benlessard

In modern 2/1 except if suit repeated, the painful cases are 1S--2D--2S where you have a good hand with nothing in H for example, bidding 2Nt catch all might wrongside the contract, 3D isnt forcing and 3C might get raised to 4C (one way to deal with is using transfers rebids or switching minors, it allow you to still stop at 3D while being to have a catch all bid.) In old style standard AM you often lose a full level since raising isnt forcing (2nt is also NF) the ability to bid 2/1 with a bad suit and 10-11 pts inst worth the high cost of not being able to GF cheaply in many auctions. Ive have a strong preference for 2/1 except if suit is repeated, it allow you to play 1nt semi-forcing (6-11) and have all the benefits of 2/1 except some minor exceptions the drawbacks are a 2/1 has to show GF values or a very good suits (wich in term of frequency is very close to 2/1 100% GF) and taht your 1nt is now 6-11 and not 6-9.

Grats !

playing standard high level X, I dont ill X with a 4135, and with a great 4225 i think ill X and pass 4H (im not conviced) so 4S has to show at least 5S.

5C with confidence against opp who rarely double. Bidding 5C against competant MP players make little sense.

Doubling 4D will achieve nothing against a good pair they will XX to show first round control or bid to show a 2nd round control and since you didnt bid over 2D they know its not a sac invite and they will stop in 6S. I like my chance at 7Sx or defending 7Nt. Sure it can backfire but why give up a chance to go plus here ? edit--One thing i like about my hand is if they pull to 7nt They are going to finesse me for the rounded suit-- also by principle in close case I prefer to X than making a slow pass (i dont think this one is close BTW).

I meant at the 1 level. IMO many benefits of being a passed hand are gone after a preempt and i agree with your post for over preempts bids P--(2H)---X---(3H) ?? partner will need to take some guess and bid 4S under pressure. He cannot cuebid 3H to remove some of the presssure. Just to make my previous post clearer I lower my requirement vs a passed hand when NV because since partner being passed some bids that are usually need for slam or GF forcing are available to keep us low. Like being able to open light in 3rd/4seat since drury is available. I dont think slam has anything to with it, if you X more agressively partner will need to be more careful and if your double are more sound he will be more agressive and in the end the same % of slams will be bid. Even if the opponent raise it a give and take situation. (1S)--X--(4S)--??? (X is can be very agressive) -VS- (1S)--X--(4S)--??? (X is very sound) (1S)--X--(4S)--??? (X is very borderline) --VS-- (1S)--P--(4S)---??? (partner will make an overcall and you will raise to slam) I dont see a big advantage for bidding good slams and avoiding bad slams one way or another. For games i agree that light initial action give an edge (edge that is not there if partner is a passed hand) but I find that my good games dont get buried that often (always painful however). Im a sound X in 2nd seat I know I wont double 1S with x Axxx Qxxx Axxx but the same hand vs a passed hand i will X as a prebalancing. (NV of course)

NV im more agressive vs a passed hand partner since slam is out and he can cuebid without game forcing. (1H)--X--(2H)--??? here partner can be between 3S and 4S. While if hes a passed hand he can bid 3H. (assuming you dont play Leb here) (1H)-X--(4H)--??? here he might be tempted to go overboard while if hes passed hand its 4S or pass. Without thinking too much about it ive always assumed this was expert standard. Do you agree ? and Vul is there a difference of style passed hand vs unpassed ?

Over a 3C preempt i suggest to play that 3M show a 6 card suit and 3D ask for 3M by preemptor its in the ROMEX book. 3C--3D The natural method 3H = 3h 3S = 3s 3Nt no 3M the artificial 3H = no M or 3S 3S = 3H 3NT = both M I tend to put the strong hand as declarer but give costly lead directing X so im not sure wich is best. over 3C--3H (showing 6) preempter can bid 3S to relay to 3nt and 3Nt to show a H fit if you want.

I somewhat agree, but from a practical point of view i wont put too much effort in something where there is consensus, I expected them to be close and they are so unless someone is clearly convinced that H is significantly better than S or vice versa i just dont see the point. What is more important IMO is that EW are red against white in a position where they will bid 4H very liberally (after a 3S bid that is an invite to sacrifice ...passing 3C and bidding 3S over 3H is an NS option). It may induce opps to sac at 4S or they make 3S. In short ive remove north having 4S and void in H and removed West having a super S holdings, ive given slightly extra values to E and to West. I get a 53% making so it mean that i wasnt too chicken or too agressive and a quick look at the 100 first hand i saw nothing abnormal.

The fact that partner can have a 13-14 bal make bidding 3S dangerous IMO. Mini Nt do not give some of the advantages of a 12-14 Nt. Vs a passed hand what is the point of opening 10-12 instead of 10-14 or even 10-15 if you open almost all ten count ? Its a really weak method IMO Edit ive seen taht its only in 1st and 2nd seat so whats your 3rd seat Nt ?

DD sim giving east 3+ clubs a S lead is better. Giving East 4+clubs take a lot more randomize hands (wich mean that in the 3+ clubs hand most of them have exactly 3c) to get but here are the results. It took 20.5 millions hand to get 1000

Id like to ask what is 3C and what would 2nt instead mean ? I lead a trumps but it wouldnt surprise me to that the odds of losing our S trick are greater than the odd of removing enough clubs ruffs. VG problem IMO

As partner is sure to have 4m 5C (baron) will do the job. No reason to get fancy here.

SS is IMO very underated. In a relay system it lead to very interesting bidding problems. ????? ??? ???? ? Qx Kxx Axxx AKQ 1C--1H(S) 1Nt--2C(D) 2D--2S (low short and S>D) GF values 2Nt---3C (5341) playing strong clubs south showed 15-20 without 3S and north show 5341 with GF values. Here declarer could think about bidding 3nt because of major C wastage but hes got 18 pts and D fit (he could have 15) so he continue. Having already denied 3S the order for trumps are. DHS so he bid 3D. Responder may not be slammish at all but he can lie with keycard if he thinks that game is the absolute limit. 3D-- 3S (30) 3Nt (QD ask or to play if possible that its 0)---4C No DQ (confirming at least slightly slammish) The next cards after Q of trumps is Ks,Kh,Qs,Qh,Jd,Js,JH 4D (Ks ?)---4S (yes but no KH). The next cards after K of H are Qs,Qh,Jd,Js,JH, Here we know that AK??? A?? K??? ? without Q of D With nothing else 6D need 3/2 break while 6nt need 3-3 S break (poor) With QH 6Nt is best 6S is 2nd 6D will go down with 4-1 break with QH+JS 7nt while 6D can go down. only JS 6S is very slightly better than 6Nt becasue you may still make if D are 4-1 and S are 5-1 the 3 Jacks 7Nt has very good play. He we see that 6D,6S,6NT,7Nt are possible as best contract. Here we had space enough to be ok but oftne space is limited and choosing wich cards to ask is nightmarish.

I was talking about hands with some slam potential. These hands are just unlikely to go down while going fast could bury a good slam. As a I understand it nobody here is suggesting going slow on hands with almost no slam potential. EX Axxx xx AQxxxx x (P)--1S--(P)--??? At MP i bid a auto 4S At Imps I believe 4S is slightly lazy. Slam is not likely at all but its clearly possible. While the odds that bidding 2D vs a direct 4S will cost us our game seems remote. Put partner in 1st seat and switch H/S and its a different story. Burying 4th seat is just so profitable. The story is the same for strong balanced hand.

the first X is obvious for me and i think passing is poor. Over 3D i would bid 3S since I dont like pure takeout X when partner has showned lenght in the opps suit. 4S by north is a joke since you are in face of a balancing X and not a direct X also the 3D rather than 2D suggest the suits will break badly.

Declarer is favorite to be 1147 IMO so I return trumps. In light of East hand i assume the pass was forcing.

Agree with Justin X and 4H should show COG hands like 2S and 6H hearts (5 great H). X and 4S any hand with 4H/2S where you are freerolling for a better 4/4 H fit. Reaching the superior game is more profitable than having specialized/weird slam tools.

IMO its mostly depend on if partner open in 1st or 2nd seat and at imps or MP. With modern style preempting (P)--1H---(P)---4H is going to buy the auction more than 99% of the times so going fast make no sense at IMPs but may make some sense at MP (willing to miss some good slam but winning back some MP because of bad leads & tougher defenses). 1H--(P)--4H here its a different story since you want to weight the drawback of missing some good slams VS the good overcalls and wrong guess that 4th seat is going to make. I believe that the average expert is slightly too optimistic in their slam bidding and are in general going too slow at the cost of giving away too much information and allowing opps to overcall too easily.

put the 15-22 pts with D into 1D not into 1C. This is totally obvious for me passing 12 bal is costly. 12-15 NT is playable but its going to be better if you play something else than regular stayman IMO Play 1D--1H as a relay if you are not playing in GCC/midchart. The relay should show at least 3H if under 10pts 1D--1H ??? 1S = both minors (or 1444) 1Nt 6D any range or D+H 12-14 2C D+S 12-14 or 18+ 2D D+S 15-17 2H D+H 15-17 2S=> D+H jumpshifts. The principle of having transfers 2 under it allow responder to make a 2nd relay tghat is at least INV or better.

agree and it make life much more difficult for the oppenent. PS Glen there is a typo in your signature its a great quote by H.L Mencken

IMO an important principle for bidding system is that the cheapest forcing bid should always show different type of hands so that it end up with a fairly high frequency. To use 2D as 16+ with 5C+4D is the perfect anti-example.

The main point is partnership agreement about good/great suit vs near/solid suit. A great suit need xx or stiff H in support imo, and a near/solid suit major allow you to give up on 3nt and play 3nt as Bad/good. reaching slam when AQTxxx vs stiff J avoiding slam when AQTxxxx vs x is possible but it need fine tuning. IMO These are the type of hand that are very rewarding/costly in the long run , long trumps with hole vs shorter but stronger trumps.

regular transfers when you are probably outgunned in values = You do not understand competitive bidding. Look at it for opponents point of view It allow 2 options for bidding a suits . direct bid & Pass and bid, It allow 3 options for X. X and pass, X and X & pass and X It also allow a cheap cuebid.

They had no special agreements, for standard bidder 3C is surely nmf here. Asking for a stopper or showing a stopper is useless here. with 4342 you can bid 3D and with 4333 its near pointless to ask for a stopper. (only if opener is 3442/3352 asking a stopper might work) thanks for the replies