[straube]

I'm supposing you can respond 1M with a 3-card major.

So 1D-1H, 2D shows four hearts and five diamonds. That might let you find a superior diamond fit to what may possibly be a 4-3 heart fit. You might alert responder to a double fit so as to better assess game chances. Instead, we use 1D-1H, 2D to show a good raise of hearts (as opposed to 1D-1H, 2H for a bad raise). I think giving a thumbs up or thumbs down when raising partner will frequently be useful whereas showing a second suit is nice but less frequently useful.

I think I feel similarly towards your structure as I do to mikestar13's. No doubt you have an advantage with your 1D opening, but at the cost of differentiating the strength of your more common balanced hands. I really like that our balanced hands require 17 points to open 1C. Our strongish club lets responder describe his hand more. We get to "branch" and make better use of our sequences.

How do you like your 1N GF response? How does it work for you in comp? I'm guessing that entering a GF is more important than showing a major and that it's a winner for you when you have that response. I'd like that ability, too, but I like to know that responder is showing a real 4+ cd suit when he bids a major.

[mikestar13]

 gwnn, on 2011-November-17, 06:03, said:

1♣=15+
1♦=unbalanced, none of the below (two or three suited without a 5cM, 0+♦)
1♥=natural
1♠=natural
1NT=12-14
2♣=6+ (no 4cM, maybe 4 cards in ♦)
2♦=6+ (no 4cM, maybe 4 cards in ♣)

i've been trying this with a regular partner and it seems to work well. Thanks. We need some of work on 1♦ sequences, but when he have that down, it should be ready for prime time.

[gwnn]

Straube: we started out agreeing to have 1H as 3+ but we realised that we would never do it with 3 (preferring to pass with some scary hands and opener possibly sos redoubling) hence we just stuck with 4+.

I think the structure we played worked out well but yea I don't think 1NT GF is best. It is a very simple concept though and we never bothered to look for something more complex. In any case 1NT is not such a good contract to offer when you have no clue what's up, you often have a double fit in the minor etc. In competition we played 1NT still as a gf relay, I would object to that now but it wasn't terrible (i think it was just a combination of scared opps and luck that we didnt lose a million part score swings on this one).

[akhare]

 mikestar13, on 2011-November-20, 00:07, said:

i've been trying this with a regular partner and it seems to work well. Thanks. We need some of work on 1♦ sequences, but when he have that down, it should be ready for prime time.

Note that it's possible to offload one major into the 6+♣ 2♣ opening (in addition to 4♦). Pard and I chose to use the 2N opening to show 6+♣ with the remaining major.

Of course, if you don't need symmetric relays with full shape resolution over 2C, you can probably get by with potentially three 4 card side suits.

The advantage of this approach is that the 1♦ opening can't contain 6+♣. On the flip side, it does make it harder to locate 5-3 major fits and play in a part score...

[benlessard]

put the 15-22 pts with D into 1D not into 1C. This is totally obvious for me

passing 12 bal is costly. 12-15 NT is playable but its going to be better if you play something else than regular stayman IMO

Play 1D--1H as a relay if you are not playing in GCC/midchart. The relay should show at least 3H if under 10pts

1D--1H

???

1S = both minors (or 1444)
1Nt 6D any range or D+H 12-14
2C D+S 12-14 or 18+
2D D+S 15-17
2H D+H 15-17
2S=> D+H jumpshifts.

The principle of having transfers 2 under it allow responder to make a 2nd relay tghat is at least INV or better.

[sfi]

 mikestar13, on 2011-November-17, 02:11, said:

1♦ is the key system bid: 10-15, four+ diamonds, not balanced. It will be five+ unless .holding 4-4-4-1 or a five-card club suit.

1♥: 10-15, five+ hearts, not balanced. May be 4=4=1=4 exactly (rare).

One of my regular partners and I have been doing something like this for years, and it works fine. The theoretical negatives from having the 4-4-1-4 hands in the 1♥ bid just don't cause problems in practice - we always treat 1♥ as 5 (and actually forget that it may not be most of the time). The real problem auction is 1♥ - 2♦ (which is FG). Sick as it may seem, we rebid 2♥ here and have yet to run into problems.

Our 1♦ is actually either natural or 15-17 balanced, which also tends to reduce the threat of preemption, but having it just natural will ease the continuations.

[mikestar13]

 sfi, on 2011-December-02, 16:46, said:

One of my regular partners and I have been doing something like this for years, and it works fine. The theoretical negatives from having the 4-4-1-4 hands in the 1♥ bid just don't cause problems in practice - we always treat 1♥ as 5 (and actually forget that it may not be most of the time). The real problem auction is 1♥ - 2♦ (which is FG). Sick as it may seem, we rebid 2♥ here and have yet to run into problems.

Our 1♦ is actually either natural or 15-17 balanced, which also tends to reduce the threat of preemption, but having it just natural will ease the continuations.

Glad to see someone else not put off by opening 1♥ on four on a hand that happen 0.75% of the time.

[mikestar13]

Another possibility for those who don't mind an ambiguous 1♦: 1♦ shows either minor but not both, with or without a 4-card major. 2♣ shows a minor two-suiter and 2♦ is free for whatever you need/want. After the 1♦ opener, responder looks for a major suit fit if possible. If no major fit is found, opener will bid his minor. A minor-suit response is pass or correct.

[mikestar13]

Been playing Real Diamond Precision in some Mid-Chart games lately--Kaplan Inversion over 1♥ is much superior to 2♦=F******y. ACBL regs really suck. Relay responses to one bids are Mid-Chart if game forcing and Superchart otherwise!