[nick_s]

3rd in hand. Red vs White. Chicago scoring, but this is just a fun game.

♠ AKT9x
♥ KQx
♦ xxx
♣ xx

1♣ (p) 1♠ (p)
2♣ (p) ?

This is from our regular Monday night f2f teaching session. My wife is still very much a beginner and had the problem above. Any words of advice for a beginner would be appreciated. I don't think I came up with anything intelligent.

[Jlall]

This is a very difficult hand for a beginner.

First I would identify that I would treat this hand as a game force since it is a full opener opposite an opener, so the hand is worth more than a simple invitational 3C.

Second I would identify that we aren't sure what strain we want to be in. We cannot simply bid 3N because we have no diamond stopper, and because partner might still have 3 spades.

So what does that leave? Well in auctions like this you have to bid a "third suit" (this is easier to understand if they already know about fourth suit forcing auctions). Ideally this third suit is a natural bid, but sometimes you don't have a real second suit and have to manufacture something.

Here hearts is the obvious suit to bid rather than diamonds since that is where we have some values, and it will bring diamond weakness into the picture. It allows us to avoid NT when we have D stop, and also to find a 5-3 spade fit.

So I would bid 2H. Yes, the auction WILL get a little awkward if partner has 4 hearts since they will raise. The key thing to remember is that your third suit bid did not guarantee 4 in the suit you bid, so partner should not insist on hearts with 4 of them after he has raised.

I probably would not mention that there is another (nonstandard) way to play this auction, where 2D is completely artificial, much like the new minor forcing convention. If your partner knows new minor forcing, it might be worth mentioning though since it transposes into something they already know.

[ONEferBRID]

Jlall, on Aug 11 2009, 09:11 AM, said:

This is a very difficult hand for a beginner.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
I probably would not mention that there is another (nonstandard) way to play this auction, where 2D is completely artificial, much like the new minor forcing convention. If your partner knows new minor forcing, it might be worth mentioning though since it transposes into something they already know.

I shouldn't mention it either, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who uses it:

2D! = "cheapest unbid new suit forcing" 1 Rnd, may be artificial; asking the same questions as NMF over Opener's 1NT rebid when s/he holds a relatively balanced hand instead of an unbalanced hand as in this case of the rebid of the minor.

First obligation by Opener is to bid 2S with 3 card support... etc.

This way, with a weaker hand:
1C - 1S
2C - 2H = nonforcing

[bill1157]

For a beginner, 3N is the best practical bid. You are going to confuse your partner if you start bidding 3 card suits and suits in which you don't have anything.

Bill

[vuroth]

As much as I hate to disagree with justin, I think at the beginner level NT is best. Justin's idea is interesting, and I think it's something that I'd revisit for an intermediate. If a beginner can identify the lack of a fit, the relative strength of the hand, AND the flaw with the notrump bid, that seems like an awfully good start. (And if they don't see the lack of a diamond stop as a problem, it might help them to play a few NT contracts with a suit wide open )

If nothing else, the lesson that "there's no perfect bid" is a good one to learn.

0.02