[BebopKid]

If your LHO opens 2♥ (weak), and your partner overcalls 3♥, what should 3♥ mean in SAYC and 2/1?

Is it Michaels or something else?

[kenrexford]

Depends. Lots of things are playable.

If 4♣ and 4♦ each show that minor and spades, then the usefulness of 3♥ as Michaels decreases (or if Roman Jumps are used). 3♥ could then be a classic strong takeout with first-round heart control (weird) or maybe inviting 3NT if Responder has a stop (typically semi-gambling).

[cherdano]

Over a weak 2, it is quite common to play 4m as leaping Michaels (that minor plus unbid major) and the cuebid as showing a decent hand with a long running suit (aka stopper ask).

[zasanya]

I play it as a stopper inquiry for 3 NT.The system could be any.

[skjaeran]

I'm used to playing 4m as leaping Michaels and the direct cue as a strong (solid) 1-suiter, ostensibly asking for a stopper, but you're not always going to pass 3NT from partner. That is, you could have higher aspirations than just game.

[pclayton]

cherdano, on Aug 29 2007, 07:41 PM, said:

Over a weak 2, it is quite common to play 4m as leaping Michaels (that minor plus unbid major) and the cuebid as showing a decent hand with a long running suit (aka stopper ask).

This is what I would expect playing with a strong player and we hadn't discussed this sequence.

[karlson]

I used to play it as exactly 4 cards in the other major and a longer minor (typically 6), an awkward hand to show.

But eventually we switched it back to stopper ask, judging that you're really stuck without the stopper ask, and it comes up at least as frequently.

[helene_t]

I'm with Harald but a random p is more likely to take it as michaels, I think

[Codo]

helene_t, on Aug 31 2007, 08:26 AM, said:

I'm with Harald but a random p is more likely to take it as michaels, I think

I agree with Harald and would believe that at least 90 % of my pick upd pds will understand it this way too.

[vang]

iirc, it's stopper ask in bridge world standard.

[Free]

asks stopper...

[keylime]

Depending on level - with a lesser player Michaels, with my peers, stop ask.

Alluded to other posts, Freeman-Nickell got to an elegant slam using this method.

[skjaeran]

helene_t, on Aug 31 2007, 01:26 AM, said:

I'm with Harald but a random p is more likely to take it as michaels, I think

A 'random' pick up partner in my environment would take it as stop ask without any discussion. What I should expect elsewhere I don't know. Playing with a high level partner I'd expect stopper ask and leaping Michaels to be standard.

[han]

I'd also say that leaping Michaels and "stopper ask" (should be a better term for that) is standard.

[ralph23]

Hannie, on Aug 31 2007, 07:13 PM, said:

I'd also say that leaping Michaels and "stopper ask" (should be a better term for that) is standard.

We call it (the 3-level cue bid) the "Western Cue Bid" i.e. the stopper-asking bid. I believe the "Eastern Cue Bid" shows a stop rather than asks for one. This is discussed somewhere in Root & Pavlicek.....

WQB comes up with some regularity but needs partnership discussion as to when it applies, i.e. distinguish situations where partner has OPENED: 1♠ by partner (opening), 2♥ overcall, then 3♥ by me. In our methods, the ♥ cuebid is a ♠ raise.

Or where partner has overcalled: 2♥ opening by the dealer on my left, partner overcalls 2♠; after a pass by my RHO, I bid 3♥. Again, we play CARLOS(Cuebids Are Raises, Limit Or Stronger) here.

Regular Michaels would be a weird interpretation imo and certainly not part of the Michaels convention description; Leaping Michaels works pretty well and would be advanced standard, imo.

This post has been edited by ralph23: 2007-August-31, 19:12

[han]

ralph23, on Aug 31 2007, 08:06 PM, said:

Hannie, on Aug 31 2007, 07:13 PM, said:

I'd also say that leaping Michaels and "stopper ask" (should be a better term for that) is standard.

We call it (the 3-level cue bid) the "Western Cue Bid" i.e. the stopper-asking bid.

You missed my point. There are auctions where the name "stopper ask" is justified, for example:

1D - (1S) - 2D - (2S)
3S

Here the 2D bidder should (virtually) always bid 3NT with a stopper.

However (2♥) - 3♥ is not so much an asking bid as a showing bid: it shows a very good hand with a long strong minor (usually). It is not unlikely that responder will choose not to bid 3NT with a stopper, for instance to search for slam.

[ralph23]

Hannie, on Aug 31 2007, 11:00 PM, said:

You missed my point.

I didn't miss it, rather you just didn't state it or imply it. But it's interesting now that you do.