Expert Conventions

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Seeking help from all Vugraph Operators, Commentators and Experts

 

Some time ago I read Fred Gitelman's article on "Last Train to Clarksville" (LTTC) which can be found here http://bbi.bridgebase.com/articles/fg/2over12.html The concepts discussed in the article are not always easy for lesser players to follow. Having kibbitzed many Vugraph Live Broadcasts I cannot recall seeing the convention in action yet. I have heard it said that LTTC is one of the BEST CONVENTIONS to have appeared in the past 20 years.

 

Through placing this post I am hoping to build up a library of expert conventions in action which can regulary be consulted by lesser players. I am asking for help to include as many example hands as possible (or a link to the relevant hand) which names the applicable convention accompanied by an explanation of what each bid means once the convention has kicked into action. The hands can come from anywhere e.g. Vugraph broadcasts, Main Bridge Club, Team games etc.

 

To start off this thread here are some of the more complex conventions I have heard about but personally have never played before:

1.) Last Train to Clarksville (LTTC)

2.) Serious 3NT versus Non-Serious 3NT (what is the benefit of playing one in preference above the other?)

3.) Gazilli

4.) Riton 2♣

5.) Leaping Michaels versus Non-Leaping Michaels

6.) Six-card RKCB

7.) Turbo Convention (as played by the Italian Blue Team)

8.) Others?

 

Kindly extend the list with other lesser known conventions with example hands and explanations of the convention in action.

 

Thank you!

[Free]

I can think of a few: Stayman, Jacoby Transfers, Blacky,... :P

 

The best one I invented myself is Kickback Turbo, which is an improvement (imo) of the regular Turbo convention. You can find it here. I think it's best when a minor fit is set at 4-level. For Major suit fits I think (Kickback) RKC is better. Note however that this isn't a popular convention, because it's quite complicated and I guess most expert pairs aren't excited to try a completely different slam approach when they're quite happy with what they play now.

[Zelandakh]

To explain why LTTC is such a good idea it might be helpful to compare it with a more common situation. You have had a GF auction and found out that there is no major suit fit and would like to play 3NT. The last bid was 3H so you have 2 choices, 3S or 3NT. Let us say for simplicity that the suit you are unsure about is spades. If 3S is natural then you havr 2 ways to show something in spades, 3S or 3NT, but no way to deny something in spades below 3NT. If instead 3S denies a spade stopper then you can show both hand types.

 

LTTC works exactly the same way. Say the trump suit is agreed as spades and we have shown controls in both minor suits, the last bid being 4D. Now if 4H is a cue bid we have multiple ways of showing a heart control, 4H or almost anything abover 4S, but how do we find out about a heart control without bypassing 4S? The answer is to use 4H to say you are still interested in slam but cannot yourself go past 4S. There also scenarios where LTTC make it clear whether partner is denying a control in a key suit or not.

 

Now that is all well and good but there is actually a much simpler way of achieving the same result which is also suitable for B/I players. In the same way as you can ask for stoppers rather than showing them, you can do the same with cue bids. It turns out that these denial cue bids are easier to handle for non-experts because they have fewer exceptions.

 

Serious versus Frivolous 3NT is an interesting discussion. I personally prefer frivolous because it gives less information leakage when we are not interested in slam. However, serious is much more popular.

[aguahombre]

IM(NS)HO, BBO forum discussion of these toys including when and how to use them...maybe even extensions of them...would be very enlightening for a lot of people.

 

But also, IM(NS)HO, it should be one thread per toy.

[campboy]

Serious versus Frivolous 3NT is an interesting discussion. I personally prefer frivolous because it gives less information leakage when we are not interested in slam. However, serious is much more popular.

I also prefer frivolous for this reason.

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Example hand 1: The Gazilli Convention http://bridgetoernooi.com/index.php/home/pbn2deal/131605

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Example Hand 2: Leaping Michaels http://bridgetoernooi.com/index.php/home/pbn2deal/131278