Jinksy

Yeah, hopefully my comment from the other thread makes more sense now: A bunch of decent players gave me funny looks when it drifted one off after P put down AJT9xxx T Tx Kxx, and on a C lead and D switch, I couldn't find a way to get rid of the ♦ loser.

Given that W didn't raise, it seems like N has a few Hs, which means a points-based X. Slam looks in the picture, and I have everything I could want for a 4♥ bid, so put me down for that.

Yeah I know, but the principle seems to be similar. Why commit yourself to a GF when you could jump a level higher, sign off in 3M, use Frivolous/Serious 3N and eventually sign off in 4M to partition your hand strength? Meanwhile mini-splinters can be really nice for finding (or avoiding) thin games and occasionally slams.

Playing normal systems, I always play single-jump shifts of 1M opening as split range splinters by preference to any other pick-up method. Far better than Bergen, IMO.

4♠ is quite an aggressive game try.

At IMPs (St Petersburg) LHO bids 3♦ and it's passed twice around to this: x AKQJ9xx AQx xx Similar, but rather importantly different from the hand I originally gave! What's your call here? (I completely messed up the original thread by getting the minors the wrong way around)

Argh *****, I put in the OP hand wrong!

Seems universal. Just checking - a bunch of decent players gave me funny looks when it drifted one off after P put down AJT9xxx T Tx Kxx, and on a C lead and D switch, I couldn't find a way to get rid of the ♦ loser.

Dyslexia got the better of me :(

I think the principles of bidding in Acol and SAYC are more similar than people here seem to think. A 3♥ bid is a GF in both systems, so while there are minor considerations about what sort of hands P might have responded as he did given that you've shown 5♠ rather than 4, I think they'd very rarely change whether you have a GF opposite his response. That said, perhaps the main difference on everyday auctions other than what P might raise you on is that Acol players tend to keep their responses stronger. I don't know how much that's conservative English players and how much the fact that 1m openings actually promise the suit, so passing it out is generally less likely to lead to the wrong part score. Probably a little of both. If your P has the agreement that P responds to 1m on almost any strength with a major suit, maybe you want more for a GF, but it doesn't seem like it would apply over P's 1M opening.

Part of the reason I voted for 2♠ was from the recent threads where P opened 1♥ (5+), and with 3♥s and 5 decent ♠s opposite, the strongest players were almost unanimous for 2♥. It's obviously different in Acol, but it still seems like a 2♠ raise isn't much less encouraging than a 2♣ bid followed by 2♠ preference (and I wouldn't want to jump-bid to 3♠ over P's red suit rebid). Meanwhile it gives away less about my hand and P's, which could be worth a lot on this sort of hands at MPs.

Yeah, it seems weird to me to play splinters below three of the relevant suit as GF, but that seems to be by far the most common treatment.

Like mikeh, at MPs I'm much more worried about 3♠ PPP -2.

Yeah, I agree - definitely the one I'm least confident about. 3♦ would probably most frequently be a GF splinter. But 3♥ could be a balanced 17-19ish hand, so doesn't say anything about ♠ shortage.

This hand is from a bidding quiz that unhelpfully offers neither scoring nor vul, so let's say MPs, love all for the sake of the poll, but please specify if you'd do something different at IMPs/vul. [hv=pc=n&w=sjt9852haqdaq7cj8&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1c(4%2B)1sp2hp]133|200[/hv]

What's the second X? If it's penalty I'll respect it, if takeout, I know where it's getting taken out to.

Yeah, sorry. I realised that just after voting, and then assumed it would be too uncontroversial to be worth re-setting up. Ah those halcyon days. I was so young and naive.

Didn't see that one coming! I've added it as an option, anyway.

Heh, I was expecting be at the cravener end of the spectrum with 2♥, though I didn't realise by how much. To me at MPs, anything more than 3♥ seems really overdoing it on this aceless wonder. If P can't raise 3 to 4, I really doubt we want to be in it. I went gentle into that good night on the grounds that giving P the ♥ and ♣ aces and out, we have less than a 50% shot at game, esp after wrongsiding for a D lead. If he has both of those and anything extra (a fifth H, say), I'd expect him to have a look at game on most hands, and I'll obviously cooperate with that. The ♠ silence also worries me. Sure, you can construct hands where P has little in the suit and neither opp has a bid (esp if P has the ♠ ace), but I think on the auction so far, P is heavy favourite to have a few values in ♠s, which he's surely going to overrate if I just jump to 3h[e]. Lastly, what if he tries for a slam? If I've bid 3♥, I'll start to feel pretty sick about my hand if cue cues eg 3♠. Do I sign straight off in 4♥, eating up all his cueing space? Or do I cooperate, and risk ending up at the five level off two keycards and needing things to behave well to avoid losing a third? At teams it's a 3♥ bid for me (I still don't rate out chances in 4 if P can't even raise this at teams), but at pairs it feels like too much can go wrong. It's close, but I'm sticking with 2♥ until I hear a decent argument to be less of a wuss.

I think it shows distribution/suit quality more than strength. If so, vul is relevant, since it's partly a competitive bid, so I wouldn't expect P to bid it suicidally when vul.

Yeah, I think 3♠ is clear, but MP bidding still weirds me out sometimes. Andrew Robson's recent advice was 'don't invite game at MPs'.

I feel like 1N would be better (though not necessarily right) at teams, but at MPs I think I rate to take more tricks in partial ♠ Moyesian than NT contract, so X for me. It also gives P the chance to rightside 1N with such as Qxx or Jxx in Hs. I'll feel a bit sheepish if he bids 2D, but I think it's worth the risk (and given that he'll probably have a 5-card D suit to do it, we might still match the score of NT bidders, or on a good day make when they go off). If P bids 1♠ with three of the suit I'll also feel a bit queasy, but if we're lucky the opps might still pull us out of it.

Matchpoints, 1N is 12-14. 3S is your only available invitational bid. [hv=pc=n&s=skq94h74da93cqt62&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1n(12-14)p2cp2sp]133|200[/hv]

Still Acol, still matchpoints. As in other threads, P's opening shows 4+, and may be on a balanced (4n)(4n) outside the NT range (though he should be 5-4 or better after his rebid): [hv=pc=n&s=s8hq53dq62cat9764&d=n&v=0&b=1&a=1sp1np2hp]133|200[/hv]

Matchpoints, Acol: [hv=pc=n&s=skq8hkq6dak7642c3&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=1dp1sp]133|200[/hv]