[mikeh]

Thymallus, on Nov 25 2005, 12:13 PM, said:

Incidentally why is it that the weak NT seems so reviled at the top level? It seem to me to be very pre-emptive and Mike Lawrence & co are very much in favour of  pre-emptive bids in every other context.



John

Since when is it reviled????

A number of pairs have had a fair amount of success with it: amongst US pairs, we can look at Meckwell and Cohen-Berkowitz and Stansby-Martel and others.

There was a feeling, when 10-12 first appeared in a big way, that the micro-notrump was a rabbit-killer, designed to maximize success in the matchpoint/swiss field, but strange things began to happen: proponents of the method were winning major team titles, including world championships.

[Gerben42]

* Against weak NT: play penalty double and be ready to sit for it and/or keep doubling.

* Against strong NT: don't play penalty double. Often you will get a second chance. Jassem / Woolsey once hit the opponent's 16 - 18 NT for 1100, and yes, opener was maximum. Her partner would have collected 1000 pounds from mr. Yarborough though...

[awm]

When examining the methods of top partnerships, it is good to bear in mind:

(1) The choice of notrump ranges has ripple effects throughout your system, especially in competitive bidding. It is not easy to simply "switch" from one range to another on a dime (although it is substantially easier in a strong club system).

(2) Most top players make their living by consistently beating much weaker players. Note that even in the early rounds of a championship pairs competition, there are often more weak pairs in the field than elite pairs. Weak notrump tends to be a "randomizing" effect in a field where most people play strong notrump, which is undesirable if you work from the starting assumption that you will generally do better than the field in play, defense, and competitive judgement.

On the other hand, there are certainly top-flight pairs who play weak notrump. This includes some of the top british pairs for exactly reason (2) -- average players in england often play weak notrump so the strong notrump becomes the randomizing factor! It also includes a fair number of pairs who play almost exclusively against top-flight competition, including recent world champions (and perhaps the strongest current pair in the world) Fantoni and Nunes.