mtvesuvius, on Jun 6 2009, 10:18 PM, said:
That is as good an explaination as I have heard.
I ran across this auction today for the first time that I recall where it wasn't described as "the minors". I think to allow the opponents to investigate their fit then show the minors is a huge mistake unless you play the delayed auction showing a monster minor two suiter.
In the auction today, it was explained as "red two suiter."
I considered this totally odd, since 2
♣ was stayman, so this really isn't a sandwich auction, and decided the bidders must be either totally novice or something else funny.
Upon reflection, however, we know it shouldn't show spades, and if you had a minor two suiter and felt like bidding, you would not have waited until they found their fit, you could have bid 2NT directly. So it clearly shows hearts as part of a two suiter seems like a reasonable first approximation. This has to be more useful than showing the minors (unless you play DONT). But what failed me logically is why diamonds instead of clubs. Or why not hearts and a minor (with pass/correct responses).
I could not come up with a suitable reason for why the two suits had to be red (other than as a memory tool perhaps). But I wondered if you could carry this a tad further, considering 2NT forces (almost certainly) a three level response, over 2
♠, you could have played an 3
♣ delayed bid to be hearts and clubs, and a 3
♦ one to be the red suits. So this frees up 2NT to be something unusual like a swan with four hearts and a minor.
Anyway, I know the two suited applications of 2NT make no sense if you play DONT, but I wondered if anyone else has seen such an agreement. They knew their agreement, because with long clubs, short hearts, and 3 diamonds, the advancer bid diamonds (not clubs). 3
♦ was a GREAT contract that won the board.