[paulg]

 PhilKing, on 2013-August-13, 06:24, said:

Lol - I play this. 2NT shows both majors minimum and 3♣ show a max. I am devastated this has made the list.

Didn't you win novice poster of the year last time?

[cargobeep]

Weirdest Convention I've seen at the table..that would have to be "no reverses"

What are you supposed to do for slam bidding? Just go 6 and hope you get lucky?

[TylerE]

 cargobeep, on 2013-August-16, 20:31, said:

Weirdest Convention I've seen at the table..that would have to be "no reverses"

What are you supposed to do for slam bidding? Just go 6 and hope you get lucky?

No, are you mad?

They bid 4♣, which is always gerber.

[blackshoe]

I had a pair say, before the first board of the round, "we don't play reverses". Then their uncontested auction went 1♦-1♠-2♥. I pointed at the 2♥ bid and said "that's a reverse". "No it's not." I said "A reverse is a rebid at the two level in a higher ranking suit that the first bid suit and which requires partner to go to the three level to show simple preference." "Yeah, so?" "So that's a reverse." "No it's not."

Turned out, of course, that they meant "our reverses (by opener) don't show extra values".

[GreenMan]

 blackshoe, on 2013-August-16, 22:04, said:

Turned out, of course, that they meant "our reverses (by opener) don't show extra values".

That's bizarre.

You've only had one pair say that?

[Free]

I saw this funny agreement on a CC once: "psychics only on Saturday". Sadly, it was a Saturday...

Spoiler

A couple of weeks later I encountered them again, on a Sunday. Needless to say they had 7 CC's, one for each day of the week.

[blackshoe]

 GreenMan, on 2013-August-16, 22:52, said:

That's bizarre.

You've only had one pair say that?

I've had several pairs say they "don't play reverses", but only one who took it to the extreme I posted. Usually I get "oh, I didn't know that" when I tell them the definition of a reverse.

[Lord Molyb]

I played a pair that "played reverses" with 14+ points once

[mycroft]

This weekend we had two pairs that played:

1♣-2♣ 6-9, at least 5 cards
1♣-3♣ at least 5 cards, "weak" (by which they meant about 6-9).

I asked what they did with a good club raise. Not only did they not have an answer, they didn't understand the question.

[gwnn]

opps bid:
1♥-1♠
2♦*

me: why did you alert?
opp: 2♦ is just the best minor, it can 3.
me: um what is 1NT then?
opp: what do you mean? no one bid 1NT.
me: I mean, 1NT instead of 2♦, can't you do it on 2533?
opp: nah, we prefer to bid 2♣ or 2♦, that way you are showing 8 cards from your hand.
me (to myself): well that's quite an improvement on standard bidding where you show 11 cards and leave open the possibility of a cheap checkback for 3-card spades all the while keeping the 2m rebids pure. at least you don't have to play notrumps!
me: OK OK but what is 1NT then?
opp: we just don't rebid 1NT.

Same opps, the following hand:
1♦*-1♥**

1♦ shows 10-15 hcp, denying a major, could be a void
Well, what is 1♥?
opp: oh that's just a relay, it promises 5+ hcp.
me: well what are other bids?
opp: what do you mean other bids?
me: you know, 1♠, 1NT, 2♣, ...
opp: oh we don't bid them. I guess they are all signoffs.

[Zelandakh]

 gwnn, on 2015-March-26, 07:53, said:

opp: what do you mean other bids?
me: you know, 1♠, 1NT, 2♣, ...
opp: oh we don't bid them. I guess they are all signoffs.

I trust you suggested to them that they could use 1NT to show hearts instead, as per my forcing club relay system.

[gwnn]

I played with an old lady at the club and agreed to play Montreal relays. During the evening I realised that she played that the 1♣ opening actually promises a 3-card major and 1♦ denies one! So she would open 1♣ with say a 3172 (or 3-0-10-0 if I want to be extreme) but 1♦ on a 2137. But I admit we got a nice result after 1♣-1♠; 4♠ when I had a decent but not great 4-4-5-0 and was encouraged by knowing that we're in a 9-card fit.

[gwnn]

And finally there's a pair who play
1♣=12-14 any
1♦=15-17 any
1♥=18-20 any
1♠=21-23 any
1NT=24+ any

Such a system has already been mentioned upthread but they also have point-showing replies!

step 1=0-5 any
step 2=6-8 any
step 3=9-11 any
step 4=12-14 any
step 5=15-17 any


That way, each response but step 1 actually always shows a given total range for the partnership. E.g., 1♣-2♣, 1♦-2♣, 1♥-2♣, and 1♠-2♣ all show that your partnership has 27-31 hcp. Kind of useless of course and fails a lot in practice (with or without interference) but at least you practice your basic algebra.

[Zelandakh]

 gwnn, on 2015-March-26, 08:23, said:

Kind of useless of course and fails a lot in practice (with or without interference) but at least you practice your basic algebra.

(9-13)+3x?

[kuhchung]

 gwnn, on 2015-March-26, 08:16, said:

I played with an old lady at the club and agreed to play Montreal relays. During the evening I realised that she played that the 1♣ opening actually promises a 3-card major and 1♦ denies one! So she would open 1♣ with say a 3172 (or 3-0-10-0 if I want to be extreme) but 1♦ on a 2137. But I admit we got a nice result after 1♣-1♠; 4♠ when I had a decent but not great 4-4-5-0 and was encouraged by knowing that we're in a 9-card fit.

I'm amazed you were capable of deciphering this. I would've been looking for a drink

[FrancesHinden]

 gwnn, on 2015-March-26, 08:23, said:

And finally there's a pair who play
1♣=12-14 any
1♦=15-17 any
1♥=18-20 any
1♠=21-23 any
1NT=24+ any

Such a system has already been mentioned upthread but they also have point-showing replies!

step 1=0-5 any
step 2=6-8 any
step 3=9-11 any
step 4=12-14 any
step 5=15-17 any


That way, each response but step 1 actually always shows a given total range for the partnership. E.g., 1♣-2♣, 1♦-2♣, 1♥-2♣, and 1♠-2♣ all show that your partnership has 27-31 hcp. Kind of useless of course and fails a lot in practice (with or without interference) but at least you practice your basic algebra.

That system isn't legal in England (the responses are, but not the openings). We've had requests for it to be permitted at least twice that I can remember.

[Zelandakh]

 FrancesHinden, on 2015-March-26, 11:27, said:

That system isn't legal in England (the responses are, but not the openings). We've had requests for it to be permitted at least twice that I can remember.

Please consider changing your minds - I just love it when opps play something like this against me!

[Vampyr]

 Zelandakh, on 2015-March-26, 11:41, said:

Please consider changing your minds - I just love it when opps play something like this against me!

Yes and please also consider changing your minds about transfer openings.

[Cyberyeti]

Same pair, 3 bits of strangeness last night (husband and wife, in a Norfolk context reasonable players who've played together for decades):

Partner opens a strong club, RHO overcalls 2♠ and plays there. We met the one pair in the universe that plays strong jump overcalls over a 16+ club, overcaller had an 18 count with 6 good spades and ♦ KQxx, his partner had ♦AJxxxx, a stiff spade and out, they made 4.

Auction starts 1♣-(1♦)-1♥ and dummy subsequently goes down with 4-4M so I ask what double would have meant instead of 1♥ and was told they just bid 4 card majors (reasonable), but that X didn't exist (not reasonable).

The above auction continues on 1♣-(1♦)-1♥-P-2♣-P-2♦-P-2N. I didn't pick the 2N bidder for a stiff spade in a 1345.

[barmar]

 Cyberyeti, on 2015-March-26, 11:49, said:

Partner opens a strong club, RHO overcalls 2♠ and plays there. We met the one pair in the universe that plays strong jump overcalls over a 16+ club, opener had an 18 count with 6 good spades and ♦ KQxx, his partner had ♦AJxxxx, a stiff spade and out, they made 4.

Surely it was the overcaller who had 6 good spades, not the strong club opener.