[NickRW]

kgr, on Jul 27 2009, 08:03 AM, said:

The_Hog, on Jul 27 2009, 01:49 AM, said:

kgr, would you mind posting the whole hand? As dick says in the post above, I am curious as to what your partner had; was no cue raise available?

I don't remember;
...Something like:
♠KQxx
♥xxx
♦AJTxx
♣x
(An offensive hand with good fit that has a good chance for game opposite a decent 1♠ overcall).

Personally I would cue the enemy suit with that, rather than raise.

The subject of overcalls at MPs is something that bears some partnership discussion. At IMPs overcalling on something that is unlikely to produce a game, even with fit, and could incur a sizable penalty is folly. At MPs the partscore battle is so much more important - but it takes a degree of agreement between partners in order to handle it well.

I should add that when I said above that I would overcall without giving it much thought, that applies with regular partners. There are some partners that I play MPs with on a semi regular basis who specifically do not like that style - and so I don't. The end product is that games are easier to find - the rather more common partscore is not.

Nick

[gwnn]

I hope I will never stop bidding on these hands.

BTW people were having a good time analysing the merits of

(1M)-2m=4 other M, 5+m
(1m)-2m=at least 4-4 in the majors

at Brasov. The ridicule in the bulletin is nothing compared to what the viewers of vugraph thought when Barry Rigal was talking about them.

[cRi cRi]

SO much easier to coment than to play ...

[kgr]

gwnn, on Jul 27 2009, 06:56 PM, said:

BTW people were having a good time analysing the merits of

(1M)-2m=4 other M, 5+m
(1m)-2m=at least 4-4 in the majors

at Brasov. The ridicule in the bulletin is nothing compared to what the viewers of vugraph thought when Barry Rigal was talking about them.

Do you have more info about this analysis ...?

[the hog]

NickRW, on Jul 27 2009, 08:08 PM, said:

kgr, on Jul 27 2009, 08:03 AM, said:

The_Hog, on Jul 27 2009, 01:49 AM, said:

kgr, would you mind posting the whole hand? As dick says in the post above, I am curious as to what your partner had; was no cue raise available?

I don't remember;
...Something like:
♠KQxx
♥xxx
♦AJTxx
♣x
(An offensive hand with good fit that has a good chance for game opposite a decent 1♠ overcall).

Personally I would cue the enemy suit with that, rather than raise.

The subject of overcalls at MPs is something that bears some partnership discussion. At IMPs overcalling on something that is unlikely to produce a game, even with fit, and could incur a sizable penalty is folly. At MPs the partscore battle is so much more important - but it takes a degree of agreement between partners in order to handle it well.

I should add that when I said above that I would overcall without giving it much thought, that applies with regular partners. There are some partners that I play MPs with on a semi regular basis who specifically do not like that style - and so I don't. The end product is that games are easier to find - the rather more common partscore is not.

Nick

Well, I would bid 3D with that and pass partner's 3S? This is not a 4S bid with my opartners, but as nick stated, this depends on with whom you are playing and what you have discussed.

[Cascade]

fromageGB, on Jul 23 2009, 09:35 PM, said:

Nowhere near a bid. I might in 3rd seat, though.

Why is 1♠ better when you know partner has a bad hand?

[Cascade]

kgr, on Jul 25 2009, 07:00 PM, said:

Thank you all for the answers.
I did bid 1♥ - transfer to ♠ - and my partner did bid 4♠. That was DBLed and did go min 2. My partner did bid 4♠ to make and was disappointed by the dummy. He did expect more. (eg a singleton iso 2 doubletons).
...Pretty much a style thing. It wasn't a disaster as opps could make 4♥.
He said that I didn't have enough for a 1 level overcall. If I can't pass with it then I should bid 2♠ weak. (I will rather pass).

As a system point. If I was playing transfers then I would be slightly less inclined to bid as it takes up less bidding space for the opponents including allowing an economical double of 1♥.

[mike777]

kgr, on Jul 22 2009, 06:02 PM, said:

Dealer: East Vul: Both Scoring: MP

♠ Axxxx ♥ xx ♦ xx ♣ Kxxx

East opens 1♣. What do you call at MP's?

easy pass. I dont lose at mp because i pass with this hand.

[gwnn]

kgr, on Jul 27 2009, 11:42 PM, said:

gwnn, on Jul 27 2009, 06:56 PM, said:

BTW people were having a good time analysing the merits of

(1M)-2m=4 other M, 5+m
(1m)-2m=at least 4-4 in the majors

at Brasov. The ridicule in the bulletin is nothing compared to what the viewers of vugraph thought when Barry Rigal was talking about them.

Do you have more info about this analysis ...?

There was a hand where someone 2♣'ed vs. 1♠ (with about 9 hcp) and caught partner with 7 card heart support with a good hand - he forced to 5♥ and was actually thinking of redoubling. The commentators of vugraph laughed remarking that the 7 card heart guy must have been 100% his partner has forgotten the convention. You can see the hand in the bulletin (not quite sure which one, it was a match against France I think). I was not in the room when one of your compatriots bid michaels with a 4-4 hand and 11 hcp. That was quite costly. Again this appears in the bulletin. Some later time Barry Rigal said something like 'we are used to seeing the Belgians finding exotic fits on high levels'. I, for one, think he's a funny person, he makes funny remarks about everyone, even top players if they make mistakes. He also says 'well done' perhaps more liberally than it would be absolutely deserved. If you wrote down every criticism he ever said, it could look offensive but in practice almost nobody minds (not even teammates or npcs of ridiculed players).

All I wanted to say was that it was funny seeing your favourite conventions in action and the vugraph commentators' opinion was a good plus.

[kgr]

gwnn, on Jul 28 2009, 06:41 AM, said:

kgr, on Jul 27 2009, 11:42 PM, said:

gwnn, on Jul 27 2009, 06:56 PM, said:

BTW people were having a good time analysing the merits of

(1M)-2m=4 other M, 5+m
(1m)-2m=at least 4-4 in the majors

at Brasov. The ridicule in the bulletin is nothing compared to what the viewers of vugraph thought when Barry Rigal was talking about them.

Do you have more info about this analysis ...?

There was a hand where someone 2♣'ed vs. 1♠ (with about 9 hcp) and caught partner with 7 card heart support with a good hand - he forced to 5♥ and was actually thinking of redoubling. The commentators of vugraph laughed remarking that the 7 card heart guy must have been 100% his partner has forgotten the convention. You can see the hand in the bulletin (not quite sure which one, it was a match against France I think). I was not in the room when one of your compatriots bid michaels with a 4-4 hand and 11 hcp. That was quite costly. Again this appears in the bulletin. Some later time Barry Rigal said something like 'we are used to seeing the Belgians finding exotic fits on high levels'. I, for one, think he's a funny person, he makes funny remarks about everyone, even top players if they make mistakes. He also says 'well done' perhaps more liberally than it would be absolutely deserved. If you wrote down every criticism he ever said, it could look offensive but in practice almost nobody minds (not even teammates or npcs of ridiculed players).

All I wanted to say was that it was funny seeing your favourite conventions in action and the vugraph commentators' opinion was a good plus.

Not sure of your post if the comments about the system were positive or negative.
These overcalls are played by one of the top Belgian pairs (The won Belgian pairs this year, the main Belgian tournement for Pairs), who play in my club. That is why some players of that club also play that system. It allows to overcall with 2-suited hands more frequently (the requirement we have for that is same strength as a 1-level overcall because we have a 2nd suit to fall back on). Typically the lower suit is better then the higher one. eg. 1S-(2D) = D and H, normally 4-card H and better D but it can also be a 5-card H if not enough strength for a 'natural' 2H bid.
...It would be interesting to study if it is really a better system then natrual (I expect that it is slightly more frequent, but that is only a feeling).

[gwnn]

http://www.eurobridge.org/bulletin/09_2%20.../pdf/Bul_04.pdf pages 6 and 7.

If you read what I wrote earlier (that the bulletin contained ridicule but that was nothing in comparison to what the vugraph commentators said about the system) you might understand whether the opinions were positive or negative.

[kgr]

gwnn, on Jul 28 2009, 09:35 AM, said:

http://www.eurobridge.org/bulletin/09_2%20.../pdf/Bul_04.pdf pages 6 and 7.

If you read what I wrote earlier (that the bulletin contained ridicule but that was nothing in comparison to what the vugraph commentators said about the system) you might understand whether the opinions were positive or negative.

Thanks for the link.
...Still not sure if the system is horrible. It only proves that you win some and loose some and not clear if you loose more then you win.

[andy_h]

gwnn, on Jul 28 2009, 03:56 AM, said:

I hope I will never stop bidding on these hands.

BTW people were having a good time analysing the merits of

(1M)-2m=4 other M, 5+m
(1m)-2m=at least 4-4 in the majors

at Brasov. The ridicule in the bulletin is nothing compared to what the viewers of vugraph thought when Barry Rigal was talking about them.

I'm sure they were

I've never actually seen those methods being played. And just by looking at it, it seems horrible lol The 4oM 5+m gives up 2 natural minor overcalls (where raptor 1NT will only give up 1, but I still hate raptor as well) and the 4-4 majors is too unplayable. Partner will never know what to do in competition!

So I'm curious, how did the debate turn out?

[gwnn]

There was no debate, only random jokes, some were good, others were mean.