Ekren - weak 2 level 4+-4+ in higher opening

[mishovnbg]

I leave 1 free option if somebody like to add new. Explain please why you prefer option, if possible 8).

Misho

[the hog]

My new one is 2H Ekrens. I feel this puts more pressure on the opps who know this can be passed out.

[Rado]

Congratulations Misho,

Very nice idea to construct such polls.

As you know I prefer similar to Ekren in 3rd and 4th positions only:-)))))

 

Best regards Rado

[luis]

I played 2h as Ekren because I was tired of playing 2d in a 5-1 fit :-) for some reason every time I opened 2d my pd held 2-2-5-4.

 

It's a good convention but you can hate it if you are unlucky, I remember opening 2h with Kxxx, Axxxx, xxx, x and it went 2h - p -2s - p - p - x - p - p - p. Result: -800.

 

It's a treatment that can backfire a lot. If you prepare well against a 2d Ekren opening you can set-up many trap sequences to get them in 2h or 2s doubled for a good result. A 2h version should be more safe but look what happened to me :-)

 

A defense agains 2d that was used by some danish players was:

Pass = A takeout double of one major or a weak hand or 15-17 balanced with stoppers.

x = A penalty double in one of the majors.

This allows the defense to penalize 2h or 2s if any of the defenders have a penalty double of the major suit that responder chooses.

Maybe there're better defenses but if the opps are agressive this approach seems to be fine.

[Antoine Fourrière]

Ekren and Frelling try to maximize the frequency of openings. Thus it would be illogical not to include the 8-10 HCP hands, which are quite frequent. The problem is that those 8-10 HCP represent nearly the quarter of the deck, and that the deal might well belong to your side.

So, opening with a 4-4 seems an aberration, unless you have both majors, and even then opening 2H may send you in a 4-2 fit when there is a 5-2 fit in the other major.

 

Still, two systems - at least - manage to include nearly all hands with 11+ HCP at the one level. They are the Polish Club in its fading 2C-as-a-game-force version (played notably by Kwiecien-Pszczola) and the Moscito.

 

2C as a game force has a frequency of less than 1%. The Moscito uses 2C to show a six-carder in the 9-14 HCP range (frequency: about 1.5%, according to hrothgar's Moscito 2001).

 

If you relocate gently the 2C hands at 2N and 3C (in the case of the game-forcing 2C, I see no reason not to put the big balanced hands in the 1C opening and to play the 2N and 3C bids as forcing to 4H, because you cannot stop at 3N with a singleton in front of a blank responder), you have freed all the two-bids for canape preempts.

 

Now 2C can show a canape with four clubs and a five-card suit or three clubs and a six-card suit (or a six-four), 2D a canape with four diamonds and a five-card suit or three diamonds and a six-card suit, etc...

(with a 6331, you have the choice between two tripletons)

 

If responder is not strong enough to relay at 2N, he may pass with four cards or three cards and a singleton (or a doubleton if he doesn't want to compete), bid three to suggest five cards, or bid the next suit as a non-forcing relay.

 

That style - which I've never played, incidentally - doesn't look too good with five hearts and four spades, so, another idea is to play 1N as a sort of Comic NT: 16-17 or a weak hand with four spades and four or five hearts (you still open 2S with 3622 and perhaps 3631 and 3613). Over 1N, responder may still transfer in a major or bid 2C for clarification. Over 2C, opener answers 2D with a strong NT without any need to ask for range, and 2H with the weak major type. Of course, that treatment is not compatible with the Moscito.

(Yes, that is not GCC-legal, but what's the point now there is BBO?)