[Fluffy]

Jlall, on Jul 18 2007, 12:03 AM, said:

bypassing spades is what almost everyone does (in NA?).

Yeah, in NA. Here there is no exception

I am greatly impressed by the number of people who even consider 1♠ as an option. I don't squeeze my brain cells on balanced hands.

[skjaeran]

Jlall, on Jul 18 2007, 02:03 AM, said:

However, for a TWO NT rebid, bypassing spades is what almost everyone does (in NA?).

And in Scandinavia, UK and probably the rest of the world too.

[han]

I bid 2NT with balanced 18-19 unless I hold 4-card support.

[the hog]

2NT. I have a balanced hand. Why should I lie about my shape and show 5D / 4S with a 1S bid.

[awm]

Of course it's obvious that if you're agreement is rebidding 1♠ "shows an unbalanced hand" that you have to rebid 2NT. We can have a long argument about the merits of such an agreement -- there are both obvious advantages (when you rebid 1♠, partner can raise your minor on three, if you later show a fit for hearts partner knows you have singleton in the other minor, etc) and obvious disadvantages (sometimes you wrong-side a notrump contract, you land in the wrong partial when partner has spades and less than invite, etc).

But suppose your agreement is to normally rebid 1♠ when you have a balanced "weak notrump" with four spades. Is there really much advantage to rebidding 2NT instead when you have a balanced 18-19 with four spades? Certainly you "announce your values" right away, but at the same time you have taken up a lot of your own side's space and definitely made the partial worse when partner is weak...

[jdonn]

We are very fortunate that the inventors of common bidding systems thought to include a way to show a balanced hand with 18-19 high card points. It has made our lives easy for generations to come. It is a shame for people who want to rebid 1♠ that they invented no such way after partner rebids 2♦/2♥ to show such a hand.

[Free]

Walddk, on Jul 17 2007, 11:31 PM, said:

I think you should bypass a major every time you have a balanced hand, so I would have no problem with 2NT here. The continuation Frances suggested is excellent and exactly what I and many others teach students here.

Rebidding 1♠ (may or may not be a balanced hand) creates some problems with a hand like this:

♠ KJ54
♥ Q108
♦ Q87
♣ AJ4

1♣ - 1♥
1♠ - 2♦
2♥

This sounds like a 4-3-1-5 hand to me, and as responder I would be very disappointed to find a 4333 in dummy. As opener I would feel much more comfortable if it goes

1♣ - 1♥
1NT

Roland

The biggest problem with bypassing ♠ to bid 1NT is when partner has a weak hand with 5♥ and 4♠. Unless you have some tool to show such hand, it's one hell of a problem. From the moment you have invite or better, this is no problem anymore ofcourse.

For 2NT rebids, it's just common practice to skip ♠, because it tells a lot about your hand. There are lots of tools to find out about 4♠ or 3♥, and the situation is usually GF, so no problems there...