[42]

Good morning!
A match with another expert, N, braught up this one (I slept well, I know him since many years ):

Scoring: IMP

bidding:
1♣ 1NT! pass 2♣!
3♣ 3♥ all pass

1NT is Raptor, showing 5(+)♦s + any 4° major, 8-15
2♣ asks for the major

---

I don't want to critize my p (otherwise I will run out of partners some day...), it is a tricky hand IMO. We discussed it after the match.

Questions:
1. Do you agree with the 1NT bid?
2. If you do not play Raptor (or disagree with 1NT here), do you bid 1♦ or Dbl or ...?
3. If you chose to Dbl, which action would you take after a number of ♠ by p?
4. Should south simply bid 2♦ instead of 2♣? East did not Dbl, so p is likely to be strong...
5. Lucky we got no Dbl, but IF 3♥ is doubled, should south bid 4♦ then? (P said so)

Thank you!
Caren

[helene_t]

1. Do you agree with the 1NT bid?
Yes, but our Raptor's can systematically be this strong. It also means that the lower end of the range is higher.

2. If you do not play Raptor (or disagree with 1NT here), do you bid 2♦ or Dbl or ...?
1♦. Presumably the agreement is that if I'm strong enough to reverse, I don't use raptor.

3. If you chose to Dbl, which action would you take after a number of ♠ by p?
N/A

4. Should south simply bid 2♦ instead of 2♣? East did not Dbl, so p is likely to be strong...
Yes, it's IMPs, go for the easiset partscore.

5. Lucky we got no Dbl, but IF 3♥ is doubled, should south bid 4♦ then? (P said so)
No

[ritong]

hello :-)

people who follow vugraph shows know that raptor is of my pet gadgets.
this hand is too powerful to use it, imho. i would overcall 1♦, waiting for next round .

[Walddk]

42, on Aug 13 2005, 12:01 PM, said:

Questions:
1. Do you agree with the 1NT bid?
2. If you do not play Raptor (or disagree with 1NT here), do you bid 1♦ or Dbl or ...?
3. If you chose to Dbl, which action would you take after a number of ♠ by p?
4. Should south simply bid 2♦ instead of 2♣? East did not Dbl, so p is likely to be strong...
5. Lucky we got no Dbl, but IF 3♥ is doubled, should south bid 4♦ then? (P said so)

Thank you!
Caren

1. No
2. 1♦
3.
4. Yes
5. No

Another partner of yours who won his bridge "licence" in the lottery. You really should ask him to give you the numbers for next Saturday.

Roland

[Gerben42]

1. Do you agree with the 1NT bid?

No, this hand is strong enough to bid ♦ and then reverse into ♥.

2. If you do not play Raptor (or disagree with 1NT here), do you bid 1♦ or Dbl or ...?

1♦

3. If you chose to Dbl, which action would you take after a number of ♠ by p?

Take a break and some drink with at least 30% alcohol.

4. Should south simply bid 2♦ instead of 2♣? East did not Dbl, so p is likely to be strong...

Yes. And then pass 2♥.

5. Lucky we got no Dbl, but IF 3♥ is doubled, should south bid 4♦ then? (P said so)

Yes, even without double. This auction from partner shows something like 7 - 4 and not something like the North hand.
(Quite a strong 7 - 4 too, otherwise bid 3♦ instead of 3♥)

[42]

Quote

You really should ask him to give you the numbers for next Saturday.

Ok, Roland, when I win, I promise to become bridge sponsor of "Carenina's Heros"

I bid 2♣ because I felt I would loose the postmortem if there had been a 5-4 ♠-fit and we play the 5-2 ♦. He found that bid a must

Carenina

[P_Marlowe]

1)I dont play Raptor, it is probably super maximum,
and may be to strong
2)1D
3)abstain
4)partnership aggreement, but 2C is ok,
wonder happens, and partner may turn up
with 4 spades
I would not assume partner is strong, maybe
East looks at a penalty dbl, but does not want
to create a forcing pass situation, maybe opener
is strong
5)Why should I bid 4D? Why did partner bid 3H?
How do I know that we will get 2 more tricks in 4D
compared to 3H?
If they dbl 3H and we go for a number and partner
complains, shoot partner.
You may wonder, it I still find f2f partners ,
the process I employ is called survival of the fittest

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Chamaco]

I do not agree with Raptor here.

The reason is the following:
I like that bids that promise a 2 suiter , like Michales, U2NT or Ghestem etc etc, promise a well defined range and not a contiguous range.

In other words, I do not like that the same bid can promise either a minimum opening hand (say 10-15) AND a reverse (say 16+).

I find it acceptable to use 2-way range such as 7-10 OR 16+ (minimax), but I do not like contiguous ranges, in my opinion they make harder the task of our pard.

====================

Botomline: I like to play Raptor as promising a minimum opener but DENYING a hand worth a reverse.

So in my opinion this hand is too strong (despite 15 hcp only): I would have doubled and bid diamonds.
Also a 1D overcall is reasonable: pard will know that it guarantees serious strength, because it cannot be a frivolous overcalls since it does not rob opps of any bidding space.

[Free]

1. Do you agree with the 1NT bid?
I've never played Raptor, and not planning to do so. Dunno if it's a good 1NT, but I think you're too strong...

2. If you do not play Raptor (or disagree with 1NT here), do you bid 1♦ or Dbl or ...?
I play Power Doubles, 15+ any hand. So Dbl.

3. If you chose to Dbl, which action would you take after a number of ♠ by p?
If East is quiet, South will bid 1♥, showing 4+♠s and 0-8HCP. North will just bid 2♦ NF (no extra's), which denies a 3 card ♠ support as well. South will probably pass this.
If East bids 1♠, South will double showing a decent minimum with ♠s. North will probably still bid 2♦ since he's void and 1♠ might make too easy.