cherdano, on Jun 22 2005, 10:36 AM, said:
I bid 3♦ for the same reason, but I am not as confident. Balancing 3♠ over 3♥ seems fine, but while I would bid 4♠ over 4♥, I don't feel very good about it. Isn't it an overbid?
Arend
Edit: P.S.: If you play ELC, I assume you have to agree that after 2♥ X 4♥ P P, bidding 4♠ can show this hand type (two places to play -- with 3 of them, X again, with only spades, bid 3 or 4 spades immediately)?
Well, with two suiter (five spades), leaping michaels is fine. I prefer "liberal leaping michaels" as one of the capelletti's wrote up in bridge world a long time ago. Misho prefers a hybrid thing where you can have 5/6 diamonds and 4
♠, something like this hand, but I have never warmed up to that... maybe justin should play with misho as he suggested it here :-)
So major minor two suiter is ruled out. You can also rule out a hand with just long spades, because you would overcall in spades.. (2, 3, 4 depending upon stregth.. no preempts versus preempts, so with a GREAT spade one suiter, jump in spades). My authority on this is bridge sense, and also see Robson/Segal rule number one for competitive auctions above. But, and this is key, hands like this with four spades and a long minor are not ruled out when you make a double (well, if you are italian at least).
Europeans have been making offshape doubles for long time, as it is the most flexible bid. So over ... (2
♥)=DBL=(4
♥)=?
Most americans will assume doubler has tolerance for both minors, most europeans will not make this assumption (I think). If you play equal level conversion, where y our partner has the right distribution, or spades and diamomnds, you would not bid 5
♣ if you had a TOLERANCE for diamonds. You would bid a careful 4NT to show clubs but a diamond tolerance. With support for both minors, simply double 4[he[ for takeout.
If you play (as suggested by Robson/Segal) not equal level conversion, but rather you can double with four spades and long in EITHER minor as the most flexible bid, your partner has to take that into account as well. Once again over 4[he] a double by advancer is for takeout to a minor (simply bid spades if you ahve them). And once again, 4NT shows clubs with a tolerance for diamonds. If advancer has diamonds with a tolernace for clubs, he should DOUBLE. And overcaller with both minors bids 4NT to let his partner choose (if he has a notrump hand, he passes 4
♥X of course). With only one minor suit, opener bids it over the double.
This isn't perfect, but it should work well enough for people who use it. Once you remove the GOSH hands (no jump in suit initially), the "big" (you define bid) two suiter with major and minor (leaping michaels), and "big" minor two suiter (no immediate 4NT), the only two options left are 4-5, 4-6 hands with major minor, and true three suiter (well maybe some very strong balanced hands as well).
Is this method best? No idea, but it is surely playable. Over lebenhsohl, after the double, btw, I will rebid 3
♦, not 3
♣ to show this hand, and I am no worse off than those of you who started with 3
♦. But I don't get to play 3
♣ when that would have been "right".