[Cascade]

What did 3♠ show?

I think you have an advantage with the limited opening that you know opener is around 14-15 immediately with the jump. It seems to me that it would be better to immediately agree one of partner's minors unless there is some ambiguity about length.

It still probably gets awkward as ideally we need the hand with the key queens in the side suit to be asking (in control) and for that player to know about the spade void.

I don't think we would do any better after a standard fourth suit auction starting 1♦ 1♥; 2♣ 2♠ ...

I did wonder about a possible 4♠ response to show extra values and a void in the fourth suit. On this hand responder would be well placed virtually knowing every card in opener's hand. However with a different responding hand there could be too much ambiguity about opener's suit lengths 0355; 0265; 0364 etc

[Fluffy]

Zelandakh, on 2011-November-11, 13:07, said:

Fluffy, are you sure you have your relays optimised? Over a 1D opening I really think you should be able to show the 5-5 minors at 2S at the highest. It looks like you are using 3C for this which immediately puts you 2 steps higher, and 3H as the next relay makes it +3 steps. Also, after 3NT in your auction I suggest it might be nice to use 4C as a relay rather than RKCB for clubs. It seems clear from the North seat that relays are going to be more efficient than RKCB on this hand so having that option to proceed would be advantageous.

We have a many bids that describe hands with 4 hearts, because 1♥ is normally natural, 1♥ normally is one of 3 types: weak nat, GF nat, or very very strong.
We could perhaps use 2♠ instead of 3♣ for this type, right now 2♠ is used for 3 suiters with 4♥&4♦ wich doesn't come up very frequently anyway. We moved to 3 suiters because I though it was a waste to have 2♠ for specifically 5♣-4♦ max and 2NT 5♦-4♣ max. Now 2NT is 6♦-3♥.

So 3♣ is 5+-5+ max.


What is you response scheme?


About the blackwood for clubs, its just our next relay*. We play something completelly different from others**, once we know all distribution, instead of just bidding a relay for starting asking keycards, we use 4 steps to set up trumps. 4♣ is keycard in clubs, not because 4♣ is clubs, but because it is the first step now, and ♣s are the longest opener's suit (lowest from equal). Setting trumps is a very different approach from the usual methods that ask about everything. We set up trumps, and then we force the asker to do something else than just bid next relay, he has a variety of asking bids with different steps. This is possile because we know what the fit is, and any bid that is the fit is a stop, others are different questions.


*: normally we ask about all distribution, then for keycards, but on some specific cases we end up simply asking for shortness, and remain unsure of total lenght, treating 7321 the same as 7231 or 8221 for example. Here 0256 would be the same as 0355 or 0265. But this is not typical.

**: this is something I totally invented myself, and that nobody is using right now that I know of, I am very fond of it and not gonna change it anytime soon.

[Fluffy]

Me and partner are thinking about switching 2♠ and 3♣. I think we will probably do. Thank you Mark.

[Zelandakh]

You are welcome! I am just pleased you did not take offence. My responses to 1D are currently:-

1D = 10-17, 4+ diamonds, unbalanced
==
1H = invitational or better relay (see below)
1S = natural, weak, non-forcing
1N = 4+ hearts, weak, non-forcing (denies 4 spades)
2C = natural, weak, non-forcing (5+ clubs, denies 4 card major)
2D = natural, weak, non-forcing
2M = weak jump shift (up to ~7 hcp)
2N = mixed raise
3C = weak jump shift (up to ~7 hcp)
3D = weak raise

The weak hands bid 4 card suits up the line, possible canape. I found in testing that this approach is better than bidding the longest suit first.

Over 1H
=======
1S = min, not 4 spades unless 4441 or 4450
... - 1N = GF relay (then responses as over 1H)
... - others = natural and invitational
1N = 4 spades, 0-3 hearts (2C = GF relay (see below); others = natural and invitational)
2C = max, 4+ clubs, 0-3 spades, GF
... - 2D = relay
... - ... - 2H = 5+ diamonds, 4 clubs
... - ... - 2S = 5+ diamonds, 5+ clubs
... - ... - 2N = 4 diamonds, 5+ clubs
... - ... - 3C = 1444
... - ... - 3D = 1454
2D = max, 6+ diamonds, no other 4 card suit, GF
2H = max, 5+ diamonds, 4 hearts, not 3-suited, GF
2S = max, 4441, GF
2N = max, 4450, GF

I have been working on this structure a little lately as it originally had 6D5H hands allowed and I have removed them. I may also switch the 2C and 2H responses sometime to make all the "4 hearts, not 4 spades" hands go through 2C. The disadvantage of this is pushing the 4450 hand to 3D but it is probably worth it.

Finally,
1D - 1H; 1N - 2C
================
2D = min, 4 spades (2H relay (then responses as over 2C)
2H = 5+ spades
2S = max, 6+ diamonds, 4 spades
2N = max, 5 diamonds, 4 spades, not 3-suited
3C = max, 4144
3D = max, 4154

I have kept the 6D5S hand option in here because if I can outbid them in spades next time around (and if opening 1D you should be prepared to) and because I just do not have anything better to use this step for without messing up the symmetry (which would most likely lead to memory failures). You can at least trace some of the sequence above from this.

With your method of 1H natural or GF you could adopt a similar approach by using the first step as a relay with the big hand and others as natural. Of course this is a little awkward when the next bid is 2NT, as it would be over 2S. Probably a better answer would be to use 2C as most hands with clubs and only make the jumps with heart support, thus catering to both hand types. Something like

1D - 1H = nat or GF relay
=======
1S/1N/2C/2D/2H = natural
2S = max, 4 hearts, 6+ diamonds
2N = max, 4 hearts, 5 diamonds
3C = max, 0-1 clubs
3D = max, 1454 (3H to play, 3S relay)
3H = max, 0454

might work, depending upon exactly what hands you keep in your 1D opening. Combining the two ideas ought to make for an efficient system, in theory anyway .