Posted 2011-July-01, 05:04
Ok, I will just put here what I play:
1m-2M= WJS. I also have no problem with IJS, but my weak is defined such that 1m-1M-2m-2M is the equivalent of an IJS.
1H-2s, 1S-3H = 3 card limit raise. I believe that it is important to removed these hands from the forcing or semi forcing NT. Particularly at MP, and particularly if you play 1M-1N-2N= various hands GF, and 1M-1N-3m= 5-5 GF. The NT tends to be overloaded anway. Since 1h-2s offers more room to opener, it can be slightly less well defined and you can make game tries over it.
I also play simple raises so that 1M-2M= typicall 4-8 ish with 3 card support, but also most balanced hands in that range with 4 card support. This means there are no major raises in the semi-forcing NT.
1M-3m, = invititional with a decent 6 card suit with no better than Jx support for openers major.
the 1s-3h IJS now goes through the forcing NT.
1M-3M= mixed raise, aboud 4-8 with 4 card support in an unblanced hand. May be say 4432 at white vs red, but will contain a singleton 70+% of the time, or 5422.
1M-2N= invitational+ jacoby, response structure below.
1h-3s, 1s-3N = void splinter in any suit, next suit asks.
1M-4m, 1s-4h = normal splinter 10-14 range.
1m-3M, 1m-4M, 1h-4S, are all to play as pre-emptive bids.
Jacoby response structure:
3C=any min.
3D= non min no shortage
3h/s/N = shortage, non min, in c/d/OM respectively.
4 level=5-5 non min.
After 3c min:
3d=shortage ask, with 3h/s/NT = shortage in steps, and the 4 level showing a min 5-5.
3h/s/NT = responder showing a shortage and asking opener to evaluate his minimum.
4c/d= cue bids.
After a 3D response, 3h/s/3N show shortage in openers hand, and ask opener to evaluate his hand.
QUite useful meta agreement is that after any shortage bid the first bid after that shows a hand that maybe has some wastage but still some useful cards. Better thana sign off but not good enough to cuebid. This extra definition is often more helpful than an extra cuebid. It is also very helpful when opener shows a "non min" shortage, as responder is quite ill defined. Here it will include most hands with 9-12 working points. A cue bid will include more. I do not play this when opener has already shown a min and then is asked for his shortage.
Note that 3C should be "minimum for slam", there is no inherent contradiction in showing a minimum and then raising partners sign off to game. In fact that is quite common with say 5431 13/14 counts. Or Maximal weak NT's.
An example auction:
1S-2N
3c-3h
3s-3N
4d-4H
4S
So opener is now, a minimum, with some but not a lot of wastage opposite a club shortage, and 4d=4h-cue bids, and the final decision is left to opener again.
The physics is theoretical, but the fun is real. - Sheldon Cooper