[helene_t]

Goulash tourney become more fun if you play a system adapted to them:
- all openings are wide ranging. no weak 3-bids or 2-bids
- no balanced openings. In the unlikely event you are dealt a strong balanced hand, just pass.
- 1NT through 2NT show specific twosuiters: 1NT=minors, 2m=that minor and the major of same colour, 2M=that major and the minor of opposite colour, 2NT=majors
- 1-level openings tend to be 6-4 or such as 1-suited hands would open at the 3- or 4-level.
- not sure what a 3NT opening should mean, I am open to suggestions. Maybe a more extreme major twosuiter.

[dburn]

The standard defence to a strong club in my college days was:

Double, 1♦ and 1NT were CRASH (but denied a good hand);
1M was a natural overcall (but denied a good hand);
Two-level bids showed either that suit or the next two higher suits (but denied a good hand);
2NT showed any strong two-suiter;
Higher bids were natural and weak (3NT and 4NT were majors resp. minors with a lot of shape).

With a good hand, one passed and bid on the next round if appropriate. With a bad hand unsuitable for any of the above, one also passed of course.

We occasionally played this method as opener or in second seat, pretending that RHO had opened a strong club (we replaced double with 1♣). A notable triumph occurred when I (perforce) passed a balanced 21 count as dealer, finding partner with a jack and the field in 2NT down at least one.

[Vampyr]

aguahombre, on 2011-June-29, 13:01, said:

"IRV" (Original concept attributed to Irv Kostal).

Not really "funniest", because --if it were legal-- it would be quite workable.

Not sure if it's "workable" -- not too easy to get to a club contract!

Anyway, you could make this system legal quite easily -- use a 1♦ opening as a sort of catch-all -- hands in which the longest suit is clubs, hands woth 9+ HCP otherwise unsuitable for a takeout double of clubs, etc. Basically, any bids that would make it true that a pass is weaker in all cases than an opening one-bid.

[noodle]

funniest system i played on BBO was acromymed PHICS ( Pass Hearts 1club Spades )

pass was 8+ 4H + 1C was 8+ 4S + 1D was a long minor or fert (0-7 bal) 1H 1S were 5-5 0-7 1NT was 0-7 w/C or bal 8-11
2C was multi (weak D or STR) and 2D to 2N were ehaa 0-7 transfers

greatsest sequence was Pass (hearts) P 3H preemptive usually 1 or both opponents quit the table at that time.

Noodle

[hrothgar]

My memories of really silly bidding invariable involve

1. A midnight swiss
2. A bottle or two of tequila
3. EHAA

[mr1303]

I remember trying out the Fa'had relay system, after David Bird had written something about it in some of his Abbot books. This involved every opening and every response being a transfer, amongst other things.

[JLOGIC]

han, on 2011-June-22, 04:12, said:

Indian notrump:

3NT = I'll play 3NT.
3S = You'll play 3NT.
Double = penalty.

Other bids are not allowed, except when they double our 3S or 3NT. If you play against this system you are sure to get some very tough defensive guesses.

Han calls it Indian notrump, but when I created it it was called the caddy system. Basically sometimes some caddies would want to play bridge during the midnights but they had never played bridge (ok, sometimes it was just my way of trying to get on the good side of the only girls my age at bridge tournaments! but it was fun also), so I told them how to count points and to open 3S with 13+ and I'd bid 3N, and I would open 3N with the same hands. If we were a passed hand it was 15+ lol.

I have several funny stories about this. One time, my partner and I were fortunate enough to reach the finals. We sat down...against Joe Grue and Fulvio Fantoni! Brutal. We lost of course...one hand I led something, and Joe played the T from dummy with KT9x and my partner played the ace from AQJx! Why? Because the only carding she knew was 2nd hand low, third hand high

Another time, the caddy system had evolved, and now we also played 4C/4D showed any hand with 7+ hearts spades, and if I had 7+ hearts/spades I'd open 4H/4S. So, my partner goes into a massive tank....and opens 4S! I decided she had not forgotten the system, and simply decided her hand was too strong to open 3S. So I bid 6N and she had a 22 count. LOL.

Perhaps the funniest was reading RGB at some point, some thread about asymmetric systems. Much to my surprise, this system was brought up:

http://groups.google...167ecefef076e67

Haha. Thanks for being a good sport about it barmar! Can't believe that thread was 2004...needless to say I am too old to be chasing caddies now.

Anyways, it was definitely fun playing it back in the day on BBO vs randoms with Scott Waldron and then others like Han.

[WellSpyder]

Thanks for posting, Justin - I enjoyed the reminiscences. Systems always make more sense when you understand the rationale behind their construction! (Interesting to see from the discussion you linked to that pran and bluejak still seemed to disagree about everything even then )

[dake50]

Std American.
It is so funny to see such heated disagreement about a "standard".

[vianu2]

When i was 20 i was one of the caddies involved in the previous post:D. At that time I had read some great books and i was convinced i'm good enough.So i started to play bridge for moneys against experienced players .Everyone can relax playing bridge and socializing, but when moneys is at stake and especially when the amount is very significant, entertaining bridge turns into something else already.
Once i played against someone who used to live with moneys earned in the game.
He spent all the night ( a very precious time) convinced that he caught a fish .
The system he used was a very simple approach. 3NT all the time was to play , 4H/4Sp also to play and promising at least 4cards. 1Cl/1D to protect the lead in that minor.
Those things didn't cost me that much and i survived.
But sometimes the auction began with 1h/1sp and there i had lot of trouble with that specific opening.
I tried to improve with my partner during the game, but no consensus arrived. In my mind, if someone failed to open 4M having 4+ cards, then he was ready to play 6 or 7.
So i took control and overcaled every 1M opening at high levels.Sometimes it worked, as he believed i'm not as crazy as goof.
God gave me lot of good hands and a partner very skilled as declarer.
The gambler said at the end that there was stupid luck and what a waste of time .

After some years i grew up and also my self confidence. Now i was looking for expert players to play with real tourneys. After some unsuccessful attempts, finally i accepted to play in a national event with someone who was refused by all others. Despite all his bridge experience, (20+ years), he wasn't able to overcome the basis .
We agreed to "t/o" X any 13+ hand any shape, to play any X in competition as punitive (except at the level 1 lol), and to use "blackwood" every time we have as responder more than 15.
God gave me again only good hands and i was declarer 80% of cases. Of course i opened 1NT with any 14+ semibalanced.
Is there a board i will never forget.
My partner didn't play all 4 transfers so when i opened my 14 points hand he passed with 5 points six diamonds. Bidding goes 1nt-pass-pass to my RHO who had 21 balanced.
The RHO , known as a good player, and being aware he's playing against two novices, doubled my 1NT.
X-pass-pass ( LHO having 0 ) and now my partner saved in 2D.
RHO doubled again (a little faster now) and then, with 9x in diamond, and a nice 4-3-2-4 with all 9's and two 10's , i decided to have at least an advantage, being declarer.Then i bid 2NT with insanity, expecting my partner to pass.
But partner didn't give up and bid 3D over my 2NT, got doubled, so i needed to go to 3NT now, which he finally passed, got doubled in tempo , partner (very nervous) thrown on the table j heart, k j diamond and two tens, and no matter there was some defense for -1, I made the contract.
And that's when the fight started ...LHO why double? RHO why not signal?
We won the second place...unfortunately my partner was declarer in 2 boards and he was the only one who managed to go down there.

[Poky]

8-11 system. Not only fun, but this is also a very good aggressive system (if you are skilled well enough to handle competition after 1♦ opening, because all other openings are +EV by themselves, including mini 1NT).

1st/2nd:
1♣ = 18+ any or 12-14 balanced
1♦ = 12-17, many hands (including 15-17 balanced/5+M)
1♥/1♠/2♣/2♦ = 8-11, 5+ cards (1M may occasionally be 5M332 with 12-13)
1NT = balanced: 8-11 NV, 10-11 Vul
2M = 5/6M, no 4oM, 12-14
2NT = both majors, 12-14
3♣ = 5+♣4+♦, 12-14
3♦ = 6+good♦, 12-14
3M = 7M, 12-14

After partner passes, openings are:
1♣ = 18+ any
1♦/1♥/1♠/2♣/2♦/2♥/2♠= natural, up to 17
1NT = 15-17 balanced, no 5M
2NT = 5♦5♣
3any = to play

[Poky]

helene_t, on 2011-June-29, 13:31, said:

- not sure what a 3NT opening should mean, I am open to suggestions. Maybe a more extreme major twosuiter.

Specific ace(s) ask.
I think Zia plays it that way...

[ggwhiz]

When I first started to play a very good local player booked me for a monthly friday night game where we played pin the tail on the donkey. No Stayman, Blackwood, NOTHING and no taking your time either.

Great fun and great learning experience from the post mortems at the bar.

[the hog]

Poky, on 2011-August-11, 08:00, said:

Specific ace(s) ask.
I think Zia plays it that way...

To the best of my knowledge it was invented by a Momma Poppa pair in NSW. Ron Kliger saw this on their system card, liked it and popularised it.

[helene_t]

3NT as specific ace ask is ok but not in a Goulash. The whole point of the Goulash system is to get your suits in before opps do. Whatever 3NT means, partner must be able to make an informed decision over a 5-level overcall.

[georgeac]

forcing pass

[Fluffy]

I played once a 5 card minor best major structure, combined with strong pass. We reached a lot of stupid contracts, but best was to see opps face when we alerted pass(forcing)-1♠(best major)-2♠ as:

-Opps you seem to have game, and its very likelly it is in spades!

[32519]

The funniest (or craziest) system I have ever played against attempted the following –
1. The opening bid was completely artificial, stipulating only the HCP range of the hand. The opening bids are (were):
..a. 1♣ = 12 HCP
..b. 1♦ = 13 HCP
..c. 1♥ = 14-15 HCP
..d. 1♠ = 16-19 HCP
..e. 1NT = 20+ HCP
2. First round responses showed the number of losing tricks (LTC). The first round responses are (were):
..a. 1 Step = 11+ LTs
..b. 2 Steps = 10 LTs
..c. 3 Steps = 9 LTs
..d. 4 Steps = 8 LTs
..e. 5 Steps = 7 LTs
..f. 6 Steps = 6 or less LTs
3. Only beginning with the second bid from each partner did they start looking for a suit fit. How they tried to untangle this (with or without opposition intervention) remains a mystery. The premise was that based on the LT step response, there wouldn’t be any problem
4. The 2-level was used to open all biddable hands below 12 HCP; promising a singleton or void in the suit opened, yet denying a 7-card or longer suit. A further minimum requirement was that the bid had to guarantee at least one 5-card suit (4441 holding therefore excluded).
The responses to a 2-level bid were even more bizarre. Responder had to bid his/her shortest suit first up, where after a part (or game) score was attempted in the two remaining suits.
5. 3-Level bids were standard pre-empts promising a 7-card suit below opening strength.

[gwnn]

What about

1NT=specific ace ask
2NT=specific king ask
3NT=specific queen ask
4NT=specific inquiry for jacks (somehow it sounds better this way)

?

[Zelandakh]

gwnn, on 2012-July-06, 01:29, said:

What about?

Let's fill in the gaps...
Pass = 16+ any
1♣ = 12-15 any
1♦ = 9-11 any
1♥ = 6-8 any
1♠ = 0-5 any
1NT = specific ace ask
2♣ = clubs, or diamonds and a major, PRE
2♦ = diamonds, or hearts and a black suit, PRE
2♥ = hearts, or spades and clubs, PRE
2♠ = spades, or clubs and diamonds, PRE
2NT = specific king ask
3suit = transfer preempt (spades for clubs)
3NT = specific queen ask
4♣ = Gerber!
4♦ = hearts, PRE
4♥ = spades, PRE
4♠ = Gerber for queens!
4NT = specific inquiry for jacks
5♣ = Gerber for jacks!

Sadly, this system is severely lacking in terms of HCP accuracy in comparison with 32519's. On the other hand, Gwnn's inspired 4NT opening gives unprecedented accuracy in finding partner with the correct knave! Naturally getting 3 forms of Gerber into the opening structure is the biggest win though, thus allowing both specific and number of all aces, kings, queens and jacks to be transmitted no higher than the 5 level.