jillybean2, on May 2 2008, 01:36 AM, said:
cherdano, on May 1 2008, 11:01 PM, said:
jillybean2, on May 1 2008, 07:39 PM, said:
<!-- ONEHAND begin --><table border='1'> <tr> <td> <table> <tr> <td> Dealer: </td> <td> East </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Vul: </td> <td> None </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Scoring: </td> <td> IMP </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td> <table> <tr> <th> <span class='spades'> ♠ </th> <td> A85 </td> </tr> <tr> <th> <span class='hearts'> ♥ </span> </th> <td> K6532 </td> </tr> <tr> <th> <span class='diamonds'> ♦ </span> </th> <td> 64 </td> </tr> <tr> <th> <span class='clubs'> ♣ </span> </th> <td> AT3 </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td> </td> </tr> </table><!-- ONEHAND end -->
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Ok you may not want to open this playing 2/1 but I think it is a clear opening hand playing SAYC
I think this has little to do with 2/1 vs SAYC, you can fit either style (of opening or passing this hand) into either system.
I saw the 2/1 players were unhappy opening this hand and I understood (wrongly) that the standards for opening bids were a little more conservative in 2/1.
Everyone has their own standards for opening hands, and some 2/1 players are more conservative than others. I would pass this hand at imps and open it at mps.
At imps, I have some solace in that I can use drury if partner opens 1
♠... the hands I hate are where I am going to feel fixed if partner opens in 3rd chair.. make this 2=5=3=3 and I am going to hate responding to a 3rd seat 1
♠. 1N will be an underbid, and 2
♥ on this suit is awful.
BTW, when I used to play 10-12 1N, it was this type of hand that made me want to play the method: I could open without worrying that partner would get carried away.
As it is, the double removed the gun from my head, in terms of the force, so I have an easy pass.
I echo Han in that posts like this are useful. The beauty of the forum is that players of all levels of experience can post issues that trouble them without, I hope, ever getting the feeling that others think the posts are too easy. There isn't a single expert posting to this forum who wasn't a B/I or intermediate at some point, and those of us who have progressed beyond that stage should never forget that. We got better because we asked questions and players with more skill than we had, answered them.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari