Tomi2, on 2012-April-20, 09:00, said:
in last weeks mixed championships my partner alerted my 3rd hand non vuln 1nt opener as:
any random crap hand but may accidently be 15-17 balanced
she was sooo right, I upgraded my j9xxxx holding in clubs by 7 points.
back to the hands given,
I downgrade the first one, but not the 2nd one.
quick check on KR
K&R (AJ7 JTxx KQJ AQ9) = 16.30
K&R (AJ74 KJT3 AJ KJ3) = 17.45
2nd hand seems very borderline.
the first one has defiantly not enough playing strength to play game vs a random 6 or 7 count, it needs more, that's why would open it 1NT
First off, FYP (the words in italics). Second, most of my partners won't put me in 3NT with 6 or even a lot of 7s, if your partner does then maybe you can downgrade. Third, KnR hand evaluator tends to downgrade balanced hands. Fourth, I like a challenge as well as applying pressure on opps, so even if you agree with #1 I am still going to play the hand. Fifth, I play Precision, so neither hand is a problem
"It's not enough to win the tricks that belong to you. Try also for some that belong to the opponents."
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself."
"One advantage of bad bidding is that you get practice at playing atrocious contracts."
-Alfred Sheinwold