[42]

Hi!
Today as North I had to deal with this problem:

Scoring: MP

bidding went:
2♥! Dbl 2♠! 3♣
3♠ 4♦ pass 5♦

2♥ = 2suiter, ♥+ any, 6-10/11
2♠= pass or correct

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Questions:
1. Was the opening bid ok? If not, better 1♠?
2. What do you think about 3♠?
3. What is your opinion about the E/W bidding?

2 Hands later (out of 10) this one occured:

Scoring: MP

bidding went:
2♥! Dbl 2♠! 3♣
3♠ 4♦ pass 5♦

2♥ = 2suiter, ♥+ any, 6-10/11
2♠= pass or correct

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I do not really feel well with this, too, now less working points in my major suits than in hand 1, that is why I chose 1♠.

4. How is the optimal bidding?

5. A more general question: how are your experiences with weak 2-suiter openings? Do you use them or do they reveal too much for opps? Whenever I played them, they caused a bad result

Now hit me with arguments, please

Caren

[luke warm]

hi caren...

i guess the 2h bid is ok, i just don't have a lot of experience with that convention... on first blush it looks like it can cause responder problems, there can be a world of difference between a 2 suiter with 7 hcp and one with 10

i hate east's double ... i don't like west's 3c bid (i'd bid 2nt), and in general i don't care for your 3s

'normal' bidding for me would be

p (1h) p (1nt) p (3h) p (p or 4h) all pass

on hand 2, if i play the 2h convention i played in hand 1, that'd be my opening here also... i doubt i'd reach 4s (i don't know your followups).. my bidding probably would be

p (p) p (1d) 2d (p) 2s all pass... maybe west can bid 3s over my 2d, then maybe i'd reach 4s

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

1) the main question is, what does 2-suiter mean, 5-4, 5-5, ... ?
If it could have been 5-4, you are to strong for 2H.

2) I also do not like the raise, since I doubt that 2S promises
3 cards, the only good thing about this bid is, that opener
must hold a freak to justify 3S.

3) East-West bidding?
They did not know, what they were playing.

4) I think this comes closer to an 2H opener?

5) abstain

With kind regards
Marlowe

[coyot]

1) Opening 2♥ is fine. As far as I know, the two-suiter openers are defined as 2♥ hearts with any, 2♠ spades with minor.

2) 3♠ is perfectly OK. Partner most likely has 3+ spades and 1-2 hearts. (I don't think he would bid 2♠ with a doubleton - but depends on your agreements). Anyway it looks like you could ruff a heart or two in his hand - and you have nice values. Swap the major honors and the hand becomes much worse...

3) EW bidding is crazy. With such a long heart suit, the only sensible bid is pass and then pass again after partner reopens with double. If opps run into a suit that EW cannot double for penalties, it is now time to start looking for our own suit - and partner WILL be given the knowledge that you are strong AND heart-based.


The second hand:
Which is more likely to cause problems?
a) bidding 11 HCP of which 6 is likely not working as a regular opener (11-20)
bidding the same HCP of which 5 is working as twosuiter (6-11).

I would think that a) is the answer. See that you ended in a game contract that needs lousy defense to make. Against the two-suiter, you might arrive in the same contract, but chances are that you will stop lower because your partner will see that the heart ruffs are done with high trumps.

[bestguru]

I think I would have done the opposite of you.

The first hand has an LTC of 6 (6.5?) making it a nice 1♠ opener.

The second has an LTC of 8 which suggests a preempt and your 2♥ opener fits


Take this with a grain of salt as I'm new to LTC and fully acknowledge that I'll be treating it like a silver bullet for a while.

[Fluffy]

1) both are correct, evaluating the power of ♣K is the clue, but you barelly can judge it at this point, so I wouldn't argue with any opening.

2) depends on what shape does 2♥ show, ,if it shows 9 cards then its ok, if it shows 10 cards then its too agressive.

3) just ridicoulous.

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4) it can be bid correctly with a variety of bids, 1♠-4♠ looks ok with natural aproach, while 2♥-2♠-pass could be ok as well on your methods.

5) I play a weak major 2 suiter, and it hardly ever comes at all, and it often gives us bad results. The reason is we are normally much better than the field, and opening a weak 2 suiter leads to an agressive positon where you will probably end in a different contract than anyone else, I don't find it profitable at my local level at all. The opposite becomes very true if you are not much better than the field. Since your experience in those situations will give you more points than you will lose.

[pigpenz]

Back in 1980 used to play 1-2-3 two suiters and this is problem sometimes with two suited openings, you have to bid your hand to the max (total tricks) as quickly as possible and make the opponetnst guess. Most of the time it works but like anything sometimes you get fixed by opps who think they are getting robbed, but usually you will more than make up for it on steals or penalty doubles