[dickiegera]

---

Open
#1 1NT
#2 1♥ and rebid 2♦ over partners 1♠ or 1NT forcing
#3 1♥ and rebid 3♦ over partners 1 ♠ or 1NT forcing

Thank you

[han]

1H..2D, not close.

[JLOGIC]

I have some partners (hi joe!) who open 1N with this type of hand but I think it's pretty bad. There is upside in making yourself declarer with Kx and Jx as your doubletons, and also showing your values safely which won't be possible on 1H 1N 2D 2H. Still, our hand is suit oriented, if we have a 5-3 heart fit it will be important to find it (let alone a 5-4 heart fit) when we are 5422, and finding a diamond fit is not bad.

[chasetb]

I also like 1♥ then 2♦. I hate worthless doubletons, and Jx sure is worthless. Not only that, the hand looks like it should be played in a suit (unless partner shows a GF with Spades and good Clubs obviously, then NT).

[JLOGIC]

chasetb, on 2012-June-13, 16:00, said:

I also like 1♥ then 2♦. I hate worthless doubletons, and Jx sure is worthless. Not only that, the hand looks like it should be played in a suit (unless partner shows a GF with Spades and good Clubs obviously, then NT).

I hear that a lot about Jx but it really is a NTy holding. For instance, after 1C p 1S p a lot of people will raise with Jx of diamonds and only 3 spades because they have a "worthless doubleton" but I'd almost always bid 1N even if I would bid 2S with xx. Think about all the possible holdings from partner when they lead a club, Jx is really quite good if partner has 4 clubs (which is not unlikely when you land in 3N) and if he has 3 sometimes it's Kxx or KTx etc.

[gszes]

at MP where the search for the 40% game is non existent and the idea of playing in
2d is ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i have huge sympathy for opening 1n



at IMPS arbitrarily by passing a 5 card major takes a rather large risk for generally very
little gain. If we open 1h and rebid 2d (over 1s) if p cannot generate a 2h or 3d bid we
have little chance at game anyway and thereis no ugghhhhhhhhhhh at IMPS playing 2d.
If p can bid 2h we can bid 2n and make our game try at least partially reassured our heart
length is not totally useless. The only real downside is the general inabilty to play 2s unless
p has a lot of spades and doenst mind rebidding them in the face of at least 9 red cards.

[rmnka447]

1 ♥ followed by 2 ♦

Just to note -- There's a school of thought that with a 5 card major and a doubleton in the other major that you shouldn't open 1 NT. The reasoning is that partner may transfer you to the doubleton suit and you'd end up playing a 5-2 fit at the 2 level instead of a better 5-3 fit.

[han]

There are a lot of schools of thoughts.

[JLOGIC]

Schools out for summer

[ahydra]

1H then 2D. Why bother with 1NT with such an easy rebid (and look at the club suit). Nowhere near strong enough for 3D.

ahydra

[mr1303]

5422 is unbalanced. Not that this is gospel (obviously) but I don't distort if I have no need to, like here.

[FrancesHinden]

gszes, on 2012-June-13, 17:11, said:

at MP where the search for the 40% game is non existent and the idea of playing in
2d is ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i have huge sympathy for opening 1n

Playing in 2D is only worse than playing in 1N if they are both making (in fact, only if 1NT is making more overtricks than 2D).
If the auction goes 1H-1S/1NT-2D - Pass then it is extremely likely that 1NT was not making. There's no reason to expect diamonds wouldn't be better.

[billw55]

ahydra, on 2012-June-14, 04:03, said:

1H then 2D. Why bother with 1NT with such an easy rebid

mr1303, on 2012-June-14, 04:07, said:

5422 is unbalanced. Not that this is gospel (obviously) but I don't distort if I have no need to, like here.

Agree. I bid an offshape NT when my rebid options after 1 of a suit are all flawed, for whatever reason. Here, there is no flaw with 1♥ - (1♠/1NT/2♣) - 2♦.

[ggwhiz]

billw55, on 2012-June-14, 14:40, said:

Here, there is no flaw with 1♥ - (1♠/1NT/2♣) - 2♦.

The flaw comes after pard bids 2♥ and next you bid??

I'm on the fence and 1nt certainly isn't the worst bid I've ever made.

[andy_h]

1H and 2D is clear. I hate 1NT because it could bury our major fit which is v bad when I have a 5422.

[jillybean]

I open 1nt, maybe I need to rethink this!

[billw55]

ggwhiz, on 2012-June-14, 15:00, said:

The flaw comes after pard bids 2♥ and next you bid??

I'm on the fence and 1nt certainly isn't the worst bid I've ever made.

Agree 1nt is a reasonable 2nd choice. I would not bite partner's head off for bidding it.

You seem to be suggesting that we will have a problem telling if partner has two or three hearts on your sample auction. I don't see how opening 1NT will help with that problem. I would probably choose 2NT over 2♥. True this gets one level higher compared to opening 1NT, when partner has specifically a weak hand with two hearts. That will be a minority of hands though, and even then it will occasionally make. On the upside, lots of good things can happen when I describe my hand as accurately as possible.