Weired conventions in Lancaster

[Guest Jlall]

As for uses for the 2N response to 1N, Grant Baze, Mike Lawrence, Bob Hamman, and a few others of that caliber have all said that the natural invitation, while rare, is useful and better than playing a structure where responder is using Stayman on all invites.

One of the best qualities about Bob Hamman is that he can admit that he was wrong and adjust to the changing knowledge we have about the game. In all of his partnerships now he does not use 2N as natural and goes through either 2C or 2S depending on the partnership.

 

Bob also has said that lebensohl and smith echo are terrible and now uses a version of leb and plays smith.

 

It should be blatantly obvious at this point that there are much better uses for a 2N bid than a natural invite which is very rare to begin with and can use some other bid anyways.

[helene_t]

I like Wackojack's analysis. Indeed the Lancaster structure is relatively easy to explain, something important in a club where many partnerships are based on less than 2 minutes of system discussions. Last week when our C-team played against Chorley, they just collected four players and started discussing who would be partnering whom while we were driving down to Chorley.

 

In the Netherlands, it is very common to play

1NT-2♣

2♥-2♠

2NT-pass

as the equivalent of the natural sequence

1NT-2NT

pass

 

So not only do you tell opps exactly how many points opener and responder have, you also tell them that opener has four hearts and you give them the options of doubling both black suits (and the room to bid 2♦ over stayman). I know you can produce some impressive slam auctions by putting more hands into the 2♠ sequel to Stayman, but most club players haven't discussed that so it doesn't make too much sense IMHO.

[foo]

Since we are talking about 1N response structures:

 

2C= Stayman

2D+ H Xfer

2H+ S Xfer

 

2S! 55 D+C =either interested in slam or weak=

(Opener bids their better minor or 2N if they can't choose.

If Opener bids a minor, Responder passes with a weak hand or

bids Major suit fragment with a strong hand.

Else if Opener bids 2N, Responder chooses a minor with a weak hand or

bids Major suit fragment with a strong hand.)

This response can also be used with a slam interested 64 or 46 in D+C.

 

2N= Natural

3m= To Play

3M= GF 4cM; 1-OM; 44, 53, or 54 in D+C

3N= To Play

4C+ South African Texas Xfer =to ♥'s=

4D+ South African Texas Xfer =to ♠'s=

4M= To Play

 

The above works reasonably well over either a Strong or a Weak NT.

[beatrix45]

The first problem for most Acol 12-14 NT pairs is that everyone was told that transfers over notrump was a good idea, but there was never any consensus about the 2♠ response.

:( Transfers lose some of their luster when using a 12-14 HCP one NT opener.

Pro: Often the 'big' hand has the opening lead running to it - but less an advantage than with the 15-17 HCP variety

Con: On part score suited contracts, the defense sees the weak hand and can better judge its defensive prospects

Con: When reponder has a wildly unbalanced hand, it is visible to the defense

Con: In general, defense is easier when the closed hand is so tightly defined in terms of high cards and distribution

 

With the dreaded 'kamikaze' 10-12+ HCP one NT nobody advocates transfers