canope with 4 Spades and 5422 distribution

[Shugart23]

Ken, if you are reading this...can you talk to the types of hands you would either Pass, or open 1S, or open 1NT ?

 

(our NT range is 10-12/13 unless vulnerable in 3rd seat where it is 13-15)

[mike777]

edit.

[kenrexford]

I'm assuming that the 5 - card suit is a minor. Canapé openings don't promise a stiff somewhere, but partner will assume that one is likely. So, there is an incentive to open 1NT.

 

I will decide on the basis of where my honors are. With a cov in my suits, canapé. With a cov in the doubletons, 1NT. Split, judgment.

 

Passing the hand seems bad if the hand qualifies for an opening.

[Shugart23]

so Qxxx xx AKQJx xx Open 1 Spade and

 

xxxx AK xxxxx AK Open 1NT ?

[jgillispie]

so Qxxx xx AKQJx xx Open 1 Spade and

 

xxxx AK xxxxx AK Open 1NT ?

 

Can somebody explain to me the advantages of canape approach?

[PrecisionL]

Can somebody explain to me the advantages of canape approach?

Opening 1 of a major (especially 1♠) makes it difficult for the opponents and since the 2nd suit is always good, the rebid is not forcing and can be passed.

 

However, your ♥ fit, if there is one, may be difficult to find.

 

So bid Strong Clubbers ...

 

 

[kenrexford]

Can somebody explain to me the advantages of canape approach?

This is a very complicated issue, but I will offer a few things.

 

A simple gain is in finding superior 44 fits before 53 fits. If standard with 4S/3H, you have tension when partner opens 1H. Not with canapé.

 

Another gain is in competition. If you open a 6-card suit and want to reopen , a 4-card suit also held causes tension. Not so if you open the 4-card suit. Related, if partner opens you need 4-card suits for negative doubles and feel tension with fragments. With canapé fragments are enough to make a negative double.

 

More subtle is the impact on the opponents. Take out doubles assume and have frequency because opener's suit is usually the longest. Canapé throws off the assumption and the frequency.

 

Even more subtle is the rearrangement of hand types across opening options. Standard focuses on a center of gravity, with some difficulty unwinding the specifics. Canapé moves some centers of gravity off the opened suit, which tends to make the unwind simpler. This concept is really hard to explain. But, consider an example. If you open 1S and then rebid a minor, you tend to be 5th only in the major, which tends to bury minors when you are sixth. With canapé, you can still treat the hand as one suited, but treating it as two suited is not as difficult. The unwind, then, with either path works well with canapé because your opening is not stuck to the gravity center. Partner can deal with the uncertainty early on because of the degree of dissimilarity between the possibilities. If 1S could be 5 or six, that's the problem. If 1S is 4 or 6, that's easier to cater to in structure and in fielding sequences.

[perko90]

There's also a case, even when playing canapé, to open 1♦ w/ a 4-2-5-2. That was Hamman-Soloway's choice, presumably because auctions like: 1♠-2♥; 3♦ chews up a lot of space even without interference.