[starfruit]

Hi, I've recently agreed to play weak jump shift by responder with a new partner.

However as I've never tried it before I wonder what's the "standard" for the treatment.

And :
1♣ - 3♦/♥/♠
1♦ - 3♣/♥/♠

Are these played as wjs? Or are some of them played as splinters?

[ohioply]

over 1minor 3h or 3s is a splinter wjs over 1minor is 2h/2s
1c-3d is also splinter

more info on splinters
http://homepage.mac.com/bridgeguys//Conven...s/Splinter.html

[SoTired]

Only single jump shifts qualify as a weak jump shift. Double jump shifts are splinters.

Many play that single jump shifts from major to minor (1H 3C or 1H 3D or 1S 3C or 1S 3D) have special meaning so they are excluded.

Some play 1S 3H has special meaning, so that is excluded.

Some use 1C 2D and 1D 3C as versions of a minor suit raise when playing inverted minors, so that is excluded.

A few use 1H 2S as a special bid, also.

When someone says "Weak J/S" I think it prudent to ask, "Which ones?"

Next, what about in competition? Like 1C (1S) 3H or 1S 2C 3D?

The other question is "How weak?"

Most play about 0-5 HCP, or weaker than a 1M response. Some play other ranges like 3-6, 0-2, or whatever. Some play no outside A or K.

[mikeh]

There are different considerations to think about.

WJS's into a major over a minor only take you to the 2-level, so are normally done on 6 card suits. As to the high card strength, I disagree with the earlier post suggesting that the majority play it as low as 0 hcp. I am not saying that no significant number of players go that low, but my experience certainly suggests that a range of 3-6 or 3-5 is more 'normal'..... bearing in mind that one may tend to be more or less aggressive depending on the vulnerability.

A WJS into a lower ranking suit than opener bid takes you to the 3-level. This has all kinds of implications, including the rather important one that the opps are more inclined to be defending now, and more inclined to be successful in doing so if you treat this wjs the same as a major over a minor.

So my advice would be to beef up the 3 level wjs: not so much in terms of hcp, but I'd suggest a 7 card suit...certainly if vulnerable. Bear in mind that wjs find at least a part of their theoretical justification in the LOTT (The Law of Total Tricks) and, roughly speaking, you 'need' an extra trump to go an extra level.

Of course, you will eventually, if not already, discover many other uses for 3-level responses to a major opening, and most experts seem to feel that these are more effective than the equivalent wjs.

BTW, I agree with the posts that say that a double jump is not a wjs: 1♣ 3♦ would not be one.

A final note: a wjs is a uni-directional, or one-dimensional, weapon. It makes sense to require that what modest high card strength you have be at least significantly in the suit: thus with 10xxxxx Kx Qxx xx, I would not consider a wjs into 2♠ under any circumstances, but with Q10xxxx Kx xxx xx, I would, while I would consider KQ10xxx xx xxx xx a protypical maximum wjs.

[mike777]

Not too late to NOT agree to wjs

[pbleighton]

I preempt and overcall much more freely than most, but I don't like WJS.

If you play them in a very discliplined manner, they hardly ever come up.

If not, the results are unimpressive.

Why preempt partner, who may have a great hand?

Peter

[Wayne_LV]

As has already been pointed out the WJS comes up very infrequently.

I do not play strong jump shifts, so the bids are available for other uses. I use those bids now for WJS with the following requirements:

Jump to the 2 level = 6+ suit, 0-5 hcp
Jump to 3 level = 7+ suit, 0-5

The bid accomplishes 2 things

1) It warns partner you are broke and any bid he/she makes will have to be fullfilled from his hand

2) It sometimes preempts the opponents out of a part score. It rarely stops them from bidding a game their way.

If the WJS bid is passed out, it has been my experience you will usually get a very good board. This is due to the fact that most other pairs will never bid, let alone play in your long suit.

If the opponents play the hand, partner can plan his defensive play knowing you probably have no defensive tricks. The downside to this is, of course, the declarer also knows you are broke and will win all finesses against your partner.

In the long run, the WJS is like many other "gee whiz" bids. It comes up so seldom that it will probably affect your overall scores by less than 1% either way.

[SoTired]

when i was looking at the 1m 2H bid showing 5-8 hcp, 5+♠, 4+♥, i found that the weak jump shift with 6+♥ and 0-5 hcp came up much less frequently. I think it was in the order of 5 to 10 times less often.

[pclayton]

SoTired, on Jan 24 2007, 01:00 PM, said:

when i was looking at the 1m 2H bid showing 5-8 hcp, 5+♠, 4+♥, i found that the weak jump shift with 6+♥ and 0-5 hcp came up much less frequently. I think it was in the order of 5 to 10 times less often.

I play reverse flannery too, but I would never have thought it comes up that much more often on an order of maginitude.

[SoTired]

its easy to test if you have a database of actual hands. Just look for hands that start 1m Pass and compare the 2 possible hand types in responder