junyi_zhu

that's unlucky. South may bid something directly over your takeout double, also, he might not double your 2C. it turns out that south achieved the maximum by passing then suggesting a penalty. On another day, he might regret that he missed his H fit. Still, this example just shows that double doesn't have to be as safe as many perceive. And 2D doesn't have to be as unsafe as many perceive.

that's unlucky. North can bid a natural 2NT if he plays standard treatment, or 2H if he doesn't think half stoppers are adequate for 2NT.

Although I slightly prefer double, the claim that all experts would double with this hand is too strong a claim to me. You can actually win this hand by bidding 2D, for example: 1S 2D 2S 3D with xxx Kxxx xxxx Kx, after a double, it's certainly not easy to find 3D. 2D looks like a natural bid with a fine 5 card suit and adequate playing value IMO. Suppose in an indy, my unknown partner overcalls 2D with this hand, I just don't think I can judge from this bid that he isn't a good player.

I am one of those who advocates a very sound range for 1N, but even I give leeway for partner when the suit is spades, and we are NV so whatever, I wouldn't raise. I do think we will often miss game opposite 10-11 counts though. I would 100 % raise if we had the same hand except 3325 and it went 1D X p 1N p ? There are some problems with 6-7 HCP and no good suits to bid. I used to play 1NT to show 8-10, then I realized that it's probably better to lower it to 6 - bad 10, because a lot of 6-7 HCP hands are hard to bid.

Double or 2D are both fine IMO. Pass is too chicken. 2D is good when partner has some D support and is able to raise you. Double is good when partner holds a weakish hand without D support. 2D may lead to some huge penalties when you are unlucky, still it's rare. Double may shut you out after 1S x 2S p p. Also, double isn't really that safe after 1S, when you get redoubled, you still may not find your best trump fit and suffer a large number.

Well, the leading thing doesn't mean much. Often you find a killing lead and gib switches to another suit to ruin the defense. Gib is just very very bad at leading and switching IMO. Against NT, gib very rarely lead long suits. Against suit contracts, gib would lead stiff or doubleton trump honor if possible. And very rarely, gib would lead a suit with honors. Against 6NT, gib very often lead a long suit with honors. All these point to a very weak opening leader by nature. When gib leads, human player tend to blow way less tricks than gib does. Also it's not very difficult to reach the conclusion purely from the technique to know whether one is better in declaring than Gib. Gib's declaring skill is better than good club players, but nowhere close to expert level.

Yeah, actually I like that part very much. It's my goal in life not to play in 3M or 2NT :) that's basically saying that with 5-1 fit in S, one can't play 1NT with standard treatments. I don't see any logic here. That's also a weakness of standard treatment. Suppose you hold JTxxx Kx Ax Qxxx you certainly want to play 1NT if partner holds x AQxx KQJxx Jxx because it's cold no matter what they lead, but you just can't if you don't bid 1NT with any singletons. Then opener has quite a few poisons to choose: 2C: responder would bid 3C, and you are unhappy. 2D: responder would bid 2NT, you are one level higher than 1NT, which is ok in this lay out, and might not ok if you hand is slightly weaker. Sometimes, responder would bid 3D with two diamonds like: AQxxx xx Ax xxxx which means that you would play 5-2 fit 3D sometimes. My basic rule of thumb is that if you rebid a minor with 5 card suits, you need to have extra to accept a possible doubleton invitational raise, otherwise it's just too ugly IMO. Also, 5-2 2M fits often don't play better than 1NT if responder's hand isn't very weak. Allowing 1NT bidder to hold a singleton in responder's suit will be a standard treatment in the future I guess.

I really hate the 1♠ opening with the N hand at these colors. It would be interesting to see how the bidding would go after a 2♠ call. Lol, this logic sounds so familiar.

It's hard to say, the 2-2-7-2 shape certainly suggests defense and caution. We play 4C to show C and S. Still, under this convention, we still have problems. It's a matter of guessing how many diamonds your partner holds. If he holds void or stiff, you want to defend. If he holds two or more, you want to play in 5D cause you may either make it or it's not very expensive. Still, it's really a matter of guess. I guess that partner may have a good chance to hold two diamonds, so I'll bid 5D.

you can certainly play it as a splinter with a void somewhere. No point to bid a natural 3NT which take up a lot of space.

I think at least player should have an option to whether allow gib to declare. This way actually can attract more players, cause players tend to blame gib when the result is bad. Now, with this option on, nobody can really blame gib. Also, it makes bidding easier. The adjustment of bidding to declare more by the human player is non-existing and the bridge experience is certainly more pleasant for everybody. Also, if one thinks gib plays better, he still can allow gib to declare.

This seems a clear pass to me against normal aggressive players, although once a bluemoon we may hit gold when partner holds good clubs and spades. Generally, 4S shouldn't work out well often against aggressive opps. Against rocks, it is a no brainer to bid 4S though, cause they'll make 4H most likely and 4S shouldn't be quite expensive.

I'd like to say that I was impressed by your arguments on this....but I didn't see any :P Which is not surprising since, in my view, 2♥ is so bad that it's tough to compare it to 3♥. Let's see, however, if we can. 1. If partner doubles 2♠, you may leave it in or you may pull: that's a lot of help. I take it that with most partners, you'd pull, so let's assume that. If you pull, then they ain't bidding any more, so you lose the chance to catch a number against 3 or 4♠...either of which may be available if you bid 3 or 4♥ initially. So, while I prefer 3♥, 4♥ is ok as well, from the p.o.v. of colleccting a number while 2♥ is bizarre: you will play 3♥ opposite a defensive misfit....and you never collect a number...where's the upside? Not to mention, what do you do if LHO bids 2♠ and partner passes? Bidding 3♥ allows them to make a far more informed decision, including double. While passing seems, shall we say, timid? I am morally certain that anyone faced with this auction would be kicking themselves for not bidding 3♥ earlier. 2. r/w 3♥ shows a GOOD hand, in terms of playing strength, unless you are a kamikaze player who thinks vulnerability is for children. The minimum playing strength for 3♥ is higher than the minimum playing strength for 2♥, and it also announces the 7th heart. Thus partner will raise aggressively....yes, he will not raise every time game is good, but he will not worry about Jx being insufficient length. He will almost never raise 2♥ to the 3 level, even in competition, with only 2 card support. If he does, he'd raise 3♥ as well, so bidding 2♥ never gains. So we will miss some games via 2♥ that we would reach by bidding either 3 or 4. 3. If LHO passes, maybe rho will compete in our 2 card minor...how happy are we going to be then? As for the choice between 3 and 4: I think that is close and I acknowledge that the 4♥ bidders have some valid arguments. They don't persuade me, but I recognize that this is a close call. But as for 2♥....no thank you. It's the worst of almost all possible worlds. lol. Did I provide any arguments on this in that post? I am only saying what I would bid over a possible penalty double against 2S. This is a typical simple overcall hand with a good suit and 11 HCP. Perhaps some Canadian (I am sure just some) like to preempt with a lot of HCP, which certainly isn't a normal style in the rest of the world. Also, Josh's reply is certainly what I want to say, 3H is just too weird to me.

seems a normal 2H bid, if partner can't cooperate, 4H may be remote. This hand can easily be a misfit hand after the 1S p 1N auction. After 2H 2S x, it's actually close to stay or pull. If partner is very serious on penalty doubles at IMPs, you can stay, otherwise, it's ok to bid 3H to show this 7 card suit and void in S. I don't bid 3H and I consider 3H is the worst bid among 2H/3H/4H.

this is a simple 2H bid. If one can't try for slams when partner shows a gf one suiter, he shouldn't try to invite the game and should just bid 2M.

Obv you should just play step 1 as the catchall in 2/1 auctions, that's a no brainer. Doesn't take a genius to come to that conclusion. In fact I think jdonn and I used to play that many years ago. I've never played it in a serious partnership though. Since nobody will play it with me I stick to trying to improve upon "natural" while keeping it as unartificial as possible. This is the easiest way to handle 2/1. I taught a few of my students this way as well. Actually I got this idea that the level +1 shows minimum by opener about 6 years ago. In this context, 3C to show 4 isn't very bad either, cause we use 2NT to show 6S( or 2S to show 6H extra). So 3C must show 5-4 or 5-5, which is certainly playable. One problem of 3C shows 5 is that it's not easy for responder to raise to 4C if it doesn't show extra. Often, with 5-3 or 5-4 clubs, no extra, 3NT can still play well.

3m after 1m x 2m y 3m shows extra in gib's system. Obviously a maximum (or invitational) double should be better and 3m should be competitive as well. x and y stand for opp's interference. When it's 1M, the program properly shows that 3M is competitive, although invitational double is not implemented.

The problems of your sequences are that they are not intuitive at all. For one sequence, one has to cuebid 4D and hope partner to sign off in H. For the other, one has to bid 3H with 2 Hearts and not supporting clubs. Both of them may create a lot of other problems when the opener holds true club suits and looking for games or slams in C. That is actually why I don't like this 3C jumpshift at all: you have to guess well to reach a normal final contract. When you don't raise partner, you may risk losing club games or slams, when you raise partner, you may not be able to play 4H or 3NT sometimes.

You obviously don't understand how the players should bid after the jump shift. For example xxx Tx KQxxx Qxxx (minus either a spade or a diamond) should (clearly!) bid either 3♦ or 3♥ rather than 4♣, why in the world would you waste all that space so early? In fact the raise of 3♣ to 4♣ should be either 5+ clubs or a hand that is going toward slam anyway, no 6 counts with 4 clubs. Likewise x KJxxxx AKx AKJ or whatever has an easy 4♦ bid over 4♣. Your criticisms are really invalid and show that you just haven't thought about the followups. The truth is that no any follow-ups in this world can treat many very common situations easily. For example, suppose you bid 3D with xx xx KQxxx Qxxx after 3C, can I bid 4D with xx AKxxx Ax AKJx? Are you really sure your 5C over 4D would be offer a place to play? The similar situation would just occur again and again and again, a jumpshift, a raise to 4 level, then both are in dark, no 8 card trumps can be set-up. Also, change the hand to xx xx KQxx Qxxxx vs Axx KJ9xxx A AKx, do you really think you can find 4H confidently after 1H 1N 3C 4C? 3C may look good to some, but it really doesn't solve many problems and it creates tons of other problems. The major problem is that it's difficult to set up trumps at a relatively low level (indeed, you may not be able to setup trumps at 4 level).

yes....and, frankly, I am amazed that any experienced player would even ask this question. I'd expect partner to pass it with a stiff and FIVE clubs, unless he had slam interest. Hands rarely match the prototypical examples one finds in texts, but a typical fake js then 4♥ suit looks like AKQJxx, and my experience playing these opposite a stiff has been far more enjoyable than having partner run to 5♣ with AKx opposite Qxxx. of course, your judgment and experience may differ B) And on the hand in question, let me (please) play 4♥ opposite a stiff rather than 5♣ opposite, say, Jxxx. Ok, following your logic, you are saying that opener has to bid 5C with many 6 card suits that can't tolerate a singleton. For example, this one: AK KJxxxx x AKJx if your partner bids 4C, you can't bid 4H, cause your dear partner would pass it with QJx x Kxxx Qxxxx and you may lose 3 hearts easily. However, your dear partner may hold xxx Tx KQxxx Qxxx if you bid 5C and wonder why you go down 5 C because you misguess in H or H is unlucky when 4H is cold for H 3-2 split. Also, if you hold x KJxxxx AKx AKJ, following your logic, opener can't bid 4H, cause it's not playable facing a stiff H. This time, opener is just very out of bids. There is nothing simple after such a high jump which only shows 3 or more in that suit with possible H one suiter hands. No matter how experienced one claims, there are just tons of problems, if one adopts this method. Some problems can't really be solved. Also, if a voluntarily jumpshift to 3 level followed by a raise to 4 level, can't even set up the trump suit, I don't call it a modern system.

1 If one really wants to lie, it seems to me that 2S is a smaller lie because most likely, you won't play in any spades contracts. 2 It is important to have a bid to show a gf one suiter. 3 even if you have a bid to show gf one suiter, it's still unclear to me whether you want to play in NT or H if partner bids 3NT, if partner has one hearts, you probably don't mind playing 4M, otherwise, 3NT might be high already. 4 It seems to me that those who claim "3C, wtp" never have any problems when partner holds 4 clubs. For example, suppose you bid 3C and partner bids 4C, do you expect partner to pass 4H with a stiff H and 4 clubs? 5 Although I live in US, I never liked the "standard" lie of 3C. To me, 4H is a closer description for this hand if I have no gadgets, because 4H is usually where you should play facing a stiff H, facing a void H, you are unlucky. 6 if you really like some gadgets, it's a simple treatment to bid 2S to show either spades gf or H gf one suiter, 2NT as a relay to ask you to clarify your hand type and later you can design step responses. With spades, 16-18 HCP, you can either open 1NT or rebid 2NT after partner's 1NT to show your range.

If some bids can show your length of trumps and strength, those bids are usually useful, no matter what they are called. It's especially useful when opener holds weak trumps and some extra, like this: xxxxx AKxx AKx x, if your partner shows a constructive raise with 4 trumps, games often have a play, partner may hold at little as Axxx Qx xxx xxxx to give 4S an excellent play. However, it's unsafe to bid on over partner's 2S because the trump is too weak and 2S is often based on a three card support.

2♣ for me (because it contains balanced gf hand by agreement). Actually I consider 2♦ just a bad bid/system design. You will have a chance to play in ♦ if partner have 4 of them anyway and there is no reason to design system in such a way that you tell opponents what you have without much benefits for your side. In hand in question I bid 3♦ which I hope promises extras. If it doesn't promise extras I guess I will go with 3♣. The largest benefit is that 2D shows your shape well. You just can't say a bid that forces to game and shows 4 or more in that suit doesn't benefit your bidding. The huge problem for 2C to put all the balanced hands in is that 2 C isn't as low as many perceive. 2C is low, but 5C 6C 7C are all low. So if you really have a club fit, it becomes very slow to find the club fit, cuebid and ask for KC at a relative low level with acceptable bidding accuracies. Even complicated relay sequences can't solve many the problems. In that sense, once a gameforcing sequence is set up, nothing is really low IMO. 2C is relatively low comparing with 2D/2H, but 2C is high enough comparing with 5C/6C and 7C.

I'd bid 3C, the most natural bid available. If partner rebids 3D, you can probably RKC IMO. If partner bids 3S, you should make quite a few slam tries. If partner bid 3NT, you can bid 4D to show your pattern and slam interest. So you are well prepared IMO. When 3C shows both your pattern and strength, I don't see any reasons not to bid it. A natural bid which also narrows down your strength range is the reason we play a quite natural system, instead of relays systems.

it certainly plays well when the bidding isn't high, and when bidding gets high, I don't really think ELC plays well.