[rbouskila]

Hey all, got some funny competitive situations for you to think about.

Playing unusual vs unusual, after 1M-(2NT)-

X: penalty-oriented, able to penalize at least one minor
3m: (one of these is a forcing raise in M, one is a forcing bid in OM, depending on your agreements)
3M: competitive raise
3OM: competitive bid in OM
3NT: to play, probably not much length in either minor or you might X

now, let's make it a little weirder:

1M-(2NT)-P-(3m)-P-(P)- ?
or
1M-(2NT)-X-(3m)-P-(P)- ?


Mike Lawrence's book on competitive bidding dealt with the meaning of some of these delayed actions; he also referred to Amalya Kearse's Bridge Conventions Complete. Unfortunately neither book is in front of me and I was wondering 1. if anybody had said books handy 2. if anybody had any of their own opinions?

Here (if I recall right, which I'm probably not, and certainly am recalling incompletely) are the ones from Mike Lawrence's book:

after initial pass:
delayed 3NT: shows a stop only in the minor LHO bid; to play if opener has a stop in the other minor; not enough length to double 2NT for penalty
delayed double: a stop in the unbid minor, asking for stop in the bid minor

I have no idea what a delayed 3OM or 3M might be

after initial double:
X: obviously penalty
3NT: to play with something like 1.5 stops in m but length in om
my guess for 3M and 3OM would be:
3M: a hand that wanted to double 3om but can't double 3m, maybe 3 card support for M, probably less than GF in M
3OM: probably similar, wanted to double 3om, but with competitive length in OM
3D after LHO bids 3C: no idea.

well, it's fun to think about anyways

[karlson]

I think that either immediate double or delayed double should show a decent balanced hand that doesn't really have a penalty double, a prototypical example would be Kx Qxxxx Qxx Kxx or something over 1s-2n. I think it's best to use the immediate double for this purpose (and just pass then double with the pure penalty pass) since opener may also be able to compete knowing that partner has a flexible hand (or stay out with a marginal hand when you pass the 2n). However, I think that it's more common to play that a delayed double shows this hand.

Your scheme focuses on getting stoppers right, which seems to me to be a secondary consideration. It will be pretty rare that you have the values for 3n, don't want to defend, and are missing a stopper (especially the case when you're missing a stopper in the suit they didn't bid (what are you going to do, run the minor that they did bid?))