[Chillwell1]

Hi all!

I started thinking of an idea.
I’ve heard lots of good things of fantunes 1D opening, how it is the most succesful of all fantunes opening bids.

In a natural system, playing 5542 with unbalanced Diamond, what if you switch with Fantunes 1D opening, showing 14+ unbalanced, 4+ diamonds, and have a 10-13 2D opening with 5+ diamonds?


So the opening scheme should be like this:
1C: natural/11-13/17-19
1D: 14+ unbalanced, 4+ D
1H/S: 5+,
1NT: 14-16
2C: GF/20-21NT/weak D
2D: 10-13, 5+ D
2NT: 22-24

It might work really well, what you guys think?

[PrecisionL]

Add 2♣ = 10-14 with ♣ and you have the Fantunes system. Careful, bidding to game after partner opens 2♣ or 2♦ can be difficult.

[straube]

Axxx AKxx Jxxx x ?

[spotlight7]

straube, on 2018-May-27, 08:03, said:

Axxx AKxx Jxxx x ?

Fantunes style bidders open 1N 12-14 with any 4441 shape hand.

[DozyDom]

I've heard of Fantunes 1D being an excellent bid as well. I haven't quite heard the same about the 2D bid, though.

[straube]

spotlight7, on 2018-May-27, 08:16, said:

Fantunes style bidders open 1N 12-14 with any 4441 shape hand.

His 1N is 14-16.

[Chillwell1]

straube, on 2018-May-27, 08:03, said:

Axxx AKxx Jxxx x ?

4441 can maybe be open with 1 club (11-13 balance or 4441) or in the 2d opening (5d+ or 4441, 10-13)

[spotlight7]

straube, on 2018-May-27, 08:34, said:

His 1N is 14-16.

h

If you read what I wrote, "Fantunes style bidders open 1N with any 4441 shape hand."

You suggested a hand that appeared to be a problem hand for his system.


I merely stated a possible solution "if he decided to

follow" what Fantunes players bid with that type hand.

[Kungsgeten]

I think it would work quite well. I think though that a big benefit of the Fantunes 1♦ opening is the fact that it is unbalanced and show a real suit, maybe not quite so much that it starts at 14+ hcp? My guess is that you've read Bill Jacobs' book? Bill is an American and I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that natural unbalanced diamond aren't very common there. Compared to opening a Precision 1♦ or a Standard American 1♦ my guess is that Fantunes 1♦ does better when you actually hold diamonds, since it shows that right away, but I'm not sure how much of the gains are because of the extra strength promised by the bid. When holding game forcing values I'd guess that Fantunes 1♦ can be very good, since GF hands with diamonds are pretty awkward after a strong 2♣ opening.

[Phil]

spotlight7, on 2018-May-27, 08:16, said:

Fantunes style bidders open 1N 12-14 with any 4441 shape hand.

I play a similar system. I'd probably hold my breath and open 1♦ - this is the only pattern where 4 pieces is OK.

Weaken the hand slightly and I would pass. Give me a stiff club honor and I would open 1♣ and pretend it's balanced.

[straube]

I think PrecisionL had the right idea. Do you really want to open 2D with 4153 and 0355? 4450? I'm pretty confident, too, that your 2D opening would be more frequent than your 1D opening. Of course Fantunes has nice 1D auctions! After all, 1D promises 4+ diamonds, an unbalanced hand and 14 or more high cards-and though it is forcing, it leaves so much bidding room. The question should be how your openings do all together.

[yunling]

Just play 1♦ as 11+ and forcing. The follow-ups may not be ideal but manageable.
I think the fantunes 2♦ opening is unplayable(The worst of all fantune twos).

[Kungsgeten]

yunling, on 2018-May-28, 21:24, said:

Just play 1♦ as 11+ and forcing.

A pair I know of used to do this in their Fantunes variant (which they constructed before Jacobs' book, and maybe prior to Dan's notes too). They now used the 2♦ opening as 10-13 with both majors (intermediate Ekren). This meant that their 1M openings promised 14+.

[nullve]

The way I deal with the "10+" 1m openings in my system is outlined in post #12 in this thread.

So my 1♦ opening doesn't almost guarantee 5+ D, but can also be made with "1445 minus 1 card" (specifically, with 10-15 and either 0445, 1345 or 1435, and with 11-16 and 1444). Superficially, this means that the opening can't be raised as aggressively. But note that if Opener doesn't have either 5+ D or 4441, he will always have 5+ C. So although he can no longer raise 1♦ to 3 with 4-card support only, it's possible to play

1♦-(P/X/1M)-?:

(...)
2N = bad PRE D "raise" with either 5+ D or 4D3+C
3♣ = good PRE D "raise" with 4D3+C
3♦ = good PRE D raise with 5+ D
(...),

where 2N and 3♣ allow the partnership to play in a 5-3 C fit instead of a 4-3 D fit.

[meto]

The beauty about Fantunes is that they use 1-level open bids as forcing... so there is more room left to investigate the best contract with strong holdings...2-level open bids show intermediate hands typically unbalanced... and 1NT is 12-14....

In my opinion any hand with 12-13 HCP could be open-bid 1NT ..either balanced or offshape as long as there is no -5card major in it (5431, 5422 and 4441)...

with 14 HCP unbalanced there would be no problem about open-bidding 1-level suit anyway..