[WasWinM]

 bluenikki, on 2025-July-14, 16:28, said:

The following is not 19.

AKxxx
x
Qx
AKxxx

That’s right and I would overcall 1S.

[Cyberyeti]

bluenikki, on 2025-July-14, 16:28, said:

The following is not 19.

AKxxx
x
Qx
AKxxx

The hand I had in my mind was AKxxxx, AKxx, Qx, x which almost everybody overcalls 1♠

[mycroft]

Will you miss game if you pass this quacky 8-count and partner has a hand too weak to double-and-bid? Yes, sometimes.

Will you go for 500+ into partscore if you don't pass now and partner has AQTxx or KQTxx and out as a lead-director (possibly even into 1NT)? Yes, especially if you bid 1NT, the "opponents, we don't have a fit" call and RHO was going to pass partner's re-opening double (or bid 1NT, I guess, because setting 1♠x isn't certain. 2♠x, though, that they can get).

Is there a perfect bidding system that will never miss games that are on and never get into trouble when not? Well, not one that doesn't pass *a lot* and allow the opponents free rein to get to their best contracts or flag the right leads.

Is bridge a game where you play the percentages and pay off when it's wrong? And build your system also to play the percentages? Hmm, that's an interesting question, isn't it? It might have something to do with the fact that bridge is not an open-information game?

[Cyberyeti]

mycroft, on 2025-July-21, 09:59, said:

Will you miss game if you pass this quacky 8-count and partner has a hand too weak to double-and-bid? Yes, sometimes.

Will you go for 500+ into partscore if you don't pass now and partner has AQTxx or KQTxx and out as a lead-director (possibly even into 1NT)? Yes, especially if you bid 1NT, the "opponents, we don't have a fit" call and RHO was going to pass partner's re-opening double (or bid 1NT, I guess, because setting 1♠x isn't certain. 2♠x, though, that they can get).

Is there a perfect bidding system that will never miss games that are on and never get into trouble when not? Well, not one that doesn't pass *a lot* and allow the opponents free rein to get to their best contracts or flag the right leads.

Is bridge a game where you play the percentages and pay off when it's wrong? And build your system also to play the percentages? Hmm, that's an interesting question, isn't it? It might have something to do with the fact that bridge is not an open-information game?

Depends what sort of junk partner overcalls on, if those hands are a possibility, you can't bid 1N, my partner will be at least an ace better than that.

[mycroft]

As you should. Your partners have support many others don't. Of course, you lose on some hands on the back end...

My partner will only rarely have 15 high when she overcalls (and when she does, she will be at most singleton in clubs). That would also impact what hands I go off into misfit-land with. We also pay out to hands that don't fit our system well (but they're different hands).

The point is only that like everything else in bidding, it's a question of which hands you pay off to and which ones you win with; there are no agreements where that is not the case.