jallerton

If you open 1♥ on this shape then you are not playing 5-card majors!

I would bid 1♦-1♠-3♠-Pass. The optimum contract is probably 1♠ or 2♠. It's hard to get there.

Do we know partner's style of raising here? How often would he raise to 2♠ with 3-card support ?

Your system might show a gain once in a while, but in the meantime you've lost a lot of swings when your opponents have sailed into the right contact whilst your teammates have been 'fixed' by a Weak Two opening bid.

This depends on partnership agreements. If you are playing a conventional structure of rebids after 1M-2M then it makes sense to play 2NT as forcing. If you are playing all game tries as natural, then there's no need to play 2NT as forcing. When would it gain to do so? On the other hand, when Responder is rejecting the game try and both hands are no-trumpy, 2NT is more likely to make than 3M.

What was the bidding? Are you asking how South should play the hand single dummy or double dummy?

The Terence Reese books refer to "secondary degree assumptions".

They were actually considering calling the team name BBF! I don't think Graham has posted here at all, but he has represented BBF in a couple of JEC matches.

I do sometimes play 3♣ as forcing here, but if it were not I'd just bid 3♠. If partner can't bid 3NT over 3♠, then 4♠ is likely to be the best game here, even it's a 5-1 fit.

Presumably something slightly stronger than a generic game try a term which most people seem to think they understand, even if they can't agree with each other!

So what does Responder do with a 3=2=4=4 7-count?

This has already been answered by PhilKing on the thread you quote. It is (or should be) a very low frequency auction and there are more important things to worry about than how to fit in 6-ace RKCB in an auction where you've just randomly pre-empted yourself. Just bid 4♦/♠ to agree the relevant suit and ask about high cards in the other suit on the next round if that's what you want to know. I can't imagine that Frances would make a positive on ♣KQJxxx and out. She also has higher standards tham most for her 2♣ openings. We play a positive as forcing to 4NT (except when a suit has already been agreed at the 3-level - see gnasher's example) as it's a sensible generic agreement which allows us to have a natural auction without worrying too much about what is or is not forcing.

In principle, dummy has show spades, diamonds and heart support. However, as he jumped to 6♥ without involving partner all bets are off. If he does hold a club void, or even a singleton, why did he jump to slam when his partner made what would be the most discouraging call possible? With a 54(31) shape he would probably just start with a splinter and/or RKCB. If they don't play any special methods here, I reckon dummy has a very good 5422 or 6322 hand. If partner had a diamond void, he would probably have doubled 6♥ (and that still needs us to find a 2nd trick from somewhere). I lead a club, needing partner to hold the ace of clubs or the ace of hearts and dummy not being able to over-ruff.

Sorry, I can't answer the first poll question unless you edit the options to include "Natural, constructive" or similar. Even the second question might need an additional option. Playing Lebensohl, what would you bid after (2♠)-dbl-(Pass) holding: ♠8xxx ♥8xx ♦Jxx ♣AKQ?

I'm not sure if you were intending to counter the concern you raised or not. By an unpassed hand, there must be a system bid to cope with limit raises (hands which are too strong for a constructive raise but not good enough for a game force, typically good 10-bad12), If playing 2/1 FG, that bid is usually 1NT. If not playing Drury, just do the same thing by a passed hand, remebering of course that (depending on opening bid style) a lot of the limit raise hands might already have opened the bidding.

What did Responder's double of 2♠ mean?

If you play P-1M-2M as a constructive raise then instead of playing Drury, use P-1M-2♣ and P-1M-2♦ to cover hand types which are awkward for Druryites. For example: P-1M-2♣ shows clubs P-1M-2♦ shows diamonds. If it is not too much of a memory strain, you can extend this after a 1♠ opener to play: P-1♠-2♥ shows hearts.

Weak NT can be played with a range of 1suit opening bids, for example: 5-card majors, better minor 5-card majors, short club (1♦ 4+) 5-card majors, short club (1♦ usually 5+) 4-card majors, open 1M with 4/4 in major/minor 4-card majors, open 1m with 4/4 in major/minor 5-card spade suit, open 1m with 4/4 in major/minor and 1♣ with 4=3=3=3. Strong club, 5-card majors Strong club, 4-card majors Fantunes You have to decide on which of these structures you wish to use before being able to draw too many inferences about how the rest of the system might change.

Thanks for the replies. 4♠ was selected at the table. This was not a success when partner had also stretched to double on Jxx KQ8xx x AQxx. I was asked to assign the blame, but I thought that Advancer's problem was quite interesting.

It can't be that easy if it took you more than nine years to come up with a solution! In fact, I don't agree with your solution. Whilst it's nice to have fit jumps available (and I do play 3♠ as fit when 2♠ is forcing), there's a more important meaning for 3♠ here. When 2♠ is non-forcing, 3♠ (or a 3♥ transfer to 3♠) should show a game-forcing single-suiter to take some of the strain away from double.

Your extensive list does not include the defence which is probably the most popular with international players these days: "Multi-Landy" 2♣ = Both majors 2♦ = Single-suiter in one of the majors 2♥/♠= 2-suiter: 5 cards in bid suit, 4+ in a minor suit Some players combine this structure with double of 1NT to show a 4-card major plus a 5-card minor, both suits unspecified. Others prefer to retain double as penalties (at least by a non-passed hand).

What's the form of scoring?

I seem to recall that the pair in question was playing 4-card majors. I think you'd need to be opening 1m on all (17)18-19 balanced hands to make this work.

No, other people have opinions on this matter. Suppose you haven't won a competition yet, but aspire to do so. Would you want to receive a trophy if and when you do win? Suppose you don't expect to ever win anything. You might still have a view on what other people should receive when they win. In my county, some of the people who feel strongly about this subject are people who don't tend to win anything. A member of the county committee has expressed the view that it's difficult to keep track of where all the trophies are, and that it is a lot of effort to persuade the previous year's winners to return the trophy at the appropriate time.

For the question to be meaningful, you have to specify the basic system. Playing a strong club or diamond system has a different knock on effect to the 2-level openers than does a natural system. I'd suggest adding a couple more options played in various parts of the world: 18-19 balanced A weak 2-suiter in a major and a minor. Like awm, I prefer natural and intermediate in the context of a strong minor system.