[Flame]

1M-2♣
what are 2M and 2NT now ?
If you dont open 1NT with 5 card major, this is simple, 2NT should be 15-17, and 2M should just show minimum.
But today most open 1NT with 5 card major, so how do you use those bids ?
imo its still wrong to bid 2nt with 12-14 balance, this bid put partner in a bad possition to judge, he wont know what to do with 11-12 hcp.
maybe its still good to play 2nt as 15-17 not suited for 1nt opening (would make more sense over 1H then 1S) but even over 1H this seems not frequent enough.
you could use more specific range like 12-13 or 13-14 or just 14, this is simple which is good but maybe there is a better way.
Or you could use 2nt artificiall forcing bid for different perposes.
What do you think ?

[jdulmage]

ok, then what does partner do with no rebid and 12-14? pass a forcing bid?

2NT is perfectly fine with 12-14, partner with 11-12 and a good club suit should always bid it up to 3NT, without a good club suit and poor major holders, he may want to pass. It's a partnership game, the responder has to have enough sense of the cards to determine whether 2NT or 3NT is right.

And no, most today don't open 1NT with a 5 card major - sometimes if they are 5 crappy spades/hearts, then yes. But of all the tournaments I've been to in my years of playing, I have seen maybe a dozen partnerships playing 1NT like that. Maybe it is common where you are, but it's not a majority.

Perhaps if you must have 2NT has a 15-17, you could play that the next highest suit shows a minimum hand, nothing about the suit, then responder can set the level.

Example:

1♥-2♣
2♦(Alert!) - This is showing a minimum hand, nothing about diamonds.

Same if it went

1♥-2♦
2♠ (Next available suit - Alert! - showing minimum hand)

Of course that can cut out a lot of stuff, but that would fix this particular problem.

[whereagles]

If you open ALL 15-17 hands with 1NT, then the 2NT rebid is open for gadgetry.

If you want to keep it natural, one possibility is use it to show a good 13 or 14, e.g.

1M 2m
2M = min unbal OR bal 11 to a bad 13.

1M 2m
2NT = good 13 or 14.

[Flame]

jdulmage, on Feb 28 2005, 02:54 PM, said:

ok, then what does partner do with no rebid and 12-14? pass a forcing bid?

2NT is perfectly fine with 12-14, partner with 11-12 and a good club suit should always bid it up to 3NT, without a good club suit and poor major holders, he may want to pass.  It's a partnership game, the responder has to have enough sense of the cards to determine whether 2NT or 3NT is right.

And no, most today don't open 1NT with a 5 card major - sometimes if they are 5 crappy spades/hearts, then yes.  But of all the tournaments I've been to in my years of playing, I have seen maybe a dozen partnerships playing 1NT like that.  Maybe it is common where you are, but it's not a majority.

Perhaps if you must have 2NT has a 15-17, you could play that the next highest suit shows a minimum hand, nothing about the suit, then responder can set the level.

Example:

1♥-2♣
2♦(Alert!) - This is showing a minimum hand, nothing about diamonds.

Same if it went

1♥-2♦
2♠ (Next available suit - Alert! - showing minimum hand)

Of course that can cut out a lot of stuff, but that would fix this particular problem.

Dont know where you play bridge, but as far as i can tell opening 1nt with 5 card major is the way most play. I will quete Fred's post from this forum today:

fred, on Feb 28 2005, 01:55 PM, said:

HeartA, on Feb 28 2005, 06:13 PM, said:

Then how would you rebid with a hand ♠KJxx, ♥KQxxx, ♦Ax, ♣Kx? or ♠KQx, ♥Qxxxxx, ♦Ax, ♣KQ?

With my regular partner I would seriously considering opening 1NT with both of these hands.

I thought its obvious from my post but i ment you will rebid your major with a minimum hand.