Rule of 20

[Vampyr]

I admit I don't use it very often but I damn well teach it and it works well to develop aggression and confidence, very necessary in todays game.

 

It's also sometimes necessary for the post-mortem: "But it was Rule of 20, partner!" Substitute 19, 18 etc as required.

[VM1973]

In all cases of using the rule, logical evaluation of your hand always tends to prevail in my opinion.

 

One other trick I like is the idea of voids during the rule of 20.

 

QJT976♠

JT9♥

KQ87♣

 

On this hand, I only have 9 HCP, but I do have 2 10's. In theory, that's about 25% of the HCP in the deck, hardly too good. But I really own 50% of the deck. The A♦,K♦,Q♦ and J♦ are really all owned by me. Any positive spade response and I am raising to game without question.

Aside from what has already been mentioned by others (too many cards in the hand, for example) I would like to say this: Although it's true that your void permits you to trump the ♦AKQJ it would be unwise to count the void as worth 10 HCPs. If we assume that your partner has 13 HCP and a 2-3-5-3 shape chances are that 5 of his 13 HCPs will be in diamonds and will be wasted opposite your hand.

[DrMunk]

Is the Rule of 20 something else that needs to be dumped? I have had plenty of bad results of my own using this rule, for one very simple reason: How on earth is partner supposed to know that I have opened the bidding using it? Again, from my own experiences, I can add this –

1. Most of my gains from using this rule come when opener places the final contract.

2. Conversely, most of my losses from using this rule come when partner places the final contract.

 

The latest bad result occurred at our local club earlier this week. As the dealer, I held 10 cards in the black suits and exactly 10 HCP. So I duly opened the bidding with 1♠ using the Rule of 20. Partner held a big hand and blasted straight into 4NT RKCB. After 5♣ from me (1 keycard), partner placed the final contract in 6♠ with only 1 keycard missing. The contract failed by 1, the missing keycard and a second trick in one of the other suits, when my 10 count just didn’t hold that vital additional value that partner was expecting.

 

What sort of experiences have others had with this rule? Are your gains outweighing your losses?

 

Clearly this was a very difficult hand for the system. After 32519 opened 1♠, his partner was in a difficult spot. Remember that Jacoby 2nt had recently been dumped from their system

 

(See this link)

 

So what should he do? He choose the practical bid, and went straight to RKCB. Unlucky for him, the slam failed. If only he could have figured out that his partner had a twosuiter with spades and clubs and minimum hcp’s, the slam could have been avoided. But clearly there were no way to figure this out, so it was a very unlucky hand. Don’t blame the rule of 20..

PS: How long will it be before we have the thread: “ Is it time to dump RKCB?”

[aguahombre]

Observations about indiscriminant use of the rule of 20 might well apply to RKCB, to many other rules, and to many other conventions. Dumping them because they are misused is not always the best solution. Learning to use them more appropriately might be better. Dumping them UNTIL we learn how they should be applied could be a good plan; but, first we have to recognize a method or rule isn't working out well.