General style: Two over one is unconditionally forcing to game and denies 4-card support for partner's major. Openings are generally according to the rule of 20, but as in all things partner may use his judgement provided that he is willing to take the fall if his decision works out badly. In third seat, almost any hand with 10 HCP may be opened. In fourth seat, HCP + spades >= 15. In general, I am of the opinion that stretching on count is much more acceptable than stretching on shape. For that reason, I overcall light and preempt light, but rarely if ever on a number of cards which is not the same as the number of cards which partner will expect me to have.
1NT opening bids. 15 to 17 HCP. Stayman. Transfers. 5 card majors essentially never, because there's no way to catch up once you've misled partner, and methods over 1M are rarely a problem. Stayman, Jacoby, minor-suit transfers with preaccepts to show good stoppers all around and top-honor third or better in the minor in the hopes of reaching a good 3NT opposite an invitational hand. Creeping Stayman, Smolen, Lebensohl direct (or "fast") denies.
2NT Openings: 20 to 22 HCP. The three-point range hasn't been a problem. Puppet Stayman. Transfers. 3C puppet then 4C = I was just kidding about the majors, let's find a club slam. 3S direct = both minors or just diamonds, with slam interest.
3NT opening some form of gambling.
4NT opening some form of Ace asking bid.
Major Openings: Five cards in all seats, 3S and 4S both weak and preemptive. 3C = constructive 4-card raise (8-10), 3D = good limit 4-card raise (11-12), Jacoby 2NT, double J/S = splinter.
Minor Openings: Clubs when 3-3, diamonds with 4-4 or longer, otherwise longer minor. Inverted minors.
Two Club Openings: 2C-2D = waiting; 2H, 2S = 8+ HCP, 5 bagger, 2 of top 3; 3m = 8+ HCP, 6 bagger, 2 of top 3; 2NT = undisclosed 6 bagger AKQ. No second negative. Raise of opener's suit below game denies an empty hand; jump to game says no such luck. Responder does not pass below game; opener rarely gets the opportunity but may do so if he's changed his mind about opening 2C.
Weak Two Bids: Six cards to the jack will do if the vulnerability and position are right and the hand is otherwise flawless, but six to the QT is enough in almost any situation. 5-10 HCP, for the card. The sort of hand which is too good to preempt but not good enough to open does not really exist in my system; or at least, I haven't picked many of them up.
New Minor Forcing: 1m-1M-1NT-2om, 1H-1S-1NT-2C, and (more unusually) 1C-1M-2C-2D. This last one is not played by everyone, but it is a REALLY good idea. The other night I picked up AKJxx-xx-xx-AKxx and partner opened and rebid clubs. Ouch!
4SF: To game. But sometimes I play that it's only forcing for 1 round if responder makes this bid below 2 of his own suit, so that you can have, for example, 1H-1S-2C... and then 2D with just an invitational hand, possibly playing 2NT or 3S.
Doubles: Negative and responsive through 4D, support through 2 of the suit shown, maximal if partner likes 'em. With negative doubles, 1C-1D-X should be both majors, but any other two-minor auction could be just one major with a fallback plan (like, you have support for partner's minor, or, you have a stopper in the opponents suit and plan to correct to NT if partner gets stuck). With support doubles, the sequence 1m-1H-1S-(X or bid <= 2H)-(support X or XX) causes problems for partnerships that have not discussed it. Is the X showing a doubleton because a support double shows a 7 card fit? Or three because it always shows three?
Overcalls: One-level overcalls 8 to 15 HCP generally 1 of AKQ. Two-level overcalls 10 to 15 HCP, generally 1 of AKQ and 3 of AKQJT, but when holding the A or K the secondary honor requirements may be shaded if there are extra values elsewhere in the hand - I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to bid 2C on a 14 count with prime values just because my club suit is headed by the AT9.
Preempts: I like to preempt. As time goes by and I compete against better opponents, I like to preempt less, because they don't get confused by it as much. They never double me, but on occasion we'll miss 3NT. Still, queen-sixth is good enough for me in most situations, and if the ten-nine are in there, we're good to go pretty much any time. Sometimes I'll preempt on jack-ten-nine-sixth. Since I also open light and play Ogust or Reverse Ogust, this causes limited problems. At the 3 and 4 level, I'm also very aggressive, moreso when I don't have outside strength: any seven to the jack or better for the three-level, not vulnerable, will do.
Jump Overcalls: I avoid making a jump overcall with a hand that has enough strength for a non-jump overcall unless partner is a passed hand and can't have anything constructive to say. I also avoid making excessively aggressive jump overcalls with defensive tricks outside. People who are reasonably good players keep saying to me "Well, I didn't have much in my suit, but I made up for it with some strength outside." These people are bidding when they should be keeping silent and keeping silent when they should be bidding. What I say is, "I didn't have much in my suit, but I made up for it with my lack of strength outside". When I do WJO, I have zero interest in hearing from partner unless it's a raise based on fit. He can of course bid what he likes, but he shouldn't expect to find me with a running suit and an outside entry, because it's not gonna be there.
Michaels and Unusual 2NT: Also aggressive. If the opponents have bid NT naturally, we can't. The only exception is that if you double 1NT for business and then bid NT yourself over partner's pull, you're showing an enormous balanced hand - 2NT would be a 2NT opener or better.
NT Overcalls: 15 to 18 points, 11 to 14 balancing, sytems on. When partner is a passed hand, a direct NT overcall with just 15 is to be approached with caution and should probably be avoided if the hand is otherwise flawed.
Defense vs. notrump: Against weak NTs, I prefer Capalleti, so as not to give up the penalty double. Against strong NTs, I prefer to play what you might call HALF-DONT. Majors are natural, minors show the suit bid plus a major, double shows a minor one-suiter or both majors, 2NT shows the minors. The advantage over DONT is that you get to gum up the bidding much more when you hold a major one-suiter; the disadvantage is that you don't get to gum it up as much when you have both majors. I think this works out to a win on frequency. I'm told this is similar to what Meckwell play.
Defense vs. takeout doubles: 2NT is Jordan. In the case of a major, this is showing 3+ trumps and 10+ points. Over a minor, it's showing 10-12 points and a hand interested in playing 2NT. Suit bids at the 1-level are forcing, 2-level nonforcing, jumps preemptive. In convention card terms, that's limit+ over majors, limit over minors, redouble shows no fit. (Has anyone noticed how incredibly silly the idea of playing 2NT as limit+ over minors would be? What if partner passes and you have the "+" hand? I don't even know why that box is on the card.)
Defense vs. preempts: It's kind of silly that you have to mark the card, but let's say takeout through 4H. 2?-X-P-2NT is Lebensohl, but 2?-2NT and 2?-P-P-X-P-2NT are natural.
Defense vs. strong club: Suction. Double = diamonds or majors, 1D-1S next suit or the two after that. 1NT = pointed suits. 2NT = rounded suits. Suit bids above the one level, natural and preemptive. If you have a good hand, pass and bid later.
Slam bidding: 1430 RKC. If they double or bid, then DEPO, meaning that X or XX shows either 0 or 2 key cards, pass shows 1 or 3 key carrds, and with 4 (or 5?!) key cards you must bid. If there's room, the cheapest step (which may be X or XX) becomes the queen ask. If the interference is above the proposed slam, then a different rule applies: double says "let's defend", pass is forcing. Straight Gerber, only as a direct jump over a natural NT opening (or a NT rebid by 2C opener). Lots of refinements are possible here.
Carding: I like to play standard with ace from ace-king, fourth best leads, and odd-even first discards. I can also play Lavinthal or Standard but have not had good luck with Lavinthal so prefer to avoid it. If partner knows how many cards I've got in the suit from the auction, then top of three or second from four denies an honor, while a low card promises one. Otherwise, against suits, low from three small. Against NT, high from three small. From four or five small, fourth best against suits. Against NT, fourth highest if you want partner to continue the suit when his own holding is marginal and second highest if you want him to look for a good switch.
