mycroft, on 2014-January-13, 11:05, said:
A novice learning modern Standard American also has baggage. Remember:
It's a cardinal sin to open 1♥ on AKQT - you have to open 1♣ on 642 instead. However, it's also a cardinal sin to do anything but 1♥ in response to 1♣ on 8642, even with great clubs.
You pretty much have to learn transfers over that strong NT.
I've gone and taken 800s off strong NT more than once - probably more often than I've given 800s playing a weak NT (okay, yes, I do have good runout systems and know how to bail before I'm doubled, too).
When can I raise a minor - what do I need to raise a minor - how do I make a forcing raise in a minor -...all much harder when playing convenient minors (and that, too, when partner has a flat minimum) than when playing 4-card majors, and minors will be shapely or sound.
Bring 2/1 into the mix - even modern American Standard "2/1 is 10+ and promises a rebid unless opener bids 2NT" - and there's a whole number of unnatural bids that have to be made to make that work. Acol? You can and should respond 2♣ to 1M with AJTxxx and another card - which is what novices will want to do; bid their longest suit.
All this is true IF you feel the necessity of involving beginners to a specific system. We have to make a brief speech about what a "system" in bridge means and that there are so many of them. And i will add to tell them that none of those systems are invented for the purpose of teaching. They are designed and built to optimize your bidding accuracy more or less. The more you try to be accurate, the more it becomes complicated.
It is not duty of bridge teacher to teach a system, when the targeted group is beginners, He has to deal with a lot of things, which are more important and which will come up frequently regardless of which systems they play. For example, i have observed how many B/N players do not know the difference between simple preference and support. How many of them have not even been told anything about it. Being taught this little thing makes a huge difference. One stays at 2 level, other one goes up to sky thinking that pd is supporting him. This is also one way to go down doubled for -800 or -1100. And it happens much more than the -1100 you avoided by GS. Yes, another teacher, who believes GS is a must with weak NT, can teach SP too, and i agree, however as i said before things like GS and things like simple preference are too many. I strongly believe, for this targeted level (B/N) one should make their investment on things like; simple preference, a firm understanding of the forcing and non forcing concept, knowing their goal in bidding and in play and in defense etc etc ..
Most B/N players think "forcing" means strong and "non forcing" means weak. You have to make sure they know that forcing means "pd i can not tell my hand in 1 single bid, please hang in there for me, don't leave me, i will get back to you" and non forcing means "here is my hand, now you have the ball, do what you want, i will pass my next turn unless you want me to be more specific about my hand" This is much better than teaching which bid is forcing or non forcing in X or Y or Z system.
Bottom line is, when teaching beginners, the system should not be the dominant factor. We should not feel the obligation of teaching something just because X system says so. To start teaching a system, is a very bad idea at the first place imho, when the level of the targeted group is not familiar with a lot of things about bridge. Stayman is a tool to find 4-4 M fits after 1 NT opening, since 1 NT disables any other 1 level bid. It is used in SA, 2/1, Acol, SEF, pecision etc etc. as oppose to things you are talking about which are against your cardinal rules and which are specific to X or Y or Z systems. People found out that stayman can be used for more purposes than why it was created at the first place, and have been improved, tweaked, modified but this group need none of these yet imo.
Bidding logic is the bone structure of the body, and systems are your muscles. If your bone structure is weak, it would not help you much, regardless of how much you pump up those muscles in the gym. I believe at this point of their bridge education, we should make sure they have a good bone structure.
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