Smolen-like respomses to 1[CL], 16+

[OleBerg]

In another thread somebody mentioned problems with transfer-responses to a strong 1♣ opening.

 

If you want to make it a priority to rightside contracts, I definately believe a Smolen-like structure should be considered.

 

A nice way to arrange responders first reply to 1♣ 16+, is this:

 

All 5-card+ major hands, and all balanced hands, are divided into two subranges; Normal Strenght and Ekstra Strenght. Normal Strenght would be something like 8-11, while Ekstra Strenght would be 12+.

 

As a guideline, 2♣ is always used to inquire about 5-card majors, and 2♦ to inquire about NT hands. Thus, using the same structure everywhere will easy the burden on the memory.

 

Responses to 1♣, 16+:

 

1♥ = Spades Normal strenght and Ekstra Strenght, NT Ekstra Strenght.

1♠ = NT Normal Strenght, Hearts Ekstra Strenght.

1nt = Hearts Normal Strenght.

 

 

On the first two responses, opener use a relay to clarify. Thus:

 

1♣-1♥

1♠- ?

 

1nt = Spades Normal Strenght, (2♣ = New relay.)

2♣ = NT Ekstra Strenght, (2♦ = New relay.)

2♦+ = Spades Ekstra Strenght, responder bids as if a 2♣-relay had been made.

 

 

1♣-1♠

1nt - ?

 

2♣ = NT Normal Strenght (2♦ = New relay)

2♦+ = Hearts Ekstra Strenght, responder bids as if a 2♣-relay had been made.

 

 

1♣ - 1NT

2♣ is simply a relay.

[PrecisionL]

Interesting.

 

There are three main ways of designing follow-ons to transfer responses to a strong ♣:

 

(1) Natural with or without asking bids and / or strength showing / asking - enough said.

 

(2) The PRECISION TODAY method: acceptance is a BETA ASK for the number of A & K. Thus, the need for knowing responder's hcp range is mostly answered with this Beta response (except for Queens). I played that style for 18 months and did well.

 

(3) RELAY method: Keylime and I now play Ultra Club (1 year) where the cheapest bid by the 1♣ opener to a transfer positive is a relay to ask for more distributional information. Beta Asks are now delayed until the 3-level, usually. We found that this works even better for game bidding and still is powerful for slam investigation.

 

For efficiency reasons we made the 1♥ and 1♠ positive responses as showing 4-cards in the other major or better [sabine Auken like] without 4-cards (or more) in the bid major. Our Smolen-like design uses the 1 NT response for all hands with 5-4 or better in the majors. Continuing, 1♣ - 2♣: is the G.F. response with one or both minors (5-4 or better). And the 2♦ positive response has the 8-14 hcp NT hands. Responses of 2M are natural with 5332 distribution. The 2NT response is 15+ hcp (Power Precision). Responses at the 3-level are reserved for the 4441 hands.

 

Rarely do we find an auction where the 8-11 or 12+ positive declaration would be more helpful.

 

Larry

 

Edited 8/29/08 16:26 EDT - Ultra web page does NOT have 1 NT response in it showing both majors (5-4+)

[Mbodell]

(2) The PRECISION TODAY method: acceptance is a BETA ASK for the number of A & K. Thus, the need for knowing responder's hcp range is mostly answered with this Beta response (except for Queens). I played that style for 18 months and did well.

(3) RELAY method: Keylime and I now play Ultra Club (2 years) where the cheapest bid by the 1♣ opener to a transfer positive is a relay to ask for more distributional information. Beta Asks are now delayed until the 3-level, usually. We found that this works even better for game bidding and still is powerful for slam investigation.

 

For efficiency reasons we made the 1♥ and 1♠ positive responses as showing 4-cards in the other major or better [sabine Auken like] without 4-cards (or more) in the bid major. Our Smolen-like design uses the 1 NT response for all hands with 5-4 or better in the majors. Continuing, 1♣ - 2♣: is the G.F. response with one or both minors (5-4 or better). And the 2♦ positive response has the 8-14 hcp NT hands. Responses of 2M are natural with 5332 distribution. The 2NT response is 15+ hcp (Power Precision). Responses at the 3-level are reserved for the 4441 hands.

 

Rarely do we find an auction where the 8-11 or 12+ positive declaration would be more helpful.

I also play similar to methods 2 and 3 above (with different partners). For 3 we use a version of transfer oriented symmetric relay. I prefer 3 to 2. I find we usually right side the contract, and very often find the right contract. For us:

 

1♦ - neg

1♥ - 4+ spades

1♠ - balanced (4432 or 4333) or both reds

1NT - 4+♥, not 4+♠

2♣ - either 4441 with both minors or 5+ ♦ single suited

2♦ - 5+ ♣ single suited

2♥+ - some hand with both minors

 

We found the most important contract to not wrong side was balanced hands and NT. NT is still the most frequent wrong sided contract for us.

 

Note that the 1M and 1NT responses for us are actually pretty similar to the OP where ♥ tends to show ♠, ♠ shows NT, and NT shows ♥. The first two are clearly good. The last one is the one that leads to most wrong siding. That said, the gains from accurate bidding out weight the wrong siding in my opinion.

[OleBerg]

Rarely do we find an auction where the 8-11 or 12+ positive declaration would be more helpful.

Well, the Norweigan Bermuda Bowl winners used it. That doesn't nescesarily make it right, but it is an indication, that it can sometimes be usefull. (Yes, I stole it from them.)

 

Anyway, if the mentioned division by strength isnt ok, I guess you could divide hands into other subsets; maybe other strenght ratios, or maybe by hand types, instead of strenght.

[rbforster]

I also like 1♠ to show balanced to get NT right, although of course this will sometimes wrongside hands with 4 spades, or 5♠332 the way we play.

 

If you want to use 1N for something unlikely to be wrong-sided, both majors is probably a good choice. I have some symmetric relay stuff where I was thinking of doing this, but in order to have enough space I think I needed 1♦ as some strong hands with hearts.