benlessard

Ive possibly already stretched by bidding 4S. (I could have only a 3S bid) so my normal FP rules tell me its off. However im pretty sure that with uneven vuln (v/nv or nv/V) FP is superior. Desinging rules for FP isnt easy.

For post number 17. South X isnt takeout its a big hand, usually 18-19 bal, but some unbalanced hand would have to start by doubling too. East double should be penalty/ or penalty-ish since he can bid 2S for takeout (even with a 31(54) its safe to bid 2S since we denied 5S with our first pass) or 2NT for both m.

Thanks its was a bad example i agree that 3Nt look better, but its still sure for me that 4H doesnt show near solid H and its more like finding the best game. But case like 1D-1H 3C-3H 3S-4H (holding 2623) its obvious that 4H is not a great suit and its more like trying for best game and partner need to correct with 3055, 4D rather than 4H is often only be a Hx but should show a more slammish hand (not 2 quick loser in S) maybe there is a better way to play it but I think it should be standard to turn off fast arrival (over SJF and reverse) so that in the end jumping show a great suit and not jumping show doubt of strain.

If you play in "liberal" midchart or higher and do your job properly you should be able to show nearly all shapes before 3Nt, of course since you are well placed right from the start you can expect good result by playing very basic, but if you want the best using 1H as a relay is obvious. 1D-1H-1S (showing clubs is also obvious once you started playing it). The only uncontested contracts we seems to go off is when slam is good because of a stiff K/Q in side suits, or sometimes 3Nt isnt the best spot despite having no fit & sometimes 3NT is the best spot because partner got a stiff K. 18-22 3064=3S 4450=3S 11-17 0355=3S 11-14 3073= 3S 6D bal 14+= 2S 3145= 3C 1D-(P)-1H-(??) can be annoying however but you should be ok if 1H showed at least 3H or good 9+ pts

Well either you play that 4H directly show a good suit and that 3H/4H show a bad suit or the other way around IMO fast arrival is crap and should be off when partner showed a big hand, its poor methods to bid 4H directly to show a poor/medium suit weaker hand than 3H followed by 4H because partner may have a super strong 2 suiters. Also assume that you have Kxx AQxxxx x xxx wich is a very nice hand vs a jumpshift over 2S you bid 3H and partner bid 3S because he doesnt have a full stopper in C)-- would 4H now show a stronger hand than a direct 4H ? The answer is no, that is why 1D--1H--2S--4H should show great hearts and 3H followed by 4H show doubt not the other way around. For me and for most players I hope the slow way show a bad suit & always show some kind of D tolerance and decent values (not 1D--4H values). The fact that i have a stiff clubs make it very likely partner is 4153. With a 4063 he will never pass 4H and with a 3163 ive assume that hes going to bid 3C rather than 2S (but ive got np with 2S). Those who played that 3H followed by 4H showed a stronger hand than a direct 4H then they obviously need to bid 4D as COG (rather than keycard for us.) to suggest that they dont have the good hand with great hearts. I must admit that bidding 4D (rkc for us) is tempting but im worried partner doesnt have J/T of diamonds.

With a stiff H honor and 3 aces partner would have bid 4C or 4H not 3Nt, so its better to forget about slam. If partner have the stiff ten of H and 3 aces and source of tricks tell yourself that not many players will find this slam.

Im was about 2100 at chess but ive stop playing chess after discovering shogi, problems in shogi are simply crazy, this is a 1525 ply (713 moves) problems. Note that in shogi problems all the moves must be checks ! So the enemy moves are mostly king move (or blocking with a piece). But more impressive are Musou and Zukou problems, wich are 200 problems composed around 1730 by 2 brothers, each of these problems are still unsovable with today best programs, they are are about 25 to 300 moves each (50-600 ply), for an amateur like me (ive played shogi for more than 10 years) it will take me more than 25 hours to solve the easiest problems of the bunch. As far as i remember ive rarely saw a chess problems or studies that took me more than 2 hours to solve (moving/replacing the piece is allowed).

Thanks now I know why your estimation are off.

You should look at my system, the idea is that hands with 5S should be opened 1S as often as possible without having a too wide continous range. If you play a 11-14/18-21 range like we do you will noticed that you rarely need invitationnal bids and dont need Gazilli (a convention I strongly hate even if it very popular among the best) In short 18-21 hands do not pose problems like 16-17 pts hands because you have GF in your hands. Having a better defined 1C and most importantly having a better defined 1D are worth more than being to open super light or having 2C as always showing 6, IMO its not close at all. Otherwise i would suggest playing what Zel play (except that i would keep 1D up to 21 pts.) 1C=15+ 1D=11-22 at least 4D unbalanced 1M=11-17 2C may have 5C+4M

I think your estimates are off. IMO most case of doubling 3S are long spades and side entries, on those they would lead spades most of the times anyway (lead from a short M when your broke) and if you double with a chubby 4 card you risk getting a XX since many open 2NT with a 5M. Also because of the double, sometimes they will play 4H/5m making rather than 3Nt going down. At MP i agree that the double is a bit painful. I should have put ...yet most players arent really worried about those (not my case be the way, since im a believer of non transfers over a weak NT)

The lead director X is a loss but nothing compared to the cost of playing transfers/2S range check in a weak NT setup, yet nobody are really worried about those. If youre worried when it goes 2nt--3nt and think that partner may have forgotten it, then dont play it otherwise I like to have more space. Maybe using 3NT as non forcing but showing a certain type of hand (like 33 in both M or 3433/4333 that doesnt really want to go through stayman) make sense

Another sequence where you can ask about a stopper or be natural is ... 1Nt--3H 3=1-(54) GF 3S--?? what does 3S mean ? I think that its kind of a 3way bid with a hand like AKxx Jxxx AKx Jx 1- asking for half a stopper in H ( a stiff honor) 2- showing 5S and a min hand (a direct 4S would be better and 4H even better i guess) 3- wanting to know wich minor is best with correction to 4S to play or 4H as COG. (both suggesting that we dont have a great fit in the minors)

My style is to play COG before making slam tries. So IMO 4S or 4H should suggest playing 4S/5M and not be slammish, also its probably possible to bid 3S and pull 3Nt to 4c suggesting that 4S is possible but that im not forcing to 5m. Anyway I think that when partner showed a solid minor having a half a stopper bid is a must, a stiff J can make the difference between making 3Nt or being -3 after all.

It should be the other way around. With shapes and some points its better to bid now before 3rd seat will show his suit. If youre very weak, 3rd seat will probably pass the XX and you will be able to pull out now. What i think is best is (1NT)--X--(P forcing)---??? pass = pts or bal garbage. 2C crap with clubs/2 suiter with clubs (0-2 pts) 2D decent suit some pts (3-7) 2H decent suit some pts (3-7) 2S decent suit some pts (3-7) if the XX is passed. 2C = bal garbage 2D = weak with D 2H weak with H 2S weak with S --------------------- If 3rd seat bid something pass = bal garbage X = DSIP at least 2/3 in their suit rest are 2/3 suiters takeout. In your method opener cannot make a penalty X over the weak bid of 4th hand because he doesnt know if 3 seat has value, while in my method after the XX (showing values he can my run out) but my method allow the doubler to bid a suit before the weak hand bid a suit, it also fight way better for partscoe when pts are roughly even.

What is the USG/EGF go rating compared to KGS/IGS ratings ?

Agree when you have space in front of you the first step should be minimum. However for void showing bids in competition you rarely have space available. Here the vast majority of players would use 5H as void showing. So keeping this premise what is the most useful use for 5H... hands where you want to bid 6 and may think 7 is there according to the number of keycards(traditionnal exclusion) or hands that you are looking for 6 but like to be able to stop at 5 if partner has wasted values, while still keeping the ability to get to 7 if partner like his hand. For me this is a no brainer, 5 or 6 hands are just way more likely than 6 or 7 hands. For me a void doesnt just mean that your ace in that suit doesnt count, it mean that all values in this suit are mostly wasted.

These 4M+5m or 4441 hands are exactly why i think 4 card transfers (when GF) are superior to standard. 1Nt-2D is premium space, using this space only for hands where you have 5 H is inefficient Imo. 1444 often start with 1Nt-2C-2S ... no matter how good you are youre going to need some luck here. 4135 often goes 1Nt-2C-2H.. now its tough to ask/show 4S and show 5 clubs at the same time. If you bid clubs partner will not know if you have 4H or 4S.

My question about the 1st is checking if most play that 3D is 5/5 and xx is 64 (or vice versa). IMO to play that 3D show better D and XX show better spades also make sense. Because I think 55,65,56 are going to be way more likely than a 6340 (a hand that its not even clear if its best to XX with). If you play 3D show better D and xx show better S(or vice versa) when 22 or 11 vs 65/55/56 you will get to the best contract however when 23/12 vs 64 you are going to play in 43/42 rather than 62/61. If you play that XX is 64 and 3D is 55 (or vice versa) when overcaller is 22/11 and you are 65/55/56 you are going to be in the worse partscore 50% of the times. Of course sometimes both 52 fit will produce the same result and sometimes both S/D are equal. On this hand 3S in 52 fit was -2 while 3D in a 61 was making (and doubled at the other table :( ) For the 2nd hand is the XX inviting partner to bid 4S or more like a lead directing ? Ive XX hoping partner can doubled 4 something with a singleton and 2/3 trumps or extras defense. (IMO hes going to have a stiff very often and if this stiff is not trumps they are sure to go down and can easily go for -2/-3) Against 3NT it will force him to lead S wich is also a good thing. hands like ... Ajx QJT9 Ax xxx xxx AT9x Ax Kxxx If they play 4D and partner can lead a stiff C or H on a good day we are going to make 3 ace and 2 ruff (and maybe the K of clubs).Of course there is some danger that 3S is going down (if they pass !) but its only -400 rather than -200 so its a fair gamble imo. The way ive learned it business XX invite partner to make a penalty X.

I expect 2S--5H--5S--6D 2S is normal, west should have bid 5H exclusion, when you have a void, you often just have one opportunity to show it. Over wich East bid 5S (bad hand) and now 6D by West (to play, since we play 5Nt PAS) now I think East can visualize that the AK of H might be useful to pitch a slow loser in S and raise to 7 hoping west doesnt have Qxxx,void,AKQJTx,Kxx. I strongly suggest to play that responding to exclusion is return to trump suit = Bad other are KRC responses. Asking about general strenght is much more important than the number of keycards.

We had 2 XX cases tonight, what is your agreements here. V/nv (1H)-2C-(P)-2S (P)-3C-(X)-XX V/V (1C)-P-(1D)-3S (X)-XX

3S showing half a stopper. I dont know what else 3S could show here.

I believe 16-19 is a better range than 15-18 so Im happy to bid a heavy 2NT here. Playing 15-18 I would just bid 3NT.

Ive got almost no chance of making 3 something so why would I bid ? To defend 2S rather than defending 1S ?

2S

To my defense i think we pass many hands that Justin will respond routinely. Also red at MP i wouldnt X with the hand ive posted (-200/-500 to likely) xxxx KJxxx x xxx xxxx xxx x Axxxx with these hands you have hope to make 3 something or at least some hope of putting 3S down. These 3-5 pts hands with a 5 card suit are very frequent and these are the hands you aim at when you X.