[jillybean]

Cyberyeti, on 2026-May-10, 11:44, said:

If you're going to open 2♣ on that sort of hand, at least rebid 3♠ and set the suit, partner cues 4♥, you know you have no club control and you play 4♠.

Similar mistake that I made in the OP

[WasWinM]

jillybean, on 2026-May-10, 11:50, said:

Similar mistake that I made in the OP

Another problem with opening 2C with a minor hand - you can't "jump" to 3 over partner's response to set trumps.

[johnu]

mikeh, on 2026-May-09, 06:19, said:

Pull a stunt like opening 2C with this hand, and get a good result against me and the TD is being called and you can kiss that good result away. I’d probably call even if you got the bad result a 2C opener deserves because I trust do not like players who take illegal actions.

If you are referring to this hand

Quote

this was the hand

5,void,A742,AKQ98632

That actually meets the requirements for a very strong hand under the ACBL Convention Chart snippet I posted earlier, so legal to open a strong 2♣.

Quote

“Very Strong”: A hand that contains:
i. at least 20 HCP; or
ii. at least 14 HCP and is within one trick of game assuming suits break evenly among the other hands; or
iii. at least 5 Control Points and is within one trick of game assuming suits break evenly among the other hands.

Under iii, this hand has 5 control points, and has 10 tricks, 8 club tricks, ♦A, and the 4th diamond is a trick assuming the suit breaks evenly, which is 3=3=3 among the other 3 hands. 10 tricks is within 1 trick of a 5♣ game according to the convention charts.

Even something like
AKQJxxxx
J
x
QJ10

or

AKQxxxxxx
Q
Q
J10

meets the requirement for very strong under ii.

[jillybean]

WasWinM, on 2026-May-10, 15:28, said:

Another problem with opening 2C with a minor hand - you can't "jump" to 3 over partner's response to set trumps.

My problem here was that I bid 3nt , a take on "gambling 3nt", I guess (which I don't play)
If I had bid 5♣ we may not have a thread.

Serendipitously, there's a thread on that other site discussing "strong openings"

[pescetom]

 WasWinM, on 2026-May-10, 15:28, said:

Another problem with opening 2C with a minor hand - you can't "jump" to 3 over partner's response to set trumps.

You can (in effect, at least) in my partnerships: partner will never respond above 2S showing an unspecified strong suit (except with some precisely codified two-suited hands) and a 3m rebid is always single suited or with at most a 4 card major on the side (strong minor-either two-suited hands open 1 in suit, or take their chances as a single suit). 3m doesn't yet set trumps, a major fit can still be found. But it promises a strong long suit and now 4m by either side sets trumps and invites control-bidding.
Imperfect, but more effective than "natural" starting from 3 level in a minor.

[WasWinM]

pescetom, on 2026-May-12, 05:54, said:

You can (in effect, at least) in my partnerships: partner will never respond above 2S showing an unspecified strong suit (except with some precisely codified two-suited hands) and a 3m rebid is always single suited or with at most a 4 card major on the side (strong minor-either two-suited hands open 1 in suit, or take their chances as a single suit). 3m doesn't yet set trumps, a major fit can still be found. But it promises a strong long suit and now 4m by either side sets trumps and invites control-bidding.
Imperfect, but more effective than "natural" starting from 3 level in a minor.

(3m doesn't yet set trumps,)

So you're saying you can but you can't, at least not in the same sense as a major jump sets the suit without question or continued searching.
Of course there are always artificial means to solve problems, but they create a new set of problems. When Bob was alive, we played that 2C
was 9 tricks in a major, a strong nt, or 10 tricks in a minor. Maybe not the best but it was simple and we didn't have to guess, other than
to keep the bidding open over a 1-bid. :-))

[pescetom]

 WasWinM, on 2026-May-12, 10:30, said:

(3m doesn't yet set trumps,)

So you're saying you can but you can't, at least not in the same sense as a major jump sets the suit without question or continued searching.

Yes but it's almost the same situation as a major jump effectively, in that you still have a full round of control bidding below game. The advantage over normal developments is that if finding a major fit fails, you have clearly fixed trumps in the minor and Responder is making a control-bid, not a second natural bid at a hopelessly high level.