to X before partner :) ) Also having the SA and little elsewhere why the (XXXX -edited by inquiry) would he X 7S ? To put you on lead with a S void ? Having the SA partner can pass 7S and if opps bid 7Nt then now he can try for a lightner asking for a S lead. In my view partner will never X for a 1 trick set unless hes on lead in 7Nt and know that i rarely lead out of turn ! And if partner already X 7S (expecting a 2 trick set) then he has no need to X 7Nt because i will X them almost always unless i have strong reason to believe they can make it. Like ive said im paying the lightner insurance. Every X of slam is lightner unless the doubler X is on lead. Do you think its possible West decided to make a gamble X hoping the opps would run to 7Nt so that he can make a lightner X to be sure to get an H lead ? From his point of view leading into 7S isnt that much fun compared to waiting for the H lead. You are pretty sure one of your A is getting ruffed and you are on lead. If west did X7S and 7Nt with that in mind its very impressive !!

In my book partner is raising on a doubleton. With 3S and a good hand he will bid 4 , and with 3S and a weak/medium hand he would have bid 2S instead of 2D (at least in MP) Facing partner good 2542 ill be happy to make 4S

Agree 100%, I not conviced that Walsh will bring good result after 1C---1H---1S (as unbalalanced). You are going to reach some 2C or 2S that are better then 1Nt but when you will be balanced you will play poor 1Nt instead of 2S. Plus partner is going to need to reverse with 4-4 in the M with a balanced hand or use a checkback 1 thing is sure is that if you cannot stop in 2C then Walsh style lose most of it purpose. My strong preference is to play 4th suit as only inv, with 2 level to play, 2Nt GF with honnor to protect and 3 level GF.

Ive wanted to buy to buy bridge browser but ive chicken out after checking the average level of the players on BBO. I truly believe that database are the future for bidding judgement except that there is so many clueless players that are corrupting results.

Even if the lead is a true 4th best i think playing S first to try an endplay is inferior then D at trick 2.

yep 2 clubs is way more likely then 3.

Axxx xx AQxx Axx So 7Nt is better. Im wondering do some like to rebid 2C instead of 3C ? Some strong players i know then to make very heavy 2C bid instead of rebidding 3C. Ive decided to give it a try too and so far 2C is rarely passed out and when it is passed there is no game. Of course these are quite rare hand so i wont be able to make a clear assessment for quite a while.

Yep ive added the T to make them more beefy but forgot to remove a small x :rolleyes: Not to my taste. A m fit is possible and we have no clue of honor location other then a stopper in the unbid M, being balanced 12-14 is a whole lot of possible hands. these are less frequent then the balanced 12-14 types and artificial 2Nt or 3C are available for that. Agree that why you should let the place for partner to describe his hand. Its a efficiency of space principle. Using cheaper bid to show the most probable and most undefined type of hands (balanced 12-14) hand and using space consuming bids to show less probable more defined hands (single suiter hands with 6 diamonds).

WTP 3D

The problem with responding 2Nt with a balanced hand is that it take too many space to show wide possibilities of hands. 1D-----2C 2Nt-----3M ??? Lets say you have a club fit but have stopper in the unbid major do you bid 3Nt ? If you have a M fit can you cue bid in 4C or is it natural ? If you bid 2D with all balanced hand then its 1D-----2C 2D-----2M with 3C or 3M or 3OM available to show raises (with a balanced hand if you play that 2D only show bal hands) and still be under 3Nt. The vast majorities of hands after 1D---2C will be balanced 12-14 so its better to keep the less space consuming bid for them. Well what do you do with xx,xxx,xx,AKQJTxx Kx,Jxx,x,AJTxxxxx etc.. There are plenty of hand that are too weak to bid 2C & are way too strong to bid 1Nt. And i dont think bidding 2Nt with them is a bright idea. After 1M ----2m its a whole different thing, first of all 1Nt is forcing. 2nd if there is a suit without stopper then 4M is often a playable contract while after 1D---2C you will be playing 5m Ask many experienced players and almost all of them will say that 2C as Gf is only after 1M opening. (unless they play some 3 cards 1M responses or relay)

1st i think to play 2C as GF is terrible. 2nd 2D is better played as a waiting bid. With a hand with no feature (3442 for example) its better to let partner unbalanced hand do the talking.

I would like to know your complete option after 1D----1S ??? I dont think 2D to show a 3 card raise is that useful. Probably better is the distinction between good and bad 2S raise (with 3 & 4 trumps)

Without partner 2nd X the S is clear. So his 2nd X is probably because hes greedy and sure of setting the contract. But still you need to pay the lightner insurance. Those high level lightner X are too precious.

i guess we can safely say that with jX or worse raising is probably best as long as you have at least 1 trump honnor. With Qx or Kx 1nt is probably always better. 1Nt to protect the K of H. With Ax then if you have 2 trumps honnor then raising make sense. Kxx Ax Kxxx Qxxx still 1Nt but raising is close KTx Ax Kxxx Qxxx 1Nt in MP, raise in Imps Kxx Qx kxxx Axxx 1Nt to protect the QH First of all its obvious that in IMP you can afford more 3 card raise then in MP.Also the weaker the range the hand is the tougher those decision are, because moysan fit are depending on honnor concentration/lack of stoppers. When the HCP are split 11-10 then its tougher then when they are 15-6.

Clear 2S for me ill bid 2C before bidding 3S.

Thanks for more clarification. I especially like Presently in my system after 1C----??? 1Nt, 2C,2D,2H,2S,2nt responses are underused. Im wondering how you relay your balanced hands. Ive noticed that Meckwell use 2D to show GF balanced hand instead of 1NT. Im wondering if you could send me your method for relaying balanced hands. Thanks in advance.

WTP ? It not a big problem just that what im trying to say is that cue-bids like several bidding gadgets are shortcuts. When you cue-bid is 3S you show the A or the K, someday knowing if its the A or K will make all the difference. Over 4C if you had showned a H controls it might have be the K or Q (A isnt possible because of hcp count) When you describe a balanced hand since there is so many pattern usually you endup taking a shortcut like 3343 or 3334. When we ask for keycards and we are missing 1 keyc it bug me to not know wich 1 is missing. Just to consider the K of trumps as having the same value as an A is a big shortcut , ATxx vs J9xxx isnt the same thing as Kxxx vs J9xxx. Turbo wich showed odd or even number of keycard is a more dangerous shortcut then 14-30. Sooner or later we all pick a hand were we are pretty sure hes got 3 KEYC but are still afraid that hes got 0. Imagine if its 0-2 or 1-3-5 When you cuebid (or bypass the cuebid) in trumps suit to show AK/none vs Ax or Kx sooner or later you will reach 6 lacking AK of trumps. Another shortcut is not setting a trumps suit. In your example after 5H you are propelled to 6S anyway since 5S would continue the relay (im guessing here). Lets say for example that partner is showing a balanced hand and have just showned 4S, if you decide to skip a bid to agree spades then when youll be near 3Nt/4D then both those bid become working bids since 4S is the only signoff now. So the bidding space spent will comeback with benefits. Some classic cue-bidding are a pain. When a cue is A,K or shortness is something that i find awful. AQJTx facing K or stiff ? Axx facing Kxx or a stiff ? I completly understand that shortcut are a necessity and that most time you can make a pretty good educated guess. Its like MP3 (& lossy compression) its a trade-off between acceptable or unnoticable ''information distorsion'' vs economy of space (wich in return will allow you to get further information). Ive tried playing controls A=3 and K=1 (instead of A=2 K=1) after getting some nasty hands where slam was good if partner had the 2K but was terrible if he had the A or vice-versa that ive wanted more clarity. When partner is showing 3 controls you always know if its KKK or A, same when its show 4,when he show 5 its AKK etc . It worked pretty well until you get a hand with KKKQQ wich is 3 controls and a hand AAA wich is 9 controls and take more then a full level of bidding. All the science is to determine how much space are you willing to spent vs how much uncertainty you are willing to accept. But at the same time does it make sense to have tools to find Jacks when you dont know for sure if partner hand was 3343 or 3334 or that his cue was an A or K (or even a Q). I think that if you have enough space or willingness to find a J then maybe you should aim for unambigous information earlier in the bidding.