[Bradleyj]

Quick Q. When asked by opponent at the proper time "how many points" does that bid means. (Partner of bidder)
Do they have to tell you how many points the bid conveys to them?
Thank you,
Bradlj

[RMB1]

Bradleyj, on 2014-February-09, 16:19, said:

When asked by opponent at the proper time "how many points" does that bid means. (Partner of bidder)
Do they have to tell you how many points the bid conveys to them?

If you have an agreement, expressed in points, about how strong the bid is then YES you should say how many points is your agreement.

If your agreement about how strong the bid is is expresised in some other way, then you should explain the strength of bid is in the those terms.

If you don't have an agreement about the strength of the bid, you should say we have no agreement about the strength of the bid.

[aguahombre]

If someone asks me at the proper time, "how many points did your partner's bid show?", I not only should answer the question but answer the real question ---if it is not the same.

Example: 1♠-4♦. Player next to act asks how many points 4♦ shows. My answer should include both the HCP range we have agreed on and the total support-point range agreed; in addition, I would clarify that the distribution points include the Diamond shortness.

Many players are single-minded into counting HCP and are not really asking what they need to know.

Of course in (say) 2S-4S, if the opponent asks about point count, we cannot answer in point-count terms at all. But we will disclose the common holdings where partner would jump raise to game --even though partner is not telling me anything at all, other than she wants to bid 4S and doesn't want my participation.

[mycroft]

If you're playing a "weird" range for reasons, and your meaning of the term is different, you should make that clear as well.

Ex: 1♠-3♣! In my Precision partnership, it's "invitational, 4+ spades"; but since opener is limited to 15, our invitational is stronger than standard. When asked how many points, we tell them there's "no agreement; but partner is happy being in game opposite a Goren opener (say a decent 13)". Yes, we do the same thing for 1♠-3♦ ("invitational with 4 spades; go only if your hand upgrades to a 1♣ opener knowing about the 4-card support") and 1♠-3♠ ("to play opposite partner's 11-15, 4 spades; may be quite a bit stronger than 6")