MALEX again

[kes]

The bidding system MALEX (Major's Length Exact) has these opening bids :

 

1C each hand with 14 P (and some with 13 P)

 

Rule of 18 up to 13 P :

1D with 4= Hearts & 0-3 Spades - not 3433 , may have a longer minor

1H with 4= Spades & 0-3 Hearts - not 4333 , may have a longer minor

1S with 4+ Hearts & 4+ Spades

 

With 9 - 13 P :

2C with 5= Hearts & 0-3 Spades

2D with 5= Spades & 0-3 Hearts

2H with 6+ Hearts & 0-3 Spades

2S with 6+ Spades & 0-3 Hearts

 

With 11 - 13 P :

1N semi-balanced (4432 , 5422 , 5332 , 6322) , no 4card Major (and not 4333)

2N with 5+ Clubs & 4+ Diamonds

3m with 6+ cards

 

Pass up to 13 P (good 13 are always 14) with 4333

and with 31 Majors & 5= Diamonds & 4= Clubs - no place to open , sorry

 

 

The system works fine , at least to us non-top-player

- konstructive advices are welcome

 

KES - still trying to re-invent the wheel

[gwnn]

14 hcp for strong ♣ is too weak.

[effervesce]

Having tinkered with openings similar to what you have (but from a suspensor forcing pass basis):

 

The main defect of your system is that you really lose out big on minor hands. Opening 2NT or higher with such hands will be the biggest losers in such a system, and is a very large hole imo.

 

Yes, you can play it-but I think you'd do better with a standard system than with MALEX.

 

That said, the idea is sound- have you looked at MOSCITO forcing pass/strong club systems?

[OleBerg]

I have played systems that used 1♣ and 1♦ artificial.

 

One of my experinces was, that these openings worked much better than expected:

 

2♣ = 5+ clubs, 4+ diamonds

2♦ = 5+diamonds, 4+ clubs

 

These bid take a lot of strain from the one-level minor-openers. The more exact their point range is, the better they work, but of course then they take less strain of the openings.

 

At a glance it seems that we start the bidding uncomfterbly high, but responder will often know the right strain immidiately, and will only have to check for strenght.

 

It is, of course, not a perfect solution, but if you want to free 1♣ and 1♦, I found these to be very usefull.

 

I recommend playing penalty doubles over opponents interference. (When you have showed nine specific cards, the need for takeout is infrequent.)