[mikeh]

SoTired, on Jan 30 2007, 10:03 AM, said:

flytoox, on Jan 30 2007, 09:36 AM, said:

Surely you wouldnt open 1S with
Kxxxx
--
--
AKQJT987?

In Steve Robinson's book, Washington Standard, he recommends just that. With xxxxx - - AKQJxxxx, open 1S. I think he is in the minority among experts on this, though.

Someone once told me that Robinson would advocate 1♠ on 65432 void void AKQJ10987. I met him in Verona last year and asked him what he would do with that hand: he said: 1♠.

So he is consistent, but he is in an exceedingly tiny minority...which doesn't bother him at all

I play semi-regularly with a 1♣ bidder on 5-5 blacks, and I am morally certain that he would have reopened 4♠ on the posted hand: bidding like that is (part of) the price you pay for the style. I used to be strongly opposed to it, before I played it: I still don't like it, but it's not hard to play and can be very effective.

It also 'solves' or avoids the problem of the rebid after one opens 1♠ and receives a 2/1 red suit response. There are differing styles as to what one rebids on, for example: Jxxxx Ax x AKxxx: wild horses couldn't get me to rebid 3♣ here: that shows extra values for me, but others bid shape regardless of strength. Both approaches are theoretically difficult, and opening 1♣ on such hands either delays or outright avoids similar issues.