[Tomi2]

Scoring: IMP

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You open 1♣ (polish) showing a weak NT or some stronger hands, your passed pd 1♦ (=any 0-6 hand or some 7-11 hand with one or two minors)
you have two possible bids now but can chose between 5 answeres to the poll
a)100% 1NT showing 18 to bad 21 allowing your pd to pass or bid stayman/invit or transfers into all suits oder 3NT directly
b)100% 2NT showing good 21 to 24 allowing your pd to bid major transfers, puppet stayman or 3NT directly
c) I'm not sure but 1NT sounds better
d) I'm not sure but 2NT sounds better
e) I don't know what to do

It was board 3 (vul/vul) (of 12) in a barometer teammatch and our team was leading by 13 IMPs.

[luis]

Vulnerable 2NT 21-24 should be automatic. And I wonder why is this a question, can I have this hand for 2NT? yes? then 2NT...

Luis

[cherdano]

I think it's a good one. Yes Qx is a minus, but touching honors are always a plus, especially when they are AK heading a four-card suit.

Arend

[Chamaco]

cherdano, on Feb 23 2006, 06:15 PM, said:

I think it's a good one. Yes Qx is a minus, but touching honors are always a plus, especially when they are AK heading a four-card suit.

Arend

Ditto.

Furthermore, AKT8 is not that much worse than AKJx

[42]

When you are somewhat scared (feeling ) and want to learn more about partner's hand, bidding 1♠ might be another option. Partner will only pass with 0-4 and that must not necessarily end the auction or be bad. Otoh: when you have a system bid just bid it Others open this hand already with 2NT, so you are "with the field". Or?

[FrancesHinden]

Jlall, on Feb 23 2006, 06:49 PM, said:

I don't understand the ranges, what am I supposed to do with an average 21? What would partner expect me to do? Anyways, my evaluation of this hand would be average 21.

I also evaluate it as an average 21.
But the ranges make sense if you interpret them as: if I opened a normal 20-22 2NT and partner raised to 4NT, would I accept or not?

[Cascade]

Tomi2, on Feb 24 2006, 06:41 AM, said:

Scoring: IMP

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Here is some numbers:

A 21 hcp has on average

2.69538 Aces
2.07328 Kings
1.48755 Queens
1.02352 Jacks
0.63559 Tens

Combining the Aces and Kings together you get 7.46404 Controls (A=2 K=1)

This hand has only two Aces (below average - bad), three kings (above average - good), two queens (above average - bad), no Jacks (below average - ok) and one ten (above average - good).

It also has 7 controls which is slightly below average. I have a rule of thumb based on the actual averages that on average you will have Controls = 0.4*HCP - 1

Some of the honours are well place AK10 in spades and some not so well placed Qx in hearts - we would rather have KQ10x and Ax I think.

On balanced I think for a balanced 21 hcp with no five-card suit this hand is slightly below average but not enough to downgrade if my range was 21-??? Perhaps I would downgrade if it was 21.5-???

In my NT ladder I normally play a 18-20 range and a 20-22 range. I split the 20s based on my rule of thumb above. If my 20 has 7 or more controls I normally include it in the higher range and if it has 6 or fewer controls then I put it in the 18-20. Occasionally I might vary this say for example a 20 count with 7 controls but a QJ tight suit and no tens I would downgrade whereas I might upgrade a 6 control hand with a five-card suit and some tens and nines.

[han]

Perhaps 2NT.

[bearmum]

I think the ranges are really ambiguous - and therein lies the confusion !!

Guess the ranges MUST work for you or presumably you would have changed them
I would bid 2NT BTW

[Free]

2NT, I thought 1NT was only 18-20