[mycroft]

I will absolutely say that I would ask for two changes to the ACBL Announcements:

• After a Natural NT Opening, Announce the suit shown by any Response that shows a specific suit. After a Natural NT Overcall, Announce the suit shown by any Advance that shows a specific suit.
  
• Steal the EBU Announcements for 2-of-a-suit openers wholesale (except *possibly* "do not Alert Artificial Very Strong 2♣ opening").

The number of issues those of us who still play 2-way Stayman, or cuebid Stayman after 1NT overcall, or rescue system/1NTx that has natural bids, or "2 bids to play" with lebensohl, or... have are legion. Also, the number of cases where the transfer Announcement is late in a situation where the call is highly likely to be Natural (say that same 1NT-X, or "stolen bids", or...) and the problems *that* causes is also legion. If *something* had to be said, 100% of the time, and if "if you didn't ask, you didn't care, they had to say *something*"; these issues would go away. Yes, the number of UI cases would go up where there either was a misunderstanding or "of course it's not a transfer, remember?" - but these are much easier for the Director to protect the NOS than 1NT-2♦!-2♥-wait for Announcement, p-"Oh, that's spades" 2♠ and the like.

And, of course, Announcing the nature of all Natural 2-of-a-suit openings (that aren't Alertable for *promising* another suit) would solve my personal bugbear of "when you open 2♦, wait to see who asks if it's Weak. Play that hand for about 13, balanced if they pass."

But perfect is the enemy of good, and I'd rather have something simple, consistent, and flawed than adding to "oh we get to explain all our bids so partner knows we're on the same page".

[mycroft]

Agreeing with PaulG again with "BBO explanations". Even the ACBL suggests that with self-Alerting (where there is little information given to partner), explaining calls proactively, even ones that aren't Alertable F-t-F, that the opponents will not expect, is a good idea. If they call the director and complain that you didn't explain that it was not-a-transfer, then you fall back on the regulations that say "Natural isn't Alertable (in this case, the *only* thing that isn't Alertable), we did what we were required to" - but there's no reason *not to* explain it as natural and save all that bother.

As I said above, I'd actually *like* this to become a required Announcement, just to avoid the nasty looks we get after 1NT-X-2♥ (and, when playing with That Other Weak NT pair, the nasty looks we get after 1NT-p-2♥ :-).

[barmar]

mycroft, on 2026-April-02, 21:52, said:

I will absolutely say that I would ask for two changes to the ACBL Announcements:

• After a Natural NT Opening, Announce the suit shown by any Response that shows a specific suit. After a Natural NT Overcall, Announce the suit shown by any Advance that shows a specific suit.

Isn't that the current procedure?

It used to be that you just announced "transfer" when transfering to hearts or spades, and used "alert" for anything else. But now you announce the name of the suit for any transfers that just show a specific suit, and "alert" something else.

I play Compressed Transfers with one partner, so we alert these responses.

[mycroft]

Any response that shows "a specified suit". Not just "a specified suit not the suit bid".

So 1NT-X-2♥ is [Ed: would be, with my suggested rewording] Announced "Hearts".

[pescetom]

mycroft, on 2026-April-03, 11:16, said:

Any response that shows "a specified suit". Not just "a specified suit not the suit bid".

So 1NT-X-2♥ is Announced "Hearts".

I think that would be great, wish we had it here.
Also in line with yet another strong point of announcements that I did not labour previously, namely that they work best when all (or almost) reasonably possible calls are covered by an announcement, without leaving space for gratuitous alerts or no action because "natural" or hesitations and forgets.
Which is why I like our current scheme of standard announcements for almost all likely 1 and 2 level openings (and why I dislike the apparently innocuous exception of silence for 1M showing 5+).
Another situation where I think obligatory announcement does a great job is any reply to 1NT-2♣ asking (ex-"Stayman").

[Zelandakh]

jillybean, on 2026-April-02, 11:18, said:

You don't and you can't. Its a quick fix and I see the attraction however, Redealing removes a potentially a top board for you, or an above average, it's not bridge.
This is akin to clubs who skip boards after an infraction.

Play with friends and people who disclose, boot the others

I think it's right and fair to give random opponents a warning before booting them, particularly as there is a wide tolerance of non-alerting in many quarters. We ask them to alert stuff in the box and if the MI affects our bidding, we re-deal. If they are shirty about it, they get blacklisted. If not, I write a note in their profile and we go on happily. Three notes in a profile is a blacklist. It's a method we've used for a while and in (almost) 25 years of playing on BBO, I haven't found a better one.

[blackshoe]

"that the opponents will not expect"

How is someone supposed to know what some stranger will expect?