BBO Discussion Forums: Responses to 2NT after a weak two - BBO Discussion Forums

I bid 2NT over a Robot 2♠ bit. I enquired with 2NT and the Robot bid 3♠. The explanation was minimum hand, but the Robot had both A and Q of spades and a 10 count. I missed a game believing the explanation.

Do Robots actually play Ogust responded to 2NT over weak twos?

As with many things related to GiB the bid is different to humans

No real sense of min versus max and no real sense of features

they don't play Ogust but I have no idea what it is

I think its based on points more than anything - who knows if there are sims involved or not

Beautiful hand with a few features including an Ace and void or a terrible hand with decent points and many losers - who would know

Sorry, nonsense deleted. I thought it was the opponent that opened 2♠.

Assuming the robot was your partner, the convention card says the opener should show features. So 3♠ should be a minimum. Why it bid that with a 10 count, I have no idea. Paul

Ah right, thanks Paul. That makes sense.

I suppose the system is so that 2nt asks for a feature, so with a maximum without a feature and not a solid suit, it has to bid 3♠.

helene_t, on 2024-March-21, 11:10, said:

Precisely. 'Minimum' is probably a poor description; it's more that it's unable to bid anything else.

Though in this case the outside HCP were presumably something like QJJ, and such quacky values probably means 10 HCP is a bit of an overestimate.

Perhaps if one of the side suits was QJx it may be better to 'lie' and show that as a feature, but GIB doesn't.

But if game was on despite you looking for a feature and finding none, it makes me wonder what hand you were actually bidding 2nt with, and whether there was a better alternative.

Mildly OT, but I'm not thrilled by either convention... given my preference for wide-ranging weak twos I choose to play Ogust with whoever is prepared to do the same and capable of remembering the relay, but I often wish we were playing Feature all the same.

I am currently brooding on a hybrid: say that after 2X, 3♣ is junk, 3X is a good suit, 3Y a feature with same, 3N a solid suit. Thoughts are welcome.

pescetom, on 2024-March-21, 16:23, said:

I don't play extensive relays, but for weak twos in the majors you might try rolling all of one type (upper range?) into 3♣, then using 3♦ by responder as a further enquiry, if responder wants more detail?

Douglas43, on 2024-March-22, 03:38, said:

Thanks.
My first thought was similar but opposite, to roll all the lower range into 3♣ alongside the upper range with clubs feature combination, then use 3♦ to disambiguate - I like this because it is a recurring theme in some of my other conventions (and also because if someone forgets the convention and responds plain Feature, it will probably do no harm).
But I will open a specific thread to discuss, rather than hijack this one.