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Started by Verne L Smith
Wed, 13 Mar 1996 00:00
When partner's weak 2 bid is doubled
Author: Verne L Smith
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 00:00
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 00:00
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When opponents double your partner's weak 2 bid for take-out, you often have a hand worth raising partner. On the way to a raise, why not help partner to find the best opening lead -- in case you end up defending? Rarely you will have a misfit, with a singleton or void in his suit, but with a good long suit in a lower ranking suit. Bergen suggests a way to handle both situations. Suppose partner opens 2 hearts, next hand doubles, you have a hand worth raising to 3 hearts, and relatively short spades so you expect partner to be on lead against some number of spades: 1) Bid 2NT =a transfer to next suit, clubs. You hold something like: (a) K Q x x or better yet A Q x x in clubs behind the doubler and enough hearts to raise to three. Wouldn't you like a club lead against spades? (b) a singleton or void in hearts but A Q T x x x x in clubs. Do you want to play in two hearts doubled or 3 clubs? If doubler's partner passes, opener bids 3 clubs, if this comes back to you, pass with the misfit or correct to 3 hearts -- just lead directing. If doubler's partner does anything except pass, opener may pass. At your next turn you may bid more hearts or clubs -- to play, or pass or double for penalty, expecting a club lead. 2) Bid 3 clubs = transfer to diamonds, same follow up. 3) Bid 3 diamonds = transfer to hearts -- you have the ace or king of hearts, asking for a heart lead even from a broken suit. 4) Bid 3 hearts -- denies the ace or king; asking for a heart lead only from a natural sequence, not from 6 the K J T. Declarer may have A x opposite Q x and take 2 heart tricks if opener leads that suit. 5) Redouble, your only strong bid I believe your 3NT, 4 club 4 diamond or 4 heart bid could show hands worth a raise to the 4 level with same lead directing suggestions. If opener's weak two is in spades or diamonds, many of the same transfers apply. I doubt the wisdom of transferring to a void, they may end up in NT or that suit! Good luck, Verne smitty@mdc.net
Re: When partner's weak 2 bid is doubled
Author: Verne L Smith
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 00:00
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 00:00
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desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins) wrote: >Verne L Smith <smitty@mdc.net> writes: >> When opponents double your partner's weak 2 bid for take-out, you >> often have a hand worth raising partner. On the way to a raise, why >> not help partner to find the best opening lead -- in case you end up >> defending? >Because if the opponents have good agreements, you are helping them a >lot more by giving them extra bidding room (instead of raising >immediately) than you are gaining by indicating the lead. If the bidding starts 2 H by partner, double and I hold: S: xx H: xxx D xxxx C: AQxx, equal vulnerability, I don't expect to be able to outbid the opponents at a safe level. Raising partner immediately won't shut them out. But, I would like a club lead against spades. So I would bid 2NT as a transfer to clubs. Is this in any way unethical as long as it is alerted and properly explained? -- Verne >Of course, if >you assume that your opponents won't have prepared defenses against your >unusual transfer auctions and so won't make good use of that bidding >room, you may expect to gain. I'm not sure that is something I would be >proud of. >There's a reason the ACBL only allows such methods in long matches at >high-level competition, where the opponents have the time and >inclination to prepare. > David desJardins >-- >Copyright 1996 David desJardins. Unlimited permission is granted to quote >from this posting for non-commercial use as long as attribution is given.
Re: When partner's weak 2 bid is doubled
Author: Ray Miller
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 00:00
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 00:00
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In article <4ipoef$7a@namesrv.mdc.net> smitty@mdc.net (Verne L Smith) writes: >From: smitty@mdc.net (Verne L Smith) >>Verne L Smith <smitty@mdc.net> writes: >>> When opponents double your partner's weak 2 bid for take-out, you >>> often have a hand worth raising partner. On the way to a raise, >why >>> not help partner to find the best opening lead -- in case you end >up >>> defending? >>Because if the opponents have good agreements, you are helping them a >>lot more by giving them extra bidding room (instead of raising >>immediately) than you are gaining by indicating the lead. >If the bidding starts 2 H by partner, double and I hold: >S: xx H: xxx D xxxx C: AQxx, equal vulnerability, I don't >expect to be able to outbid the opponents at a safe level. Raising >partner immediately won't shut them out. But, I would like a club >lead against spades. So I would bid 2NT as a transfer to clubs. Is >this in any way unethical as long as it is alerted and properly >explained? >-- Verne >>Of course, if >>you assume that your opponents won't have prepared defenses against >your >>unusual transfer auctions and so won't make good use of that bidding >>room, you may expect to gain. I'm not sure that is something I would >be >>proud of. >>There's a reason the ACBL only allows such methods in long matches at >>high-level competition, where the opponents have the time and >>inclination to prepare. >> David desJardins Why would there possibly be anything unethical about this treatment. Defenses against conventions are allowed. My question, is why, in this situation, where you expect to be outbid by the opponents a lot of the time, would you want to play transfer responses anyway. Just playing 3 clubs as asking partner to lead clubs seems much more straight forward to me. Ray
Re: When partner's weak 2 bid is doubled
Author: David desJardins
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 00:00
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 1996 00:00
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Verne L Smith <smitty@mdc.net> writes:
> So I would bid 2NT as a transfer to clubs. Is this in any way
> unethical as long as it is alerted and properly explained?
I don't know. If you are playing transfer responses to preempts because
you think they are a theoretically superior method, then there is
obviously nothing at all wrong with that. If you are playing transfer
responses to preempts believing that they are inferior methods in
theory, but they work better in practice than they should because they
are unfamiliar and most opponents won't have had time to prepare
defenses against them (especially in pair games), then I think that's
more questionable.
In the ACBL it's legal at any level of competition to play transfers
over either 2H-P or 2H-X. (I was mistaken earlier, when I said
otherwise.) I have doubts about the theoretical soundness of such
methods, because they take what is primarily a preemptive auction and
give the opponents many extra ways to describe their hands, assuming
that they have prepared reasonable and thoughtful defenses. So I
question whether they should be allowed at a level where the opponents
will often have neither the time nor the inclination to prepare against
them, and I also question allowing them without an explicit disclosure
in advance (e.g., a pre-alert) so that the opponents who do have that
inclination can do so. However the ACBL has the authority to make those
decisions, and they have made different choices than I would, and I'm
not prepared to say that it's unethical to take advantage of the options
that you are legally offered.
This thread is crossposted to aus.games.bridge, for some reason I don't
know: I don't know if the regulations regarding transfer responses to
preempts are different there, or if such responses are more common than
they are in the ACBL. If a particular transfer system is common enough
that pairs will naturally have prepared defenses against it, that
clearly eliminates those grounds for restricting its use.
David desJardins
--
Copyright 1996 David desJardins. Unlimited permission is granted to quote
from this posting for non-commercial use as long as attribution is given.
Re: When partner's weak 2 bid is doubled
Author: peter.karlsson
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 00:00
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 00:00
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Ray Miller wrote: > > In article <4ipoef$7a@namesrv.mdc.net> smitty@mdc.net (Verne L Smith) writes: > >From: smitty@mdc.net (Verne L Smith) > > >>Verne L Smith <smitty@mdc.net> writes: > >>> When opponents double your partner's weak 2 bid for take-out, you > >>> often have a hand worth raising partner. On the way to a raise, > >why > >>> not help partner to find the best opening lead -- in case you end > >up > >>> defending? > > >>Because if the opponents have good agreements, you are helping them a > >>lot more by giving them extra bidding room (instead of raising > >>immediately) than you are gaining by indicating the lead. > > >If the bidding starts 2 H by partner, double and I hold: > > >S: xx H: xxx D xxxx C: AQxx, equal vulnerability, I don't > >expect to be able to outbid the opponents at a safe level. Raising > >partner immediately won't shut them out. But, I would like a club > >lead against spades. So I would bid 2NT as a transfer to clubs. Is > >this in any way unethical as long as it is alerted and properly > >explained? > > >-- Verne > > >>Of course, if > >>you assume that your opponents won't have prepared defenses against > >your > >>unusual transfer auctions and so won't make good use of that bidding > >>room, you may expect to gain. I'm not sure that is something I would > >be > >>proud of. > > >>There's a reason the ACBL only allows such methods in long matches at > >>high-level competition, where the opponents have the time and > >>inclination to prepare. > > >> David desJardins > > Why would there possibly be anything unethical about this treatment. Defenses > against conventions are allowed. My question, is why, in this situation, > where you expect to be outbid by the opponents a lot of the time, would you > want to play transfer responses anyway. Just playing 3 clubs as asking > partner to lead clubs seems much more straight forward to me. > > Ray Because with transfers opps don't know if 3C will be passed or corrected to 3S (showing interest in a club lead). If 3C asks for a club lead only opps know it won't (probably) be passed by the 3C bidders pd. Peter
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