[mike777]

Understand XYZ was discussed here several months ago but missed that thread

How do you play XYZ with your partners?

For sake of this topic assume 1c=p=1h may be as weak as XXX=QJXXX=XXX=XX or very strong

1c=p=1h=p
1s=p=?

[inquiry]

mike777, on Dec 2 2004, 06:17 PM, said:

1c=p=1h=p
1s=p=?

Short version.....

• Pass - almost impossible
  
• 1NT - balanced (or semi-ballanced) not more than 10
  
• 2C - force partner to bid 2D (unless he has a monster). Where responder can Pass (to play), bid 2H (mildly invite), 2S (mildly invite), 2NT invite, 3C/3D invite, 3H/3S strongly invite more on hcp than distribution,
  
• 2D - 100% game force, (2D then raise clubs denies 5-5)
  
• 2H weak, to play
  
• 2S = weak, forced to bid
  
• 2NT - transfer to 3C (opener with true monster will not bid 3C)... if opener bids 3C and responder bids another suit or 3NT, it has special meanings as well.
  
• 3C - 5-5 (or better) forcing
  
• 3D - 5-5 (or better) forcing
  
• 3H - invite, more distributional invite than hcp invite
  
• 3S - distributional invite with fit

[han]

I play basically the same structure, except that direct 3H or 3S is forcing and shows slam interest. It seems to me that 3 different ways to invite with hearts is less important than the ability to set trump for a slam try immediately.

[han]

I just read Ben's reply in the "forcing rebid in 2/1 thread", and now I understand why it makes sense to play all these different invitations. Perhaps the auction 1C-1H-1S-2C-2D-2H/S should be called "highly constructive" instead of "mild invite" (as they can be balanced 9-counts, which imo is not even close to an invite).

[pclayton]

Same as Hannie's first post - I don't have a lot of need to break up the invitational hands too much.

A few notes: 1♣ - 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♠ shows any hand good enough to respond with 3-4 trump. See my note on using Ogust here on the other thread. See notes about using a forcing NT here below.

1♣ - 1♥ - 1♠ - 3♥ show a completely different type of hand than 1♣ - 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♦ - 2x - 3♥. The former shows a really good suit and invites a cue or Serious 3N. The latter shows a weaker suit and can handle 3N; which now isn't 'Serious'.

1♣ - 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 3♥ shows an invitational hand with 6 / 7 hearts. Its not 'distributional'; it just shows more hearts than 2♥.

1♣ - 1♠ - 1N - 2♣ - 2♦ - 3♥ shows an invitational 5-5, again, not just 'distributional'.

1♣ - 1♠ - 1N - 2♣ - 2♦ - 3N shows a 5332 with game forcing values (the only exception to 2♣ being an invite) - this comes directly from xyz's inventor, Joe Kivel. Similar to Kilinger's philosophy, opener should pass with any hand with 2 trump or a 4333.

Note: in '86 when I was in college, I came up with the idea of using a forcing 1NT after 1/1/1. For this to be playable, ALL 1 level rebids had to be unbalanced (not just after 1♣ - 1♦. My partner and I have gone back to 1♣ - 1♥ - 1♠ as unbalanced; skipping the 4 spades to show the balanced 15-17, so we are tossing around this idea (I wish I kept the manuascript - I submitted it to Jeff Rubens and we had a lengthy discussion about it, but he didn't publish the paper ). This treatment is actually better than xyz, since it allows you to play all two level bids as natural and FORCING; similar to 2/1 or inverted minors (if you don't want to load too much onto the 1N call, you can play 2♣ as xyz-ish for the invites).