Friday, June 09, 2006 12:12 AM

Hand Evaluation - Limited Minor Splinters

PITBULLS:

I have always disliked splintering after a minor opener. I felt that they were too unwieldy giving too much information to the enemy where the goal with minors is to reach 3NT anyway. I played a jump to 3 level in a major after a minor opener as a natural pre-empt. Maurice has come up with a good compromise with splinters. He suggests playing splinters after a minor opener as a pre-emptive tool. These splinter bids at the 3 level show 5+ trump but values under a limit raise. This makes a lot more sense. With such a narrow range , you can be disruptive to the opponents and as 3NT is not in your sights , the bid can lead to nice sacrifices. If you are strong , why waste bidding room by jumping to the 3 level & forcing the auction to the 4 level ? Nonsense.

Left alone , 1♣-P-3♦/♥/♠ are all limited mini-splinters under the limit raise or better range. In competition , after a one or two level overcall , I still like jumps to be natural ( WJS ) after a minor opener but jump Q bids can still be the “mini splinter”. You hold ♠xxx ♥x ♦QJxxx ♣A10xx , partner opens 1♦. They overcall 1♥ so Maurice suggests a 3♥ bid with this hand. I like it ! If you were stronger , you would bid 2♥ to keep the bidding lower so eventually get to 3NT or Q bid your stiff heart later for slam purposes. This hand is too strong for a direct 3♦ bid , 2♦ is silly & a Q bid overstates the hand.

Over a T/O double of a minor opening , I like these jumps to be the “mini-splinter” hands also. The reason being that the doubler is advertising unbid suits , so the chance of you having a weak jump shift is diminished or you would not like to play it there anyway. As a passed hand , we play fit showing jumps at the two level in a major so we may as well play these mini-splinters at the 3 level there also. Hard to think that you just forgot to pre-empt with your 7 card suit originally.

Speaking of minors , how do you use minor suit KCB when you have an implied minor fit found under the 4 level in a non forcing to game auction ? My partner recommends using Kickback rather than 4 of the agreed minor. The reason is that you may want to play 4 of a minor in a limit raise or better auction. In a game forcing auction , it is a different story. Returning to 4 of the minor is KCB because you are forced to game anyway. When you play your Q bids & inverted minors as “limit raise” or better , with a Q bidding auction following, 4 of a minor is not KCB . It is just defined as I have nothing more to say. Q bids are not necessarily forcing to game so can be NT gropes. Therefore , sometimes you need to bail out at 4 of a minor. Kickback will be used as KCB in non forcing to game auctions or when you just found your minor fit at the 4 level. Makes sense to me.