rbforster

I guess to summarize one of my broader points, it seems like you've made 3 major changes from typical 2/1 systems: 1. Overlapping 2♠ and 1♠ strength ranges to remove weaker 6M hands from the one level 2. Semi forcing NT instead of forcing NT 3. 2♣ GFR or heart invite I understand that some of these are designed to complement each other, but it might be worth seeing how you like #1+3 only or similar permutations.

Let me offer the offbeat suggestion of passing the 5♠(332) 11-13 hands in 1st/2nd seat. This will make your GF relays easier, and would remove the vast majority of hands that would normally pass a semi forcing NT. You wouldn't have to worry about missing games, and you could have more sequences with a forcing NT. Remember that with the boss suit you can back in more easily in competition (and being balanced makes this less likely), and if you've got a game, partner will open his 11+ in 3rd/4th anyway. Thinking a little more, I like your 2♣ hearts invite or GFR. If you can stack the high level responses to show big heart fits where you definitely want to be in a game, it seems like the only downside is if you get 4th hand competition and now aren't sure if you're in a GF, use forcing passes, etc. I do like your ways of getting 2 raises, both for spades and in opener's second suit. I think that's a really good idea and one that's worth trying to include. These 4♥6m invites are handled well by a forcing NT (partner will bid 2♥ if he can, then you invite in the minor if not), and less well in semi forcing NT systems with invitational jumps as you say.

Silent Club: 1♣-1♦ strong; most 0-7 or GF hearts 1N-2♣ 19-21 bal; stayman 2♥-4♥

Silent Club: 1♣-(X)-1♦ strong; majors; 5-7 or GF hearts 1♥-1♠ min, waiting; 5-7 1N-2♣ 16-18 bal; stayman 2♥-2N natural; invite, doesn't promise a major P Hope they lead a spade.

What's your NT range and do you prefer to bid 1S vs 1N when balanced? I'm just wondering because it seems like you're going to a lot of trouble with all your detailed structure to compensate for a non-forcing NT and I don't know if really stopping in 1N is that big a win. Do you ever pass 1N by responder with semi balanced shapes like 5422, or do those tend to bid on regardless? For example, the 2C response catering to the 4H invitational (removing them from 1N) or GFR seems like it will make your relays a bit worse since you've got various higher raises in order to stop in hearts (which could have described opener's shapes instead). Similarly, the single suited invites you show at the 3 level could be used for mixed raises, Bergen, or similar much more common preemptive measures. Maybe they aren't as important with spades explicitly (vs over 1H where preempting opponents who might have spades quickly is more valuable). I understand you get some good inferences from removing the weak single suited openers into 2S, but what would you say the advantages or goals of this structure are compare to say a forcing NT + 2/1 GF response system, or maybe a similar one with 2C GFR, 2 level transfers, and a forcing NT to handle more weak and invitational distributional hands by responder?

Silent Club: P-1♣ weak; strong 1♠-1N balanced or clubs; ask 2N-3♣ GF 4M333; ask 3♦-3♥ 3433; QP ask (to claim hearts, no slam opposite PH) 3♠-4♦ min (6 or fewer); end relay 4♥-P forced Seems like a choice between 3N and 4♥, not sure I had a lot of confidence in this choice. Diamond ruffing value in hand and lack of significant extra strength seemed to lean towards trump.

1♣-(2♦)-X-(XX) strong; multi; GF balanced, penalty oriented; bid your suit P-(2♥)-P-(P) willing to defend at least one major; natural; can't hit hearts (forcing) 3♦-3♥ 3♠-4♠ 4N-5♣ RKC; 1/4 6♠ It seems a bit pushy, but opener probably should try for more over 4S, and then missing one key seems worth trying.

Silent club: 1♣-1♦ strong; most 0-7 or GF ♥ 1♥-2♥ min, waiting; GF ♥♦, 5/5 or some 5440s 2♠-3♥ ask; 3550 min (6 or fewer QP) 3♠-4♣ ask; 1-2♥ honors, no ♦ honors 4♦-4N ask; 2♥ honors, only 1♠ honor 6♦- p Opener could keep asking about jacks, but since North is declaring it didn't seem worth continuing. Most 5-6 QP hands have good slam prospects and seem at worst to be on setting up the 5th card in either side suit.

Silent Club: 1♣-2♥ strong; GF 5/5 minors 2♠-2N ask; ♠ shortness 3♣-3♦ ask; 1255 3♥-3♠ QP ask; min (6 or fewer) 4♦-4♥ end relay; forced P There are just 3 important cards (A♦, K♥♠) for the grand, but with a void it will be very hard to infer exactly what responder has. Opener could ask RKC and follow up with various asking bids, but since the fit isn't in responder's primary suits it would force to the 5 level just to ask and even then it wouldn't distinguish the A♣ from other key cards til even higher. Opposite a minimum, I just gave up. My options for keycard in hearts would have been 4♥ RKC after full shape, or 4N after he showed a minimum.

Silent Club: Opening North: 1♠-2♥ light openings; 2/1 GF 2♠-3♠ min catch all; trumps agreed, slam interest 4♠-4N no interest; RKC 5♣-5♦ 1/4; Q? 6♦-6♠ yes and K♦; done If we passed, P-1♣ weak; strong 1♥-1♠ 4+ spades, usually GF; ask 2♠-2N secondary diamonds and heart shortness, GF; ask 3♦-3♠ 5143; RKC♠ 3N-4♣ 1/4; Q? 4N-6♠ yes and K♦; ok If we needed a swing, we could bid 6N on the latter auction (protected K♦), but spades can handle a bad heart break and with the strong hand looking at all the good spade spots it seems safest.

Silent Club: P-1♣ weak; strong 1♦-2♣ most 0-7-; "strong 2♣" 2♥-2N bust (0-2); balanced 22-23 NF 3♦-3♥ transfer; competed p Feels like not quite a GF to me.

Silent Club: This is a preempt for us. 2♦-3♣ weak (3-8ish), diamonds and a major; GF ask 3♥-3♠ 4 spades/5+♦; sets trump 4♦-4N natural, shapely max; RKC♠ 5♦-5♠ 0/3; signoff Even with some extra shape, missing the A♦ is bad and with only a 4-4 spade fit it doesn't seem right to push when we've got at most 31 combined highs. Here's the non-preempt auction, not a great one for us: P-1♣ pretending we'd pass; 16+ 1♦-2♣ most 0-7; standard "strong 2C" 2♦-2N GF values, waiting with no good suit; balanced 22+ 3♣-3N puppet stayman; 4-4 majors 4♦-4♥ extras, agreeing spades; cue 4♠-P nothing more to say

Silent Club: 1♣-1N-(2♦) strong; GF majors; natural P-X relay ask; longer hearts 2♥-3♦ ask; 4531 4♣-4♦ RKC♠; 1/4 6♠ Interference at or below 2♦ by 4th hand can be relayed over with little cost if one is so inclined. Here we end up on the +0 track since their bid stole only 2 steps and those come back with P and X.

I don't have everything worked out for that sequence, but the premise is that responder will bid again if opener completes the transfer (often 2N or a self-raise lacking GF values). Consequently when opener rejects the transfer, it's showing a hand that wants to strongly suggest a different strain and stopping low.

Doesn't it seem pushy with the N hand to GF with 7 vs 16+? Sure, distribution is good but with length in their suit, there's no fit yet and it seems premature to upgrade especially without major length. I admit I would have been in 3N by S uncontested on an accepted NT invitational sequence, but the interference caught both hands at the top of their "minimum" ranges (5-7, 16-18) so when it looked like a misfit we just bailed.

Silent Club: 1♣-(1♠)-2♣ strong; natural; 5+ diamonds invitational+ 2♥-P natural non-fitting min I'm not entirely sure how the auction would go after the 2♣ bid by responder. Opener could complete the transfer, suggesting a minimum with either a fit or no better bid (then responder might pass or invite with 2N), or opener could bid 2♥ showing a good suit and a minimum (after which responder might pass or bid 2N). ETA: responder wouldn't pass if opener accepted the transfer. Here he would bid 2N, natural invite.

Am I missing something? It looks like a spade lead holds this contract to 5♦, and that's with the favorable J♥ showing up in North's hand (same thing happens without the J♥ on a more normal 4-2 heart break). With no fitting shortness and only 18 QPs, that's generally too pushy for me.

Silent Club: 1♣-2N strong; GF with both minors, no shortness, longer diamonds 3♣-3♦ ask; 2254 3♥-3♠ QP ask; min (6 or fewer) 3N-P Our system showed this shape via a zoom high enough we didnt have any interference issues.

Silent Club: P-1♣ 1♦-1♠ most 0-7; min 2 suiter (artificial, promises a major) 1N-2♠ forcing; 5 spades 3♠-4♠ Actually I thought this hand was interesting for both N and S in terms of valuation. I thought a while about whether to have S show a balanced 16-18 (which includes 5M), or a 2 suiter. The poor spade suit and short suit honors argued for this, but I thought the right-siding considerations and better chances of finding a 5-3 spade fit made the 2 suited route a bit better. Less obvious perhaps is the question of whether N should sell his hand as a balanced GF despite only having a 7 count (normally GF for me begins at 8, and you can downgrade soft 8s sometimes if you want). The risk of GF with balanced minimums is that you can end up in no-play NT contracts with only 24 hcp. Here however, N has such good filler cards that perhaps his hand is worth a full GF in NT anyway?

Silent Club: 1♣-(2♣)-X-(p) strong; natural; GF takeout (stretching a bit in competition) 2N-3♠ 4♠-p

I only count 5 QPs in North. Also, what would 3♠ show, 5 QPs?

Silent Club: 1♣-1♦ strong; weak or GF hearts 1♥-1N waiting, min; GF ♥♣ 2♣-2♠ relay; high shortness with longer hearts 2N-3♦ relay; 1534 3♥-3♠ QP ask; min (6 or less) 4♦-4♥ end relay; forced P

Silent Club: 1♣-(2♠)-3♥-(p) strong; suction; GF 5+ spades 3♠-4♠ fit; game These last couple suction deals would be harder if we weren't always unfavorable and instead had to have decent penalty methods. Here they're down 3 but it's not enough.

Silent Club: P-1♣ 2♣-2♦ diamonds 1 suited; weak relay 3♦-4♦ 3352 GF (~8-11); end relay 4♥-4♠ forced; signoff Remember north is a passed hand, no need to investigate too much.

Silent Club: 1♣-(1♥)-X-(2♣) strong; suction; balanced 5+ HCP no long suit; spade tolerance, club preference to diamonds X-(p)-2♥-(p) takeout or extras; stuck for a bid (or 2NT) 2♠-3♠ natural extras; raise 4♠-P It's hard to judge all the inferences for opener on the auction. Given partner doubled, should advancer pass to suggest playing in 1♥ with 5, or bid 1♠ or pass instead pushing to 2♣? Hard to know how these people bid, when, arguably, overcaller doesn't really have his bid either. On the lay of the cards and a trump lead against 2♣X, they're only getting 3 tricks (♣♣♥) before partner draws their trump and we run the pointed suits.