[lowerline]

against 1m
1M = natural
1NT = 15-17bal (OR 1suiter minor weak IF NV)

against 1m/nt:
2♣ = 2suiter (54+) majors
2♦ = 1suiter major weak OR any 1suiter strong
2♥/♠ = 2suiter (54 NV; 55 V) ♥/♠ + minor, weak
2NT = 2suiter minors (55) OR 2suiter major+minor, strong

Steven

[benlessard]

Dont be overly agressive when they use their strong 1Nt. Its a small range unbalanced hands so theyll know when they have game or not. If they decide to X instead of bidding game its usually very bad news. For the rest i agree 100% with awm

[pclayton]

dake50, on Jan 22 2008, 03:03 PM, said:

Fouts Overcall Structure vs their 1m openings. Get to 3-level before they can sort out their cases.
Only M-game oriented need act immediately over 1N(10-12). Reopening to find M/m partials or better.
The Mexican 2D has already taken their space for bal hands teammates will bid well.

I feel I need to correct this every few years.

John Fout didn't invent OS, he merely summarized it in his now famous notes. He hates it as a matter of fact.

OS was invented by Twining and Hodges in the 80's who were originally from the Bay Area. One of them lives in Oregon now I think. Both are starting to play more.

[MFA]

I think it's wrong to be too conservative about doubling a weakNT or a miniNT. We need to bid the games (or partscores) where our strength is evenly divided.
I know that some American top players advocate the sound doubles, but here I'll listen more to the Europeans, who seem to have more experience with the weakNT (or miniNT) after all.

Subsequent t/o doubles + lebensohl are very useful for sensible follow up auctions.

[awm]

MFA, on Jan 23 2008, 03:47 PM, said:

I think it's wrong to be too conservative about doubling a weakNT or a miniNT. We need to bid the games (or partscores) where our strength is evenly divided.
I know that some American top players advocate the sound doubles, but here I'll listen more to the Europeans, who seem to have more experience with the weakNT (or miniNT) after all.

Subsequent t/o doubles + lebensohl are very useful for sensible follow up auctions.

Frances (European) advocated sound doubles in this thread.

Gerben (European) also advocated sound doubles, in part because of advice from Sabine Auken (European) in her book.

I don't think it's just we Americans who need 15 hcp to penalty double a 10-12.

[MFA]

awm, on Jan 23 2008, 07:59 PM, said:

MFA, on Jan 23 2008, 03:47 PM, said:

I think it's wrong to be too conservative about doubling a weakNT or a miniNT. We need to bid the games (or partscores) where our strength is evenly divided.
I know that some American top players advocate the sound doubles, but here I'll listen more to the Europeans, who seem to have more experience with the weakNT (or miniNT) after all.

Subsequent t/o doubles + lebensohl are very useful for sensible follow up auctions.

Frances (European) advocated sound doubles in this thread.

Gerben (European) also advocated sound doubles, in part because of advice from Sabine Auken (European) in her book.

I don't think it's just we Americans who need 15 hcp to penalty double a 10-12.

Where do you find that?

The only example I see is a board where an opponent balance with 5-4 in the majors and 6hcp.
"... it was ill advised. Partner would certainly have doubled the miniNT with 13 hcp or more,..." !
(p. 8-9)

[hrothgar]

I gave the overcall structure over the short club a bit more thought...

Here's a potential revision that keeps the natural 1♥ and 1♠ overcalls.

I should make a general comment about the proposed methods. When I am playing against artificial openings that describe range but don't do a good job narrowing shape I very much prefer methods in which

1. Bids are natural whenever possible (If you have clubs, you bid clubs. If you have Spades you bid Spades)

2. Bids are limited in strength. Partner should be well positioned to place the hand with his next bid.

3. Bids often show two known suits. (This increases the chance that partner can get to 2M or 3m ASAP)

3♥ = Majors
3♦ = Diamonds
3♣ = Minors
2N = Clubs or (Diamonds and Hearts)
2♠ = Multi - (Weak with Hearts or Spades)
2♥ = Majors
2♦ = Diamonds and Hearts
2♣ = Clubs and Hearts
1N = Spades and a minor
1♠ = Spades
1♥ = Hearts
1♦ = Forcing (various strong hands)
X = Various strong hands

[dake50]

I feel I need to correct this every few years.

John Fout didn't invent OS, he merely summarized it in his now famous notes. He hates it as a matter of fact. --pclayton

Does one attribute the inventor or the publisher? ? Ask Eli Culbertson.

[mikestar]

dake50, on Jan 24 2008, 08:57 PM, said:

I feel I need to correct this every few years.

John Fout didn't invent OS, he merely summarized it in his now famous notes. He hates it as a matter of fact. --pclayton

Does one attribute the inventor or the publisher? ? Ask Eli Culbertson.

It all depends. I would hesitate to attribute something to Fout that he is opposed to, even though his writeup is rather better than the book by Twining and Hodges.

On the other hand, calling the Rapee convention Stayman is technically incorrect, but Sam Stayman literally wrote the book on his favorite partner's convention and did a great job testing and publicizing it.

Yet again, Jordan and Lebensohl are really poorly named. 1M-(X)-2NT as a limit raise was invented by Alan Truscott and possibly others. Robert Jordan merely reported to someone that he had seen the bid used--he neither claimed credit for it, nor did he use it or advocate it at that time. Ken Lebensold (notice the spelling) disclaims any association whatever with Lebensohl.

[MickyB]

mikestar, on Jan 24 2008, 09:26 PM, said:

Yet again, Jordan and Lebensohl are really poorly named. 1M-(X)-2NT as a limit raise was invented by Alan Truscott and possibly others. Robert Jordan merely reported to someone that he had seen the bid used--he neither claimed credit for it, nor did he use it or advocate it at that time.

It's usually called Truscott in the UK.