[onoway]

A question came up tonight and it was hotly debated at the table. People trotted out various authorities to support their opinion and I was wondering what the consensus, if any, was on the forums.
Playing 2/1, on this auction. 1♦ pass 3♠ is 3♠ a splinter?

It would be helpful to hear comments on why or why not.

[nige1]

onoway, on 2014-November-04, 23:30, said:

A question came up tonight and it was hotly debated at the table. People trotted out various authorities to support their opinion and I was wondering what the consensus, if any, was on the forums. Playing 2/1, on this auction. 1♦ pass 3♠ is 3♠ a splinter? It would be helpful to hear comments on why or why not.

I don't know about 2/1. For natural systems, like Acol, I believe the best conventional use of this bid is as a Fit jump -- or Economical Jump, a term coined by Terence Reese, in a different context ...

1m - 3M = EJ. F1. 4+ m and 5+ M.

The use of EJs in this context is another of Eric Crowhurst's many brilliant contributions to Bridge theory. He called it Minor Suit Swiss. You can use 1m - 2M in a similar way.

[the hog]

Playing 2/1 or Polish Club variants where 2/1 is gf we have always played 1m 3M as a weak doubleton in that M and a 344 shape with both minors, 13-15. It has a greater frequency and has worked well for us.

[SteveMoe]

Like everything else, it depends on your agreements. For example a common set of agreements has:
1♦ - 1♠ F1R (Forcing One Round)
1♦ - 2♠ Weak...................Alts: Inv+ 5♠ & 4+♥; Strong J/S;
1♦ - 3♠ Splinter for ♦........Alts: Preemptive; Fit Jump
1♦ - 4♠ to play..................Alts: Fit Jump; Exclusion KCB (often a 3x jump);

Some simply define a splinter as any double jump to a new strain in response to an opening bid, or a single jump in a forcing auction when a non-jump response is forcing.
Then of course there are mini-splinters, mini-maxi splinters, and hidden splinters.

[Cthulhu D]

Undiscussed I'd assume it was a splinter though, on the basis that it's a double jump.

[mike777]

of course splinter unless you have other agreements.

[aguahombre]

1m (P) 3M should be what we need it to be.

We might want it to be a splinter, but we don't need it to be one; we start with an inverted raise.

We might want it to be a fit jump, but we don't need it to be one; we can respond 1M, and have no reason to believe some competition will ensue to prevent us showing our minor-suit support later. The fit jump would have committed us to the 4-level anyway.

We don't need it to show a strong hand with that major and gobble up a lot of room for no particular reason.

We need it with KJXXXXX of that major and out, because we have no other way of showing that one.

It doesn't really matter whether the 7-bagger preempt with less than 1-level responding strength is an infrequent occurrence; when it does come up, we need a bid for it.

[whereagles]

I used to play

1m (pass) 3M = splinter
1m (bid) 3M = preempt

From what I've seen vs randoms, preempt seems to be the more frequent interpretation, in both cases.

[Vampyr]

nige1, on 2014-November-05, 00:05, said:

I don't know about 2/1. For natural systems, like Acol, I believe the best conventional use of this bid is as a [i][b]Fit jump

It may be best, but a splinter is much more popular, and is what I would assume without discussion. Also a blanket rule of "if level y of a suit is forcing, then y+1 is a splinter" is easy to remember.

[helene_t]

Vampyr, on 2014-November-05, 07:18, said:

Also a blanket rule of "if level y of a suit is forcing, then y+1 is a splinter" is easy to remember.

The rule probably says that "if level y of a suit is forcing to game". Few people play
1♣-(pass)-2♦*
as a splinter.

[Vampyr]

helene_t, on 2014-November-05, 07:55, said:

The rule probably says that "if level y of a suit is forcing to game". Few people play
1♣-(pass)-2♦*
as a splinter.

LOL yes you are right.

[gszes]

FWIW IF one is playing inverted minors there is almost always an ability to
do a delayed splinter. This means that one can use the double jump in a wide
variety of ways with my preference being 6+ spades of reasonable quality
and inviting game. W/O such an agreement most would assume it is splinter
since it would virtually never be needed as natural. The alternative proposed
by The Hog is a fine example of creativity with partner opting for 3n even with
3 small since there may be no better place to play and the opps will have no
clue if a spade stopper is present or not:)