[PrecisionL]

I have tried Fit Jumps and hidden singletons and Hardy Raises and Bergen Raises but am unhappy with all of them in a limited 5-card Major Opening System (Precision).

Any new ideas?

Edited 10/20/12:

Does anyone have experience with Siebert adjunct or Fit Jumps?

[dake50]

Try GoLady 2C with Toddler 2D>
GoLady basically asks trump Q to zoom next feature. No Q to let GoLady describe.
Toddler asks second suit or none. Zoom with max.
Colin Ward's ideas.

[PrecisionL]

dake50, on 2012-October-19, 19:31, said:

Try GoLady 2C with Toddler 2D>
GoLady basically asks trump Q to zoom next feature. No Q to let GoLady describe.
Toddler asks second suit or none. Zoom with max.
Colin Ward's ideas.

Thanks for the reply, I had never seriously considered Colin's idea for ACBL GCC games & tournaments because of its artificiality. It would be fun to play in Mid-Chart or A/AX events.

I overlooked this from Colin's web page:

"The last disadvantage is a thornier problem. The legality of the Toddler 2♦ in ACBL events seems to depend on who--and what time of day--you ask. One "solution" employed by many is to not play in ACBL events (ahem!). Another is to continue to petition the ACBL to permit any and all constructive methods. Our approach is to clear matters with a director before entering any ACBL event. Our experience is that most directors are very reasonable here."

[Free]

Depends on what you want. Do you want 20000 methods to raise?

In precision I prefer fast arrival for many auctions, the structure which Meckwell use (only difference is 1M-2♣ as a GF relay).

[dake50]

[quote name='PrecisionL' timestamp='1350751101' post='675991']
Thanks for the reply, I had never seriously considered Colin's idea for ACBL GCC games & tournaments because of its artificiality. It would be fun to play in Mid-Chart or A/AX events.

I overlooked this from Colin's web page:

"The last disadvantage is a thornier problem. The legality of the Toddler 2♦ in ACBL events seems to depend on who--and what time of day--you ask. One "solution" employed by many is to not play in ACBL events (ahem!). Another is to continue to petition the ACBL to permit any and all constructive methods. Our approach is to clear matters with a director before entering any ACBL event. Our experience is that most directors are very reasonable here."

*** Yup, ACBL allows GoLady as a trump ask.
*** Toddler must be Game Force to be GCC. Quite odd!?

[hrothgar]

dake50, on 2012-October-21, 05:58, said:

Thanks for the reply, I had never seriously considered Colin's idea for ACBL GCC games & tournaments because of its artificiality. It would be fun to play in Mid-Chart or A/AX events.

I overlooked this from Colin's web page:

"The last disadvantage is a thornier problem. The legality of the Toddler 2♦ in ACBL events seems to depend on who--and what time of day--you ask. One "solution" employed by many is to not play in ACBL events (ahem!). Another is to continue to petition the ACBL to permit any and all constructive methods. Our approach is to clear matters with a director before entering any ACBL event. Our experience is that most directors are very reasonable here."

*** Yup, ACBL allows GoLady as a trump ask.
*** Toddler must be Game Force to be GCC. Quite odd!?

Under what possible interpretation of the GCC is the Toddler 2♦ legal?

The fact that the ACBL has directors who don't understand the convention charts is not the same as a convention being permissible.

[awm]

What Sam and I play is a sort of compressed low-information Hardy-style raise that I designed some ten years ago. It works like this:

The two lowest jumps are raises (so 1♥-2♠, 1♥-2NT, 1♠-2NT, 1♠-3♣). The higher of these shows a balanced limit raise with either three or four card support. The lower shows an unbalanced limit raise (3+ trumps) or a game force raise (4+ trumps; 3 trumps GF raises normally start with a 2/1 bid). The continuations are based on steps:

After the balanced limit raise (1♥-2NT):

Cheapest step (1♥-2NT-3♣) shows 4+ cards in the other major looking to bid a superior 4/4 fit game. Responder continues with the step bid to show four-card support for opener's original major (1♥-2NT-3♣-3♦ shows 4-card LR of hearts) or bidding three of the original major to show a three card limit raise without a fit in the other major (1♥-2NT-3♣-3♥) or bidding past 3M with four-card support for the other major (1♥-2NT-3♣-3♠ for example shows a 4/4 spade fit).

Second step is a counter-try, saying I would accept a 4-card limit raise only (1♥-2NT-3♦); responder bids 3M or 4M appropriately.

Bidding 3M is a signoff. Bidding beyond 3M is a slam try (quite rare in a limited system, but freak hands do exist) with the fourth step (1♥-2NT-3♠) asking for cuebids and higher calls showing shortness.

After the cheaper raise (1♥-2♠):

Opener's first responsibility is to show strength. The cheapest step (1♥-2♠-2NT) says "I might not accept an unbalanced limit raise"; the second step (1♥-2♠-3♣) accepts an invite but indicates no slam interest opposite a normal limit raise. Higher calls show slam interest, with the third step (1♥-2♠-3♦) demanding shortness, the fourth step (1♥-2♠-3♥) demanding a cue, the fifth step (1♥-2♠-3♠) acting as RKC, and higher calls as void-showing splinters (1♥-2♠-3NT, 4♣, 4♦).

After the cheapest step, responder normally shows shortness (1♥-2♠-2NT-3♣/3♦/3♥) which is not necessarily GF (could be game try with an unbalanced limit raise; in the case of bidding 3M it's actually NF), or signs off in game (1♥-2♠-2NT-4♥) or makes a slam try. Slam tries can start by showing shortness (except 1♥-2♠-2NT-3♥, which is NF); otherwise bidding just above the trump suit (1♥-2♠-2NT-3♠) is RKC and higher calls are "serious" cuebids.

After the second step, responder will often sign off in game (1♥-2♠-3♣-4♥). With a game force, he can bid the trump suit (1♥-2♠-3♣-3♥) to ask for cuebids, bid just above the trump suit (1♥-2♠-3♣-3♠) as RKC, make the cheapest bid to show any void (1♥-2♠-3♣-3♦) or make a higher bid to show a singleton (1♥-2♠-3♣-3NT/4♣/4♦).

After the third step, responder makes the cheapest call (1♥-2♠-3♦-3♥) to show any void, the next call (1♥-2♠-3♦-3♠) to show a balanced GF and start cuebidding, or anything higher (1♥-2♠-3♦-3NT/4♣/4♦) to show a singleton.

-------------

This method is admittedly kind of weird and complicated. The advantages are below:

(1) Compresses artificial raises into two bids while still handling all the types in Hardy's jumps (which use every available jump = raise).
(2) Gives a minimum of information about opener's hand (usually only range) while revealing responder's hand in more detail when helpful.
(3) Allows unbalanced invites to show shortness below game, for more accurate game vs. partial decisions.
(4) Allows cuebidding when helpful (unlike the ugly inverted trump swiss and some direct splinters).
(5) Gives a direct 3-card limit raise while still letting opener find out how much support he's getting or look for 4-4 in OM if he cares.

The main disadvantage is that there is no specific way for responder to "ask about opener's shape" when responder is balanced; instead responder just shows a big balanced raise and starts a cuebid sequence, and opener must make the final slam decision. This is occasionally awkward, but we find that we often benefit in the play since opponents have relatively little information about opener's shape and sometimes make a bad lead or fail to cash out appropriately.

[PrecisionL]

Thanks Adam, very interesting.

[Zelandakh]

I have posted my raise structure many times before but here it is again.

Over 1♥
=======
2♠ = mini-splinter or in-between splinter
2N = GF raise
3♣ = limit raise
3♦ = mixed raise
3♥ = preemptive
3♠ = void splinter
3N = spade singleton splinter
4m = singleton splinter
4♥ = to play

and

Over 1♠
=======
2N = mini-splinter or in-between splinter
3♣ = GF raise
3♦ = limit raise
3♥ = mixed raise
3♠ = preemptive
3N = void splinter
4m/♥ = singleton splinter
4♠ = to play

Not exactly any new ideas here, just a collation of lots of other methods.