benlessard

Adam, what is your opinions about weak Nt with all 5M332 ? Do you think the unbalanced 1M is a full compensation ? Do you need your system to be GCC or Midchart ? If not your system will be well placed for 1S relay over 1H and transfer rebid the main drawback is your going to play 3C rather than 2C if responder has a stiff S. Did you ever tried to put all balanced hand into 1C and strong unbal into 1D (maybe slightly lower the range for frequency ?) , the very wide range for 1C might seems annoying but in practice it should work well since strong balanced hands are in general very easy to bid.

If you look at history you will see that many things that make us panic or worry today, are things they already happen at one point or another in history and somewhat disappear or got solved only to come back a couple of century later. My main worry is that with technological advance no 2nd chance weapons will be so common. Im 50 times more worried about nuclear war or equivalent than anything else. Most likely the eat or die law of nutrition :(

I would bid 7C at MP but its not like I have experience with these kind of hands.

We are using very little of earth habitable land and with future knowledge we might maximize earth & sun ressources in a way we cannot imagine today. So it would not surprised me that we might be 100 billion or more with mostly good standard of living in 100-150 years, im not saying its likely but imo its surely possible.

At MP 3nt look good since you can go down 2 and still manage to win the board. At Imps 3Nt is also clear IMO. Bidding 4S with Txx of D, wrongsiding & begging to get ruffed at trick 2 is really disgusting.

With Chapi our 1D show 4/5 unb, so when ive got 6D in my hand i know opener is likely to be 4144,1444,or ??45 so ill be in better shape than precision & standard bidder. If uncountested http://bridge.downagain.be/FD/FD.php?bod=1DP1HP1SP1NP2CP2HP2SP2N followed by 3C (3145) 3H (keycard in D) & ask for Kc/Ks/Qc.

A quick way to look at my system is a try to maximize the space wasted by limited opening (9-15). When 1S--2S, 1S--limit raise or 1S-1Nt after these common start there is huge amount of bids that have no use or very little frequency. The easiest way to maximize this space ive found is to put some strong hand into opener so that game & slam are possible and that some sequence are brought back to life. What is the drawback to open 1M rather than 1C with a 6M hand & 18-20 pts ? partner cannot pass with 6-9 pts and no fit ? people rarely pass anyway. partner cannot pass with 5-7 and a fit ? once again passing is rare anyway. The real drawback imo are you cannot psych and reply 1nt with 0-4 pts. You cannot do fast arrival without 4/5 trumps support. The advantage of opening more naturally and freeing some space in 1C are just way way more important. For the rest, 4414,3523,2533,5233,5332 can easily be relayed at the cost of complexifying the relays. The 4414 can be put as H+C & If you are facing a GF responder the chart is here http://bridge.downagain.be/FD/FD.php?bod=1HP1SP1NP2DP2H the big 4414 is also not a problem. Some of the balanced hand can be squeeze here, http://bridge.downagain.be/FD/FD.php?bod=1HP1SP1NP2D (2S as exact 2524 is an overkill as we can keyc ask about Q of trumps and 2 kings and stop at 4H) But for me its simply not worth it unless in a 3+ years partnership our system is complicated enough as it is. I still think opening 1NT with 5M is a weakness but there is a lot to be said for always having unbalanced openings. There is nothing worse in competitive bidding than when partner COULD have a balanced hand with no extras. 1M-(X)- our preempt can be more agressive. 1D--(1S)--?? we can raise with 3 cards etc. We also can play DSIP/penaltish double at low level (semi penalty i called them) 1S-(2C)-you can X with a wide range of hands here and nail them very often, with 11/14 (5431) partner will bid 2D/2H/2S or pass with 3C and a stiff with a {5422} its bid the 4 card or pass with 4 clubs with 6=2=2=3 its 2S or pass) In defense we can find out opener stiff very rapidly , its an inference much more useful for defense than for declarer. Unbalanced opening & split range mean its easier to play negative free bids(we dont right now). 1S--(2C)-- you can bid 2red with a good suit but with a wide pts (5-11) (if partner has 18-22 everything will go fine, if hes minimum with fit he can still raise since hes got a stiff somewhere (opps will not let you play in 2M with a 9 card fit very often anyway) with no fit hes got an easy pass since 14 vs 11 with misfit wont be a great game (the annoying hand here is a 13-14 pts 6M322 where its not fun to raise and see partner with 5-8 pts or to pass and see your doubleton allowing ruffs and you make 4. In general we can make 2 card raise with much more safety than regular system. IMO it take a lot of playing time to understand all the inference that can be drawn in the bidding from unbalanced hands. The fact I use 2D as nat preempt is a choice not a necessity, its surely possible to play 2D precision if you think opening 2C with 4315 or 1H/1NT with 4414 is bad/awful, maybe my choice is wrong, but for me its a tradeoff not a weakness the same way that I consider not having 2D preemptive available a tradeoff rather than a systemic weakness. I have a complex relay system with unusual opening and still have 2D/2H/2S/2Nt available for preempts rather than filling holes so i can gladly accept some drawback elsewhere, there is some great system with little flaws but they have no preempts at the 2 level so if you believe 2 level preempts are effective its pointless to compared them together. as For 1H--4H auction the vast majority of time its 11-14 vs 8-15, When opener got a strong hand 6 is often there or 5 is completly safe anyway. Total crap 0-5 pts vs 11-14 1H-4H vs 1H/4D wont stop them from bidding very often IMO. 4D allow them to cuebid 4H or double 4D but imo its not a big deal. Also note that its really in 1st seat that its an issue, once both opps had the opportunity to bid going fast rather than going slow is almost pointless at Imps. If you want to practice we are looking for opps mostly wednesday night at 10pm EST. If you want to practice some bidding hand send me a PM it will be my pleasure. (the system appear automatically on bbo server so you dont need to learn or remember anything) I know there is a lot of thing in my system that make unclear sense and are probably inferior. But i also know there are some real gems in it

1) not sure what you do with 4414 with 12-14 we open 1nt, not a big loss althought sometimes we play 2D in 5-1 fit. I like to have 2D/2H/2S as preemtive natural and hate most form of multi and really hate flannery/2D precision/mexican/French GF 2D. I undestand the need for a system to have some 2 level constructive bids but for me its a loss that i can avoid at a lower cost IMO. with 15+ its 1C very little cost here. At one point the 18-22 range was here http://bridge.downagain.be/FD/FD.php?bod=1HP1S as you can see 2S and over is H+S GF and we have the space (the 5602 is at 3nt and could easily be at the 4 level). But its an exception and ive decided to remove as many exceptions as possible keeping only the {5440} shapes as changing the whole shape order. 2C is a weakness, especially with most 2C responses structure wich IMO are really weak. But with a good structure i prefer to have 1D = 4 and 2C =5 than 1D =2 and 2C = 6. the important point over a 2C opening is allowing responder to be able to inv and stop at 2M with a 4M. 2M in 4/3 fit play better than 2Nt since opener is likely to be (134)5. Look at our responses scheme there is a lot of interesting stuff there. We have huge amount of 1C-1D-1H starts and that why i think our system is very strong as we are very well placed after this start (at the cost of sometimes play 2H in 4/3 fit) . Since many hands 16-22 with Diamonds, 16-22 with both m, 18-22 with long M are not in 1C, our 1C really tend to be more balanced or 15-17 than reg precision so we can afford to lower the range to get a similar frequency. At first i wasnt convinced of 1C at 15+ but now im convinced its superior (if you play weak Nt). Its also surprising the amount of games our opponents missed because they like to bids like zombies so they dont have the way to show real values. responder is inv & he will bid again or has 4H 0-bad 5 pts so why not being able to stop at 1H/1S ? Often the opps balanced and go -500 against a partscore (even -1100 against an unbidabble game). True GF hands (even if responder has 0-1 pts and misfit) are really rare so it doesnt bother me if ive got (13)54 with 25 pts and im forced to bid 3D its going to be tough for us but it wont happen often. Most important imo is to deal with much more frequent case of almost GF hands. 1- being able to bid the best game on those & not missing slams and to be able to stop at 2M 3m if partner is broke. I ve played 1C-1D-1H as forcing for much more longer time than NF (and i was also considering 1H forcing as obvious) and we the first session we switched to NF we got like 3 good boards just by being able to stop in 1H making or because they balanced too hard. After we did pick up some obscure case where its profitable, then ive considered 1H as NF an great improvement of our system. But youll need to tried it otherwise you wont be convinced. In the end its a small detail as im sure both ways are playable. lets say your partner open 1S (11-15) and you have 7 pts with 2344 do you pass ? Why would a 2542 with 19 pts would be better in a strong 1c than 1H are you afraid of playing 1H making 4 ? 1S--(2H)--?? You have 9-11 pts without a S fit. Do you prefer partner to be 10-15 or 11-14/18-22 ? 1S--(3H)--?? you have 8-11 pts with a S fit. Do you prefer partner to be 10-15 or 11-14/18-22 ? 1C---(2H)-- ?? you have 5 pts and 4333 (you pass)-- opener bid 2S and its back to you so you raise, but are you really happy about it ? 1H--(3S)--- youve got a heavy 4H bid (16-17 HC&D) do you prefer him to be 10-15 or 11-14/18-22 ? + The key point is that a little extra is tough to bid but a lot of extras or no extras are easy to bid. In standard 1H-1S-?? having 11-14 or 18-22 isnt a problem, while having 15-17 might lead to play 2nt in misfits hands or to play 2H/2S making 4. This is especially true for a system like mine where opener can make a forcing rebid. Its a sort of pre-Gazilli if you like. 1H--(X)--4H (can be heavy to unlikely to make it) is ok as long as opener has enough extras to make the 5 level safe. So 12-14/18-22 is working ok here. with total preemptive crap we have to tell partner that we expect him to be 18-22 by bidding 4D) As for 5 count after 1M opening we have a weak single raise (3-7) and some strong 21-23 pts are in 1C followed by 2D to show near GF hands (like a French strong 2C with a M). the biggest problem are strong both M where 1S all pass while 4H is making but luckily for us the trend now is very agressive balancing. Ive got stubborn ideas about weak bal hands. A- passing bal 12 pts is barely playable (so i much prefer 12-14 and 1C at 15 rather than 13-15 and 1C at 16) B -in 3rd seat vul weak NT is playable but costly. C- opening 11 bal vul is a losing proposition (except maybe in 4th seat or if the suit you open happen to be a 5 card suit in a nat system) D- NV weak is superior to strong NT or to 14-16. E- 10-12 1Nt isnt working against good opps (destructive values are good but not enough constructive value for the system as a whole + theyll draw inferences on the hands you dont open). F- with 11 bal i much prefer 1Nt than 1D. (Why opening light in a non-suit that give no lead direction value and little preemptive effect) Of course if you are Meckwell or pros at "terrorist" bridge its a different story. G- removing a weak bal from 1D + overcrowding 2C is less costly than playing neb 1D if you have a good system of responses over a natural 1D 4+. IMO Polish club will be a deadly weapon the day theyll start playing some real stuff over their 1D opening.

IMO C is just clearly better than D and its not close.

Im wondering if there a strict definitions for a strong club in the sense of the laws ?

I agree with 99% of what you say especially the part where you say :) 1&2 -Most of the hands come from bidding practice and some come from play, we practice a lot more than we play unfortunatly so 75+% of the hands come from bidding practice. Some of the interesting hands we made a bidding mistake in real life (1- complex system,2-big parts of the system are new 3- 1 year only partnership) and i bid what i think should happen if we knew the system better. But im not afraid to show the close call we have. Honestly i much prefer not choosing my hands, so any hands you would find interesting to bid it will be my pleasure. (I strongly believe confirmation bias is very hurtful for improving at bridge & in an any aspect of life, its the easiest way to illusionate yourself.) 3- I know the blindspot of my system very well (we still play/practice a lot of hands) so of course when a hand fall into the hole, im biased in the sense that ive got little to gain by publish it (unless im looking to solve a problem). Many of the holes ive accepted them and im willing to live with them so for "ME" its not a problem to be biased there. What is more important for me is that the hand is likely to teach something rather than trying to mean something like selling an opinion or a bridge system. Also my system have some unusual feature that I like to highlight rather than interesting hands where our trajectory is going to be similar to everyone else. Of course I expect nobody to believe hands or comments in any forum by anybody to be totally unbiased. 4 We do better in competition than most strong clubs at a 99% certitude. I know very well that non-competive hands are the exception and that 75% of the imps will swing from competitive bidding. Our drawbacks in comp bidding are a- opening 1Nt with any bal 5M 12-14 V&NV This is a big penalty and is by far our biggest handicap, nothing come even close IMO. b- not really able to open subminimum, I belive being able to open any hands that you would consider to be a sound overcall is a plus but im not a LOB aficionado c- vulnerable to 4th seat bidding. LHO overcall we do very well, 1x-(P)--relay--(Y) we do fairly worse than average. d- A bal 15 pts is a very frequent hand type to have in 1C, I sometimes envy those who have a strong clubs+strong NT. e- 11-14 hands that get upgraded by 2/3 pts based on opps bidding we clearly have no solution for this. 5- Over 1C/1D we are very well placed and miss very few great games (in non-comp bidding), over 1M we know the opener second suit before making a GF or pref decision. We can also inv with perfect 10/11 but in the end I believe its not a really profitable proposition. I give little values to inv bid that put you at the 3 level, I think you could play standard american without limit raises (GF or constructive raise) as long as you have drury in 3rd 4th seat and find the losses surprisingly acceptable. IMO the inv that are really worthwhile & necessary are the INV that allow you to play 2M. 6- At first i thought it would be a quite costly hole in the system but so far the losses are acceptable. A very top notch director told me its tolerated to open 1C with 13 and a shapely 2 suiters (ive never found a clear definition on a Strong clubs in the ACBL/WBF rules BTW i know at one point it was pure 16+HCP) any hand willing to play game vs 2 random A + with 13 pts 6/5 we open 1C and for 11-12 we hope the hand is a big misfit or the opps get into the bidding (70%+ at least is my estimation) We pre-alert our 1C and say that frequently upgrade. 7- Other drawbacks of the system a-is we give a lot of infos on some non-slammish hands when we wrongside. Its sometimes totally ridiculous and very random. But since we rightside very often in the end its ok. I strongly believe that transfers in all suits over a strong club are must. b- weak Nt vul in 3rd seat. Im a big fan of weak nt but red in 3rd seat its a loss. c very complex system, so errors are going to be more frequent, no way to avoid it no need to deny it. Luckily my partner has a great memory, is young and is already a top notch card player so im patient. D- For Nationals or top leagues otherwise non GF relay make it totally non-midchart. E- Many of the inferences are tough to spot (or in practice unavailable) & i sometimes do feel some parts of the system lead to a bit of unethical situations.

Its not a good spot to trust EW signals. In case like these making a SP signal before the suit is established is begging for getting your entry bumbed too early. But agaisnt the average player ill trust the T from JT and play H. Edit--yet east can easily play high clubs at trick 3, .. so im not sure about anything ill need to think more about it.

using Chapi http://bridge.downagain.be/FD/FD.php?bod=1SP1NP2CP2HP2SP2NP3H responder bid 3nt expecting opener to be 12-14, opener overide with 4H showing 2/5 A and 18-22 (forcing up to 4Nt), responder will make a move for 6D (4S) but opener will consider his hand a minimum with a K of S wasted and we will probably play 5D.

Other board its was a misclick (thansk for noticing ive corrected it), here its an easy board so so i wont bother with RKC and the rest.Its just to show the relay mechanics i have no clue why they posted this board on BW. Ive jsut notice that its north who open.. so they probably had different auction on both tables, but without blunders its going to be a very easy board.

[hv=pc=n&s=saj74hkqjt83d42c9&n=skqt5h4dacakqj742&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1hp1sp2hp2np3cp3dp3sp4d]266|200[/hv] 1S relay 2H is 5H+4S 12-14 2nt is GF 3C = low shortage 3D ask 3S = 4621 4D S keyc

[hv=pc=n&s=saj32hq743dcaq864&n=s6hak62dkt9542ckj&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=2cp2np3cp3dp4cp4dp4sp5dp5sp6H]266|200[/hv] Its ugly but we have to opem 2C,2nt forced 3C and 3D show 5D+4/5H GF. 4C show 2keycard with 4H and non minimum. 4D should be best used as general slam try but for us its asking for Q of trumps. I would just bid 4H with responder but ive post the rest of the sequence if north is optimist. 4S is show the Qh but not the K of C, 5D is bypassing Kd/KS ask for extras wich has to be CQ here, Edited its 6H not 6D

[hv=pc=n&s=skqjt987hadkt2ca2&n=sa4hj63da9864cjt9&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1s2cdp3s4dp4s4n5hp5sppp]266|200[/hv] The X is not totally take out (cannot be short in C) 3S show the 18-22 hands with great S 4d is 2noQ 4S is asking for K of C (implying stiff H or the K of H in opener) 4nt = no 5H asking for extras (bypassing K of D,QH,) wich is likely to be the QD as the Qc would have dubious values. 5S = no responder showing 2 keycards over a 18-22 make 4S an asking bid not a signoff. Note that over the X opener is very well placed no matter what hes got. (Hes got an unbalanced hand with 12-14 or 18-22) he will bid 2D/2H/2S with minimum or pass with 4C in the suit, if hes 18-22 hes going to bid 2Nt+ totally GF. If responder had the Q of D im not sure there is an easy way to find 7.

the hands are coming from http://bridgewinners.com/index.php/partnership-bidding Im going to do all the hands Vul:All DealerW NORTH 9 T 7 6 A Q 5 3 T 9 8 7 2 SOUTH A 8 6 5 3 A J 5 void A K Q J 6 p-1S 1Nt-2Nt (S+C low short 18-22) 3C-3Nt 5305 4H--4S (14) 5C--5H ( i had 4!, + Q trumps no K of S 5S (K of H ?)--5Nt (no) 6C when opener rebid 3nt its possible that 3nt is better than 5C but i think aiming for 5C is reasonnable, here slam is unlikely because of D waste but it cost nothing to check just in case partner is perfecto. Here relaying with 3C is a bit dangerous in case partner response is 6304 (wich i still hope 5C is going to be better than 3nt). Over 3nt our responses are 4c = S keyc 4D = polish end signla 4H C keyc 4S H keyc Note here that for us its 1S opening (11-14 or 18-22) despite playing strong clubs.

Im going to do all the hands from this article http://bridgewinners.com/index.php/partnership-bidding/859-hands-to-bid-from-the-team-trial-finals Vul:All DealerW NORTH 9 T 7 6 A Q 5 3 T 9 8 7 2 SOUTH A 8 6 5 3 A J 5 void A K Q J 6 p-1S 1Nt-2Nt (S+C low short 18-22) 3C-3Nt 5305 4H--4S (14) 5C--5H ( i had 4!, + Q trumps no K of S 5S (K of H ?)--5Nt (no) 6C when opener rebid 3nt its possible that 3nt is better than 5C but i think aiming for 5C is reasonnable, here slam is unlikely because of D waste but it cost nothing to check just in case partner is perfecto. Here relaying with 3C is a bit dangerous in case partner response is 6304 (wich i still hope 5C is going to be better than 3nt) Note here that for us its 1S opening (11-15 or 18-22) despite playing strong clubs.

the 2C bid is weak or GF so opener acceptance of transfer is limited to about 20 pts. If responder has no slam aspiration he just lie about the number of keycards, when he showed 2 he has at least some slight slam aspiration, i did took some time before bidding 5C (because i could have passed 4Nt) but i figured that partner had to either have the Q of S+1J or a 7th diamonds. Yes, If partner is balanced and we have a fit i wont be able to know where is 3 card suit is (or if hes 7222). In my experience, being able to keycard lower is a greater advantage than getting full shapes when you have a sure fit, but in the end its tough to tell. However when opener has a stiff D and a suit of his own, responder will be able to show fit or not. EX 1C--1Nt(clubs) 2C--2D (bal Gf) 2S (S suit but not 6 good S & often stiff C) here responder options are no fit, no fit but my clubs are AKQTxx or better, responses in keycard, if fit in S or Hx and extras values.

South has the perfect hand to X, 2 trumps a stiff to lead not a great hand for slam i dont see what is the problem here. Playing FP when we may be outgunned and vulnerable is just too crazy for me. The good thing is 9 cards suit are pretty rare.

Those who want to browse my system you can go to http://bridge.downagain.be/FD/main.php?vul=9&dealer=9&system=sj9y7vnv0pi (edited) Hand we got monday. Qxx Ax KJxxxx xx AKxx xxx Axxx AQ 1C--------2C(6D w of GF) 2D(15-20)-2H (bal GF) 2S(D keyc)--3K (2noQ * and at least slightly slammish) 3H(Kh ?)----3S(no) 4D(Kc ?)----4H(no) 4S (Qh?)----4Nt (no) 5C (extras ?)---5H (yes Q of S) 6D --wich was worth all the MP OUR 1nt structure isnt there however. im in the process of updating it.

I was thinking about full systems that take multiples pages not just convention cards. Using a word processor to enter a bidding system is quite laborious if you want to get nice and easy to read pages. I like very much browsing the http://bridge.downagain.be/FD/public.php Its just so much easier to learn a system when everything is clear. I wish we could print full system like this.

The tough part of this ATB here is deciding wich is worse North pass over 3S (agree with Justin both 3Nt or X are fine) or south X of 3S (already showed your hand by XX so why X with no defense ?) When south X 3S north has a clearcut pass at this point. I think the last X by south is the worse bid but i find north direct pass of 3S is really awful too. Also if north duck a S (not a tough play) and south duck a club continuation (tougher play esp if declarer play low to K) its going to take DD to make the contract. PS East X of 3D is not a thing of beauty Ill need to know who blew the defense to allow blame

When your bridge system is in full disclosure is there a way to set it so that only the opponents can get explanations of the bids ? I think it used to be that way before the flash version. Also it would be fun to get an update on full disclosure for example it would be fun to be able to printing bidding tree. In short a software for entering, printing your bridge system is something i would buy with no hesitation.