Julian Pottage
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Usually opponents will be honest with their first discard, so it is good idea making a note of the first discard. If the opponents have not explained their methods when they came to your table and they do not have a readily accessible system card then you can ask.
If the opponents are playing attitude discards then there are indeed only two options – either high encourage and low discouraging (standard) or high hate low like (reverse/upside down).
If you form the habit of trying to picture the unseen hands on every deal, that is brilliant – but only on a minority of deals will their discard methods help you.
Traditionally once your side has bid NT doubles are for penalty and I am fairly sure this is what Bernard teaches – it is a nice simple rule to remember. If you play in a tournament, however, you will find that almost everyone plays the double as for takeout. You are much more likely to be short in the opposing suit than to be long it. One thing to bear in mind is that having made a limited bid, the 1NT opener is rarely going to reopen; so if you do play double for takeout you cannot make a trap pass on a hand with their suit unless you are happy to defend undoubled.
Yes I play 2NT-3S as showing both minors; partner can sign off in 3NT on a hand ill suited to playing in a minor and otherwise can bid 4C or 4D to agree the suit. You would normally use the 3S response only on a hand with some slam slam potential or occasionally a hand with extreme shape – most hands with 5-4 or even 5-5 in the minors you would simply raise to 3NT (or us 5-card Stayman if you have 3-card support for one of the majors as well).
With a weak hand, 3-card support support for partner’s major and a ruffing value, it is usually best raise even playing 4-card majors. Partner will have opened one of a major on a 4-card major only with 15-19 points and with 17-19 points will be strong enough to rebid in no-trumps over your raise. So raising will only result in playing in a 4-3 fit if partner has 15-16 and a 4-card suit.
If you are 4333 (the 4 not in partner’s suit) or if the hand has 10 losers then responding 1NT is generally better.
If you are playing 5-card majors then you would raise on almost any hand with 3-card support. Even in a casual game on BBO you ought to agree with your partner what basic system you are playing.
At the moment I do not have the facility to copy your query across to the ask David Stevenson section but I am sure he would wish to comment on the ‘abusive comment’ part of your query.
Please can you post this in the ask David Stevenson section too because he will wish to reply as well.
If you are playing on BBO without teammates but with IMP scoring, you will often find that the side with the majority of high cards gains IMPs while the side with the minority loses. In a large field some pairs will miss even the most obvious of games (or overbid to a poor slam) so if the opponents bid and make a game against you then you will get a minus IMP score.
If you consistently get minus IMP scores then this means the field is playing to a higher standard than you and your partner are. If that is the case then, as you improve, that will change.
In terms of playing strength a raise to 4H is not weaker than a raise to 3H but in terms of high cards it is. You need a shapely hand for a raise to 4H, nearly always with 5-card support and a singleton. This a the sort of hand for a raise to 4H:
7
K J 8 4 3
K 10 7 4 2
7 3if you had the same shape but more high cards you would make a splinter bid (or Jacoby 2NT if stronger still).
What I play is more complicated than what Bernard teaches I am sure… Since you ask, opener’s rebids after 3C are as follows:
3D Either a 4-card major or a doubleton spade
3H 5 hearts
3S 5 spades
3NT No 4-card major but 3 spadesAfter 3D by opener, responder bids 3H to deny 4 hearts (the idea is to have the strong hand declare) while 3S shows 4 hearts and 3NT shows two 4-card majors.
If opener bids 3NT in reply to 3C, responder often passes but can (with 5 spades and 4 hearts) bid 4H as a transfer to spades.
I am a little confused here. If you as South play in 1NT doubled, North is dummy, not West. Perhaps East (with a minimum shapely opening hand) removed the double, which is how West came to be laying his cards on the table.
After East has opened the bidding, West is entitled to place his partner with some values and can double 1NT on the basis of combined point count rather than his hand alone. Most people would say it is OK to double with 9 points upwards (if the opener has 12+, this gives the defending side 21+). 12 points is well above minimum for a double in that situation.
You definitely do not take out a penalty double on any weak hand. If 1NT doubled would have made, you could be just in as much trouble if not more if you play at the two level (doubled) without a fit – and for all you know partner could have beaten 1NT doubled without assistance.
If you have a weak hand AND a long suit then removing the double is reasonable. If the double of 1NT was in second seat then partner will be on lead and is unlikely to lead long suit. Even if the lead or an early switch does find your long suit, a lack of entries may prevent you from making the long cards – a weak hand cannot have a good suit and entries.
With my two most regular partners we open 1D with 4-4 in the minors. I do not think it matters a great deal which way round you do it, just long as you and partner expect the same thing.
Yes with 1430 replies, 5C shows more than 5D. The reason for this is that you are more likely to be interested in a slam (and hence wishing to have room to ask for the trump queen) facing 1 than 0. 1430 replies tend to be useful if clubs or hearts is the trump suit.
If your general style is that cue bids below 4NT might be either a first- or second-round control, I do not see any reason for a 4 of a minor response to a 3 of a major opening to be any different. Of course, if you are looking for a slam facing a pre-empting opening, you will need at least two aces, so a cue bid by responder is likely to be a first-round control – just not guaranteed.
1. In Standard Benjamin a 2C opening is an artificial near game hand while 2D is an artificial game force. With Reverse Benjamin it is the other way round: 2C is an artificial game force (as in Standard Acol) while 2D is an artificial near game hand.
2. Revolving discards are similar in concept to Suit Preference discards (commonly called McKinney discards), except that the coding is different. With revolving discards you can consider the suits in a circular order, with in addition to the normal suit ranks clubs treated as being immediately next to spades. With revolving discards, if an opponent leads a diamond, you can show interest in spades either with a high heart or a low club. Technically speaking, revolving discards are better than suit preference discards.
3. RKCB 1430 refers to use a 5C reply to a 4NT Roman Key Card Blackwood as showing 1 or 4 key cards while a 5C reply shows 3 or 0 key cards. Because 1430 is the score for a vulnerable major suit slam at duplicate, the mnemonic is popular.
