[pescetom]

mikeh, on 2026-August-21, 10:28, said:

Al Roth wrote about playing 2N (as a jump over their opening bid of 1M) as both minors in a tournament report he wrote back in 1948. I have pretty much all of The Bridge Worlds from the early 1940s on. So I think it started as for both minors and became ‘two lowest un bids’ some years later. Afaik, and I’ve read a lot of bridge material plus I was playing since the early 1970s, 2N was never ‘any two suits other than opener’s’ but of course there are regional variations so maybe it had that meaning in some regions. It was never ‘standard’…for example I never saw it described as such in any material I’ve read.

Al Roth himself had evolved to playing it as "two lower unbid suits" by the time he wrote the pamphlet "The Unusual No Trump" in 1981.

Quote

There are two possible answers to the question - which suits are shown by an Unusual No
Trump? By partnership agreement, it shows either the minors or the two lower unbid suits.
We prefer the latter, which is more flexible. Also, it eliminates ambiguity when the opening
bid is one of a minor if over 1♣ or 1♦ an Unusual No Trump always shows hearts plus the
other minor.

[pescetom]

This board looks like a showcase for Italian style control-bidding with Turbo... in any of the three initial auctions listed, below 5♣ we could already pin down first and second level control in all side suits and lack of a trumps keycard, so 6♣ it is.

My only real doubt is about a1, with 2♣ as a nebulous game force. Opener has a clear 2N rebid and then the bang for buck bid of Responder is 3♣, setting trumps... but I would be tempted to bid 3♦, casting light on a decent diamonds holding and setting the stage for a rebid of 4♣ and then (to quote Reese) "the scales fall from partner's eyes". Not sure if that is refined bidding or merely torturing partner In the end it would make no difference this time.

[WasWinM]

Late to post but I'm with Mike777 and bid 3H.

[mike777]

 pescetom, on 2026-August-22, 06:40, said:

c) after a weak two in spades

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Agree much more difficult, much more.

Too many choices, gives me a headache. 🙈😎🧐😟





.

[pescetom]

mike777, on 2026-August-22, 07:15, said:

Agree much more difficult, much more.

Too many choices, gives me a headache.

This ageing forum has the attention capacity of a butterfly , so I reluctantly moved the (for me much more interesting) discussion of what to do over 2♠ to a separate thread here.

Let's limit discussion here to cases (a) and (b), thanks.