Every hand an Adventure

Introduction

The original version of EHAA (Every Hand An Adventure) is a very natural one: One level bids show 4+ suits and 13+ HCP, two level bids show 5+ suits and 6–12 HCP, and the NT bids show balanced hands with 10–12, 21–23 and 24–27 HCP respectively. More information about the original system can be found in the book ”Every Hand An Adventure” by Eric Landau and Randall Baron.

The most remarkable feature in the system is the undisciplined weak ”EHAA - twos”, especially weak 2C are quite rare. This, however, means that there is no forcing opening. This should not be any problem in a pairs tournament, as very strong hands are rare. If you have a strong unbalanced hand a 1 level opening rarely get passed out, and with a balanced 24–27 HCP you can open 3NT. A strong 2C opening (21+ HCP, excluding 21–22 balanced) has a frequency below 0.5%, while the EHAA 2C has a frequency of above 7%. At teams, however, the strong 0.5% can be a quite important one, as the inability to describe 21+ HCP will lead to some missed games and slams. This version is an attempt to fix this problem, utilizing a natural or strong 1C.

I have also suggested different conventions which I think are suitable for the system. Most important of these are the weak-two conventions, as the range of hands which are opened with a weak two is large. I have in this case used Kent Feilers conventions almost directly. Here are my suggestions for opening bids.

EHAA+ Opening Bids with Conventional responses.

The big difference compared with the standard EHAA is the 1C opening, which includes apart from the natural one also a strong version (about 1/5 of all 1C openings are strong). All other bids are natural and straight forward, and any conventions can be used.

Compared with standard natural systems with 2C as game forcing the one level bids in EHAA+ are tighter limited. The upper limit is 18 (unbalanced) or 19 (balanced) HCP, the frequency of strong 1C is actually about three times higher than game forcing 2C. I think that this lower upper limit allows passing on all openers natural rebids, for example 1H - 1S - 3D is passable (as well as the rebid 2D). Also the lower limit of 12 HCP is more sharp in EHAA than in other natural systems, as you may open with a 2 level opening if you have a 5 card suit, and open 1NT with 10-13 HCP and a balanced hand. The strongest hand with which you have to pass in EHAA+ is a hand with a 4441 distribution and 11 HCP.

As can be seen, 4 card suits are opened in the order hearts - spades - diamonds - clubs, which makes the 1C opening most rare. This because there are some bids and rebids which are reserved after the 1C opening due to the strong alternative, and thus the bidding after 1C opening is slightly less accurate than after the other 1 level openings.

Furthermore, I have adjusted the point ranges slightly for the 1NT opening and the weak twos. In the simulations, I have included all 5332 hands in the 1NT opening frequency, in practice one might want to open with a 1 or 2 level suit bid with at least some of the 5 card major hands.

2. Responses to the 1C opening with 19+

The idea is to respond to the 1C opening as to a natural opening, except that you may not pass, you bid 1D showing 0–5 HCP. This means also that the 2D response must be reserved to showing a 4+ (usually 5+) suit and 10+ HCP. The opener shows in his first rebid if he has the strong or the limited hand. Unfortunately this cannot be done really simple, but I have tried to make it logical:

Note that the 1NT response to 1 in a suit in EHAA definitely must be limited to really lousy 10 points. Never even consider bidding 1NT with 11 HCP, as it should almost always be enough for a game.

Note that responder should use quite disciplined style in his responses to 1C, as opener can be strong (and the likelihood for this is higher the less HCP responder has). Opener should not bid 3C with any hand, he should be ready for a game against a 19 points hand without a club fit. And the weak jumps 2H/S should be really weak, KJxxxx and out is a borderline case; opener might pass with a misfit and 19-20 HCP. Furthermore, splinter bids should probably not be allowed on 1C, you have to bid 2C in these cases.

As a help of memory, it can be mentioned that opener shows the strong hand after responder's 1H - 1NT (all bids which show 6+ HCP) with 2C. After all other responses opener uses higher bids (e.g. all jump-shifts) which does not make sense for the natural hand, or at least logically is best used for the strong hand. All other ”normal” rebids show the natural version and are otherwise also natural. Borderline cases which I had problems deciding were the sequences 1C - 1D - 2D, 1C - 2NT - 3D, and 1C - 3C - 4C. The first two show natural reverse bids, and the last one is a 19+ (at least slam invitational) hand with clubs. With game-going values you start with a with a three-level bid, primarily looking for a certain stopper for 3NT. Here it could be better to use bids as directly asking bids, but it is also possible to bid the suit below the suit you are interested in.

And now some examples, first opener's rebids after the 1D negative:

Responses to 1C - 1D

An unbalanced opening hand with 12–15 HCP and 5+ clubs is a bit problematic. On responders 1M or 1NT opener cannot make his natural call 2C, as it shows a strong hand. On the 1M (Major) response opener must rebid 1NT without support, showing either 14–17 balanced or 12–15 HCP and 5+ clubs. On 1NT opener must pass or invite with 2NT or 3C.

Responses to 1C - 1M
Responses to 1C - 1NT

After the strong 2C rebid by opener, responder is supposed to bid 2D with most hands.

Responses to 1C - 1M - 2C

I did not find any obvious usage for the 2NT bid, so I thought it could be used for showing voids. You can leave it undefined, if you wish. With all balanced hands you can (and should) bid 2D. I did not find it necessary to define any higher bids, 3M being a borderline case. The current definition of 3M allows use of M rebid after 2+ diamonds as showing exactly 5 card M. The idea with the current definition of 2M is to allow the following bidding sequences 1C - 1M - 2C - 2M - 4M (to play), 1C - 1M - 2C - 2M - 3M (cuebid - forcing).

In the 1C - 1NT case responder can be unbalanced with diamonds, as 1D is reserved as 0–5 negative. These hands are shown by bidding something else than 2D, which might sound strange, but is in line with the bids after a major response.

Responses to 1C - 1NT - 2C

Here a more natural use of 2NT would be to show maximum and balanced, but I think it is better to bid 2D and let opener show his hand at a lower level instead.

Instead of showing/denying shortness, the responder could also show controls (A = 2, K = 1), something like 2D = 0–2, 2H = 3, 2S = 4, 2NT = 5, and so on. The response scale could start one step lower also (2D = 0–1, 2H = 2, ...), especially after 1NT response as 4 controls (two Aces) is absolute maximum.

The inverted minor raises are discussed under a separate section.

The 2D response is quite special and must naturally be alerted. Responder can have invitational strength and 6+ diamonds, otherwise it is game forcing. So the only non-forcing situations after 1C - 2D are 1C - 2D - 3C, 1C - 2D - 3C - 3D, and 1C - 2D - 3D, With 4333 and 5332 and 4-5 diamonds and invitational strength you bid 2NT, which promises that exactly.

Responses to 1C - 2D

The weak 2M responses are more or less preempts, opener passes, raises or corrects (rarely) to 3C with a natural hand. It should also be possible to raise to game with a minimum 19+ hand. All other bids show a 19+ hand and are round forcing, 2NT is a ”standard” asking bid (responder guarantees a 6 card suit, contrary to the 2 level openings): With minimum you rebid your suit, with maximum you bid your shortness or 3NT without any shortness. Note that opener may bid 2NT both with a 19+ hand or a very good natural hand.

The response 2NT is now used as a filler for the 2D response, showing invitational strength with 4333 or 5332 distribution with 4–5 diamonds. Opener is supposed to pass with all hands he doesn’t want to raise to 3NT with; note that responder has 2–3 cards in support for opener's club suit. Both 3C and 3D are now forcing, showing an unbalanced hand.

Responses to 1C - 2NT

The 1C - 2NT - 4H/S were undefined, so I thought they could show 6-5 hands. Should work well, as the response 2NT promises support for at least clubs. That is in case you want to open 1C with a 6-5 hand. The 3NT response is a bit problematic, you should probably avoid it after 1C, use 2C or 2D.

2.1 Interference over 1C

As 1C is natural in about 4 of 5 cases, the opponents probably will (and should) use the same conventions as against a natural opening. Thus we do not need any odd conventions either (inverted raise probably best left off). Responder assumes that the 1C opening is the natural alternative, and he may now of course pass as he would have on a natural 1C. If we assume that the opponent sitting between opener and responder has 9+ HCP, the likelihood for opener to have the strong alternative is now only 13%, thus making the assumption even more safe. Openers can show 19+ in a number of ways:

Examples, where responders bids after interference are on the 1 level round forcing, and on the 2 level they are non-forcing and show 7–11 HCP (cuebid by responder shows support, invitational or better).

1Club 1Spade Pass Pass
?

Double is takeout, natural or 19+, 2S is always 19+, 1NT, 2C, 2D and 2H are natural, 2NT shows eight tricks and a stopper, 3C+ is a strong version but limited, responder may pass.

1Club 1Spade 2Heart Pass
?

2S is GF (19+ or stopper ask), 3S and 4D are splinters and natural, 2NT, 3NT, 3C, 3D, 3H, 4H are natural.

1Club 1Spade 2Heart 2Spade
?

Double is invitational, semi-penalty or takeout (whichever you prefer), 3S is GF (19+ or stopper ask), 4D is splinter, 2NT, 3NT, 3C, 3D, 3H and 4H are natural.

2.2 Inverted minor raises.

Inverted minor raises are quite necessary after the multi 1C, as bidding after 1C - 3C (3C showing 10+ HCP) would be quite impossible if opener is strong. Furthermore, some of the openers rebids are reserved for showing the strong hand. Here is my first suggestion:

Responses to 1m - 2m, alt 1

You can’t check for stoppers in the above version, or find a 4-3 major fit when necessary. But the idea is to bash 3NT unless both hands are really minimum, or you see a shortness + no stopper/no wasted values in a suit (which implies that 5 or 6m could be a better spot). A more standard version is also OK in EHAA+:

Responses to 1m - 2m, alt 2

Note that splinter responses to the 1C opening are prohibited (they can be used after 1D), and in both versions (and especially in version 1) can responder bid his shortness after 1m - 2m - 2NT.

As mentioned earlier, the double raise of clubs should be quite disciplined, as opener with the 19+ alternative will a) push to game b) want to decide if there is any slam. Thus opener should really have 4+ clubs and 6–9 HCP, unsuitable for a 1NT response.

Responses to 1m - 3m

3. The major openings

The EHAA+ major openings are quite well limited in strength. You will not be tempted to stretch the lower strength limit, as you can use the weak 1NT opening or the weak twos. And the upper strength limit is 18 unbalanced and 19 balanced.

Responses to 1M

I found that I rarely use jump-shifts (and when I would like to use them, I do not remember if they are strong or weak), why not use them as mini-splinters ? This forces use of 4H as 11–14 splinter after 1S. This tends to push the auction to the five level, but it is generally good to have something in the remaining side suits when you splinter, which makes it easier for your partner to evaluate his hand. Anyway, mini-splinters should be common and useful, and result in accurate game evaluations.

I prefer using 2NT (Stenberg) as a limit raise rather than as a GF raise, as this makes the response almost twice as common, and it frees the double raise for other purposes. The 10+ HCP raise occurs in 9.3% of the 1H openings, compared with 4.8% if you require 12+ HCP (8.7% and 4.6% respectively, after 1S).

Responses to 1M - 2NT

The 4S bid is a catch the rest bid, with hearts and no side controls you bid 3C (with up to 18 points!).The system uses 3D/H/S different from standard Stenberg, where these bids show a side suit (of quite unspecified quality). In my version you show at least Kx in a suit and deny shortness. As a by-product, cue-bidding starts at a low level.

Responses to 1M - 2NT - 3C

Note that opener after the minimum response quite often has a shortness, as he has not opened 1NT. And again, responders shortness bids can of course be replaced with side-suit bids, if this is considered more important. The idea with shortness bids is to limit the splinters to 11–14 HCP.

I have also thought about using a more complicated system, with bids showing a singleton, a void and a 5 card side suit. I used Hans van Staverens dealer program for comparing likelihoods for the different features.

If the bidding goes 1M - 2NT, and opener is non-minimum (15+ HCP or 14+ unbalanced), the likelihoods for opener's different features are:

Responses to 1M - 2NT, more complicated version.

Voids are shown on the four level for a few reasons:

Here is an interesting bidding problem (from the rec.games.bridge newsgroup): You have Sxxx HAxxx Dx CAQJxx, and partner opens 1H, what is your call ?

There are of course three alternatives, 2C, 2NT and 4D. 2C tells partner that the club King is a good card, but will you be able to to convince partner about the four card support later on? 2NT asks partner about his hand, and wouldn’t you really want to tell about yours instead ? 4D tells partner about support and the diamond shortness, but it doesn’t tell which suit of the other two is better. In rgb it was argued that a splinter should promise something better than two or three small in the other two suits. In the above example partner might push to the 5 level with SpadeQxx, HeartKQJx, DiamondAxxx, ClubKx. Let's try this one, using the three alternatives:

1Heart Pass 2Club Pass
2NT Pass 4Heart Pass
?

Partner did not support immediately, so his values are concentrated in clubs, and a pass is likely the best alternative. But what if partner's shortness would have been in spades instead ?

1Heart Pass 2NT Pass
3Diamond Pass 4Club Pass
4Heart Pass ?

Pass (simple version). Now everyone knows that spades are uncontrolled. Responder knows that opener has wasted or bad values in diamonds (6H is lay down with the Ace of spades instead of the Ace of diamonds).

1Heart Pass 2NT Pass
3Spade Pass 4Club Pass
4Diamond Pass 4Heart Pass
?

Pass (complicated version). Again everyone knows that spades are uncontrolled. About the same information is exchanged.

1Heart Pass 4Diamond Pass
5Club Pass 5Heart Pass
?

Pass. Again, everyone knows that spades are uncontrolled, and you are even on the five level.

4. The 1NT opening.

As can be seen from the opening bid table, the 10–13 1NT opening is the most frequent EHAA opening,with an opening frequency of 15.6% (a 15–17 1NT has a frequency of 4.9%). The preempting factor of such a weak 1NT is quite high, without any significant loss in the constructive bidding. Actually, the weak NT acts as a lower limit to the other 1 level openings, and together with the weak two opening factors guarantee that opener has 12+ unbalanced points, with at least a singleton or two doubletons, or 14+ balanced points. Main disadvantage with such weak 1NT is that you occasionally end up for a big penalty. For this reason many play weak NT only when non-vulnerable, and use strong NT when vulnerable.

In EHAA you only open 1NT with 4432, 5332 and 4333 distributions, there is no need to open with 5422, 6322 or 7222 distributions, as all qualify for a one or two level opening depending on the strength. You are allowed to open 1NT with 5 card majors with 1NT, although you may with good suits open 2M with 10–11 points or 1M with 12–13 points. In the latter case you have to be prepared for rebidding your suit, or lie about your strength. A 1NT rebid after a suit opening promise 14–17 HCP.

You may of course use any response system you like with the 1NT opening. My favourite is Joppe-NT, but I have also played 2-Way Stayman and (a version of) Puppet - Stayman together with weak NT.

After interference I use Rubensohl. An escape system is also useful, opponents tend to double weak 1NT frequently. My favourite is DONT escapes (similar to DONT defense), which allows playing 1NT doubled when both hands are balanced (which is quite common, as openers hand is it for sure).

5. The weak twos.

As mention earlier, the weak twos are really undisciplined, almost any distributions are allowed, 5332 as well as 7600 are OK. There are almost no suit quality restrictions, although you should keep in mind that partner tends to lead your suit. Due to the undisciplined nature of the openings, you need more conventions than for the traditional weak twos. I think that Kent Feiler's conventions are very useful in EHAA. I have also adapted the system to the 2C opening, when 2D is used instead of 2NT as a asking bid, and also suggested an alternative meaning of the 3NT rebid after the 2NT response.

Responses to 2D/H/S

5.1 New suit bids ask for stoppers and length.

A new suit bid can be used both for finding support and checking stoppers.

Responses to 2 any - new suit.

You have to take into consideration that 3NT may be exceeded in some cases, in the worst case 2S - 3H - 4C = no stopper, two cards in hearts. This might be a problem if you have three small of your own, and find out that opener has three small also, making the already exceeded 3NT playable. If opener bids NT, responder's rebid at the 3 level asks for suit length. You can’t make an invitation, but as responder must have been prepared for a singleton or a void and instead finds a fitting honor, it should be enough for responder to always want be in game.

After a new suit bid, responders bids in another new suit is also a length asking bid, but without the stopper bid. This is so also after a NT response to the first suit. This is responders way to show a two-suiter.

5.2 Jump shifts are control asking bids.

Jump shifts are control asking bids (CAB) in an undisturbed auction (support +side suit after interference, as in McCabe).

Responses to 2 any - jump shift

5.3 2NT is an invitational or better raise.

2NT always promise at least 2 card support, and asks for openers suit length, suit quality, and general strength. Without support, responder should be more interested in the other suits or NT.

Responses to 2D/H/S - 2NT

A good suit includes 2 of the top 3 honours. The borderline case for minimum and maximum is 8 HCP,which can be shown as min or max depending on other factors. Additionally opener can respond:

Bids beyond 3NT are not allowed after a minor opening, while it should be fairly safe after a major opening, as responder promise 2+ support (and opener with his bid beyond 3NT an unbalanced hand). The auction 2D - 2NT - 3D is a bit problematic, as responder cannot invite. Of course, the chances for 3NT are quite low when opener has a bad 5 card suit, but what if opener has 10–11 HCP! I thought about using 3NT for these hands, telling 10–11 HCP and a bad 5 card suit instead of the traditional solid 6 card suit. It is actually only a problem after a 2D opening, as it is possible to invite after the other bids. Kent Feiler suggests to use of a more narrow point range, 8–11 for 5 card suits, which also remedies the problem to some extent.

Over 75% of all openings are with a 5 card suit, and the 3D response is very frequent, and a solid suit is very rare. In most cases with a solid suit you have enough strength for a one level bid. Furthermore, in over 70% of the new 3NT responses responder has 14–16 HCP. That is, if you pass all 3D bids with 14–16, in 15% of all cases you will have 24–27 HCP, and you will be going against the field (playing 3NT) in about 7% of all 2D openings. I think using 3NT in the suggested new way is better than the traditional way.

After the 3C response opener may GF and ask with the lowest non-raise. A 2NT followed by a raise is invitational.

Responses to 2H/S - 2NT - 3C - 3D
Responses to 2D - 2NT - 3C - 3H

Similarly after the 3D response.

Responses to 2D/S - 2NT - 3D - 3H

After 2H opening you have to relay with 3S, as 3H is invitational.

Responses to 2H - 2NT - 3D - 3S

5.4 The 2C opening

After the 2C opening it is better to use 2D as asking bid, and 2NT is a natural invitation to 3NT. If you want to ask about diamond stoppers, you bid 3D, and 4D is control asking bid in diamonds.

Responses to 2C - 2D

Here there is enough space to both show a solid suit and a bad 5 - card suit and 10–11 HCP, with 3S and 3NT. With a solid suit it is quite essential that responder becomes declarer in the most likely contract 3NT, so the proposed meanings of 3S and 3NT should be better than the other way around.

After the 2M rebids, 2NT asks again about the club suit, responses as after other 2 openings. In the auction 2C - 2D - 2H - 2S, 2S shows a 4 card suit, hoping for a 4,4,0,5 distribution. Three level bids are invitational in clubs and the shown major, and the other two are Control Asking Bids, setting the major as trumps.

5.5 Competition

In most competitive auctions responder will pass or raise opener's suit. After a double, the McCabe convention (see below) can be used, as after all other preemptive openings.

Responses to 2C/D/H/S - (non - jump) - ?

The jump shift is supposed to let opener make a good decision when opponents bid their game. A double by opener demands a lead in the shift suit.

The McCabe convention allows distinction between two hand types after opponents double: a) A hand with a long good suit and no support to openers suit, and b) a hand with support and a good side suit, as a jump shift after suit bids by the opponents.

Responses to 2 or 3 any - (double) - ?

6. The 2NT opening

Further information about NT - conventions which are mentioned below can be found inhttp://www.abo.fi/∼jboling/bridge/ntsys.pdf.

Responses to 2NT

If you allow 5 card majors for opener you might want to use 3C as Puppet Stayman. Minor explorations can be done with the bids 3S, 4C and 4D, so you really don’t need Baron for that.

7. The 4441 distribution

As in most (all?) systems, 4441 distributions are difficult to handle. With an Ace in the singleton suit, you may bid it as a balanced hand, especially with 20–21 you open 2NT, while I think that you should never open 1NT with 4441. With less than 12 points you pass, remember that 4441 is an ideal distribution for a takeout double, and with 4 cards in the opponent's suit you might as well stay silent. With 12+ you open with a one level bid in H or D (avoid 1S, 1C is better, 2/1 response in your short suit is problematic), with up to 20 points. With 21–22 you open 1C, and hope that partner will bid something else but your short suit, and you may avoid showing a balanced 23–24 or describe a 4 card suit as a 5+ suit.

7.1 Opener's forcing rebids

As mentioned earlier, as the opening bids are more limited than in standard natural systems, responder may pass on all limited rebids with absolute minimum, especially if he also sees a misfit.

7.2 Responder's forcing rebids.

As a general rule, reverse and new suit on the three level by responder is always forcing. There are also some other situations when responder need special conventions.