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This week's topic: Dealing With Opener's 1NT Rebid
Oh, my ducats! Oh, my daughter!
Like Shakespeare's Shylock, duplicate players have two appealing choices to deal with when partner opens a minor, they respond in a major with a weak or moderate hand, and opener rebids 1NT: first, with 5 in the suit they want to rebid the major (and play the hand, too!) because of the stress given to major suits in duplicate bidding; second, they have a Pavlovian preference for no trump due to that extra 10 points it scores. Let's consider the various bids we have available when we hear this familiar sequence:
Opener Responder 1♣ or 1♦ 1♥ or 1♠ 1NT
The guiding principle for what follows is that opener's 1NT bid limits his hand to 12-14 HCP if you open 1NT with 15 HCP. Partner may hold 4 of the other major but has 2-3 at most of yours (we avoid rebidding 1NT with singletons or voids, right?). With that information in hand, here are your choices, assuming you are not playing New Minor Forcing.
When you hold a weak hand (6-10 HCP):
- Pass if you have a balanced hand.
- Bid 2 of your major if you have 5+ cards in the suit and feel it will not provide as many tricks in no trump.
- Bid a new suit that is lower than your first (after hearts, 2 of the other minor; after spades, 2 in hearts or the other minor) if you have at least 4 cards in the new suit and feel your hand is too unbalanced for no trump.
- Raise partner's minor. Generally, this promises 5 of the minor unless you have a singleton in an unbid suit and much of your strength is in trumps.
In cases 2-4, your bid is neither forcing nor invitational; you are simply searching for a better partial than in no trump.
When you have 12+ HCP and want to bid game:
- Make a reverse bid at the 2-level.
- Jump in any suit to the 3-level.
- Bid game directly in no trump or in your major (holding 6+) or partner's minor (holding 5+).
Partner may not pass your reverse or jump to the three-level as both are game forcing. If you have enough power to think about slam, you might just jump straight to 4♣ over the 1NT rebid or make a quantitative jump to 4NT, inviting the slam if partner holds a maximum.
Notice that we skipped something? What about those hands with 11-12 HCP? SAYC (Standard American Yellow Card--see the ACBL home page for more information) offers only two options: invite to game by bidding 2NT if you hold a balanced hand; decide whether you want to underbid (choices 1-4) or overbid (choices 5-7) with an unbalanced hand. That's why some partnerships now play New Minor Forcing. In the sequence we are considering, responder bids 2 of the unbid minor over opener's 1NT rebid. This bid is alertable, artificial, and a one-round force. It has a variety of responses (see the link below for further information). For now, though, let's conclude this week's discussion with an example hand.
Dealer: South
Vul: E/W
North ♠ A8642 ♥ KJ43 ♦ J8 ♣ 96
| West ♠ KJ93 ♥ 97 ♦ Q10732 ♣ Q2 | East ♠ 105 ♥ Q82 ♦ AK6 ♣ J8754 |
South ♠ Q7 ♥ A1065 ♦ 954 ♣ AK103
North East South West ---- ---- 1♣ Pass 1♠ Pass 1NT Pass 2♥ Pass Pass Pass
Clearly, 2♥ will take 8-10 tricks, depending on the defense and the line selected by the declarer (ruffing 2-3 times in dummy is best). In no trump declarer will be lucky to make more than 6 tricks after a diamond opening lead. North's decision to make the non-forcing 2♥ bid paid off nicely for her side. Have a great week of bridge!
For further information on New Minor Forcing, visit the link below or run a search of your own--there are dozens of sites available!
Bridge Guys on New Minor Forcing
Click here to access past articles from this discussion page.
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