DavidKok, on 2022-September-22, 03:55, said:
South won't pass over 1♣-(1♠)-?, but will instead bid 2♦.
I wouldn’t. I have zero interest in bidding 2D with Qxxxx and marginal hcp and a terrible (for offence) spade holding should I be declarer. I think 2D is absolutely horrifying.
I’d be tempted to raise clubs except that my partners don’t promise club length. However, since somebody is usually bidding hearts soon, I think 2C is reasonable.
As it is, I would be very happy to see that auction go 1C (1S) P P P
As for the methods on display, other than the 1C opening I didn’t see anything that suggests much understanding of the game. The so called Laurel and Hardy method is silly.
Expert bridge evolves in a quasi Darwinian fashion. Quasi because, usually, new variations do not arise randomly but Darwinian because competition tends to remove, from the ‘gene pool’ of bidding methods those that do not lead to success. Methods that represent at least equivalent or better methods than those upon which they were based tend to spread.
Obviously the analogy has limits. Some very powerful methods are outlawed and others heavily restricted, usually out of concerns about fairness
Ferts are an example. The vast majority of players lack the time or opportunity to be familiar with them, so that the methods may enjoy success not because they have intrinsic value but because they confuse opponents.
Sorting out whether new methods are genuinely an improvement over old or are simply beating up on the great majority of players who can’t, for various reasons, identify how to play against them is very challenging.
I think the Laurel and Hardy method is likely legal in most areas. Having looked at it, I’d like a chance to discuss a defence with my partner, but (after that) I’d be delighted if I could find people willing to play it against me.
It presents wonderful opportunities for lucrative penalties while, it seems to me, making it extraordinarily difficult for its users to bid constructively. In short, it’s silly.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari