[Mbodell]

Playing in a club, team IMP (8 boards/match, Mid-chart, if it matters), my partner and I like to open 2♣ strong meaning 20+ points OR nearly all 4 LTC hands.

In particular today I opened 1st seat all white 2♣ with 11 HCP the following hand:

Scoring: IMP

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Is such a system and bid legal in the ACBL assuming the convention card is properly filled out to include OR distributional 4 LTC hands and that both partners value such a hand as a strong hand? If it is legal and partnership does open hands like this must all 2♣ bids be alerted, or if both partners think such hands are strong does it not need to be alerted?

[blackshoe]

I had a discussion with, among other people, Rick Beye (Chief Tournament Director of the ACBL) about this a couple of years ago, after opponents opened 2♣ against our teammates holding ♠ AKQJxxxx ♥ Jxx ♦ - ♣ Jx, causing our teammates to misdefend and allow 4♠ to make. Bottom line is if you think it's "strong", it's legal, particularly if you describe unbalanced hands as "so many playing tricks" or the like (4 losers or better is 9+ playing tricks). No difference between GCC and Midchart. It does not require an alert. So my policy when opponents open 2♣ in ACBL tournaments now is to always ask for an explanation - which usually results in "huh?" followed by "it's standard" followed by a request for more info followed by "huh?" followed by a TD call by somebody.

Getting ACBL players to fully disclose their methods is like pulling teeth.

[matmat]

blackshoe, on Oct 21 2007, 03:21 AM, said:

Getting ACBL players to fully disclose their methods is like pulling teeth.

pulling teeth is more pleasant.

[BillHiggin]

It is legal, but that is not the same as wise.
At the club level, many of your opponents will mistakenly decide to not bid when you make a powerful noise, and your strategy may gain. Better players will look for opportunities to interfere with your artificial auctions and you will find yourself paying out to doubled contracts that you cannot set (note that top players do not include these defensivly poor hands in their artificial openings - they have learned the hard way). The strong artificial opening bid (whether 2♣ or 1♣ or something else) is not the bid that produces your best auctions - it is the limits these bids place on the natural openings that gives them value.

As far as the concerns about disclosure that others have expressed - so what. If you have playing strength, you are going to bid. If the 2♣ opening was based more on shape than on real muscle, the chances of real success for your bids has dramatically increased (the rest of the field not getting an opportunity to speak at a low level). Once you hear the normal uniformative explanation, bid your hand. A small percent of the time, you will get fixed - that happens.