Zelandakh, on 2014-February-19, 09:24, said:
Another way of saying this is that 1 in 6 times partner will misjudge. Everyone else in the room will be able to have completely normal auctions to the correct spot.
Standard bidders will open the auction with 1
♦ and jump to 3
♣ second time round to show these sorts of hand patterns and HCP held. So you end up at the same level in the same bid second time round anyway.
However…
In the modern game, bidding is getting more and more aggressive. On iffish hands and favourable vulnerability, the opponent in the direct seat gets an opportunity to show a major suit on level-1. Every time he finds a fit with partner, pre-emptive jumps, cue-bid raises etc are all possible, jamming the auction before your side gets an opportunity to describe your hand pattern and HCP held effectively.
So…
If you still haven’t figured it out, by opening the bidding with (what is 25% of the time) an artificial 2
♦ (the other 75% it is a natural 2
♦), my side is gaining…
1. The whole of level-1 and 40% of level-2 has been taken away from the opponents. The player in the direct seat is less likely to enter the auction with an iffish hand. Often, that in itself gives an indication of the HCP spread.
2. In an uncontested auction, the bidding is forcing for one round. Depending on the actual hand pattern and HCP held by responder, he gets an uncontested first round bid to best describe his hand. These could be any of the following –
a. Pass with a hand completely useless outside of a
♦ contract. If he does pass, the player sitting in the fourth seat is under tremendous pressure to balance without any other natural or obvious bid available. Through passing the opening bid in third seat, the player sitting fourth can be pretty darn sure that he is running into one of the strong hand patterns SITTING BEHIND HIM!! Not nice!
b. Bid your longest major first
c. Bid 2NT with 10-13 HCP, suit length and HCP concentrated in the minors
d. Bid 3
♣ with a single suited hand in clubs
e. Bid 3
♦ with 10-13 HCP, guaranteed support for a 6-card major, as game invitational
f. Bid to the appropriate level with any single suited hand that is useless outside of the suit bid
g. Bid 3NT with 14-15 HCP, suit length and HCP concentrated in the minors
All these types of bids are saying something about your hand and govern how the auction will continue depending on the actual hand pattern opened.
3. 6-4 holdings in the majors, 10-15 HCP are rare. 4441 holdings with 16+ HCP are rare. 5-5 holdings in the minors, 14-21 HCP are rare. Natural weak-two’s in
♦ are more frequent. By lumping them all into one bid allows my side to reveal them all adequately in the continuation bidding, having taken away the whole of level-1 and 40% of level-2 from the opponents. I rate that as a big plus.
4. The defence to the bid will be heavily focused towards a natural weak-two
♦ suit having been opened. Never underestimate the annoying factor of a natural weak 2, annoying to the opponents, that is. These forums have plenty of actual hands where someone was faced with an awkward bid after a 2
♦ opening.
5. After a takeout double in the direct seat, partner is no longer under any obligation to enter the auction. He may well be sitting with real values opposite a natural weak 2
♦ waiting to see how the auction develops before extracting a juicy penalty double for our side?
6. The bid has
♦ as the anchor suit, and should therefore pass brown sticker regulations with flying colours. Even in the ACBL it should be declared legal. Compare that to all the ACBL fuss around the Multi!
The number of gains my side is going to achieve because of all the above, is going to outweigh your 1-in-6 ratio by a considerable margin.
Help
