Riko - 2004 November

OKbridge Spectator November 2004

GASP!

Okbridge "Discuss" had a thread going about defenses to some of the more esoteric conventions that are played. People playing these conventions are required to post defenses to them on their cc, but that doesn't entirely solve the problem. In the TourMini, for instance, there really isn't time to read the defenses, and sometimes the posted defense is even more complicated than the original convention!

The answer to this dilemma, of course, is GASP!, the Generic Anti Silly-convention Panacea. GASP! works against just about any convention you might run into, and there are just two rules to learn:

For doubles up to the 3 level:
If opponent's bid showed a 4-card or longer suit, double is takeout.
If opponent's bid COULD BE a 3-cd or shorter suit, double is penalty*.

* Calling this double "penalty" is a bit of a misnomer. The opponents aren't intending to play in their conventional bid, so you're not going to collect any penalties. It's more of a "descriptive" double showing 4+ cards in the suit and a good hand.

For cue bids of opponents 4+ cd suits:
If double was takeout it asks for a stopper.
If double was penalty it's takeout.

Everything else is natural.