[mikeh]

jillybean, on 2026-November-04, 17:09, said:

Mike, have you ever considered that lesser players pick up random actions not to appear expert, but because it is something an "expert" partner introduced them to?

The frightening Forcing 1NT response was taught to me this way, and apparently taught to many others too—seemingly to such an extent that it has now become "Expert Std." (humour intended!). I have played this short club response for many years and it has not caused significant problems. I am not saying it is a superior or even logical method, but it is what is played by many of my partners.
We have had this very discussion before and I was convinced shape was better, but when it comes to playing with my partners at the table, many don't bid that way. If my contributions here are coming across as considering myself to be an expert, I need to change the tone. I am having a lot of fun and I'm improving, but I doubt that I will ever be able to call myself an expert at this game.

I suspect the problem is that you don’t actually get to play or discuss bidding theory with very many real experts. To someone who is, say, intermediate, it’s going to be very difficult to decide, just based on personal interaction, whether your putative expert is actually an expert or just someone better than you are and able to sound as if he or she knows what they’re talking about.

Let’s be clear: it’s completely normal to respond to a forcing 1N with 2C even with only two clubs. Some still prefer to rebid 2D with 5=3=3=2 but I think that most experts in NA, under the age of 75 or so, would prefer 2C. That is especially true for people who use gadgets such as Bart.

But it isn’t at all normal…it’s a combination of weird and silly…to rebid 2C with 5=1=3=4 with decent diamonds. Anyone who claims to be expert while recommending that to a new partner as ‘expert standard’ ain’t no expert. I don’t care how many masterpoints they have. It’s very difficult not to acquire thousands of points if one is reasonably competent and have played duplicate for fifty years.

Ironically, you do have access here to input from a few experts. I haven’t met or played against DK, but he certainly writes on an expert level. Awm also. And once in a while we get posts from others, such as Fred. So don’t be afraid to challenge these self professed ‘experts’ when they talk nonsense.


Oh…I’m not saying that you present as if you think you’re an expert, but it does seem that you lack the ability to assess the competency of at least some of your partners, opponents etc.