SAYC - 2/1 Response and Opener's Rebid

[blackshoe]

"Elephant: A mouse built to government specifications." -- Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love.

[mycroft]

If you're learning how to play a good version of Standard American, then please do so. Learn to play the version your kitchen bridge people play; it's probably better than YC. It's really good to know YC because you *can* play YC with anyone with little discussion, because it's a specified system. It's better to take YC as a base and fix a bunch of holes (some modern NMF, defined 4SF, inverted minors, negX through 3♠ or 4♥, definitions around things like "is 2NT passable after a 2/1?").

 

30 years ago, my teacher told me "it's a good idea to learn 2/1, not because 2/1 is any better [it is, but at our level at the time, only minimally so], but because if you find a 2/1 partner at the partnership desk, you'll know that they play all the gadgets needed to make standard work. You can't guarantee that from someone who doesn't play 2/1." Those gadgets are still necessary to make standard work, and frankly, a good standard with all the hole-fillers is sufficient for 99% of cases at "newer player" level. I played a (very gadgety, with a weak NT) version of Standard with a regular partner for three years and never felt we were missing something, for instance.

 

Note that 2/1 is just as fluid as Standard - literally no pair plays 2/1 the same way unless they were trained by the same teacher. So, taking the time to learn "your group's" SA won't hurt you at all; it will prepare you for "there's more than one way to do it" when you get to 2/1 as well.

 

Good luck - with your adventure, and with bringing in your brother. It's a long and fulfilling one, no matter where it leads.