[jdonn]

It took me a minute to realize what freestyle bidding meant. Then I realized it's a synonym (sp.?) for judgment.

[awm]

To some degree it's a synonym for judgement, and obviously people still use judgement.

But I think modern methods codify judgement for the first few bids of the auction to a very great degree, and modern players are very reluctant to go against this codification. I guess my point is that if you give a player a distribution and a point total, in many cases the choice of bid (for the first round or two of bidding at least) will be independent of location of values. For example:

(1) Playing five-card majors, modern players open 1♣ with AKQT Ax xxx xxxx. I think there was a time when most would say that this strong spade suit "looks like five" and open 1♠ despite playing generally 5cM methods.

(2) If partner opens 1♣ virtually all will bid 1♠ with xxxx xxx AKQx xx and also AKQx xxx xxxx xx whereas I think there was a time when the first hand responded 1♦ and the second 1♠ ("show where you live")

(3) There was once a style of opening the "better minor" with equal length; the current trend seems to be to select an opening by distribution rather than suit quality (some will open 1♣ with 2344 and some will open 1♦, but virtually all make the same call with Kx Kxx AKxx xxxx and with the minors reversed).

I think there is still plenty of room for varying the bids in later rounds of auctions based on suit quality, and that people look at suit quality a lot more in competitive sequences (i.e. whether to overcall on a four card suit) than they do in unobstructed auctions.

[pclayton]

OleBerg, on May 27 2008, 08:39 AM, said:

pclayton, on May 17 2008, 08:01 PM, said:

I also wouldn't 1♣ in MPs since it is soooo anti-field, unless I felt like I needed to swing a little.

Whats wrong with bidding anti-field?

In this instance, I think you are totally randomizing a MP result by opening 1♣. Obviously, many good things can happen, and many terrible things can happen, or it might not matter a whole lot.

Some good things: We get to a nice spade moysian game or p/s, a nice 4-4 club fit or pard plays hearts or NT which might be better from the other side.

Some bad things: The opponents are able to compete in a red suit over 1♣. LHO was about to lead a club or spade against NT and we talked him out of it. RHO makes the killing lead against pards contract, where LHO wouldn't have found the lead.

But if you think you are one of the better players in the room, and I'm guessing a lot of the forum posters believe they are in most events, you are taking a spin at the big wheel of fate. essentially, you are frequently betting a full board (or fraction thereof) on your judgment.

[han]

This is abuse of the word judgement. It has little to do with judgement.

Perhaps "bidding philosophy" is a better term.