[Antrax]

Not looking to explore GIB's FD card, just realized the other day I really dread the Soloway jump shifts the bot makes occasionally. I somehow always dig myself into a hole where all my bids are splinters and I can't sign off below the six-level.

So, can anyone either explain here or give a link to a place that gives a succinct explanation of what's going on in those auctions?

[lycier]

I hope Bbradley62 can help us.

[Bbradley62]

It's at the very bottom of the System Notes, which as accessible both from the BBO website and through this pinned thread: http://www.bridgebas...-played-on-bbo/

[Antrax]

This is what it says:

Quote

GIB plays Soloway Strong Jump Shifts by an unpassed hand in uncontested auctions. A jump shift shows one of the following types of hands:

• Strong rebiddable suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls (A=2, K=1), no side 4-card suit
• Solid suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls, may have a side 4-card suit
  
• Rebiddable suit, 18+ HCP, 4+ controls, 5332 or 6322 shape.
  
• Rebiddable suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls, 4-card support for opener's suit

Opener can rebid his suit to show 6+, raise responder or bid RKC Blackwood with 3+ support, bid a side suit to deny support and show least KQ in the suit, or bid NT at the cheapest level to show any other hand.

Jump shifter shows which type of hand it had with its next bid:

• With types 1 or 2, it rebids its suit, jumping to game with a minimum and solid suit (note that it never shows the side suit in type 2).
  
• With type 3, it bids NT or raises NT to game.
  
• With type 4, it raises opener's suit with no side shortness, or bids its short suit (this is why it can never show its own side suit – a new suit is a splinter in support of opener).

So let's say it goes 1♠-3♣. Now a 5-3-3-2 minimum is supposed to rebid 3NT(?). So if GIB has (3) it will pass and with (1) or (2) minimum it will bid 5♣?
I've seen it jump-shift on AKQxx, which opposite xx might not be a success.

Also, what am I to do with a 5-4-4-0 hand with crummy side-suits? Again bid NT?

[Stephen Tu]

With only AKQxx as its suit it is supposed to have the semi-balanced type (which should rebid NT, 4nt over 3nt IMO) or the raise type (raise opener's suit/spl).

Now it well might be misbidding in its followups, post as bugs.

The explanation quoted above doesn't make a lot of sense. Real Soloway JS only has 3 hand types, not 4. Type 3, the hand with super-fit with opener, is supposed to raise opener or spl 2nd round, not bid NT as in the explanation. It's supposed to bid NT with type 2.

[Bbradley62]

Antrax, on 2014-August-07, 06:56, said:

This is what it says:

So let's say it goes 1♠-3♣. Now a 5-3-3-2 minimum is supposed to rebid 3NT(?). So if GIB has (3) it will pass and with (1) or (2) minimum it will bid 5♣?
I've seen it jump-shift on AKQxx, which opposite xx might not be a success.

Also, what am I to do with a 5-4-4-0 hand with crummy side-suits? Again bid NT?

And, if so, how do you distinguish between a bare minimum 5440 and AKxxx, Kxx, Kxx, AJ?

[johnu]

Bbradley62, on 2014-August-07, 09:00, said:

And, if so, how do you distinguish between a bare minimum 5440 and AKxxx, Kxx, Kxx, AJ?

Bid a confident 87NT

Antrax messed up the cut and paste since it should say:

GIB plays Soloway Strong Jump Shifts by an unpassed hand in uncontested auctions. A jump shift shows one of the following types of hands:
1. Strong rebiddable suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls (A=2, K=1), no side 4-card suit
2. Solid suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls, may have a side 4-card suit
3. Rebiddable suit, 18+ HCP, 4+ controls, 5332 or 6322 shape.
4. Rebiddable suit, 17+ total points, 4+ controls, 4-card support for opener's suit

This makes the rebids by the jump shifter make a little more sense

What's not clear is whether GIB would/should bid over 3NT with a type 3 hand. If 3NT shows a dead minimum by agreement, then probably not since 18 (min) + 11 or 12 is probably not enough for slam.

[Antrax]

You're right. No clue how adding BB formatting somehow changed the order, but I fixed it now. Thanks.

[steve2005]

Antrax, on 2014-August-07, 06:56, said:

Also, what am I to do with a 5-4-4-0 hand with crummy side-suits? Again bid NT?

Not open them!

OK I presume somehow you have 13 pts, bid your crummy 4-card suit. Gib wont be supporting it anyways.

When I learned strong jump shifts (admittedly slightly different from Soloway in a 2/1 system) you made the same rebid you would make to a non-jump bid but 1-level higher jumping if you would have jumped.

[iandayre]

There is no reason opener cannot rebid a new suit after partner's SJS. Of course if responder "raises" the new suit or bids the 4th suit, that is a splinter in support of opener's first suit.

I prefer to play SJS only at the two level. But after a 3 level SJS such as 1S-3C there is no reason opener cannot temporize in a red suit with a strong balanced hand that does not want partner to pass 3NT. If I held a strong 5233 after 1S-3H I would bid 3S to see what type of SJS partner holds.

I would add that after a 2 level SJS, opener should bid 2NT freely rather than go to the 3 level, to give partner maximum room for description.

[Siegmund]

Quote

The explanation quoted above doesn't make a lot of sense. Real Soloway JS only has 3 hand types, not 4. Type 3, the hand with super-fit with opener, is supposed to raise opener or spl 2nd round, not bid NT as in the explanation. It's supposed to bid NT with type 2.

I think "rebiddable suit" and "solid suit" are, in the classical version, the "same type" -- bid and rebid your suit. Responder is never allowed to show a 2-suited hand, but he is apparently allowed to have 4 of something else if his first suit is solid.

[Antrax]

iandayre, on 2014-August-08, 19:16, said:

There is no reason opener cannot rebid a new suit after partner's SJS. Of course if responder "raises" the new suit or bids the 4th suit, that is a splinter in support of opener's first suit.

So 1♠-3♣, 3♦-4♦ GIB shows spade support, a good club suit and diamond shortness?

[Bbradley62]

Antrax, on 2014-August-08, 22:01, said:

iandayre, on 2014-August-08, 19:16, said:

There is no reason opener cannot rebid a new suit after partner's SJS. Of course if responder "raises" the new suit or bids the 4th suit, that is a splinter in support of opener's first suit.

So 1♠-3♣, 3♦-4♦ GIB shows spade support, a good club suit and diamond shortness?

If that's true, it should certainly be included in the documentation. But, "[t]here is no reason" is not accurate, since the documentation clearly says that bidding a second suit shows at least KQxx in that suit, and it would follow that Responder could use that information to get to a bad/wrong slam. A hand like AKxxx, Kxxx, Kxxx, void is screwed after 1S-3C.

[steve2005]

Bbradley62, on 2014-August-09, 08:02, said:

If that's true, it should certainly be included in the documentation. But, "[t]here is no reason" is not accurate, since the documentation clearly says that bidding a second suit shows at least KQxx in that suit, and it would follow that Responder could use that information to get to a bad/wrong slam. A hand like AKxxx, Kxxx, Kxxx, void is screwed after 1S-3C.

in the documentation it says Gib never shows a side suit. Jump shifting with a 2-suiter was considered a big no-no when I learned strong jump shifts. Soloway have taken it a step further. the only way you could have a side fit would be with a balanced hand. guess you'll have to settle for 6N in that case!

[iandayre]

Antrax you are correct about 1S-3C-3D-4D, both in GIB bidding and real life. To address Steve's point, fortunately often GIB's actual bidding is better than the explanations. In real life there is no requirement for a new suit by opener to show 2 of the top 3 honors. In the situation I discussed, with say 17-19 HCP and 5332 distribution, I would bid the stronger red suit and not expect too much of a problem. With 5440 I would also bid the better suit, bidding 3NT with that shape is crazy. I am never jumping to slam on the first rebid without knowing what kind of SJS partner has.