[cwiggins]

The convention card for Chmurski and Puczyfiski from the 2004 European Teams at Malmo says: "Open light. Respond light." See: Chmurski-Puczyfiski WBF Convention Card

1) How light is "light"? The description column says the minimum HCP are 11 for 1♦, 2M, and 2♣, which suggests "light" means something about the same as Rule of 20.

2) The cards says 1NT is semi-forcing and 2m is FG, and 1NT is 15-17. With these rules, responder frequently has problems when he holds 10-12 HCP and no fit for the major. As a result, many U.S. pairs play 1NT as 14+-17. Do Chmurski-Puczyfiski do something similar?

3) If you are playing the Polish Club with light openings in matchpoint events, are there any other adjustments that should be made to the Chmurski-Puczyfiski card? E.g. perhaps use standard 2-over-1 bids (11+ HCP, forcing to 2NT) rather than GF 2m bids?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[vang]

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2) The cards says 1NT is semi-forcing and 2m is FG, and 1NT is 15-17. With these rules, responder frequently has problems when he holds 10-12 HCP and no fit for the major. As a result, many U.S. pairs play 1NT as 14+-17. Do Chmurski-Puczyfiski do something similar?

with 10-12 answer semiF 1NT. part will pass only with balanced 11-12.

[cwiggins]

vang, on Apr 21 2005, 07:28 AM, said:

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2) The cards says 1NT is semi-forcing and 2m is FG, and 1NT is 15-17. With these rules, responder frequently has problems when he holds 10-12 HCP and no fit for the major. As a result, many U.S. pairs play 1NT as 14+-17. Do Chmurski-Puczyfiski do something similar?

with 10-12 answer semiF 1NT. part will pass only with balanced 11-12.

Presumably opener with 13-14 HCP and 5332 bids on by bidding this 3-card minor?

Bidding this way is playable but loses one of the advanatages given for a semi-forcing NT: when opener rebids 2m, the suit is 4+ long, unless opener has 4 spades and 5 hearts.

[han]

If semi-forcing notrump just means that you pass with minimal balanced hands, then you don't need to make serious changes imo. However, if you want to play a true semi-forcing notrump, where any rebid by opener shows either honest distribution or serious extras, then it would probably be wise to always open 1NT when holding 14 points.

Playing 14-16 notrump would gear your system towards opening light, also when playing Polish club. A 1C opening would show either 11-13 balanced, 17+ balanced, 15+ natural or 18+ artificial.. sounds good!

[Gerben42]

Yes, you would have to include some strong balanced hands in 2♦ or 2NT though, not that that is a problem.

[cwiggins]

Jlall, on Apr 22 2005, 01:11 PM, said:

If a rebid over 1N shows honest shape then that is not semi-forcing. That is non forcing NT aka standard. Semi-forcing is a pretty useless term but the different between it and a standard NT is that partner will bid with any hand that would accept a game invite.

I agree that the difference between a standard 1NT and a semi-forcing NT is what hands are included in the 1NT response. Over 1M, a standard 1NT is limited to 10 HCP. With invitational hands, 11 HCP or so, you make a 2-over-1 or possibly 2NT. But with a semi-forcing NT, which is used with 2/1 GF, the 1NT response must include many invitional hands with 11 HCP (or a bad 12 if you open light).

Having agreed to use a semi-forcing NT, if you also agree to open 1NT when you hold 5M332 and the right HCP range, then you wind up showing "honest shape" after a semi-forcing NT with the one exception I mentioned previously (hands with four spades, five hearts, and a three-card minor; BTW persons bidding a standard 1NT have the same problem).

i.e. With these agreements, I show "honest" shape with my rebid even though I am bidding a semi-forcing NT rather than a standard 1NT.

Presumably it is possible to play a semi-forcing NT without agreeing to open 1NT with 5CM, in which case 2m would still be 3+ long. Personally, I've never played it that way.

My source for this is Bergen ("Better Bidding With Bergen: Volume One Uncontested Auctions" 24):

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"We play two-over-one game forcing, so [we] need 1NT forcing to show three-card limit raises, as well as other invitational hands.  However we also open light so being always forced to bid over a 1NT response may be inconvenient.  The solution is to allow opener to pass with a minimum balanced hand.  Therefore, our maximum for a 1NT response is 11 or a bad 12 HCP.  Opener is therefore relatively safe in passing 1NT with 11-13 balanced.  Also, by opening 1NT with 14-16 and not hesitating to open 1NT with a five-card major, we almost never have to rebid in a three-card minor, which is useful information for responder in evaluating his fit for opener's second suit."