[bluecalm]

I don't think you win much (or anything) by being able to open 2C with diamonds if partner can't raise that.
You know, preempts make it easier for them in many situations (some bidding decisions, many declarer play decisions) so if suddenly they got one more bid to begin with and your partner can't raise then it's not very attractive proposition imo.

I mean, it's not stupid and probably playable I just don't like it. I feel it's based mainly on picking on unprepared opponents and much worse vs good ones.

[f0rdy]

 bluecalm, on 2012-September-27, 17:03, said:

I don't think you win much (or anything) by being able to open 2C with diamonds if partner can't raise that.
You know, preempts make it easier for them in many situations (some bidding decisions, many declarer play decisions) so if suddenly they got one more bid to begin with and your partner can't raise then it's not very attractive proposition imo.

I mean, it's not stupid and probably playable I just don't like it. I feel it's based mainly on picking on unprepared opponents and much worse vs good ones.

Sure, it's not the best convention in the world. My feeling was that, particularly given partner can't raise you most of the time, it made sense to open it a lot more undisciplined than I would want to with a natural weak 2.

In the end we concluded the whole 2-level structure, (2C strong or wkD, 2D multi, 2M lucas, 2N another multi) was based on "picking on unprepared opponents and much worse vs good ones" (particularly the multi) and retired it after the junior camrose, I've just played 3 (or 4) weak twos for the last few years.

I think it's a slightly tricky situation; the majority of people I play against count as "unprepared" for slightly unfamiliar things, either because they're not very experienced or because they're in a relatively scratch partnership. Even if the good players in unpractised pairings will get to the right game most of the time when you open some random pre-empt in 3rd, you don't need many mid-auction system disagreements after eg 2D* x 2S* x to pick up a bunch of IMPs. Maybe the winning strategy would be to bring two cards every time you sit down for a teams match and give them one depending on your guess of how well-prepared they'll be... it would probably be disapproved of.

[Vampyr]

 fromageGB, on 2012-September-27, 09:45, said:

If you are in England, think twice before making a weak 2 in diamonds part of the 2♣ open. At one time I used to do this until a club I played in decided to change from being a "level 4" to a "level 3" club.

I wouldn't worry about this too much. My experience suggests that the majority of clubs (and virtually all tournaments) are level 4 or higher.

[paulg]

I have never been a fan of this particular multi, whatever the strong options, despite the fact that it is played by some top pairs and a team mate. It is becoming more popular in Scotland but I see more disasters than successes.

At the European Team Championships in Dublin earlier this year, only seven of the Open pairs played a multi 2♣ that was a weak 2♦ or their very strong bid (there were 97 pairs, of which 28 played a natural two clubs).