fampaaske

Hi Jtfanclub If you want me to judge the from "pattern" viewpoint, i can say that: +18 any shape looks like just a strong clubber. Well I have played strong club (Carrot Club) for many years and loved it very much. But this is clearly "off pattern". The other openings are more pattern, I think I would have preferred to open 1NT with 15-17 and mix the 3suited with 12-14 bal. 1D 11-17 2suited seems ok - But perhaps your should lower 1C to 17 unbal, and make this 11-16. Maybe you need space to describe the hands, but its limited så it might work. The 2 openings are fairly broad, the would also be more stabile with 11-16. Kind regards

hi hrothgar 1C is NOT forcing. The system has the "C opening, which is the same pattern but forcing. Responder is welcome to pass with a stack of clubs. Sure you can invent defensive vicious methods. They would also hurt a strong club system and even a natural 1C. In fact all systems. Still most af your bids show a natural suit. What makes you think you can enter the auction without getting punished ? The problem is you could be severely punished here if the hands dont fit. What if you hit declarers suit and he can pass partners D. ? The passing strategi with stronger hands can also be dangerous. this means you are not able to bid a normal 1NT 15-17. Are you sure this is sound practice. ? The basic thing is : You are convinced that the 2-suited 1C opening is more sensitive than a natural 1club opening! I obviously disagree and think this needs to be proved! :-)))

Thx for all the inspirational answers. I have been working intensively on your replies. I still think the original Pattern is the easiest way to play and remember. I dont want to waste my energy on a lot of specified sequences. One thing that stroke me was the sensitivity concerning the major suits. So since we have a pattern system, why not work on the answers to the opening. I will concentrate on the 1C opening - the others are in my view stabile enough. When a 1C club opening is disturbed by a double: Just ignore the double except that RDBL shows a balanced hand wtih +10 If the opponents make a natural overcall: Double show a limited and normally balanced hand 5-10 with AT LEAST 3CARD support for unbid majors New suit bids shows a more unbalanced with +4carders that tend to bid majors before minors. Without jump this is 1 round force (+9HP) with at least fit for 2suits or a singlesuiter. Jump bidding is premptive with weak 2 suiters at least 4-4 pattern and 4-9 HCP - the higher the more distributional. Cuebid shows +10 Balanced and sends the same message as Dbl, just a stronger hand. This bid promises one more bid. With this reply system, opener will always know of the majors are fitting or not and can act appropriatly. CU out there

Hi Hotshot Your suggestions sounds OK, but i would like to change a few things though I think 4441 NT opening is OK...God... I hate these 4441´s 1♣ 2-suited with minor 5 1♦ singlesuited 1♥ 2-suited with major 5 1♠ 12-14 bal 1NT 15-17 bal Then we need a bid for +18bal 2♣ bal +18 (18-19) or +22 2♦ Strong 2-suited 2NT 20-21 The reason for this structure is that the request structure seems more stable Still working on the answering schedule, there will be a lot og pass or corrects here :) In the meantime i suggest we try out the original structure, which i truly love because of its simplicity. I dont think its a distarter to find a 4-4 fit on the 3 level if the hand are unbalanced. In fact we are in the hardboiler game area. Who is in for a game one of these days ? Btw Happy new year

To dake50 In my notes on inteference i have written: 1C-(2X)-D-(p) D shows extra strength +14 (but normally 14-16) 2MA/3MI natural show longest suit 10-13 2NT shows stopper / maybe intervener has hit my second suit Cue - GF 4X 5-5 from below After D i recommend a lebensohl treatment 1C-(1/2X)-D-(2/3X) Pass dead minimum or lenght in opps suit D shows extra 2NT both minors concurrent Suit bid concurrent 3mi also show unbid major nor . 3ma 5 suiter 4X 5-5 Cuebid - GF As you can see a fairly natural method.

To the Hoq I dont see Pattern as a relay system. Of cause we have an initial relay, but later the bidding is fairly natural. Its true i recommend a GFR after 1C-1D-1MA-2C , but its not a relay that completely disolves openers hand - just a sort out. If someone want to develop a relay structure upon this opening structure i dont mind, but it was not my intention.

Hi guys Thx for your replies. As I see it all boils down to the following Question: Will the system be more or less competitive than natural systems ? I think "pattern" follows the priorities 1 shape , 2 strength, 3 controls, 4 locations of high card more correctly than most systems. The shape is just different than we are used to. The knowledge we have when partner opens a natural 1suit is: A major opening - 5 in a specific suit. 10-21 (longest suit) A minor opening - 3 in the suit and balanced with 12-14 or 18-19 or +4 ubalanced 11-21. The Knowledge we get from pattern is: 1C To suiter unknown 11-21 1D Single suiter unknown 1H-S-NT Specific balanced hands Lets try to use this knowledge with an example Lets take 1C-(3D)- ? You have 4432 and 8 points. What do you do in a natural system: D ? - you should probably pass - right ? What do you do in pattern. Well you know you got a major suit fit. So you make a Double. Aggessive but you know partner has shape ! Well you could also pas and partner could reopen in his longest suit. Still you could make preference til the fitting spot. I find it very hard to prejudge on what is the most efficient. What I know is, that We all are used to natural system evaluation. Pattern forces us to use another logic - I am not concinved are in worse shape here. In fact studying numorous World Champion ship hands has at least shown to me that the structure is viable also in highly competitive bridge. I am not trying to prove anything just trying to say that this system is not bad at all !! BTW the system as so much fun to play ! Have a nice new year :huh: - Se You on BBO Kind regards Frank

Pattern – new ways in bidding The basic concepts of the system Pattern is based upon the principle that opener directly show his hand pattern by the opening bid. In bidding we have 4 classes of hands: Balanced (including 5332) 3-suited (4441 - 5440) 2-suited (at least 5-4) Single suited (+6suiters) In this system we start to show the hand pattern and nothing about specific suits. The opening schedule is: 1C 2-suited (10-21) or 3-suited (11-16) 1D One suited +10 1H Balanced +18 or 3-suited (17-22) 1S Balanced 12-14 1NT Balanced 15-17 2C Forcing with 2 suited pattern – answers basically as to the opening 1C The other 2-openers are free of choice. 2NT is open for business. Basic answering structure One of the basic principles which has been built into the system is positive relay and the W-M-S (weak must speak) principle. This means that weak single suited or unbalanced hands is allowed to bid in the first round, while stronger hands holding +8HCP normally bids by using the relay. This goes for all openings including the balanced ones (transfers for weak hands). After the relay opener normally limits his hand and starts a natural description. The hands are easily handled with fairly natural methods. See the next section. Another general principle is how to act against interference: We are using High/low doubles and negative free bids. A double normally shows the same strength as a positive relay +8HCP and will normally be relatively balanced in the low area 8-11HCP and unspecified from opening hand and up. The negative free bids (including jumps) is natural and shows 5-11 point and some distribution. Arguments for the system The theory behind this opening system is rather self explanatory, if partner knows openers hand pattern, he will very often be able to conclude if the hands are fitting or not. We all love No-trump openings because they give the partnership nice control. So why not open as high and as often as possible with balanced hands? These openings have a very high frequency and partner rules from now on. It must be very disturbing for the opponents to have these openings all the time. This is the great difference to the natural systems where half of the balanced hands normally are mixed into the unbalanced ones. The single suited opening is also a strong asset. Answerer will normally also control the situation. If answerer holds a balanced hand he can compete in opener’s suit. The opening hand is pretty easy to describe – in fact we can use the relay as a kind of Ogust on all hands from 6 to 22 points. The 2 suited 1C opening is the most intriguing part of the system. Also here partner often know where to go. Some would say it is the weak spot regarding the high risk of missing a major fit on interference. Well ..we have to disagree to these arguments for a number of reasons. Answerer knows that partner is two-suited and the bidding will normally reveal openers suits. If the opponents find a fit and answerer is balanced or 2-suited, he knows that a fit is present on our side. Of cause we can set up examples where we are hurt be aggressive preemptive bids, but my examinations shows, that in just as many cases a natural system would also be hurt. Of cause we have to be prepared against interference – this opening opens the battle. But who will prevail in the end – normally the pair with better sight from the gunsmoke. :( If we have an undisturbed auction after 1C og 1D the bidding seem to be more accurate than in a natural system. The main arguments for the higher precision are the relay and the limitations. Also the WMS structure enables the system to stay low in the right suit. The further structure of the system Answers to the opening bids 1C 2-suited (10-21) or 3-suited (11-16) 1D is a positive relay and covers all hands is this area. The bid can also be a blasted hand, which would have passed to a natural 1 level opening. (Passes normally next time) 1Ma/1N is natural 4cards (3-7) 1NT/2NT is natural denies 4card major (3-7). 2NT shows 55 in minors and (4-7) 2X/3X natural weak (3-7) 1C-1D- 1MA natural 4cards limited (10-16) – can be longer minor 1NT/2NT both minors (10-16) 2x GF +17 natural (5/6suiter- but denies 5-5) 3x GF +16 5-5 (suits from below) After openers rebid of 1MA, the bidding follows normal principles. 1NT shows 8-11 and 2/1 is absolute game force. We recommend 2C as GFR (Game force relay) to reveal openers distribution. Answerer has either clubs, or has balanced hand or support. 2NT could be a limit supp bid. Jump to the 3 level could be 5-5 hands. After openers rebid of 1NT (both minors) 2C is also GFR. All other bids are invitational. After openers rebid on the 2 or 3 level we already have a GF situation and the bidding should follow the normal fast arrival principles. 1D One suited +10 1H relay 1S/1NT natural weak (3-7) very unbalanced hands 2X/3X Weak single suited hands 1D-1H 1S unknown suit (15-19) – 1NT relay 1NT unknown suit (20-22) – 2C relay 2NT unknown suit Absolute gameforce –3C relay 2X natural (10-14) 3X/4X natural with nice 7carder on a 5 looser hand (10-14) After opener has shown his suit the system a relay bid asks for openers hand, and the steps follow the Ogust principles. Other bids are F1. Jumps are splinter. Opener can also make a self-splinter by jumping to the four level in a void and hence 7330. The basic charm of this opening is that all single-suiters from 6HCP and up is treated the same way. We believe the Ogust treatment is OK as long as we are dealing with true single suiters. 1H Balanced +18 or 3-suited (17-22) 1S Relay denies long suit and very weak hand 1UT 0-4 HP at least +5C 2C transfer +5D 0- 4 2D Jacoby +5H 0-4 2H Jacoby +5S 0-4 2S transfer +6C 0-4 3X +5-+5 8-12 1H-1S 1UT 18-20 balanced 2C 17-19 4441 2D 20-22 4441 2H 23-24 Balanced 2S 25-26 Balanced 2UT 21-22 Balanced 3C 27-28 Balanced This opening bid covers all balanced hands nicely, including the vicious strong 4441 hands. After rebid of 1NT the 1NT-structure is used. After the 2 level NT the 2NT-structure is used. When openers show a 3-suiter the relay is at least invitational and asks opener to bid the suit ABOVE the singleton. 2NT substitutes the highest step. All other bids are Pass/correct. The 1NT and 2NT structure is free of choice, but it should be able to handle 5card majors. 1S Balanced 12-14 This bid is treated like a 1NT opening. Except that answerer can choose to pass or bid 1NT. All other bids follow the NT system. 1NT Balanced 15-17 Natural as we all know it. 2C Forcing with 2suiter. We recommend to use the same system as used on the 1C opening, 2D is GF +5 points and all other bids are weak hands with 0-4. Please comments I am very interested in comments because i think we are close to something rather powerfull. I am working on the detailed system handbook (translating) so email me if you want a copy Anyone care to try plying it on BBO ??? ;) Frank Paaskesen (DK)