[Zelandakh]

 Free, on 2013-June-30, 13:51, said:

I don't see a reason why to play natural either (instead of Smolen).

Rik gave a reason in the last paragraph of his post. After a natural 3♥, Opener can bid 3NT with no fit and make a cue bid with a nice hand for hearts; the same for a natural 3♠. After a Smolen 3♠, Opener can bid 3NT without a fit but now has only 2 cue bids below 4♥ with a good hand for hearts. FWiiW I do have a form of Smolen in my NT structure but I can easily understand any argument against it based on the above.

[Free]

 Zelandakh, on 2013-July-01, 02:05, said:

Rik gave a reason in the last paragraph of his post. After a natural 3♥, Opener can bid 3NT with no fit and make a cue bid with a nice hand for hearts; the same for a natural 3♠. After a Smolen 3♠, Opener can bid 3NT without a fit but now has only 2 cue bids below 4♥ with a good hand for hearts. FWiiW I do have a form of Smolen in my NT structure but I can easily understand any argument against it based on the above.

Sure, but why show your hand at 3-level when you can do it at 2-level? Just play 1NT-2♦-2♥-2♠ as forcing for 1 round (at least invitational) and you don't need 1NT-2♣-2♦-3♥ to be natural.

[Cyberyeti]

 Free, on 2013-July-01, 11:15, said:

Sure, but why show your hand at 3-level when you can do it at 2-level? Just play 1NT-2♦-2♥-2♠ as forcing for 1 round (at least invitational) and you don't need 1NT-2♣-2♦-3♥ to be natural.

Which is fine if you don't play Walsh relays.

[GreenMan]

 Free, on 2013-July-01, 11:15, said:

Sure, but why show your hand at 3-level when you can do it at 2-level? Just play 1NT-2♦-2♥-2♠ as forcing for 1 round (at least invitational) and you don't need 1NT-2♣-2♦-3♥ to be natural.

Most people play that sequence as 5-5. If it could be 5-5 or 4-5, opener with e.g. 3244 has a tough guess.

Yeah there are plenty of other solutions if you like devoting larger chunks of memory to the problem, but most people considering Smolen aren't in that category.

[Zelandakh]

 Free, on 2013-July-01, 11:15, said:

Sure, but why show your hand at 3-level when you can do it at 2-level? Just play 1NT-2♦-2♥-2♠ as forcing for 1 round (at least invitational) and you don't need 1NT-2♣-2♦-3♥ to be natural.

Many use this sequence for something else. For me it is a multi-way bid showing either a 5 card invite (natural 2NT or 4NT rebid) or clubs or a strong one-suiter. Since your method involves forcing to the 3 level anyway, the loss from showing the hand at the 3 level is minimal and, in the meantime, you are usually using the bidding space more efficiently.