[Kungsgeten]

There's always debate on whether 1m-1H; 1S should promise an unbalanced hand or not. My preference when playing a natural(ish) system is that it should show an unbalanced hand, and that the balanced variant rebids 1NT.

In strong club systems, with a nebulous diamond, the tendency I've seen is that 1D-1H; 1S could be a balanced hand (and that rebidding 1NT denies spades). Is this true for most of you?

In Polish/Swedish Club (where opening 1C is a weak balanced hand, or a strong hand) it seems very common that 1C-1H; 1S could be either a strong hand with 5+ spades, or the weak balanced hand with 4 spades. This is the way I currently play it. Do you think it could be better to play that 1S promises the strong hand? This is in a non-relay context (where 1S should obviously be a strong relay), so I'm thinking maybe a strong unbalanced hand with 4+ spades, might have a longer minor?

[foobar]

Kungsgeten, on 2018-April-13, 09:19, said:

In strong club systems, with a nebulous diamond, the tendency I've seen is that 1D-1H; 1S could be a balanced hand (and that rebidding 1NT denies spades). Is this true for most of you?

Yes, over 1♦ - 1♥, 1♠ shows 4♠, and could be a balanced hand.

Kungsgeten, on 2018-April-13, 09:19, said:

In Polish/Swedish Club (where opening 1C is a weak balanced hand, or a strong hand) it seems very common that 1C-1H; 1S could be either a strong hand with 5+ spades, or the weak balanced hand with 4 spades. This is the way I currently play it. Do you think it could be better to play that 1S promises the strong hand? This is in a non-relay context (where 1S should obviously be a strong relay), so I'm thinking maybe a strong unbalanced hand with 4+ spades, might have a longer minor?

Not sure -- aren't a majority of 1♣ openings weak NTs?

[nullve]

Kungsgeten, on 2018-April-13, 09:19, said:

There's always debate on whether 1m-1H; 1S should promise an unbalanced hand or not. My preference when playing a natural(ish) system is that it should show an unbalanced hand, and that the balanced variant rebids 1NT.

In strong club systems, with a nebulous diamond, the tendency I've seen is that 1D-1H; 1S could be a balanced hand (and that rebidding 1NT denies spades). Is this true for most of you?

In Polish/Swedish Club (where opening 1C is a weak balanced hand, or a strong hand) it seems very common that 1C-1H; 1S could be either a strong hand with 5+ spades, or the weak balanced hand with 4 spades. This is the way I currently play it. Do you think it could be better to play that 1S promises the strong hand? This is in a non-relay context (where 1S should obviously be a strong relay), so I'm thinking maybe a strong unbalanced hand with 4+ spades, might have a longer minor?

If 1♠ can be balanced, standard bidders will sometimes lose a 5-2 or 5-3 heart fit after 1♣-1♥; 1♠-1N; P.

If 1♠ is always unbalanced, standard bidders will lose a 4-4 spade fit after 1♣-1♥; 1N-P or 1♣-1♥; 1N-2♥; P.

Getting rid of these problems is part of the reason people play T-Walsh. You don't have them in Swedish Club, either, so why introduce them?

[steve2005]

foobar, on 2018-April-13, 10:48, said:

Yes, over 1♦ - 1♥, 1♠ shows 4♠, and could be a balanced hand.

Not sure -- aren't a majority of 1♣ openings weak NTs?

Depends on exact system but at least 40% are weak NT and for some methods could be 50%+
If you can't find a 4-4 ♠ here if opener a weak NT i would just rather open a weak 1N in the first place.
You can find out if strong later.