nekthen

Playing SAYC Bidding goes 1♣ p p dbl; p p ? You have a 4333 hand and less than 5 hcp spades are your four card suit I suppose options are pass, redbl or 1♠ What do you do?

I want to know whether people would open first in hand with A76, A76, A76, 7654

Opening 1N on this hand is inviting a bad score. i gave up opening such hands before i even heard of the banzai count. It has just confirmed my valuation of such hands.

They have not bid 4♠ yet. In my experience bidding is going to encourage 4♠. If I were going to bid it would be 4♣ not double. Also I am not marking p with nothing. He has not got much clearly. He failed to bid 1N, 2c, 2d, 2H or double I do not know GIB well enough to know how it would bid with 4 or 5 spades and a 6 count I am sure a human would pass. If I do not pass we cannot defend 3 spades (doubled or not). That is a big downside to bidding. I guess p in fact had a 4 card heart suit and was too weak to double 1 spade. Naturally, he bid 4H after the double as the game bonus was more tempting than the prospect of getting 3S down Also if p does indeed have nothing the kings are likely to be the wrong side so my 17 points are more like 13 Time to see the whole hand please

A = 5 down to 10 = 1 add 1 for a 5 card suit a weak NT is worth 18 - 21 points a strong NT is 22 - 25 points This is only for evaluating NT contracts do not use for suit contracts! So AKJT9 = 13 Kxx = 4 Thus 21 banzai points. Basically 1 hcp = 1.5 banzai points. so game requires 37 banzai points etc Axxx, Axx, Axx, xxx is only 15 points nowhere near an opening bid even adding a J does not make it a weak NT

When i first looked at this i immediately said double. However, lets consider the curious incident of the dog in the night... Partner did not bid. He would have doubled with 5 hcp maybe even with 4 if he had 4♥. He could have some points with a ♠ suit, but he can double for penalties in pass out seat. He wont have enough for 3N. I pass

Banzai valuation puts this firmly as a weak nt. I think that after 1♥ 1N there is a problem due to the forcing nature of 1N, but that is the downside of 2/1. i guess 2♣ might be best. What do 2/1 players think?

Anyone use Banzai count? I make this hand 24 points (add 1 for 5 card suit) which equates to 16 hcp. This assumes no tens. So I open 1N. If partner looks for slam then the controls warrant accepting but if p is weak we may well struggle due to lack of stuffing

If anyone will have me, I would like to play

This is a classic acol 2♦ bid. The problem arises because of weak 2s. Do you devalue your 2♣ opening to include this hand? I think this hand is too weak even for a devalued 2♣, I would bid 3♦ though I have sympathy for 2♠ (not 1♠ as this does not imply a strong hand) but what happens when p raises to 3♠? Either way there is a danger of missing 3NT. On this hand, if partner has a club stopper he can bid 3♠ to get to 3N without a spade guard. Maybe 3♥ could be a proposal to play 3N without a club stopper, but that is outside the scope of a casual partnership

I would even open 1♠ with 5♠ and 6♣. You can never persuade partner you have 5♠ otherwise. Either the opps preempt you or partner does and usually the major scores better, if say partner has 3♠ and 4♣. Sometimes you will miss out, but I would really like to see the North hand before judging whether it was bad luck or bad bidding to miss 6N after opening 1♠ It may be that you just judged the hand better than the field.

Can we now see whole hand?

Seems like what we are saying is 1♥ 2♥ weak with 3 or 4 card support 1♥ 1N 2♣ 2♥ is two card support and why not?

Chalk and cheese! P had less chance to bid over 2♥ than 1♥, also the example has equal vul we are red v green here Take each hand on its merits, not by rote.

Do not forget that North failed to find a bid so even if the 4 bidder is weak opener rates to be better than minimum I pass

Agree with those who say it is a splinter. I do not agree that North has more than 2♠. This may well be the limit of the hand. It is South's bid of 4♠ that is the problem. 3♦ describes this hand. Spades are agreed so we are showing a good hand with a useful ♦ fragment. The subsequent cue bidding should propel the pair into slam

Cappeletti with the Club and Diamond suits switched is Multi Landy. I play this against weak NT. I use DONT against strong NT. This allows you to compete more safely at a lower level. My definition of a strong NT is one that has a minimum hcp of 14. ie 13-15 is weak 14-16 is strong I changed to this after a couple of disasters doubling a strong NT. Experience suggests that double for penalties is a must v weak NT but a wasted bid v strong NT Two suited hands should be 5-5 against strong NT and a 6 card suit is a must for a DONT double

Many play 2♥ as similar to a weak 2

I have both minor Aces and the King ♥. My partner has made a slam invitation despite my relatively unenthusiastic bidding to date. I bid 6♥ I have all the info I need what is to be gained by a cue bid? If I do not trust p I could use rkcb to confirm two aces and the q♥, but personally I think that's an insult to a good p. The idea that 3♠ could be a 5 6 hand that could play better in ♠ is laughable. A 63 fit is always going to play as well as a 54 fit so what is the point? UPDATE EDIT: Actually 4N IS the bid. When partner bids 5♠, you can bid 5N which tells p that you have all the missing key cards. That should enable p to bid 7 if he has 3 kings

2♠ 2♥ 1♦ 2♣ = 7 losers

I would pass first time After the double my bid is 4♠ I have a 7 loser hand with 4♠. I would hope my partner has the same. If he has a big ♦ hand he should be making 5 or even 6.

A simple change would be to not award masterpoints for a score of 50% or less

Thank you for the clarification. I have seen lots of opinions stating that there is a minimum hcp value for 2♣. As no one would really consider opening 2♣ on these hands it seems that the ruling is not as restrictive as some believe

To make 6 p must have 2 As and a K or an A and 2Ks. I will bid 4♠ but no confidence that I will get to the right level. I believe that in ACBL land this is not strong enough to open 2♣ legally With my p I open 2♦ multi he will probably bid 2N and I bid 4♦ showing 9 tricks with ♦ as trumps If p can only respond 2♥ or 2♠, I bid 3♦ Either way hopefully p knows what to do

As this is my style of bidding, I am in the 3♦ camp. P should now know what to do. I do not think the fact that I opened in 4th seat makes any difference to the bidding