[shugart24]

In first seat, playing Precision, you open 1D and are overcalled 1NT ( say 15-18). I am curious if anyone has any special agreements over the opponent's 1NT..Does "Hello", (or any other system) make sense ?

[awm]

I usually play my weak notrump defence here.

[Huibertus]

shugart24, on 2025-December-15, 08:17, said:

In first seat, playing Precision, you open 1D and are overcalled 1NT ( say 15-18). I am curious if anyone has any special agreements over the opponent's 1NT..Does "Hello", (or any other system) make sense ?

I don't play precision, so won't provide an answer. I would however refuse to play precision before basics like this are agreed upon in a partnership.

[DavidKok]

I think 'standard' is fine, meaning a penalty double (starting at maybe 10-11 HCP or so, as the 1♦ opening can be a little light) and everything on the 2-level natural and not forcing. I think opener's rebids are more interesting, either over two more passes or some artificial bid in fourth seat.

You can improve on this, and I have in the past played artificial systems in competition here (e.g. X penalties, 2♣ both majors, 2♦ and 2♥ are transfers to put the strong hand on lead - though this has other significant downsides). However, I think the simple standard approach is a solid enough base.

[paulg]

I play my weak no trump defence too.

[johnu]

Huibertus, on 2025-December-15, 12:40, said:

I don't play precision, so won't provide an answer. I would however refuse to play precision before basics like this are agreed upon in a partnership.

Do you refuse to play "standard" (natural) systems if things like this haven't been agreed on?

[P_Marlowe]

shugart24, on 2025-December-15, 08:17, said:

In first seat, playing Precision, you open 1D and are overcalled 1NT ( say 15-18). I am curious if anyone has any special agreements over the opponent's 1NT..Does "Hello", (or any other system) make sense ?

How natural is your 1D? What is your 1NT opening strength?
Anyway, most of the time opener will have a bal. hand, with ... diamonds.
X as strength showing will come up often enough.
I also think having 2H / 2S as natural to play is important, for the rest,
whatever.
If 1D promises a certain amount of diamonds, bidding 2D to show a fit will
also be helpful.
This leaves 2C as whatever.

And this is basically standard, even 2C as showing both majors could be considered
standard.

[shugart24]

P_Marlowe, on 2025-December-16, 00:43, said:

How natural is your 1D? What is your 1NT opening strength?
Anyway, most of the time opener will have a bal. hand, with ... diamonds.
X as strength showing will come up often enough.
I also think having 2H / 2S as natural to play is important, for the rest,
whatever.
If 1D promises a certain amount of diamonds, bidding 2D to show a fit will
also be helpful.
This leaves 2C as whatever.

And this is basically standard, even 2C as showing both majors could be considered
standard.

Currently, 1D bid shows a balanced hand with 2 or more diamonds that could not be opened 1NT, OR 5-4 in the minors, OR a long Diamond suit with no 4 card Major. Our NT strength is 10-13 except when red in 3rd or 4th seat (13-15).

Thanks all. So does anyone see a huge downside to playing Hello?

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

I looked it up, Hello has

X - strength / penalty
2S - natural

So far so good.

2D - xfer to hearts

I dont understand, why 2d as xfer to hearts, is needed, on bal.
opener will be of similar strength than responder, but ok.

2H - majors

You miss the option to ask the player holding the 2-suiter to bid
his better suit.

2C - being whatever, xfer to diamonds or major-minor 2-suiter

The major-minor 2-suiter is a mirage, do you really plan to play
a 8 card fit on the 3-level? Responders minor is unknow, and
opener needs to be certain, that he will have a fit in responders
minor.
If at all, the convention tells the opponents the precise major
suit length of declarer, if holding the major-minor 2-suiter,
it will be 5.

I dont think Hello is an improvement over standard, at the moment
I only see things, that standard does better, but I may be wrong.
But if you feel happy / comfortable with it, why not.

If you want to go artificial, than there may be schemas out there,
that enables responder to directly show a minor 2-suiter, which may
enable you to compete over their major suit partial.
Openers failure to open with a major will quite often be based on
either a bal. hand or a hand with 7 cards in a minor.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[mw64ahw]

I've been pondering this one as I play Hello and several versions of a 1♦ opening. Possibly opposite a 15~18 you could dispense with the penalty X and play as per the Multi-Landy option. In 4th seat Hello plays the X as a Club transfer, but you can also use to show (5x)x4 with 2♣ showing the ♦ minor. I don't have an issue with 2♥ as both Majors especially if playing an unbalanced ♦ given the Moysian should have reasonable play.

[Shugart23]

P_Marlowe, on 2025-December-16, 11:14, said:

Hi,

I looked it up, Hello has

X - strength / penalty
2S - natural

So far so good.

2D - xfer to hearts

I dont understand, why 2d as xfer to hearts, is needed, on bal.
opener will be of similar strength than responder, but ok.

2H - majors

You miss the option to ask the player holding the 2-suiter to bid
his better suit.

2C - being whatever, xfer to diamonds or major-minor 2-suiter

The major-minor 2-suiter is a mirage, do you really plan to play
a 8 card fit on the 3-level? Responders minor is unknow, and
opener needs to be certain, that he will have a fit in responders
minor.
If at all, the convention tells the opponents the precise major
suit length of declarer, if holding the major-minor 2-suiter,
it will be 5.

I dont think Hello is an improvement over standard, at the moment
I only see things, that standard does better, but I may be wrong.
But if you feel happy / comfortable with it, why not.

If you want to go artificial, than there may be schemas out there,
that enables responder to directly show a minor 2-suiter, which may
enable you to compete over their major suit partial.
Openers failure to open with a major will quite often be based on
either a bal. hand or a hand with 7 cards in a minor.

With kind regards
Marlowe

Thanks for comments. Our version of Hello also has 2Nt is transfer to clubs, 3c shows 55 in minors 3d shows strong 55 majors. Doesn’t come up a lot

[P_Marlowe]

Shugart23, on 2025-December-16, 12:35, said:

Thanks for comments. Our version of Hello also has 2Nt is transfer to clubs, 3c shows 55 in minors 3d shows strong 55 majors. Doesn’t come up a lot

The most common scenario after they overcall 1NT will be, that the partner to the NT overcaller will bid a 5+ card major suit,
trying to play a major suit partial, he basically only needs a 5 carder and a shortage. And you need to be prepared for this one.
From this:
The xfer bid to clubs enables you to play 3C, I guess you need a 6 carder but ok, you are on the 3 level,
the 3C bid showing 55 in the minor is also ok, the bid to show the strong 55 majors, is whatever.
You could add this to standard, improving on standard.

[Huibertus]

johnu, on 2025-December-15, 18:26, said:

Do you refuse to play "standard" (natural) systems if things like this haven't been agreed on?

Of course in ALL systems there are thing partnerships have not agreed upon, even the best partnerships.

I mentioned the "Basics" when I stated I won't play precision without knowing how we handle interference over a 1♦ opening, indeed just as I won't play a natural weak NT system without agreement on how strong 1♦-2♣ is uninterrupted. That too is part of the basics. 1nt (15-17) 2X (natural) - double =? No agreement, won't play, more basics.

[shugart24]

Huibertus, on 2025-December-17, 08:20, said:

Of course in ALL systems there are thing partnerships have not agreed upon, even the best partnerships.

I mentioned the "Basics" when I stated I won't play precision without knowing how we handle interference over a 1♦ opening, indeed just as I won't play a natural weak NT system without agreement on how strong 1♦-2♣ is uninterrupted. That too is part of the basics. 1nt (15-17) 2X (natural) - double =? No agreement, won't play, more basics.

The problem with your comment was it was not constructive. I haven't asked you to play precision with me; I have no interest in playing with you. My partner and I have aggreements however I was wondering if Hello might work better than standard. I am not sure what your intent was in jumping into a conversation where you had nothing of worth to share