The simple 1 responses are geared to make it really hard to miss a 4-4 (or even a viable 4-3) Major fit when we're not strong enough to play beyond the 2-level (which is quite a lot of the time, let's face it).
If I may be forgiven a small amount of advertising, if you want to be sure of finding your major fits and greatly reduce the chances of playing in some silly
contracts, then
in 3rd and 4th seats I really do recommend that you give the 1
/1NT scheme from my old system a try. It's in the 'alternative treatments' forum. You should
ONLY use this when responder is a passed hand, and cannot have a GF response. Oliver doesn't like the scheme because it means you give up on the pre-emptive 1NT opener (all 11-15 balanced hands are opened 1
, 1NT is reserved for hands with genuine
) and I absolutely accept that he has a point, but having played the scheme for something in excess of 30 years, I'm firmly convinced that it's a net positive. I did have a scheme for using those NF must-show-a-4CM-even-with-0-HCP responses with an unpassed responder, but I absolutely accept OCP's superiority (yes, both the simple and the complex systems) when responder is unlimited.
One of the major criticisms of the Complex 1 is that it can make it much harder to find a 4-4 Major fit at a low level. Jason and I accepted that (albeit with some reluctance) because of it's perceived advantages in some other areas, but in reality there isn't much to choose between the Simple 1 and the Complex 1 .
I think I'm correct in saying that, apart from Oliver, I'm probably the one in this group with the greatest experience with the Complex 1
, and Oliver is, of course, absolutely correct about the problems. All that I want to add, having now had some experience with the Simple 1
, is that my opinion is that in playing the Complex 1
, you sacrifice something on the weaker part scores in exchange for significant improvements on invitational and GF hands (the Complex 1
is also a
much greater load on the memory!). Personally, I think that's a worthwhile exchange.