[babalu1997]

Quote

If you want to play 2/1 succesfully, than you should be aware,
that you should strengthen your openings, i.e. regularily opening
marginal hands does not work well in a 2/1 system.

If you stil want to open marginial hands, than it may make sense
to play 1NT semiforcing, than at least you will be able to pass 1NT
if yu are seminbal. with a marginal opening.

With kind regards
Marlowe

Well I would like to discuss this, it is not only the 2 over 1 bids, but the 1 minor openings too.

Recently, I was reading Better Bidding with Bergen out of my trunk. He has an eloquent discussion of walsh diamond and it is clear that the openings are to be sound openings.

One point of interest is that the discourse of the book shows that the 2/1 style there does not make the 2/1 system too far removed from KS. Written in 1983, the preface was delivered by Edgar Kaplan.

I find that many 2/1 players open weaker and weaker hands regardless of seat, pumping their evaluation by short suit points and losing trick count. I though that such valuations should take place after partner has said something.

Less and less consideration is given to hand texture.

Yet, many players would open all three hands below in any seat. Responder who might be sitting there with a good 12-13 might get to 3nt onçy to play silly contracts.

Examples:

Hand 1

S AKXXXX
H X
D ATX
C XXX

Hand 2

S AXXXXX
H K
D ATX
C XXX

Hand 3

S KXXXX
H XX
D AX
C AXXX

[Hanoi5]

I'm sure I'd open 1 and 3 but not so sure about 2. Yes you reach some bad contracts every now and then but it is also a matter of who you're playing against.

[awm]

If you open on really light hands, sometimes you will reach very silly games unless partner makes allowances for your opening style. Making such an allowance is annoying in 2/1 because you end up having a lot more 1NT forcing responses (bad) and a lot fewer 2/1 auctions (also bad). In general 2/1 GF has some trouble on "invitational" hands and works very well on "game force" hands when compared to methods like SA and Acol.

However, the hands in question are not necessarily the best examples. It's important to evaluate hands accurately, and in particular to remember that:

(1) Aces are undervalued by point count, whereas queens and jacks are overvalued.
(2) Honors together in a suit are better than having the same honors in different suits.
(3) Honors in long suits are better than honors in short suits.
(4) Six-card suits are valuable.

The first hand (AKxxxx x ATx xxx) is really a clear opening bid. This is much better than a lot of hands with 13 hcp and 5(332) distribution.

I wouldn't open the second hand at the one level (singleton king much worse than king with the ace of spades) and the third hand is pretty borderline (I would pass unless my spots are better than indicated).

As far as opening light goes, I think there are a couple things going on. There are some hands with shape where the hand value jumps way up if there is a fit. Opening these hands will put you at a big advantage when the fit exists in what often ends up a competitive auction. Since most hands have a fit (it's something like 85% you have an 8+ fit somewhere, and a bit higher if you're 5-5 or the like) opening these hands wins more often than it loses. This is why you see a lot of people open 5-5 ten counts (or even nine-counts). Of course, when there is no substantial fit disaster ensues, but frequency-wise it's not totally crazy. The other thing I've noticed is that there are a number of very successful pairs who open fairly balanced 10-11 counts. Some people try to emulate these pairs by opening the same hands, often ignoring that fact that the successful pairs may well play a different system (for example opening on 5332 10-11 counts in a strong club system such as Meckwell play works a lot better than opening the same hands in 2/1).

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

#1 is ok to open, you have a 6 card suit headed by AK, and
another Ace, if partner wants to play 3NT you can always
convert to 4S
#2 due to the single king, the hand is not worth an opening
#3 I would pass, in a 2/1 context you will have a hard time
selling partner your 4 card club suit, if you can at all, lots
of players play 2C after a forcing 1 NT as art., hence you
wont be able to play 2C often.
Make it a 4 card diamond suit, and it gets closer, the mentioned
arguement does not hold anymore, espesially if you play, that
2D showes 4 card, but even in this scenario I still would not
open it, but that is just me.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[aguahombre]

agree mostly with Mr. Meyerson (oops, "Mr." is your father). Would open #3 without batting an eye, though because my 2C rebid is not hampered by Mr. Marlowe's artificiality concerns and shows at least three. Make my Major hearts, however, and Mr. Marlowe nails it, since 1H 1NT 2C might be a 2-Card suit with a flannery hand, and The opening bid must be stronger to survive.

[neilkaz]

Hand 1) I have a pulse so I open it.

Hand 2) I hate that stiff K, but like having 2 aces and 6♠ and slightly prefer to open.

Hand 3) No rebid problems for me, and I somewhat prefer to open.

Just my opinion and noting that my PD's usually know better than to insist on game with some random missfit 12 count.

[RichMor]

If you use a minimum opening rule-of-thumb like:
7 or fewer losers in the LTC,
2.5 or more defensive tricks

then hands 1 and 3 are openers and hand 2 is not.