[gszes]

The principle of fast arrival dictates we bid 3h here and not go through some other
slower way of arriving there. It really is important to be able to distinguish btn
minimum opening hands with and w/o 4 card heart support. There is little danger of
being x here since overcalls have even wider ranges than opening bids and the neg x
hand is still unlimited. My preferred use is 2n to show a invitational hand with
4 hearts and x to show extra values without 4 hearts. While this gives up a natural
2n call that seems to be a rather small price to pay for major suit accuracy and a
penalty x of 2s in front of the overcaller is usually a poor idea anyway.

There is little doubt that we will get too high sometimes but since down 2 undoubled
is mostly going to be better than letting the opps play 2S. Please note this is when
NOT VULNERABLE. The question of playing this same system VULNERABLE becomes a tad more
speculative. The odds of X are still small for the reasons listed above. At IMPS where
the risk of down 2 vs the opps making 2s is rather small it makes sense to use the above
system since the reward can be quite dramatic if p has long hearts. At MP the risk of
down 2 for a really bad score is still something to be considered when competing with
completely minimal hands. Your partnerships must decide if the risk of down two (taking
a probably poor result and making it worse) is worth the extra potential reward of not
only bidding occasional heart games but pushing the opps to the 3 level and therefore
defending 1 level higher than most tables. Most will agree (see wank) that using the
aggressive approach is still best but there will be some that do not want opener to
make any other bids with minimum hands..... Life is like that:)

[whereagles]

Just one thing. Not playing a lebensohl or good-bad gadget, I think 3♥ should still be bid (unless pard is dead serious about your bids).

[AyunuS]

I pass in these situations. To me, it doesn't seem worth it to bid when partner only has ~7+ and you only have ~12-13 points. I always feel like bidding here will show a stronger hand than you have. So then if partner has a good hand then he'll raise to 4♥ and you'll fail, but if partner has a bad hand then you likely can't even make 3♥.

[whereagles]

Ayunus: you're forgetting 3♥ might push opps into a losing 3♠. That compensates for some hopeless games from time to time. Well, statistically at least

[Fluffy]

I played for long that partner's double does not guarantee 4 hearts at all, so this would be a double, with 3♥ promising 5+♦.

[MrAce]

W/O good bad or similar treatment imo 3♥>Pass