plh@ukma.UUCP (Paul L. Hightower) (03/05/85)
I've been using intermediate two-bids for a couple of years with my regular partner, without notable success. Slam bidding, or finding the right game contract, seems to be too crowded. We use 2NT negative, which doesn't help. I went so far as to buy a book titled "Intermediate Two-Bids in Bridge" by Gold, and found that he hardly discusses I2B's ! As an amatuer bridge theorist, I've been frustrated in my attempts to improve on these. I'm not fond of weak twos, but of course I prefer a two club opening to strong twos. Let me note that hands which are difficult to bid using I2B's aren't any easier to bid when opened with one of a suit. Paul Hightower University of Kentucky
ttw@lanl.ARPA (03/13/85)
> I've been using intermediate two-bids for a couple of years with my regular > partner, without notable success. Slam bidding, or finding the right game > contract, seems to be too crowded. We use 2NT negative, which doesn't help. > I went so far as to buy a book titled "Intermediate Two-Bids in Bridge" by > Gold, and found that he hardly discusses I2B's ! I have been using ACOL 2-bids for many years. They are quite effective. I have not read the book you referred to though. A hand is a candidate for an ACOL 2 if the answer to either of the following questions is "yes." 1. Am I in danger of missing game if my partner passes a 1-bid? 2. Will I have trouble describing my hand with a jump shift if I open with a 1-bid. The traditional description is A hand of about 8 tricks playing strength and more than the usual defensive strength. These bids are usually made on hands with good 6-card suits or two good 5-card suits. For example: S: A-K-Q-x-x-x H: K-x-x D: A-Q-10-x-x C: This hand needs very little for game but it does not have the High Card Strength for a game forcing bid. A bid of 2S followed a bid in diamonds describes the hand nicely. Another example S: A-K-x-x H: K-Q-J-x-x D: A-J-10-x C: And one more S: A-K-Q-x-x H: x-x D: x C: A-Q-J-x-x My regular partner and I have agreed that the minimum high card point count is 14 and that opener must have at least 1 quick trick outside the suit opened. We also only use these bids in spades and hearts. The responses are, 2NT: negative, usually fewer than 7 HCP raise to 4: no ace or void, good trump support , about 8-10 HCP 2NT then raise to 4: good trump support but few HCP new suit: 7 or more HCP, good 5+card suit, (but 2S over 2H could be 4-card) raise to 3: good support, promises and ace, fairly strong jump shift: singleton and 4-card support NOTE: most people play a jump shift as showing a solid suit 3NT: 10+ scattered HCP (or K-K-K), denies an Ace and support Opener's jump rebid over a positive response shows a solid suit. We play all changes of suit by opener as forcing. If responder denies an Ace, 4NT by opener asks for Kings. The greatest advantage of these bids is that an opening of 2C can be kept up to strength which allows the easier responding.
plh@ukma.UUCP (Paul L. Hightower) (03/15/85)
I have been using intermediate 2's almost exactly as described by "ttw" , but they still seem to have the following problem: many cold slams are missed despite the strong opening bid. Post-mortems rarely reveal a good solution. We use asking cue-bids and Roman Key-Card Blackwood, which help, but these hands still seem to defy accurate bidding without resort to extreme science. Let me note that such hands are certainly not any easier to bid when opened with one of a suit. They DO insure you don't get passed out when you have game-in-hand, but then so does my mother's method: she opens such hands at the four level! I use I2B's because I prefer constructive methods to nuisance bids such as weak twos, but I'm not sure just how helpful they are. Paul Hightower University of Kentucky