Short Major

[Wayne Russell]

Is anyone aware of a strong club system in which 1 of a major may be opened on 3, 4, or 6+ of the opened major suit? The observed system uses 2d opener to show a 5 card major. 1nt openers are 8-11 Not Vully, 14-16 Vully, but Not Vully 7 hcp are often opened 1NT.

 

There is a pair playing on BBO using this system with totally remarkable success at IMP.

[han]

No, but it sounds not far from a canape system where 1M shows either 4 or 6, and with 5 you open at the two level.

 

Main reason I respond is to say "hi, welcome to the forum!". :P

[pbleighton]

There is a system I've read of called Mafia Club, which is similar.

 

This description is from Larssen's system summary:

 

The Mafia Club was invented by Kenneth L. Lindsay, 1981. Mafia stands

for Majors First Always, and the main idea of Mafia is to open

1H/S as often as possible. In principle, Mafia is a strong 1C

system, but since the openings 1H/S may be based on three cards

only, it was placed among the artificial systems. Information from

Rene Steiner, Dusseldorf, Germany.

 

Mafia Club Opening Bids

1C 16+ any shape, 16-19 if balanced

1D 11-15 different shapes

1H 10-15 3+ hearts, unbalanced

1S 10-15 3+ spades, unbalanced

1N 13-15 balanced

2C 16+ any 4441

20+ balanced

2D 11-14 solid 7-card minor

13-15 6M331, 6M4m21, or 6M4m30

2H 6-9 6+ hearts or

11-15 6 hearts 322 or

13-15 5 hearts 332

2S 6-9 6+ spades or

11-15 6 spades 322 or

13-15 5 spades 332

2N 6-9 6+ minor

3C 13-15 6-7 clubs, no major

3D 13-15 6-7 diamonds, no major

3N 11-14 solid 7-card major

 

If the openings 1H and 1S are made on 3 cards, the suit is at least as

strong as KTx.

 

You can find this summary on Dan Neill's website:

 

http://www.geocities.com/daniel_neill_2000/sys/

 

under "More Stuff" - it has a ton of summaries like the above.

 

Peter

[whereagles]

There's also The Little Major, an old system based on 3-card majors with which Terence Reese won the 1955 Bermuda Bowl :)

 

Dunno where you can get notes of it, though. But should be quite fun to play.

[Double !]

re: Little Major

The following is from the book "Bridge Conventions, Finesses and Coups" by Terence Reese (pp. 98-99) 1965

 

Openings

1♣ = basically = hearts. Response 1♦ = usually negative, but may show some big hands. Response of 1NT = semi-positive, may be balanced, have a suit, or have hearts. 1♠, 2♣, &2♦ are positive responses.

 

1♦ = spades or strong, balanced hand. Response of 1♥ is negative, etc, etc.

 

1♥ = "either very strong or very weak. Responses based on controls."

 

1♠ = 12-15 with "some values in both minor suits, no biddable major"

 

1NT = 14-16

 

2♣ or 2♦ = 12-15 "one fair minor suit, no biddable major"

 

2♥ or 2♠ = "use major-minor 2-suiter."

 

2NT = "either minor suit pre-empt, or strong minor 2-suiter.

 

 

Hope this is of interest. Enjoy.

Sometimes these old books have some value.