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Playing 2/1 only Fast arrival or something else

#1 User is offline   sceptic 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 08:07


Scoring: IMP


West North East South

 -     -     Pass  1
 Pass  2    Pass  2
 Pass  2    Pass  4
 Pass  4NT   Pass  5
 Pass  Pass  Pass  


after the 2 heart bid,

is 3 diamonds showing 5/5?

is 4 hearts the best bid?

is 4NT a bit pushy?
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#2 User is offline   ralph23 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 08:18

Yes.
I like 3.
Only a bit.
Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that other philosophers are all jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is one himself. H.L. Mencken.
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#3 User is offline   hrothgar 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 08:29

Different partnerships have different definitions for the 3 jump. Some will treat this as a convention club raise. Others will use it as some kind of picture jump clarifying either strength or shape.

I think that either style is playable, however, I don't like a style in which 3 could show this hand. (Yes, you have 5-5 shape, but you also have a dead minimum opener)

I think that the 4 rebid is lazy. Qx in Clubs is golden once partner makes a 2/1 in Clubs and then shows a Heart fit.
Alderaan delenda est
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#4 User is offline   kenrexford 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 08:48

The answers to your questions depend upon your style of bidding. There is no "correct" answer without the context of agreements.

Using a very natural approach here, South's bidding was excellent; North's was lacking. Here's why, IMO. A good rule of thumb that I learned is that Opener does not jump to game to sign off in a sequence like this unless his answer to RKCB would be worse that "Two with the Queen." That rule would have saved this sequence, as North would then never bid 4NT and pass 5, because he would know that 5 was your best possible answer.

Using the approach I use, to show the contrast of styles, the first bid from Opener would not be a patterning out unless a picture jump is used. My auction would be as follows:

...2 (sets trumps)
2 (spade control)
2NT (poor trumps)
3 (one of the top three clubs)
3 (diamond control)
4

4 by Opener would show a lot about his hand:
1. bypassed 3, so not two of the top three hearts
2. bypassed 3, so presumably not first-round control (North knows that the control is a stiff)
3. bypassed Serious 3NT, so non-serious
4. bypassed 4, so not two top clubs (North already knows this, of course)
5. diamond control; LTTC is only used by the "serious" partner

North will now know that South's best possible answer, again, will be "two without the Queen" and will not even ask.

On this deal, pattern/natural bidding got to the answer more quickly, with less disclosure, but the same end result -- North should sign off happily.
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#5 User is offline   ArcLight 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 08:55

>is 4 hearts the best bid?

Playing Mike Lawrence style 2/1 the 4 jump shows hearts and diamonds with no values outside and no slam interest.
In this case you do have the Club Q and that could help set up pards club suit as a source of tricks. In addition you have a stiff spade. If pard has no wasted spade values, its possible to make a slam

x x x
A Q x
K x
A K x x x

This is a big hand, with precisely fitting values and wouldnt be typical. But its not impossible.

Or How about

x x x
A Q x
x
A K J x x x

Or even

x x x
A Q x
K
A J x x x
Slam on a club fineese

So I think the corrcet bid is 3 not 4

>is 3 diamonds showing 5/5?
You can use 2 treatments (make sure you an dpard know which one you are using)
a) Two GOOD suits. 8 – AQJ87 – Q8 – KQJT5, but NOT AK – Q9763-J-AKQ87 (hearts are weak, even with 19 HCP). Bid 2D with the later, despite the HCP.
:lol: Splinter. Keeps the bidding lower than a double jump to the 4 level. You can play that a double jump then shows a void.


>is 4NT a bit pushy?
Given the existing auction, with the 4 bid, the 4NT is a terrible bid.


I don't like the 2 club response because it distorts the picture pard has of the hand.
Its not necessary to make a 2/1. 1 Spade would work, then force to game.
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#6 User is offline   rbforster 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 08:55

FWIW 2 by North seems like an odd choice. Even if you don't play 1-2N as a balanced GF, 1-1 is descriptive and forcing.
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#7 User is offline   skjaeran 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 08:58

The meaning of bids after 2 depend upon the meaning of 2.

If this just shows preference, 3 obviously would be the best bid now, showing a minimum 5-5.

Further bidding after 2 showing true support depends on agreements - whether you pattern out, cuebid or bid honour consentration.

Whatever method, I don't like 4 - it preemtps the auction too much. Partner could have a more fitting hand with the same strenght, and be badly placed.

I prefer a 3 splinter. Partner would then make a non-serious 4 cuebid, I'd rebid 4 and we'd play there.
Kind regards,
Harald
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#8 User is offline   Walddk 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 09:15

Why 2 in the first place? There is no need to bid 2 even though it establishes a game force. I could picture an auction like this:

1 - 1
2 - 3*
3 - 3
4 - pass

* Fourth suit.

Opener has basically shown 5-5 in the reds and a minimum (4), responder 4+ spades, exactly 3 hearts with (at least) a slam invitational hand. When opener raises to 4, the weakest bid possible, it's time for responder to sign off.

Roland
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#9 User is offline   cjames 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 09:27

I completely agree with Roland. Playing 2/1 myself, I would not bid 2 but 1 and the auction would go like Rolands.
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#10 User is offline   kenrexford 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 09:45

There is so much here about style, with lots of perspectives on the matter, I'm sure. A can of worms, if you will.

The One Heart Opening:

By my tastes, fine. Some would consider this too light for a 1 opening.

The Two Clubs Response:

There are many plausible alternatives here.

Some obviously would bid 1, as described. For my part, I'm not in that school, as I believe that this muddles and preempts the auctions that follow. When spades will offer a superior alternative strain, spades will be found when Opener rebids 2. But, this style of bidding spades first works decently and is a style.

My style is to bid 2, because I define 2 as a real suit or as a club fragment or better with heart support, a sort of advanced cue, if you will. I think that this works best in the long run, but others disagree.

A third reasonable style might be for 2NT to show GF and balanced, which is what you have, depending upon the strength promised.

A fourth style might even be a 3NT artificial response, if this hand type is conventionally included.

There might even be other styles. But, as I mentioned, I personally like 2.

The Two Diamonds Rebid:

This may seem obvious and needing no clarification. However, it is plausible to play that 2 is too rich, as I have played before that you would always rebid the suit if you do not have extras, regardless of shape; extras could be based upon shape, though. That did work well, if not ideally.

It is also plausible to play, as I now do, that 2 either shows a real suit or is an "anticipatory advanced cue" in case partner had initially bid 2 as an advanced cue. That may seem strange, but it does help a lot to enable setting hearts as trumps as low as possible, when that is the to-be-realized partnership goal. The cost is in unwinding some ambiguous auctions when that was not the goal, but my experience, different from others perhaps, is that this is an acceptable cost for the gains that develop.

The Two Heart Rebid:

As some have noted, there are even different styles here. For my part, I am in the school where 2 unambiguously agrees hearts. Some treat 2 as "probably" a fit but very plausibly a 2-card delayed raise on some waiting-appropriate hands. Either style has pros and cons.

The Rest of the Auction:

As can undoubtedly be seen, the rest of the auction after 2 will depend upon all of the stylistic choices leading up to that call, as well as all of the stylistic choices that follow this call. What you end up with, then, is a rather difficult set of three questions to answer. Each answer requires the person answering your questions to define his or her understanding as to each of the four first calls, and then express his or her agreements as to the style after that start.

There may well be some "standard schools" that can offer distinct solutions to the three questions. The Lawrence School surely has all four initial bids defined, as well as the remaining auction style. Surely the same can be said of the Hardy School. Which do you play, if either?

Maybe there are other schools here, like perhaps a Gitelman School. I myself have a completely different school of thought here, related but distinct.

Boy is it difficult to sit down with a stranger and agree to play "2/1 GF" without a lot of theory discussion, eh?
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#11 User is offline   Walddk 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 10:06

kenrexford, on Aug 10 2007, 05:45 PM, said:

Some obviously would bid 1, as described. For my part, I'm not in that school, as I believe that this muddles and preempts the auctions that follow.

Aha, 1 muddles the auction, but ...

2 can be a sort of advanced cue.
2 can be an anticipatory advanced cue

... will make the auction clear as ink I take it. I am lost.

Roland
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#12 User is offline   jdonn 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 10:11

Walddk, on Aug 10 2007, 11:06 AM, said:

kenrexford, on Aug 10 2007, 05:45 PM, said:

Some obviously would bid 1, as described.  For my part, I'm not in that school, as I believe that this muddles and preempts the auctions that follow.

Aha, 1 muddles the auction, but ...

2 can be a sort of advanced cue.
2 can be an anticipatory advanced cue

... will make the auction clear as ink I take it. I am lost.

Roland

I really think 1 does muddle the auction, although I'm not gonna read Ken's post :lol: Take your example

1 1
2 3
3 3

All well and good, but no better than

1 2
2 2
3

In fact, in the second auction responder has already shown his support at this point and opener has shown the exact same hand in both auctions, so the second is slightly better.

Meanwhile, go back to the first and see how it would go if opener's third bid was 3NT instead of 3. Or god forbid, 3 leading to one of those auctions where no one knows what is trumps.

I completely agree with 2. 4 led to the problem on the actual auction. Opener should bid 3 (over 2 - not over 2) and then 4 next, showing a minimum with this shape.
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#13 User is offline   kenrexford 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 10:16

Walddk, on Aug 10 2007, 11:06 AM, said:

kenrexford, on Aug 10 2007, 05:45 PM, said:

Some obviously would bid 1, as described.  For my part, I'm not in that school, as I believe that this muddles and preempts the auctions that follow.

Aha, 1 muddles the auction, but ...

2 can be a sort of advanced cue.
2 can be an anticipatory advanced cue

... will make the auction clear as ink I take it. I am lost.

Roland

1 muddles auctions when we have a heart fit.

2 never muddles the auction, because Responder knows that he has a fit and can show that, clearing up the auction that follows immediately.

2 can muddle the auction if Responder did not mean 2 as an advanced cue, and is therefore the more problematic agreement.

So, the question is whether you want to take some risks in muddling auctions where hearts is a known fit or take some risks when Responder has both minors, longer clubs, but no fit for the major, and Opener has a semi-balanced hand. That choice depends upon the respective gains from the alternatives.
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#14 User is offline   ralph23 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 10:54

http://taigabridge.c...cles/mafia1.htm

It may or may not be a propos re: the question of whether 1 or 2 is the superior bid on responder's first call, but I did discover this article earlier this week and thought it was pretty good in setting out the "three schools" and giving a pretty fair comparison.

Each school is shown and explained, with its virtues and vices.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in it ... I was, obviously. :blink:

On my own part -- I'm not smart enough to dream up an artificial bid on a three-card suit when I have a natural and forcing bid available in 1, and who knows... partner may even have four ! Or on the other hand, he'll probably have 5 to the Queen if I bid 2...

But I still subscribe to that outdated and unfashionable philosophy: When all else fails, describe your hand.
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#15 User is offline   skjaeran 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 11:33

ralph23, on Aug 10 2007, 06:54 PM, said:

http://taigabridge.c...cles/mafia1.htm

It may or may not be a propos re: the question of whether 1 or 2 is the superior bid on responder's first call, but I did discover this article earlier this week and thought it was pretty good in setting out the "three schools" and giving a pretty fair comparison.

Each school is shown and explained, with its virtues and vices.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in it ... I was, obviously. :blink:

On my own part -- I'm not smart enough to dream up an artificial bid on a three-card suit when I have a natural and forcing bid available in 1, and who knows... partner may even have four ! Or on the other hand, he'll probably have 5 to the Queen if I bid 2...

But I still subscribe to that outdated and unfashionable philosophy: When all else fails, describe your hand.

They say Traditional, but it looks like the mean Stone Age to me.

At least from the following sequence:
1 - 1
1 - 3
4

The jump to 3 is explained as GF. Having played bridge since (early)mid seventies I've never ever played a method where 3 in this sequence was anything but invitational. To just get to game you raise 1 to 4. To cater for a possible slam you bid 1 FSF first and support 's next.

Apart from that it's obvious the author(s) are non-experts. Several of the explanations of the auctions is less than waterproof. For inexperienced players thers's some good stuff though.
Kind regards,
Harald
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#16 User is offline   ralph23 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 11:54

skaeran, on Aug 10 2007, 12:33 PM, said:

At least from the following sequence:
1 - 1
1 - 3
4

The jump to 3 is explained as GF. Having played bridge since (early)mid seventies I've never ever played a method where 3 in this sequence was anything but invitational.

Moi non plus.

It's hard to imagine such a boner in an article presented by a hired-gun-pro (and I have no doubt from looking at the author's web site that he does charge people to play with him in ... errr... Alaska. :blink: )

But on the raise, I think intermediates would get this one right....
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#17 User is offline   awm 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 12:10

It's amazing how many of the "problems" with the traditional style can be solved by the simple adoption of a takeout double in the auction beginning:

1X - P - 1Y - 1Z (or 2W)

On the hand that started this thread, I agree with the 2 bid, but only because most people's methods over 1-1 are so atrociously bad. The auction that would result on this hand (1-1-2-3) is particularly bad, with responder bidding an artificial suit at the three-level just to create a force without specifying strain.

I think opener should take it slow here and rebid 3 over 2. This hand actually looks kind of good opposite a club suit and heart fit (i.e. give responder xxxx AQx x AKJxx and slam is really quite good). In any case patterning out will rarely hurt, and gives responder a chance to get his hand off his chest without bypassing 4. Responder's keycard bid is ill-judged too, since he needs to find very good trumps opposite and is unlikely to find them (opener should not blast 4 with AKQxx of hearts or KQJxx of hearts and a side ace, because this will make it very hard for responder, with the weak trumps, to bid on when it's right).
Adam W. Meyerson
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#18 User is offline   P_Marlowe 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 13:07

#1 yes
#2 no, 3D
#3 4NT is ok

With kind regards
Marlowe
With kind regards
Uwe Gebhardt (P_Marlowe)
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#19 User is offline   mike777 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 13:20

sceptic, on Aug 10 2007, 09:07 AM, said:


Scoring: IMP


West North East South

 -     -     Pass  1
 Pass  2    Pass  2
 Pass  2    Pass  4
 Pass  4NT   Pass  5
 Pass  Pass  Pass  


after the 2 heart bid,

is 3 diamonds showing 5/5?

is 4 hearts the best bid?

is 4NT a bit pushy?

many of us get to 5H, including me.
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#20 User is offline   BillHiggin 

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Posted 2007-August-10, 13:46

ralph23, on Aug 10 2007, 12:54 PM, said:

It's hard to imagine such a boner in an article presented by a hired-gun-pro (and I have no doubt from looking at the author's web site that he does charge people to play with him in ... errr... Alaska. :blink: )

"hired-gun-pro" is a bit extreme. I played with him once (my only face to face bridge in 25 years), and there certainly was no issue of funds changing hands.

I believe he runs a bridge club, and may offer lessons. He is not a pretentious person (in fact, a nice guy). Yes, he does live in Alaska! I have even heard that there are people living in Norway or perhaps more surprising in Greenland.
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