David Stevenson
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I suppose this is allowed under the regulations in the Blue book. But be very careful to describe it accurately whenever you bid it including the fact that it may not be strong and when.
There are no restrictions on opening bids of 4N or above even at EBU Level 2, ie novice level.
With freak hands anything may work and anything may go wrong. To me such hands are just guesswork.
Having checked exactly how Bernard teaches these, I advise:
2C shows a strong hand with at least eight playing tricks, or 23 to 24 balanced.
2D shows a strong hand forcing to game.
For many people in situations below game where you have not forced to game every double is takeout. It is not reasonable for every single position of a takeout double to have a separate name and they do not.
Please remember that if the double is not for takeout then it must be alerted.
I have asked some top directors but got very few replies. It seems to me and to the most senior one who did reply that once the opening lead is made there cannot be an Undo. While this occasionally may seem unfair, for example the final unintended pass of the auction, it does seem to follow the spirit of the laws. Of course there are some differences online from the law book but where it is possible we try and follow the principles if not the actual wording in the law book.
Of course it depends how you play them since there are many ways, and the simple answer is to describe your agreements. If as many people do you are playing Benjamin (probably calling it Benji) then it depends how strong your 2C opening is. I shall give two examples of typical Benji agreements.
2C shows a strong hand with at least eight playing tricks, or 19 to 20 balanced.
2D shows a strong hand forcing to game, or 23+ balanced.
2C shows a strong hand (which might be a little short on points with good distribution) with at least eight playing tricks, or 19 to 20 balanced.
2D shows a strong hand forcing to game, or 23+ balanced.
In the first case I assume that 2C will always have at least 16 points, which is what I recommend. If you do play that 2C could be as low as 12 points with at least five controls, when ace is two and king is one, then you should use second example.
In both cases you might adjust the point ranges of the balanced hands to however you play them.
Of course it applies. If you tell the opponents you are playing Benji and open 2C on
KQJTxxxx
KQx
Qxx
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then you are playing an illegal convention since you have opened a strong artificial bid with 13 points but without 5 controls so unless the opponents do better than 60% at pairs or 3 imps at teams the board is cancelled and you get average minus.
7C1 (5) is really a way of getting around the regulation and I do not believe anyone plays it. If they really do then they *must* describe their 2C as “Eight playing tricks, the longest suit may not be clubs, and the hand need not be strong”.
In practice what has happened is that people have become afraid for no reason that I can think of of opening at the one level on distributional hands with a long suit. So we have had complaints about people who opened at the three level with 11, 12 or even 13 points and people who open an artificial 2C with eight playing tricks (or even a good seven!) out of fear of opening of the one level. It is really bad bridge but it does gain when opponents are misled.
When a player describes his partner’s bid as showing eight playing tricks opponents will always assume that it shows a strong hand. The old Acol players designed strong twos as showing “a hand of power and quality with at least eight playing tricks” but the hand of power and quality seems to have been forgotten amongst modern club players. If a pair actually decides to follow 7C1 (5) as above they must describe as above. In practice, players do not think about it at all. They take up Benji and when they get a distribution at hand they open 2C without thought. Assuming that they will do this then it is time their partner learnt to describe the hand something like “At least eight playing tricks, maybe a bit poor in high cards” but then they have to play it legally, which means that if they have 12 through 15 points they must have five controls where ace is two and king is one.
Undos are only allowed for misclicks, in effect unintended calls, and I am not sure that this one really qualifies. It sounds more to me like a player forgetting the situation and perhaps thinking game has been reached. But judging by the subject of this query I presume the interest is in whether it was in time and not whether it was in fact a misclick. In knockout matches it is normal to accept Undos as a matter of course and assume a misclick if a player has asked for an Undo.
The problem with this question is that it is really a matter of regulation. The English Bridge Union (EBU) tends to be better than most authorities at producing regulations and the Welsh Bridge Union (WBU) accepts the EBU’s regulations except in the very rare situations where they have stated otherwise. So assuming this was an event run in Wales or England we look at the regulations in the EBU Skyblue book.4.3.1 In the Online Knockout and the Lockdown League and some other events, UNDOs are allowed in the auction for genuine ‘misclicks’ – a ‘misclick’ corresponds to a ‘mechanical error’, see Law 25A2. The time limit on corrections in Law 25A (until partner makes a call) does not apply – there is no way to stop LHO and partner bidding as a player locates the UNDO button, or otherwise indicates that they have misclicked – UNDOs are allowed even if partner has called as long as the situation has not got completely out of hand.
In practice most events are assumed to be covered by this. So in fact the time limit is “as long as the situation has not got completely out of hand”. This appears to leave the judgement in the hands of the director and after a discussion in a major EBU event last weekend the directors felt that once the player called on the next round the situation had got completely out of hand. But even that does not help in this case since the player concerned having passed immediately became dummy. I know of no caselaw or regulation to cover this and would normally discuss it with other directors but my feeling is that time to change this unintended call ran out when the opening lead was made.
It is an interesting question and I shall ask the opinions of some senior directors.
If they play 1C may be on fewer than three cards then it requires an announcement saying the minimum number of cards. However if 1C and 1D show at least three cards no alert or announcement is required.
Please note that while the Standard British approach to Acol which is becoming to be the normal way to teach Acol includes four card minors, that is by no means the way that Acol is always played. It is quite common for players who do not play a weak no trump but are playing Acol to open three card minors. If it matters whether an opponent’s minor opening can be three cards or not you need to ask or to check a convention card.It is certainly an illegal agreement. To play a strong artificial two level opening you need either 16 points or 12 points and five controls where ace is two controls, king is one control. This hand has 11 points and three controls so it is nowhere near legal. The normal ruling for a pair such as this playing an illegal agreement is for you to get 3 imps on the board unless the score you obtained came to more than 3 imps in which case you retain the score you have obtained. I agree with you that it does not have eight playing tricks anyway: it has seven playing tricks.
There has been a growing tendency in British Bridge at club level for players to be scared of opening of the one level with distributional hands such as this one. It is, of course, a perfectly standard one level opening but for some reason players shy away from opening at the one level with seven card suits.
Be especially careful with the name Ghestem. I have no idea which version Brian calls traditional but many people play Ghestem and think their method is the only one. There are five versions on my site at https://blakjak.org/two_suit.htm also eleven other two-suited defences. If you play Ghestem you *must* describe individual methods in detail not just use the term Ghestem and if an opponent describes a bid as Ghestem always ask which suits. Traditional Ghestem, modified Ghestem, original Ghestem and Ghestem according to ********** have no effective meaning other than they play a two suited defence.
2D is legal. Opening strong artificial two bids require either 16 points or 12 points and five controls where ace is two, king is one. This hand has 14 points and five controls. But how you should bid this freak I have no idea!!
Please note that while CRO stands for Colour Rank Other some people use CRASH to mean the same thing standing for Colour Rank Shape. If you wondering how you get to shape clubs and hearts have rounded tops, diamonds and spades have pointed tops.
