MFA

Easy raise to 2♠ instead of 2♦.

Surely a mistake. Denmark wouldn't decline to participate either. :D :( Sad memories of the last match in Pau watching our teammates in vuegraph getting killed by Norway to drop us to 7th, when a blitz the other way would actually have meant gold for us. :( :(

Have seen most things regarding slow signals, but this doesn't seem to me as a problem in particular. If you are thinking T1, there should be a pause when dummy hits, which should inhibit this problem.

I agree that 2542 could bid 3♠, but I would strongly prefer Hx for that, which is often crucial to have for the 5-2 fit. I'm so used to my strong club system that I have never worked this through in a serious partnership. But, while common, this seems intolerable to me. We are grilled with "the extras hand" if partner raises 3♠ to 4, and this is probably his most likely action. Shouldn't 3541 with some extras bid 4♠? It makes the bidding somewhat quantitative if responder was planning to play in ♦ or ♥, but at least we get the strength right. Or prehaps we could reserve 4♣ for that hand type.

The cheaper of my suits, here ♦.

Stayman + invite.

:blink:

12-14 Aggressive and eliminates these minimum balanced hands from the other 1-openings, a huge advantage.

IMO EW 90% N 7% S 3% North and South each had a bit to spare but East-West gave them a tough problem. Uhh, come on, we can't be that helpless just because of a 1M overcall raised to 2. Some opps might even be in 3♠ because of their 9 card fit! Yes I can see they have nothing, but some players like to bid.

I once had a gap of more than one month during summer. Horrible experience.

I strongly prefer a partner who thinks and doesn't automatically lead my suit. I also strongly prefer a partner who isn't scared of looking silly if his/her decision should work out badly. On the actual deal I would choose a club, but I think it's very close between a club and a heart.

What on earth was north thinking when he bid 3NT? A possible continuation would have been 4♠ from north, 4NT keycards from south, reply, 7NT.

17-20 years. Learned the game when I was 13 but didn't play in a club until I was 17.

That is because we are nervous about hitting a misfit and partner could be broke. But once the fit is established and partner shows a strong spade raise, the overall values are not so bad. We could have had a more shapely minimum.

Yup partner was arguably not good enough for his bid, and we ended up needing a finesse through opener and some reasonable breaks (2-2 in trumps not necessarily required) to make game. I'm liking a 4♠ bid more and more! It's funny, because I was considering if he should accept due to the extra values. ♣Axx seems very nice. This is a prebalance situation so we will compeete freely with 2♠, especially with a 6-4, for instance Jxxx, x, AKxxxx, xx.

3♥. Leaving partner an out in 3♠. 4♠ would be an overbid.

2NT over 1♠, and then 4♠ over 3♠. Should get us to 6♦.

2♥ followed by 3♦ to issue a strong invitation. If we play weak twos in diamonds (which I'm not accustomed to), I might just bid 3♦, since I usually need a 6th diamond to have a good shot at game with this hand.

Stopped reading here. What the **** is ingbertmann? Ingberman is the use of Lebensohl after a reverse, just like after interference of a 1NT opening. It basically means that after 1x-1y; 2z (reverse): - 3 level bids are natural and forcing to game - 2NT is a weakness bid commanding opener to bid 3♣ (unless he has GF values or ...). After the 3♣ bid, responder can pass or sign off at the three level. - There is no consensus about available bids at the two level, but it depends on the type of jump shifts you are playing. As an example: 1♣-1♠; 2♥-2♠ should be forcing when playing weak jump shifts. But IMO, it should be non forcing when you don't play weak jump shifts (to show the weak jump shift type of hand). Rik Thank you!

For me a raise to 4♦ shows a double fit with 3 spades on the side. With a diamond raise and double spade opener bids 4♣ or 4♥ dependent on his hand.

I would not open.

3♥ now, but no strong feelings about opening or not.

Stopped reading here. What the **** is ingbertmann?

Pass 3♦. Yes, on the good days, we get +300 instead of +100, but on bad days we get -470 instead of +50.

I would very much like to hear more about your rating system.