[gwnn]

If you play the following defence to 1NT:

2♣=majors
2♦=diamond+major
2M=natural

How do you play the 2♦ bid? Can it be 4-4, 5-4, 5-5, 4-5, 4-6 (4-6=4M6♦)?

What about a 2♦ opening promising diamonds+major? (yes I know it's illegal in ACBL)

[mgoetze]

gwnn, on 2011-October-25, 08:11, said:

If you play the following defence to 1NT:

2♣=majors
2♦=diamond+major
2M=natural

How do you play the 2♦ bid? Can it be 4-4, 5-4, 5-5, 4-5, 4-6 (4-6=4M6♦)?

I like to be able to bid on any 5-4, and I like to know which way around the suits are. This of course is reflected in my usual choice of NT defense (Woolsey). But given this structure I guess I would want 5 diamonds and a 4-card major. With a 5-card major and 4 diamonds I can just bid 2M if I want to.

Quote

What about a 2♦ opening promising diamonds+major? (yes I know it's illegal in ACBL)

I'd like pass to be a reasonably frequent response so I suppose I would call for 5 diamonds again. Whether you then demand a 4- or a 5-card major on the side is probably a function of how aggressive your style is in general.

[Free]

I've played such a 2♦ opening quite some time. Any hand with at least 4 cards in both suits was ok. Obviously with a good 7 card M and a poor 4 card ♦ we could open something else, but in general it was all possible. We also had 2 relays (one invitational, one GF), worked quite fine. We also played 2♣ as ♣+M, that one worked even better!

[awm]

I've only played this against weak notrump (against strong, we use double to show major/minor two-suiters).

Our agreement is that the major is normally a four-card suit, and the diamonds are longer/better. 5/6 is possible too, and 5/5 is possible if the major is quite poor.

I'll note that bidding it with 4/4 (or with either suit longer, etc) might be more tempting against a strong notrump (where the primary aim is to disrupt); however over weak notrump finding our best fit (and possible game) should take priority. With 5M/4+D we just bid 2M natural.

[fromageGB]

Over their 1NT I play a 2♦ as diamonds + a major, together with 2♣ as clubs and a major. However, what it shows depends on what the other bids mean. I use X as a two suited takeout (5/4 or better) which is both majors, or a minor and a 4 card major, so 2♣/♦ shows a minor with a 5 card major. I think it is important to know the major length in 2-suited defences.

So for me it could be 4, 5, 6 or 7 of the minor, but always 5 of the major. If you have no other bids for the given 2 suits, then I guess length is somewhat ill-defined, but I think it useful to encourage partner to see if there is a major fit, and a 5 card major fits the bill.