benlessard, on 2012-September-19, 08:43, said:
1S--2D--2H--2S is 3cards GF (but I would like to hear more about the style where 2S can be 2. You only do that with 23(53) shapes ?)
I think I would start with a simple woolly definition: 2
♠ = 3 spades and extras or 2 spades and no better rebid. Then an immediate jump to 3
♠ shows 3 spades and a minimum while bidding 2
♠ followed by 3
♠ shows 3 spades and extras. 2
♠ followed by anything else is now 2 spades. This has a fairly minimal cost if you already pattern out over a 2
♠ rebid since Opener is making the same call regardless - we only lose some 3rd round calls for Responder. it is more of a cost if you start cuing at the 3 level but it is arguable if that is a great idea with Responder's hand essentially unknown. There is an additional knock-on benefit within the OP's style too in that 1
♠ - 2
♦; 2
♥ - 3
♣ can now guarantee 6 diamonds, providing you are willing to rebid 2NT with any 1354. This claws back some of the damage done to our 2/1 auctions by 3
♦ being non-forcing.
From this basic definition, some practise hands should pretty quickly be able to tell you whether it is better to pass only the 2353 hands through 2
♠ or also others. If only the 2353 hands then you get to reclaim more of the third round bids; on the other hand that seems to me to still make the 2
♠ rebid underused. Remember this is the cheapest rebid here. Instead it seems reasonable to also pass, for example, 2362 and 2263 hands with weak diamonds through 2
♠. There is really quite a lot of space here after all.
So, for the given hand you might start: 1
♠ - 2
♦; 2
♥ - 2
♠; 3
♦ - 3
♥ and now when Opener supports hearts they have effectively shown their 5530 shape while Responder has shown 2353, or 2362 without great diamonds. The partnership is suddenly in great shape on what was a problem auction. Surely this extra space on auctions where we are still searching for our best fit is worth the cost of starting our spade slam investigations at 3
♠?