Thursday, August 03, 2006 4:19 AM
Hand Evaluation – Minors ( 2NT rebid )
PITBULLS:
As
every Bridge player knows , Goren had it all wrong
with his more HCP’s you have , you jump to game concept. This it totally wrong .
By jumping to game , you pre-empt partner for further
investigation - simple as that. The “principle of fast
arrival” replaced the Goren notion by actually reversing the
concept. When you jump to game ( fast arrival ) you
are most likely weak & distributional. A jump to game in the modern era is
usually a “picture bid” which has a meaning defined by the partnership.
Established
partnerships have gone a step further. If you open a major & partner
responds a forcing 1NT , 2NT is no longer invitational . It replaced the
leap to 3NT & shows 18-19 balanced or a strong jump shift in clubs ( 4 cards ). You can now use relays or transfers to
investigate the best slam or game at the 3 level instead of the 4 level. A jump
to 3NT is a distributional two suiter with clubs.
There
is absolutely no reason why this same thinking should not apply to the minors. Partner opens 1♦ and you bid 1NT with
♠xxx ♥xxx ♦10 ♣AQxxxx . Partner holds ♠Kxx ♥AKxx ♦AKxx ♣Jx so this is a 2NT bid
showing 18-19 HCP. You do not need to bid
partners hand for her by leaping to 3NT. You can not
have an invitational range
hand, as you would have opened 1NT ( 15 –17 ) . A 3NT
bid should be a “picture” bid based on a long minor.
The
advantage of this treatment is that partners minor or the other minor is not forcing. It does not mean that this the
final contract, as
the 2NT bidder can evaluate her
hand based on the fit. In a Spingold both tables
played the above hand in 3♣ making where 3NT had no play. The bid hand
rebid 2NT and the smaller hand bid 3♣ and all passed. If the big hand has
a club fit , they would have bid 3NT.
Quite
often a 1NT response is a tactical bid where you want to keep the majors out.
Partner opens 1♦ and you have ♠xxx ♥xxx ♦AQxx ♣xxx so you “pre-empt”
1NT. Partner bids 2NT with her 19 HCP so you bid 3♦ as a suggestion to
play it there. Partner has a 5 card diamond suit so she nixes your suggestion
and bids 3NT. This makes because you fill her 5 card suit. If partner had a 4
or 3 card diamond suit this is where you would have played the contract for
minimum damage. Bidding a 3 card major with these hand types is taking a walk
on the wild side.