[blml] natural bids and conventional bids

[Eric Landau]

At 10:05 PM 1/4/07, rwilley wrote:

>On 1/4/07, Ed Reppert <ereppert at rochester.rr.com> wrote:
> > "Natural and Conventional are mutually exclusive." So said a poster
> > on bridge base online.
>
>I was actually quoting the position of the ACBL.
>
>There was a discussion whether a Muiderberg style 2M opening that
>showed 5+ SSpades and a 4+ card minor was legal at the GCC level.  I
>claimed that the opening is
>
>(a) Conventional
>(b) Not legal at the GCC level
>
>AWM contacted the ACBL and received the following response from Mike
>Flader.  (Personally, I think that this interpretation is wrong)
>
> >Dear Adam,
> >
> >Regarding the passage that states that methods no specifically
>allowed are disallowed,
> >the GCC applies to the use of conventional calls, which, by
>definition, are not an offer to
> >play in the denomination named. Thus, a natural opening even though
>not specifically
> >mentioned is allowed.
>
> >A natural weak two bid which guaranteed a side four card minor would
>be allowed
> >since it is natural. What is disallowed is a convention like a 2S
>opening which shows
> >two undefined suits. If 2S showed both minors and at least 10 HCP, it
>would be allowed.
> >
> >Hope this answers your questions.
> >
> >Mike Flader

How odd; this certainly sounds wrong to me too.  By Mr. Flader's 
reading, all of these would be natural bids: a limited 2S opening 
promising 5-5 or better in spades and clubs, a limited 2C opening 
showing a three-suiter short in diamonds, and "leaping Michaels" (e.g, 
2H-4D showing diamonds and spades).

Mr. Flader states that "conventional calls... by definition, are not an 
offer to play in the denomination named".  That is obviously misreading 
the definition of "convention", as a call may be an offer to play in 
the denomination named while still "convey[ing] a meaning other than" 
such an offer to play (or strength or length "there").  Mr. Flader 
would do well to read BLML, which would have disabused him of this 
particular misunderstanding in the first few posts to this thread.


Eric Landau                     ehaa at starpower.net
1107 Dale Drive                 (301) 608-0347
Silver Spring MD 20910-1607