[Vampyr]

ArtK78, on 2012-April-26, 09:09, said:

You don't know that your AJT9x will play as well as 1♠ even if it turns out that it is a 4-2 fit (which would be quite unusual).

Would that be so unusual? I think that you are not interfering enough over their strong club if you wait for 5-5 or even 5-4 in your suits.

[aguahombre]

Vampyr, on 2012-April-26, 14:38, said:

Would that be so unusual? I think that you are not interfering enough over their strong club if you wait for 5-5 or even 5-4 in your suits.

At risk of not-so-profoundly stating the obvious, let's just take the Mathe double for an example.

It shows the majors. It takes up no bidding space, and actually adds two calls to responder's bag. Now, if in addition to those facts, the double might be made on as little as 4-4 in the majors, then the frequency where advancer can make a bid which will really take up some space is reduced...and the dangers are increased. The situation is not much improved if the double could be 5-4 or 4-5.

[Vampyr]

aguahombre, on 2012-April-26, 16:55, said:

At risk of not-so-profoundly stating the obvious, let's just take the Mathe double for an example.

It shows the majors. It takes up no bidding space, and actually adds two calls to responder's bag. Now, if in addition to those facts, the double might be made on as little as 4-4 in the majors, then the frequency where advancer can make a bid which will really take up some space is reduced...and the dangers are increased. The situation is not much improved if the double could be 5-4 or 4-5.

Well, I have been convinced by Justin's series of excellent posts on the subject to completely change my approach in this situation.

[jdeegan]

aguahombre, on 2012-April-26, 11:54, said:

True. Mathe would not have bid Mathe directly with that much strength. Mere mortals would not be able to resist, though; and, on a different layout of the South cards, the opponents would have a bit more room to find a successful strain and level after North's silence.

May I quote you. "Mathe would not have bid Mathe" Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... This is what irony all about.

[aguahombre]

jdeegan, on 2012-April-27, 00:36, said:

May I quote you. "Mathe would not have bid Mathe" Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... This is what irony all about.

Nothing particularly ironic about the person whom the method is named after having agreements on when he will use the tool and when he won't. If I read your first post correctly, you were saying Mathe ---being clever as he was ---would not have used it with that hand.

If, that isn't what you were saying, then my apology for agreeing with you.

[ArtK78]

Vampyr, on 2012-April-26, 14:38, said:

Would that be so unusual? I think that you are not interfering enough over their strong club if you wait for 5-5 or even 5-4 in your suits.

If you are interfering with 4-4 in the majors over a strong club, you will be caught by good opponents. Of course, against bad opponents, anything works.

[mycroft]

However, if you wait for 5-5:

- you will be eaten alive by the strong clubbers, on auctions where others are at 2M or higher by opener's rebid;
- you will never pick off their suit - which cuts both ways, too, but how many 4-1 breaks have you picked up anyway?

Having said that, when it comes up, it's great. Works better if you don't make it clear that minimum length is 5-5, but nobody *here* would do that.

The reason that double = majors is that yes, it's a "give 'em two extra calls" call, but it's the one that still puts you ahead in the competition, as you are claiming the high ground (the majors). So a lot of that extra space "isn't helpful". Of course, with 4=4 potential, they have to cater to us picking off their major; but it's still one of the safest use for that "cuts-both-ways call".