[fromageGB]

fbear, on 2014-October-27, 06:17, said:

I'd ignored the sarcastic comment about leading to the auction FromageGB presented as they hadn't bothered to think about the kind of hand responder may have for the auction 1NT-2C-2D-2H-3NT. As responder my partner and I bid this way holding S KQ10xx H KJxx D xx C xx as 2H will elicit whether opener holds a 4 card heart suit or 3 card spade suit.

Perhaps it should not be ignored. Certainly with this hand a spade lead would not be a disaster, but I was thinking your method would have the same sequence when responder had
♠ xx
♥ KJTx
♦ KQxxx
♣ xx
to take an extreme case, and here a spade lead would not be a good start for you when opener has a doubleton.

I apologise if I have misunderstood.

While this is a criticism - and see also my other post with more reasons - it is intended to be constructive and I do believe in being honest and not saying "this has merit" when I don't mean it. There are many ways of bidding, and it is a matter of choice, but in my view some methods are appreciably worse than others.

[fbear]

fromageGB, on 2014-October-28, 04:43, said:

Perhaps it should not be ignored. Certainly with this hand a spade lead would not be a disaster, but I was thinking your method would have the same sequence when responder had
♠ xx
♥ KJTx
♦ KQxxx
♣ xx
to take an extreme case, and here a spade lead would not be a good start for you when opener has a doubleton.

I apologise if I have misunderstood.

While this is a criticism - and see also my other post with more reasons - it is intended to be constructive and I do believe in being honest and not saying "this has merit" when I don't mean it. There are many ways of bidding, and it is a matter of choice, but in my view some methods are appreciably worse than others.

Thanks for clarifying your comments and sorry it's taken so long to respond, I don't use this forum very often.

With the hand you gave, the system is to respond 2C stayman, but follow it up with 3m natural 5+ cards and GF which will either find a 4-4 H fit otherwise possibly identify an issue in one of the black suits and suggest playing in the D suit.

I realise there are many systemic agreements and conventions over 1NT and I didn't want to make it sound like I'd got the perfect solution to all the possible responding hands, I was interested in people's own agreements and wondered why more people hadn't adopted a 5 card enquiry method - especially when many pairs are opening 1NT with 5 card majors.

[Zelandakh]

fromageGB, on 2014-October-23, 08:16, said:

Note 1 : If you invert responder's major bids, as you suggest, I don't think you can find a heart fit unless GF.

It is not a problem at all as I have posted many times. My own choice of method is for 2♥ to be a form of relay, generally denying 4 hearts, and 2♠ then shows 4 hearts. 2NT over 2♦ is invitational with 4-4 in the majors. Very easy. The benefits you get from 2M being forcing more than make up for not being able to stop there on some 4-4 fits. And you can still stop in 2M when either player has a 5 card major of course.

[BillPatch]

I found the Klinger methods for 5 card Stayman to be quite playable, although your mileage may vary. A late bridge partner fed me this method in selected clippings from a popular bridge calendar. I dutifully studied the material, thinking that was his request. After agreeing to play it, I found that he had not learned it! Another source for this is Kilinger. Five Card Major Stayman.

[KurtGodel]

PhilKing, on 2014-October-22, 04:42, said:

This is going to cost you about an average of at least a third of a trick, which is pretty disastrous.

Just out of curiosity where does this number come from? I know you sit on a bigger database of hands than pretty much everyone else, just wondering what kind of comparison you used.

[barmar]

90% of all statistics are just total guesses.