Quantumcat

Yup - 5 hearts and game values only 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 4♥ = 6+ hearts, only game With 5 hearts and slam invite: 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 3♦ 3♥ 4NT (1♣ 1♥ 2NT 4NT shows only four hearts and slam invite) With five hearts and definite slam values: 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 3♦ 3♥ 5NT (1♣ 1♥ 2NT 5NT shows only four hearts and definite slam values) 4♣ = natural, slam invite in clubs 4♦ = self-splinter, slam interest or better 4♠ = Self-splinter (3♠ shows clubs), it would probably show a particular sort of hand (since you might have transferred to hearts then cued something), needs partnership discussion. P.S. I want to add that all of the auctions get even easier when you play transfers over a club as well. If anyone wants any examples I am happy to provide plenty :-)

Edit: deleted my post cause it didn't work.

They get to play in 2♥ when you could make 3♣.

Actually it makes competing much easier, over the 1NT opening. It doesn't change anything over a suit opening (the auctions will be basically identical to playing a strong NT) Opener will never get to make a reopening double and partner will have to have a specific shape for a takeout double, and if the overcall is a major it can never be passed out. So the opps can overcall anytime with any hand. Not over 1NT it won't. And I don't see why it would over a suit opening, either. Do you have some example auctions? I have an example auction. Take this: ♠T3 ♥K62 ♦JT632 ♣KQ7 1♣ (1♥) ? Playing a weak NT, you have no problem cue-raising with 2♥. If partner has 15-17, you'll get to 3NT (he can bid 3♥ to rightside the contract if necessary), and if he doesn't, he'll have at least five clubs and you are quite happy in 3♣ with that. However, if partner could have a weak NT, you have a problem. bidding 2♣ could mean you play there when partner has a strong NT and you could make 3NT (it is very bad to bid 2NT with a strong NT in this case, partner might have 5 clubs and 6 points) and bidding 1NT when partner has a weak hand with clubs will mean it will go ...2♥ passed to you, and you'll have to pass (partner could have a weak NT with three or four clubs). There is a reason that 1NT has a narrow range of points and opening a suit denies holding a balanced hand with the points you ascribed to the 1NT opening.

When you pre-empt, you are making the decision that the hand belongs to the opponents. When the hand belongs to the opponents, being constructive is no longer an issue, you just try and be as unhelpful as possible. A 12-14 1NT opening is pre-emptive. Opening it as often as possible is to your advantage. Also it is way easier for the opponents to compete: the weak NT opener will almost never have a takeout double, and when the responder has a takeout double over a major, they can rest easy knowing that opener can't possibly have a pass (also the takeout double will tell them they have an 8-10 card fit, making competing even easier). In short, you will basically always be forced to sell-out at the two-level, and can never defend doubled. Another point is that playing a weak NT makes life easy for your partner when you open a suit. If you are balanced, you will be strong, and if you are not strong, you'll have some shape. So he has way more options than a pair playing a strong NT, especially in competition. If you might actually have a weak NT when you open a suit, he no longer has those options anymore.

I have a question. I think someone told me once you are not allowed to have agreements over insufficient bids. What happens when it's happened to you so often, and you have a basic understanding of what partner's bids mean in that situation, that you basically have agreements without ever discussing it? Is that not allowed? Is it more severe if it's your partner that made the insufficient bid (by accident of course) and the opponents accepted it? e.g. this auction happened to me in the trials for the NSW youth team: 1♠ (3♦) 3♥ (P) 4♦ (P) 4♣ (Director came - accepted. I thought she wanted to bid 4/5♦ perhaps but she passed instead) 4♦ (P) 4NT (P) 5♥ (P) 6♥ PPP Not that I had any agreement with my partner (first time we'd ever played together) but am I allowed to tell my partner I have a void diamond and a better hand than I had already (which is what I intended), taking advantage of her insufficient bid, or should I pretend it was a sufficient one (5♣ or 4♥) and bid accordingly?

3NT. 3NT says you have two cards in his first suit and three in his second. If you don't want to bid 3NT, you have to pretend you have three spades and bid 3♠.

He has 9+ pointy cards, he probably doesn't much care whether we have a five card suit.

Reopening doesn't require any sort of HCP. It just requires short clubs and not awful defense. If you require a particular HCP range then your poor partner who could otherwise be licking his lips and rubbing his hands in glee now is scared of it getting passed out and has to come up with a bid, and the opponents get away with complete murder. I would never pass out an overcall like that unless I had longish clubs, which would mean partner is very unlikely to have a trap pass and also that we probably have more defense than offence. If I have short clubs but very poor defence I'll find a suit bid.

Cues always agree the second suit. So 3♥ is no problem.

Since you no longer have to bid after the 2♥ bid, all the 0-6s or so are removed from the equation. So bidding voluntarily will show about 7-9 and jumping will be about 10-12. People might agree on different ranges than this but the point is any "bad/medium" hands won't bid at all so any bid will be "medium" or better. 3♠ is okay since partner probably has four, and it is good to get to the three-level with a nine-card fit as quickly as possible. For a 3♠ bid, you will nearly always have five, so when partner does not bid 4♠, he does not have five. You have described your hand pretty well and maybe are even a little weak, so when partner decides that we don't belong at the 4-level, then trust him. Also, when you make a pre-emptive bid, you have decided on the level it is ok to go to. If you bid again later, it is saying you made a mistake the first time. You decided the three-level was the right level to go to, and you can't change your mind now. --- Edit: By the way, your jacks and tens and nines in partner's suits are way more precious than your ace. I bet that if you removed them the majority of people would say that 3♠ is a bad bid. Also your singleton isn't very precious because partner probably only has two. The law of marginal utility: No matter what holding you have, partner always had third-round control. Your singleton just makes it second-round instead, so it's not really worth three points. It WOULD be if you knew your partner had, say, four cards in the suit. Then you went from no control to second-round control. (Marginal utility: imagine you are dying of thirst in the desert. You would pay a thousand dollars for a bottle of water. But you wouldn't pay a million dollars for a thousand bottles of water.)

Either agreement is right as long as both partners know it!

I don't mind this, it is fine for the ranges to be a little warped, since your shape is very well known it makes up a little for the warped ranges. This I don't like so much. When partner has 7-9 HCP, there is no room for invitation, as you could have 15-18 HCP. (You might bid this way with a 15(43)/25(42) 16-18 count, which is probably what you would have without the agreement to not have 5 card majors in 1NT openings) The range-changes when a major is opened that you said sound ok. This is a true problem. However, in my experience it seems to rarely happen. It happens more often to me when I play a 10-12 NV in 1/2 seat. I think this has something in common with the fact that with 28-30 HCP you will usually make as many tricks in 3NT as 4M with an 8 card fit, but with 25-27 you will probably make 9/10 tricks in 3NT and 10/11 in 4M. Probably with 18-21 HCP you will make 7/8 tricks in NT or 8/9 in your 8 card major fit, but with 22-24 you will probably make the same number of tricks in each. With a strong 1NT you might be more likely to be in the 22-24 HCP range than the 18-21 HCP range, so 1NT will make as many tricks as a major, but with a 10-12 1NT opening, you might be more likely to be in the 18-21 range, so you would make more tricks in a suit. (often you get to play the hand with 17-19 HCP, since the opponents can't find a way into the auction) This thing you said about letting them into the auction since you are happy to defend with plenty of defense with your 15-17 balanced: remember partner doesn't know this, and deciding whether to bid or defend will be much, much harder on him if you might have a 1NT opening.

You have to open 1NT. Otherwise you can never, ever describe your hand with your rebid, since you have denied holding 15-17 balanced. Example: 1♥ 1♠ Rebids - why you can't rebid this - can rebid it in certain circumstances: 1NT = 12-14 balanced - You have 15-17 2♣/2♦ = five hearts and four ♣/♦ - You have only three ♣/♦ 2♥ = 12-15 with six or more hearts - you have only five hearts and might have 16-17 2♠ = 12-15 with 3 or 4 spades - you might have 16-17 - if you have only 15 and 3 spades 2NT = 18-19 balanced - You have only 15-17 3♣/3♦ = gameforce You have only 15-17 balanced, can't have gameforce 3♥ = 16-18 with six or more hearts - You have only five hearts 3♠ = 16-18 with four spades - You have only 3 spades It is ESPECIALLY troublesome when the opponents intervene. You'll never get to game when you can make it. Either you bid like you have 14 and you miss game, or you bid like you have 18 and you get into games that don't make. It is still possible to get your five-card major out later. For instance, if your partner makes an invitation, you can bid it to show acceptance of the invitation: 1NT 2NT 3♥ 3NT*/4♥** *Responder had only 2 hearts or is flat **Responder has three hearts and is not flat Another example is when the opponents intervene. You can balance. 1NT (2♣) P (P) 2♥ Opening notrumps when you have the correct balanced range is even more important when you are playing Acol. When you open a suit, partner has lots of good choices, since if you are balanced you will be strong and if you are not strong you will have some shape. If you double-cross your partner, you will end up in some stupid spots as partner leaps about while you attempt to backpedal.

1♦ 1♥ 2NT 3♦ 3♥ 4♥ 4NT 5♣ 6♥ - Transferring then bidding game in that suit shows a bit of slam interest. He can't self-splinter in opener's suit. With no slam interest, bid 4♥ instead of 3♦. - If opener would accept a slam invitation and he has three or more hearts, he would cue instead of accepting the transfer (this will also get them to game if responder had a really weak hand and was intending to sign-off in 3♥). - Opener accepted the slam interest, and checked to make sure they weren't missing both ♥K and ♣A (unlikely if he has slam interest, but just in case). However, if the opening was clubs: 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 4♦ 4♠ 5♥ 6♥ - 4♦ is a self-splinter: slam-invitational or better in hearts. - Opener cuebids (to accept the invitation if it is one) instead of keycarding, since responder is the one who knows what the values are. - Responder obviously has some club losers, which opener can take care of.

The 2NT bid could be made on 5-4 in the minors, given the vulnerability. A couple of times I've thought to myself, if it goes 1♠ 2♠ passed to me, I'd be quite happy reopening 2NT, so I figure I may as well do it right away. Anyway I get your meaning now, if a spade to the queen nets you the two pips, then you'll play another one and hope that the hearts are 3-2. What will you do when the queen nets one pip and one jack? Now if you play hearts West will ruff, and if you try and draw a trump West will pop in and "helpfully" draw another one for you.

In Options, there is a tick box labelled 'Keyboard entry for bidding/play". Tick that, and now when you type "2s" during the bidding, you will make a 2♠ bid. In the play, make sure you always type the suit first: otherwise it will select a random card from your hand. Example, a spade is led and hearts are trumps and you hold ♠void, ♥AKJ82, ♦6, ♣K42. If you accidentally type "2h" instead of "h2" you could easily find yourself discarding a club on this trick.

To see why it is useless, consider the case where you have KJ doubleton opposite partner's doubleton AQ. You take two tricks with ten points. Now consider holding two sets of KQxxx opposite partner's xxx. Now with ten points you make between two and eight tricks (two tricks if both suits split 5-0 - eight tricks if both aces onside and they split) Consider holding AK/xxx opposite void/Qxxx. The opponents take three tricks right away. Now consider holding AK/xxx opposite Qxxx/void. The opponents can't take a single trick. Summary: Holding AK opposite a void is like holding doubleton AK opposite doubleton AK in the same suit.

The ace and jack of spades are still out. If West has them he will make the jack anyway, but if East has it, you are banking on East holding at least four hearts (he can overruff dummy).

1st seat: Could have anything. You may be expecting to make or you may not. The opponents shouldn't know which you have. 2nd seat: Two or three convenient cards from partner should mean you make (i.e. fairly solid). The opponents need to guess whether they have a game, and whether you are going off enough to make it worthwhile defending. 3rd seat: Either you are expecting to make opposite one convenient card from partner or you are expecting to not make whatever partner gives you. The opponents shouldn't know which. 4th seat: You are a fairly guaranteed make opposite one convenient card from partner. The 4-opening in fourth seat is made to prevent the opponents from finding a save. This is especially true if hearts is your suit.

Most people I know use transfers over a 2NT rebid. I poted some examples in the other post about checkback over a 2NT rebid.

Most people I know play transfers over a 2NT rebid. e.g. With 4-4 in majors: 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 3♥ 3♠ 3NT With 5-4 in majors: 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 3♦ 3♥ 3♠ 4♠ With 4 of a major, and a minor offering an alternate contract: 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 3♣* 3♦ 3NT pass** *=5 diamonds and 4 hearts, not certain about 3NT **=I am perfectly comfortable in 3NT thankyou 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 3♣* 3♠** 3NT **=not hugely keen on playing in diamonds, but I do have some stuff in spades if that can help you to bid 3NT 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 3♣* 3♠** 3NT 4♦*** ... *** Ok I lied. I LOVE diamonds!! 3♠ was actually a cue, just in case you have any slam interest now that we've got a fit 1♣ 1♥ 2NT 3♠ 4♣* 4♦** 6♣ *= if you aren't certain about 3NT and have four or more clubs, I'd rather play in 5♣ **= cool, well I'm interested in slam and have a diamond control

"Protecting" your partner when you can promotes partnership harmony and trust. For example: You have two aces and your partner puts you on lead with one of them. Both declarer and partner are void in another suit and you can lead that suit through declarer, i.e. a trump promotion. But if partner has the king of the suit he led to you, you should cash it first, then have partner put you on lead with your other ace, before doing the trump promotion. If he doesn't have it, leading that suit will let declarer draw trumps, and if he does, not cashing it will let declarer discard his loser on partner's trump trick. How do you know what to do? If you have a partner you can trust, they would have cashed the king before putting you on lead (after all, they know you have to ace or they wouldn't have led from the king). So if he doesn't cash it, he doesn't have it (or alternatively he DOES have it, but he knows two rounds of the suit are not cashing, so he pretends to not have it). Without a partner you can trust, you would be completely in the dark in that situation. Another example is when you know that you can cash out and defeat a contract, but your partner doesn't. Consequently you lead around into dummy's KJ, to force partner to take their ace. If you don't, later on declarer will lead towards it to sneak a trick, and naturally partner will duck. So if declarer ever leads toward dummy's KJ, and partner has been on lead, then you don't need to worry about whether you can cash out to defeat the contract, cause otherwise partner would have made you take your ace. But of course if you don't trust your partner to "protect" you, you are completely in the dark.

If I were playing in this tournament, my partner and I would agree to always open 3NT in 1st or 2nd seat, no matter what. We would get swings from hard-to-bid and hard-to-defend games, plus all our opponents would lose some IMPs from having to spend extra time thinking about the defense, and we would earn about 5+ IMPs each from quick play. If our teammates would do it too, I estimate about 10 IMPs per match from the swings(some big wins and mny small losses), and an extra 20-30 IMPs per match for our quick play and their slow play. I don't know the VP scale off by heart, but I'm sure that's at least 20 VPs per 32 board match.

I think what you are saying is that with 5/5 in hearts and spades, with 16+ points he will open hearts first and then bids spades twice? This is not right. With equal length in two suits, you ALWAYS open the higher one first. If you open the lower one, then bid the higher one twice, you are showing SIX cards in the lower one, and FIVE in the higher. e.g. 1♦ 1♥ 1♠ 1NT 2♠ This shows SIX diamonds and FIVE spades. However, 1♠ 1NT 2♦ 2♠ 3♦ This shows only five spades and five diamonds. Opening 1♠ then rebidding 2♥ can contain up to about 17 points. You need to be forcing to game opposite a minimum response to jump to 3♥, and if a minimum response is 6 points, 17 points plus some shape is the minimum to do this. But usually 18 or 19 points are required.