No, this post is not about a bridge player who went racing around on icy Midwest streets. It's about a nifty convention that can be beneficial in disrupting the oh-so-scientific auctions that Precision system players are able to wreak upon their opponents.
Larry Cohen has all the details about CRASH ("color" - "rank" - "shape") - and how to employ this convention.
When your opponent opens with a Precision (or any other Strong, Forcing and artificial) 1
, I recommend trying to interfere. Best is to preempt (the higher the better), but if you can't preempt, it is useful to be able to show a 2-suiter and hope partner can preempt.
CRASH is a method to show all 2-suiters.
Note that CRASH is not a simple convention to play. Larry recommends that only experienced players attempt to CRASH against their big club opponents. If, however, you wish to take on the challenge, you may find yourself rewarded with a nice pot of matchpoints or IMPS!
I like CRASH a lot over precision club openers, but I do not EVER double 1C. Big Club players like it when you double because it gives their partner extra ways to define their hand. In CRASH I use 1D, 1H, 1S as the steps over 1C and 1H, 1S, 1N over 1C-P-1D. For one suiters we use transfer jumps in direct seat (e.g., 1C-2D shows hearts). I know a lot of people like to keep the major suit bids at the one level natural, but well, you cannot have everything.
Once your partner bids CRASH, you now bid the 'best of your worst'. In the example Larry gives in his article, responder must be at least 4-4 in diamonds and a major and is ready to play at the 3-level either way.
Posted by: Steve Gaynor | Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 02:47 PM