Jlall

2D

pass

pass, we might beat them or we might not!

I would pass instantly. My hand is not anything special.

lol the plot thickens.... Petra emailed me saying bob and zia play it as NF, but that F is standard...

4S

4D/4S/4N nat, 4H good hand for clubs imo. No doubt some might disagree with this :unsure:

lol yes very artificial to raise to 2H to suggest that that might be the best spot.

A 5D bid is just jamming LHO. I don't like it especially as I'm willing to play in 4S.

It feels pretty desirable to be able to pass on a weakish 2-6 rather than push a level higher in search of an 8th trump. Yeah fair point. Still not worth it imo, you are aiming at too small of a target for me, opener has to be minimum, responder has to be minimum, reponder has to be 2-6 to want to pass probably, all so you can get to 2H instead of 3D on those hands. Maybe this has something to do with my style to bid 2D, I would not usually bid it with a 10 count and five diamonds, usually preferring to bid either 1N (spade stopper) or X (no spade stopper). So something like a 3253 10 count is not likely, unless it's something like xxx Kx AKTxx xxx. I also wouldn't have both minors less than GF because I would just start with X then invite later with that, since 2D then 3C is forcing.

I didn't have Freds phone # to text him, thanks for reply :)

Don't pass! 2S describes your hand perfectly, you even have extras for it (I would bid 2S if my HJ was an x).

As a side note, I assume that you guys are all playing 1H 1S 2D p 3C as forcing and showing extras? If so, you must rebid 2H on a wide range of hands including hands with clubs that are minimum and balanced hands with no spade stoppers. So 2H is often a five card suit anyways, so you don't gain very much by being able to pass it. Also you lose a tempo in your auction if you must always start with 2S then bid 3H to show the sixth, and the space you lose is important because you want partner to be able to cuebid over a forcing 2H to indicate extras. Also you have a much wider range to start with a cuebid now. Also there are very few hands that I would bid 2D that would want to pass a 2H bid with. If I'm weak I will always have a 2D then 3D bid, or I would have probably started with a neg X. Anyways I've definitely learned that 2H forcing is not universal.

OK i tilted and texted a bunch of people. Results: Bob Hamman = Forcing John Hurd = Forcing Gavin Wolpert = Forcing John Kranyak = Forcing Jeremy Fournier = Forcing Greg Hinze= Forcing Kevin Bathurst = Forcing, but some old schoolers don't play it that way. Hemant Lall = Forcing Bob Blanchard = Forcing Joe Grue = NF Chris Compton = NF Shane Blanchard= NF Chris Hamman = NF Kent Mignocchi = I don't play it as forcing, but some play 2D promises a rebid. Geoff Hampson= Good question. Not by old fashioned bridge rules, but experts often play it forcing now. He then added: I think F1 is a must in all non strong club systems. I want to object to Joe Grue because he is used to negative free bids and is retarded obv (jk love you Joey!) As more people respond I will update my poll.

No it only says you are right, the link says nothing about an auction like 1C 1H p 1S.

lol but cherdano would never say something like "its BWS" and not be able to back it up ime so even though I was totally sure, I now feel I'm probably wrong. Also Han, Clee, Jdonn, Cherdano have all said they think it's NF and some have indicated its crazy to play it otherwise and I had no idea that anyone would play this as NF so clearly I'm out of touch when it comes to this auction.

easy pass

2♥ should not be passable. Do we need to jump around on a 15 count with non-solid hearts? Still, I bid 3♥. 2♥ is NF in BWS. The obvious benefit is that you can bid 2♦ with hands that are not worth forcing to the 3-level without a fit. (I know I am saying the same as Maggie but I think it's more useful to think about how for 2♦ should be forcing.) What? I cannot find it online, can you show me a reference? I am almost positive it at least used to be the case that it was forcing. If I am wrong, sorry! I also feel like I'm in bizzaro world because I've never heard of anyone playing 2H here as NF. It reminds me of when jdonn and drg told me everyone played new suits as forcing after an overcall, and one told me that was BWS also, but they were wrong! :(

Flannery is great as long as you don't play a forcing 1N. Bidding 1H-1N-p frequently combined with them having no idea about your spade situation is great. I think people underrate how good that is. Bidding 1H-1S showing 5 or 4 very strong ones (ie a hand that is eager to play a 4-3 spade fit) is also useful. Flannery itself when it comes up is great because you almost never wrong side it and they will have no idea what responders hand looks like (even if he tries for game/slam, usually he just keeps asking). An auction like 2D-4H-p is way tougher to defend against that a normal auction. Just make sure you have a good set of responses. Overall I love both a weak 2D and a flannery opener, I'm not sure which I prefer but they are both really good and underrated imo.

6C is so ridiculously lol. Just start with 4C and see what's happening, you could easily have a grand.

I'd pass

yep 2H

6C should show extras as well as a first round control. Sure you could miss grands this way when partner has everything but the first round club control, but if you bid 6C any time you have first round control partner will have a tough time bidding 7 a lot of the time since you need more for 7 than just a club void. It makes sense to me to bid 6C only with extras and a first round control rather than have 6C be a very wide range of strengths. I think this way you will bid more good grands.

why is 3H short spades? I mean I guess it's arbitrary, just havent seen high shortness first ever. I think 5N is too much of a view, I wanna be in 6H at MP even if we need hearts to come in and can ruff them out in clubs. I would just set hearts as trumps via 3S then bid keycard.

Depends on what kind of hands partner will pass your 1 level openers with. With myself I would open 1D but with many people I would be scared they could pass when we have a game so I would try 2C then 2N.