[P_Marlowe]

TimG, on Mar 14 2005, 05:53 PM, said:

Another option is to simply overcall 1♠. I believe Miles has a discussion of this type of hand in one of his more recent books, perhaps "Bidding in the 21stCentury"?

But AJxx is not his proposed suit quality strength,
at least if you have the alternative KQxxxx.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[inquiry]

I've been a little hesitant to put down what Misho and I have agreed to play. We use a distorted raptor. Basically, our agreement is as follows.

1suit-2suit --> Still michaels, but we show specfically top two unbid suits.
1suit-2NT --> Still unusual, shows specifically the bottom two suits.

1suit-1NT --> Altered raptor. Either, four in an unbid major and 5+ in a minor, or, five plus in the top unbid su it and five plus in the bottom unbid suit. We use this bid with 5-5 only when we are willing to bid again... bidding the top suit. This second bid then locks in the lower suit as being held too.

So with Hannie's hand:
You hold AJxx x xx KQJxxx, RHO opens 1D. What's your call?

I overcall 1NT like any other "raptor guy". I might have hearts or spades.

But where Hannie would use
  2C: 4+ spades and 5+ diamonds, intermediate or better,

I simply bid 1NT, and if I bid 2♣, I strongly tend to deny four spades or four hearts.

And where hannie bids
  2D: 4+ hearts and 5+ diamonds, intermediate.

I don't have a bid to show 5+ in the suit they opened. So here, I assume they opened 1♣ and the jump to 2♦ shows this (I admit to being confused). I still use 1NT.

The cue-bid over the major seems to be overly damaging to your chances if you belong in hearts (for instance, they play (1S)=2S shows 4 hearts and long clubs. If you belong in hearts, you can't stop short of three which might be two or three levels too high. Also, you can't overcall 2♥ natural, as that shows four hearts but five plus diamonds.

It seems too convoluted to me. Sometimes I actually want to bid 2♣, or 2♦, or 2♥ natural. So I would place a huge DISADVANTAGE on the ability to make a natural two level overcall (2♣ over 1♦, or 2♥ over 1♠) (But again, maybe it has to be a jump to 2♠ over 1♥).

Anyway, I am very happy with this altered raptor. We include this when both oppoenents have bid as well....

(1D)-P-(1S)-?

Of course we play takeout double (sort of balanced, but for other suits)
1NT - takeout other two suits, emphais on lower suit, 4-5 or 4-6 likely
2NT - good distribution takeout for other suits
Cue-bid = natural here (we play cue-bids on these sequences as natural).

Ben