[mike777]

For sake of discussion, I will call this the Wolpert convention though I understand it is used by many top players and called Modified BART.

Mr. Wolpert sent this explanation, actually his assistant, to my partner.

Any assistance in decoding it into English would be helpful. I am especially interested in 1H-1nt-2c starts...but any help in any of this is deeply appreciated.


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Here is what Gavin has in his own system notes for Modified Bart:

Modified Bart: after 1M-1N-2m

2M-1: weak preference 5-8 with 2 card support, or invitational somewhere

2M: strong preference 9-11

2N: invite 11-[bad 12]

3m: courtesy raise 7-10

Go through 2M-1 relay and bid:

2N: invite with 5 hearts

3m: invitational hand with a minor suit fit

In general, going through the relay vs bidding directly shows something additional.

The strongest minor suit raise is the Impossible Spade, if available: 1H-1N-2m-2S

1S 1N 2C 2N: normal 2N invite

1S 1N 2C 2D 2H 2N: 2N invite with 5 hearts (shows hearts directly)

1S 1N 2D 2H 2S 2N: 2N invite with 5 hearts (no room to show hearts, so go through relay)

1S 1N 2C 2H 2S 2N: 2N invite with 4+ clubs (could have shown hearts directly after 2C rebid)

With 6+ hearts and a weak hand or 5 hearts and invitational, transfer to hearts by bidding 2D (if there is room). 1S 1N 2C 2D

You can / should do this even with 2 card spade support (show hearts along the way)

Opener completes the transfer to 2H if he would pass a NF 2H bid, similar to how he responds to transfers after 1M(X). Otherwise he bids something else. With 3+ hearts he should always bid 3H



Best,
Mine Usluel
Wolpert Bridge Support Staff

[mikeh]

I delayed answering to allow others but:

I’m not sure what you don’t understand, probably because I use much the same notation in my notes.

2M-1 means that after 1M 1N 2C, 2H is 2M-1. After 1H 1N 2C, 2D is 2M-1.

The idea is that the bid below 2 of opener’s major is a puppet to 2M, and responder is either passing…natural with a weak hand, or bid something which something would be natural and showing invitational values. One wrinkle is that after 1S 1N 2D 2H is the puppet to 2S and if responder then bids 2N, he promises 5 hearts as well as being a balanced or semi- balanced invite in notrump. This is needed because 1S 1N 2D 2H is not natural…this being a modification to the original Bart, which only applied over a 2C rebid. I noted in an earlier post that I’d been uncomfortable adopting this because one cannot get out in 2H with a weak hand with hearts but my partner thinks the trade off is worthwhile and, it seems, so does Wolpert


Note that Wolpert uses regular Bart after 1S 1N 2C….2D asks opener to bid 2H if he’d pass 2H had you been able to bid it to show a weak hand with long hearts…iow 95% of the time (I made up that statistic)


Using a Bart relay, so 2D over 2C (after 1 of either major) or 2H over 2C or 2D (after a 1S opening) allows you to ‘nest’ various hand types. You may be about to pass, with a weak hand, or make a bid you could have made the round before. Thus 1S 1N 2C 2H 2S. Now pass with the weak preference or bid 2N, 3C, etc.

In his style, going through the relay and then bidding again shows extras compared to the immediate bid.

This can help in many ways. Say you have something like x Axx Kxx Kxxxxx. 1S 1N 2C? Since opener may be 5=3=3=2 (I think it virtually universal in expert circles for 2C to be 2+) even 6 card support doesn’t mean one can waltz off to game. But 3C is woefully inadequate. Without Bart, 3C becomes unmanageably wide range. So for him, he bids 2H, puppeting to 2S then bids 3C….a 3C bid over 2C might be the same hand without one of the red suit honours.

Not everyone plays the relay/direct bid as he does. In my main partnership, we used to use the saying ‘slow shows *****’ because we bid directly with the good hand and slowly with the weaker. However, I think that Wolpert’s treatment is slightly better.

Btw we definitely don’t play 1S 1N 2C/D 2H as 5-8 2 card support’. Our 1S 2S is semi constructive so we go through 1N with 5-7 and 3 card support and can choose either 1N or 2S with 8, depending on what the hand looks like. But that’s a very minor quibble.

Lol. The site censors words. Slow shows s*h*i*t

[DavidKok]

Recapping what mikeh said, just in my own words:

On 1♥-1NT; 2♦ nothing changes. There is no room for artificiality.

On 1♥-1NT; 2♣ we give up on the natural 2♦ rebid. It's rare that we want to play in diamonds. Instead 2♦ becomes a transfer to 2♥, which is a much more likely playing spot. It ostensibly shows a weak hand wishing to play exactly 2♥ (say, 6-8? 6-9?), but responder may surprise opener by bidding again to show unexpected strength! By contrast, the direct 2♥ is more forward-going (9-11, give or take). If opener wants to play game opposite the weak signoff - which I think is surprising after the 2♣ bid, but not impossible - they must reject the transfer and bid something higher to describe the hand.
This also lets responder bid past 2♥ in two different ways: immediately, or via 2♦. The excerpt does not describe the difference between an immediate 2NT and a delayed 2NT, but does explain that 2♠ is the impossible spade (strongest club raise), direct 3♣ is the courtesy club raise, and 2♦-then-3♣ is in between.
There are some idle sequences here, but in the spirit of 'a bid for every hand, not a hand for every bid' I think this looks very complete. The only hand I would like to be able to show is the 6-8(9) 6(+)♦ hand, which I put through 1NT (9-11 can bid 1♥-3♦ directly in my system). By giving up the 2♦ natural rebid this can only be shown at the 3♦-level, and I think I can just pick any way to get there.

On 1♠-1NT; 2♦ the situation is much the same, but now we give up the ability to bid 2♥ naturally! This is more of a cost as mikeh points out. Wolpert's approach somewhat recovers this by making 2♥-then-bid-2NT show hearts, while the immediate 2NT denies it. I do think there might be some hand types slipping through the cracks here, also because I don't see a way to show a 6-9 hand with 6(+)♥ - but it might well be worth it.

Lastly the sequence 1♠-1NT; 2♣ is special. Now we have both 2♦ and 2♥ available for shenanigans, so we have three ways to bid 2NT and up (directly, via 2♦, via 2♥). He assigns 2♦-then-2NT as showing hearts, 2♥-then-2NT as showing clubs (this is probably a bit superfluous, as we also have three ways to raise to 3♣). A key wrinkle here is that on 1♠-1NT; 2♣-2♦; ?, which is ostensibly a transfer to 2♥ but may be specific invitational hands, opener has to ask themselves if they want to play 2♥ if responder is weak. If the answer is 'yes', complete the transfer. If the answer is 'no', bid as if you would over the natural sequence 1♠-1NT; 2♣-2♥; ?.
Again this construction gives up the ability to show a weak hands with long diamonds, but we rarely bid and play 1♠-1NT; 2♣-2♦; P anyway.

[mikeh]

It’s possible to show 6+ hearts after 1S 1N 2D in two ways. Bid 3H over 2D or bid 2H puppeting to 2S then bid 3H. The bvious problem is that once opener shows at least 5=4 in spades and diamonds, the 3 level may be too high. We use ‘slow shows s*h*i*t’ and therefore 2H then 3H shows less than invitational. So far we’ve avoided disaster. We’re sure disaster awaits us, but in the interim we hope to pick up sufficient plus positions to make this a net winner.

[mike777]

Very helpful ty.

Will study this.