benlessard

Imo waiting to have 15+ or (16+ beurk) to double is falling into the trap head first. X is one of the best call in bridge, its the call that give you the most space and its often the safest call. Yes doubling them often will give them more space but if you have the balanced of power who do you think need the space you or them ? Passing 1D fert with a 1D opener is worse than not opening a 13 count with 4D in 2nd seat because youve lost some additionnal bidding space. in standard (P)--P--(P)--?? (you 2nd hand passed with a 13 count balanced that you could have opened 1D, partner in 4th seait is in the dark but at least still can open 1C or 1D. 1D fert (1D!)-P--(P)--?? partner can X but he cannot open 1C/1D so your side lost space, if its a mistake to NOT open 1D in the first case how can passing in the 2nd case with a 1D opening can be right (unless its a trap pass) ? I think people are getting confused by thinking that a direct X main goal is to punish them. The way I see it is just bid your hands, you have an opening and 3-4 cards in this suit X them to make a call that describe your hand, the more you describe your hand the better you will be able to punish them or bid your games. If 1D fert is 5-10 I would X with 13 and 4D and 14 with 3D. I would never X with 2 or less D (unless if they play fert at unfav) and would overcall 1M with 4M when short in D. 1NT should be good hand short in D and unsuitable for 1M overcall. In balancing seat I would play standard balancing double but im not convinced too much about it. Ive never played vs fert 5-10 but I dont think its going to be quite different than other fert ranges.

I like to play a style where a PH bidding 2H always show a S tolerance. There is no hand unable to open 1H or 2H on round 1 that are good enough to make a PH 2/1 with a stiff spade.

What problem ? :)

1S--4C--(X) XX its the same thing 1S---4C--(X) P----XX here it should be a void since splinter with stiff ace is weird, but it doesnt matter the principle stay the same dont count the A in the XX suit and there is never a need to show the void.

Ive never saw it backfire. Try to find an example where it could backfire. Splinter with a stiff A is always a gamble because partner may have KQx in the suit (useful rather than wasted values) but if its in ennemy suits its ok. 1S-(2D)-4D-(X) XX------4NT You dont count the A of D counting it is dumb because responder could have a void. Its totally normal to bid 4NT with a D void here. 1S-(2D)-4D-(X) P-------XX--- 4NT Again its irrelevant if you have a D void or stiff ace of D you simply dont count it. Again im really surprised that most players didnt know this its something ive already considered standard and fairly obvious.IIRC its well explained in one of the Rosenkraz books.

After a strong clubs you have to reduce you criteria to make a neg double otherwise you will pass too often and put too much pressure on opener in the balancing seat. I dont play that the neg X are GF. In standard where the opening can be a 11 count its normal to X with 9 so 5+ after a 16+ strong club look like a good range to me. Note playing switch here is also awesome. 3D=H 3H=S 3S=D GF We play 1C starting at 15 and we will X with many 6 count.

Playing a transfer lebenshol scheme where 3S is transfer to 3NT as been very imps rewarding for me the last 2-3 years. After a 2/1 auction bidding 2NT with positionnal stopper/half a stopper is also awesome. If I have to bet on what the top level system would look like in 15-30 years I would say a lot of rightsiding gadget.

Both 2NT and pass are fine. The well placed Qh and the lenght in clubs are nice plus. Usually 2NT here show 6 clubs with extras and a H stopper. With 18-19 bal I rarely bid just 2NT.

Its simple after a XX You never count the A of D. Doesnt matter if its void or stiff A or A of D you simply never count it. Also there is no need to show a void.

Thx Justin My gut feeling was 2S, 9-14 , pass and X 15-20 (2 ways X is ok here imo as long as its a perfect takeout with 0 or 1 Spade) and 21+ you start with X. With 21 or more I would start being afraid that it go AP. If the opps are vul ill be upping the range by 2 pts and probably pass even if im 22+

Pass is a joke. Using 2NT as artificial is ok, using 2NT only for a S raise is a terrible method, I dont care if it popular among experts its still terrible. Its either X or 3D. It really depend on the crap you open. If you open many 10 count I like double.

[hv=d=e&v=n&b=2&a=pp1sp1npp2s]133|100[/hv] [hv=d=e&v=n&b=2&a=pp1sp1nppd]133|100[/hv] Whats the pts ranges here of North here ? How many pts do you need to be to be too strong to pass (holding long spades) on round 1 ?

RKC in D, using 4NT for keycards in minors is terrible.

Its rare that I dont X but I could see some cases where ill prefer 1NT. 3244 with AQ of H. But its less than 5% for sure. I also think its poor to overcall 1NT with many 15 counts.

In first seat that's a Fantunes 2-bid and a SAYC 1-bid. In third seat it's still a Fantunes 2-bid and a SAYC 1-bid. Maybe we agree? YES But my point is that opening 2S in 1st seat with a standard 1M hand has more upside than in 3rd seat. The downside is the same. If someone forced me to play Fantunes on one deal where I got a 10-13 pts 5(431) I would way prefer to be in first seat than in 3rd seat and it not really close for me. Yes im taking risk by opening 2M but at least I block 2 opponents and my partner know my pts range fairly precisely.Being forced to open 2M in 3rd seat even if partner doesnt have values for game block mostly one opponents, 2nd seat player had the chance to make a weak 2 or to open. "As for reduced cost:benefit ratio of preempting in third seat, that seems to fly against all received wisdom. Yes you're only preempting one opp, but he's likely to be the stronger one, and meanwhile you've lost the risk of preempting yourself out of game (or slam)." This is true for a standard weak 2 not for a fairly precise 10-13 opening in 1st seat.

If you gave me a hand like AQxxx Kxx Kxxx x and told me that ill need to bid it twice, but once in 1st/3rd seat and once in standard/Fantunes ill of course open 2S in fantunes 1st seat and open 1S in 3rd seat standard, I surely wont do the opposite (1S in standard 1st seat and 2S in 3rd seat Fantunes) because the preemptive effect of 2S is reduced in 3rd seat (because only one opp) while the cost is fully there (playing a poor partscore).

Helgemo and Helness floated 4H on an identical auction, so I wondered if pass was a reasonable choice. Very weird indeed. Im pretty sure passing is not a reasonnable choice unless the michaels are always like 12+

Its normal to make offshapes X since 2Cx is often a great spot.

Its mostly just a guess but I don't see how Fantunes wont be at at a disadvantages in 3rd seat. The 10-13 opening have a preemptive effect but at the cost of constructiveness. Once RHO is a passed hand the preemptiveness is reduced but not the cost. The 14+ is mostly good for slams, once partner is a passed hand this advantages go down. In standard because partner is passed you can safely open light and used drury, you dont really get those advantages in Fantunes.I dont know what are the passed hand inference in Fantunes but I doubt they compensate those of standard. We play a strong club at 15+ and when im in 2nd seat and it goes (P)-P-(P)-?? Im thinking "I guess partner is going to open a strong club" but more often than not its not the case. In the end the frequency of 15+ is not that much higher than in 1st/2nd seat vs 3rd and 4th so imo there is still going to have too much 10-13 hands in 3rd seat for Fantunes.

You dont need to play relays (its what I prefer however) you just need to be flexible with your cheapest bids. IMO allowing to bid some 3 cards, some art waiting bids & some switch is good enough to have a world class system IMO. The problem is not getting a world class system its remembering it and understanding the inferences. some examples 1D-1H = could be 3 if bal GF 1S-2C-2D = art waiting bid or D (the other bids are more precise, 2H show 4,2S show 6, 2NT show short clubs and goodies in unbid suits (5341,5413 poor H) 1D-2D-2H = art game try. 1S-1nt-3D-?? = here switching 3H/3S/3NT is surely a winning solution. You simply dont want to bid 3S and 3NT 3 or 4 times more often than 3H. 1D-1S-2H = 2H really need to be a 2 way or 3way bid since its your cheapest forcing bid, keeping 2H only for the reverse hand is a poor method. Also if you can you should always make your "signoff" and some of your raises in transfers. Ex 1C--1D (1C is strong 1D is neg or....) 1H--?? none of the responder bid should be non forcing here except 1Nt. Making your weak hands or rebids in transfers is awesome. 1C--?? 1NT= 6C weak or GF 2C= 6D weak or GF 2D= 6H weak or GF 2H= 6S weak or GF but if we are inv we go via 1D but will still use transfers 1C-1D (H or pts) 1H-?? (15-20 with 3H) 1S bal gf or inv no M or INV with 6C 1NT INV with 4-5 S (our only bid non forcing) 2C = 6D inv or H+D GF 2D = H Inv or H+C GF 2H = S INV or H+S GF 2S+ = all C+H GF So there is no waste here and its not too hard to remember. Our bal GF by responder are the 2 or 3 cheapest forcing bids. 1C-1D-1H-1S-1NT-2D (2D is bal GF but we know opener is 15-16 and got at least 3H not 5C not 6M) 1C-1D-1NT-2C-2D-2H (2H is bal GF but we know opener is 17-18 bal without 4H) 1C-1D-1S-2C-2D-2H (2H is bal GF but we know opener got 0-2H and cannot super accept D) These are very frequent auction for us opener is 15-18 bal or semi bal,responder is 9+bal any shapes. But instead of responder showing a precise amount of point we make a series of 2/3 ways bids giving opener the chance to describe his unbalanced hand or to pinpoint his strenght if hes balanced. Its easier for frequency for opener to show 15-16,17-18,19-20 than for responder to show 9-11,12-14 and 15+ and its more precise. When responder is bal GF opener is 15-16 about 75% of the times.

I see this as a simple optimization of bidding space, in the majority of auctions the 2 cheapest call cannot have high requirements otherwise they will be too infrequent and you will leak bidding space. 1S--?? 2C as art GF or as showing S fit 10+ rather than a real club suit and GF values is clearly better. 1S-2D ?? Bidding 2H as art or could be just a H fragment is clearly preferable than waiting to always have 4H for bidding 2H. 1H--?? ill never play a system where ill need 5S to bid 1S it simply terrible to me. 1Nt--2D could be just 4H instead or some other hands rather than "at least 5H" is just a superior method & its not really close. 1C(strong)-?? both 1D and 1H need to have low requirements otherwise their frequency is too low. making the cheapest bid with a wide variety of hand while having precise requirement for the space consumming bids is imo the only way to go. Here is a hand we bid in this previous weekend tournament. http://tinyurl.com/lq3ymna Partner had the Q of D or Ks/Qs since he got a S lead and IIRC he didnt need to ruff a diamond. Anyway those slammish 5431 are fairly frequent and treating the bidding space like a precious metal is a sound strategy.

What we do in a strong club 15+ scheme is to split the 1M rebids range. 1NT = 12-14 1C-1D(H or pts)-1NT = 17-18 without 4H 1C-1D-1H = at least 3H 15-16 or 19-20 not forcing 1C-1D-1S = at least 3S 15-16 or 19-20 not forcing after 1C-1H(spades) we dont need to split the range because 1H is 0-4(5) or GF.

By reading the comments its clear that some dont understand all the consequences of encrypted signals or how they work. The best simple key is the lowest unseen card in declarer shortest assumed suit. Its never on how suit breaks. 1S--2H 3C--3H 3NT Here H is the assumed short suit. So the defender with the spot card 2h play "weird" signals and the other defender play your usual methods. Assuming you normally play attitude leads. Here right from the start if the leader got the two of H he can lead 4th best instead of your normal attitude leads or he can play some sort of UD attitude. Imagine your declarer and get a 6D lead and got no idea if its attitude or 4th best. Dummy comedown with AJT972 in H so because the 2 is on dummy the lead was the normal attitude. The Key is now the 3H. Now the guy who got the 3H (lowest unseen H) play standard (weird) and the other guy play UDCA (your normal methods) there is about 10-15% that declarer got the 3H spot card in wich case both defender will be srcewed but 85% the defense will get a edge over declarer. With good players this will slow the game by 20-40 % IMO

Ok... Yes I agree that IRL you can open 1M non forcing and later force yourself to game whne partner show a preference but didnt show any values. Just for those hand everybody is going to be in game anyway so the correct way to see this is that the range in standard isnt 11-21 but rather 11-18 since with the 19-21 you are going to force to game the instant partner show a 2 card preference. IRL i wouldnt "raise myself" to 4S with a 5143 with 19 but with a 20-21 sure ill do it the 4-6 hands are way more frequent than 0-3 and frequency is everything.

Its something I started writing at 3h am so I didnt draw any serious conclusions (and it wasnt meant to draw serious conclusions). Oviously the need to compete and the frequency should be counted. The drawback of agressive ranges like agressive precision range like 9-15 the numbers are taken from 11-17 but adjusted pass = 0-9, 3S = 10-13, 4S = 14+ but obviously passing with 8-9 will miss too many partscore swings so of course you will shorten the pass range and all others ranges will have to adapt. However all the 9-10 pts hand that youve opened and hit responder with fit and 10-13 pts you will compete to 3S while it may go pass--(3H)--AP at the other table for a partscore swing, yes the passed hand could balanced with 3S on a 5 card suit but hes somewhat taking a stab. As for the balancing in the original problem I have seen many sucessful 1M-(3m)-P-(P) X -(P)-4OM where responder bid 4 in the OTHER majors with a crappy hand not good enough to make a negative X. However I have seen more failures than sucess when responder jump in 4M in opener suit. Most of the success were 3M bids anyway. So IMO balancing will help you compete to 3M, it will help you bid game if you had 2 card support and some pts but it wont help you bid you game if you already have a fit but werent able to bid 3S. The range of the balancing X is still quite large that passing and bidding game is mostly taking a stab. If the balancing range is 15-21 jumping to 4M with exaclty 6 pts is marginal succes (in the model problem).