[StevenG]

 NickRW, on 2017-April-13, 04:02, said:

A typical club player here in Acol land would think that FSF in a sequence such as 1D-1H-2C-2S (i.e. the fourth suit bid comes at the 2 level) if F1, not FG. You might think that is misguided, but it is common. (It certainly suits some invitational hands, but limits opener's options since a responding hand truly worth a game force is not guaranteed).

Playing these sequences as F1 works better than FG at MPs (which is what we play almost all the time), where bidding partscores accurately counts for a lot.

[NickRW]

 StevenG, on 2017-April-13, 04:10, said:

Playing these sequences as F1 works better than FG at MPs (which is what we play almost all the time), where bidding partscores accurately counts for a lot.

Ah, well, so do most of the Americans play MPs most of the time - yet it appears they do things differently in this regard, as do a lot of more expert players in this country. One has to wonder if they aren't on to something.

[StevenG]

 NickRW, on 2017-April-13, 04:16, said:

Ah, well, so do most of the Americans play MPs most of the time - yet it appears they do things differently in this regard, as do a lot of more expert players in this country. One has to wonder if they aren't on to something.

I think expert players in this country build their system around IMPs because the competitions they see as the most important (Bermuda Bowl, Camrose, Gold Cup, etc. depending on their level) are all teams competitions.

[mycroft]

I think ACBL-ites just have a lot more forcing bids in general than Acol-derived environments. Long standing trends, going back to the 1950s at least. There are a lot more limit and F1 bids in English bridge than in US bridge; it wins, yes, on partscore bidding (but how many 2M+2s does it generate?) at the expense of game bidding and slam bidding (last I checked, +990 beat +480 even at MPs).

I think the American tendency is right (but I would, wouldn't I?) even if it goes too far for me (1m-2m absolutely GF, 1♦-2♣ AGF, GF means I can't pass 4m in "attempted to get to 3NT and failed" auctions, ...) but as JLall says "bidding is just easier if you know you're in a game force." Plus, most partscore auctions are competitive auctions, and most of this "is it game-forcing or F1" goes out the window once the opponents come in. Now, having more limit bids and fewer forcing (or less-forcing) ones means that you're able to more effectively win the competitive battle "before it starts" - that's the big reason why I like Precision, all the limit auctions after 1M; how much that's worth is also a question.

I note that in this jurisdiction, while only one of the "big 3" events is MPs, it's the bleeping Reisinger. Also the Platinum Pairs, the Blue Ribbons, to a lesser extent the Life Master Pairs...