Monday, November 04, 2002 6:23 PM

Hand Evaluation - Forcing 1NT ( Light openers )

PITBULLS:

The forcing 1NT bid is the “garbage bucket” of Bridge . It is a catch all bid that describes any hand under a 2/1 game force. Coming with the territory is the ambiguity of a 2NT rebid by the forcing NT bidder. It cannot be a nice disciplined balanced hand with 10-12 HCP , stoppers in every suit with tolerance for partners suit . That does not follow from the nature of the 1NT bid in the first place . O.K. you know that , so what I am I getting at ? The point I would like to make is that it is more important for opener to describe her hand to the forcing NT & make the 1NT bidder the captain of the auction . This means that opener should not make gambling leaps to game & hope . Let the 1NT bidder in on the picture , before making any single handed decisions .

For instance , all the 6-4 hands & the 5-5 hands by opener with varying ranges of HCP’s. In the days before forcing NT , you could differentiate between weak or intermediate 6-4 & 5-5 hands by leaping to game . For example

♠AJxxxx ♥AQxx ♦Ax ♣x You open 1♠ , partner bids 1NT . You rebid 2♥

so partner bids 2NT .

You have enough for game but where ? You cannot bid 3♠ as that is not forcing with standard methods so we are just trying to escape from 2NT & suggest a better partial. ex ♠KQJxxx ♥AJxx ♦xx ♣x .

So you leap to 4♠ because you have extra. Congratulations , you have found the only game that does not make !! Partner has ♠x ♥KJx ♦KQxx ♣Q1098x or ♠x ♥Kx ♦KQJxx ♣J1098x or any number of concocted 2NT bids that 3NT or 4♥ is a better contract. Single handed bidding by opener got what it deserved.

O.K. you hold ♠AKxxx ♥Kx ♦AJ10xx ♣x or any number of 5-5 hands just under a strong jump shift . You open a spade partner bids 1NT , you bid 2♦ . Partner bids 2NT so you cannot bid 3♦ as partner might pass expecting you to hold ♠KQxxx ♥xx ♦AQ10xx ♣x or the like . So you leap to 5♦ or bid 3NT which does not let partner in on your real hand very well.

If you play the excellent multi 3♣ SJS , 5-5 in the majors are no longer a problem as you can bid 3♥ invitational. This also prevents the obligatory heart raise which destroys partials.

O.K. in order to make all natural bids over an invitational 2NT bid forcing , you need a gadget . Fred Gittleman plays the cheapest idle bid (3♣ usually ) as a relay . Therefore , all his bids after the relay show the weaker 6-4’s , the weaker 5-5’s and all other hands that you would have not accepted the invite (5-4-3-1) . These leaves all the natural bids as forcing over responders 2NT bid. Opener can now improve the 2NT partial which can win IMPS also . Patterning out shows extra also with the 5-4-3-1 hands.

The only other way out of this hole in Standard bidding is to make strong jump shifts highly invitational or shade them so that your two level bids are not quite so strong . This is not the lesser of two evils as beginners who try this tactic well know. Shaded strong jump shifts also can lead to a heap of trouble …