[awm]

The methods I regularly play actually seem to have some of the properties Hannie is going for. Basically:

1♣ = strong, artificial 16+
1♦ = reasonably sound, showing a balanced or 3-suited hand with no 5-card major
1♥/♠ = very light, generally rule of 18 opening, 5-card majors
1NT = 13+ to 16
2♣/♦ = 6+ cards in the suit, intermediate, something like rule of 20 up to 15 hcp
2♥/♠ = preemptive, natural, we tend to open 2M rather than 1M when both are an option
2NT = strong, 5-5 or better two-suiter not including spades with at most 4 losers

Notice that single-suited minor hands open at the two-level (this helps a lot in competing and finding sacrifices), major suit openings are quite light whereas balanced openings are sounder. The 1♦ opening basically shows a good hand that doesn't want to strongly suggest a suit, and starts the hunt for a major fit.

[han]

I like how this system looks Adam, and the main idea indeed is somewhat similar to what I wrote down. However, your 1C opening heavily violates the "shape first!" principle.

I said that I wouldn't think about what I wrote down anymore, but I did anyway. Here is how I propose to deal with 4441's:

The 2D opening is either a weak two in a major, or a 3-suiter (any 4441 or 4450 with a 5-card minor) with at most 5 losers and at least 5 2-1 points (I stole this from inquiry2/1 of course, Ben has these in his 2C opener). With a minimal 3-suiter you have to make some kind of lie. Often this will be a balanced opening, but with a very good major you can pretend to have 5.