New Minor Forcing

New Minor Forcing (NMF)

Here’s a simple enough hand:

♠ A65 ♠ KJT3

♥ A74 ♥ 93

♦ KQJ3 ♦ A82

♣ 765 ♣ KT32

A typical auction might go 1♦ 1♠, 1NT 2NT, 3NT, and, though the resulting contract is not iron-clad, it is the best game contract available and it is favorite to make. Now, let’s tweak it a little:

♠ A65 ♠ KT932

♥ A74 ♥ 93

♦ KQJ3 ♦ A8

♣ 765 ♣ AT32

Once again, Responder has an invitational hand, but this time he has 5 Spades. He would like to invite to game, and he would like to offer Partner a choice between Spades and No Trump … this is where New Minor Forcing comes in, as in this auction:

1♦ 1♠

1NT 2♣

etc

In this auction, 2♣ is the so-called “New Minor” and it is artificial, typically showing at least an invitational hand with 5 Spades. The characteristics of the sequence are:

- Opener bids a minor;

- Responder bids a major;

- Opener rebids 1NT;

- Responder bids the other minor, which is artificial and forcing for one round.

Follow-Up

The auction commences with 1♦ 1♠, 1NT 2♣, as per the above … what is your rebid with the following hands? Remember that the goal is twofold here … choose between Spades and No Trump … and choose between game and part-score.

♠ K54 After Partner’s NMF, you will obviously want to show your 3-card

♥ A4 Spade support. You may also want to have a good excuse ready as to

♦ KJ87 why you didn’t raise 1♠ directly to 2♠, but that’s another story.

♣ JT63

♠ 987 Here, your Spade support is lousy and your hand is square … so,

♥ A62 nobody should object to that 1NT rebid … but when Partner checks

♦ KQT6 back with 2♣, you can withhold that Spade support no longer. And,

♣ KQ3 as your hand is so good, you are supposed to jump to 3♠ with this

hand, showing extras. This treatment has a benefit on hands where you don’t jump … if you had merely bid 2♠, as in the previous hand, you would be denying extras, allowing the contract to subside whenever Partner is only invitational values.

♠ K5 Partner’s NMF bid is not just a check-back for 3 Spades … he might

♥ KJ76 well have 5 Spades and 4 Hearts, so a Heart contract is not out of the

♦ KJ32 question. So, after Partner’s 2♣, you would bid 2♥ here, just in case.

♣ QT6

♠ K53 Here, we have not only 3 Spades, but also 4 Hearts. Which are we

♥ KJ76 supposed to show? We would show the Spades first, at least on this

♦ KJ32 particular hand. If Responder is merely invitational, then 2♠ is where

♣ QT probably belong … if Partner has more stuff, we may get a chance to

show the Hearts later.

Minor Suit Auctions

The auction commences:

1♣ 1♥

2♣ ??

This is the full hand:

♠ Q87 ♠ K4

♥ K62 ♥ AQ764

♦ 5 ♦ 9432

♣ AKJ743 ♣ Q8

With this hand, Responder would like to invite to game, and also keep open the possibility of a 5-3 Heart fit. Sound familiar? Yes, of course! It’s another New Minor Forcing situation. So, the prescribed approach here is to bid 2♦.

Examples

West East

♠ K4 ♠ QT8732

♥ K642 ♥ Q3

♦ A7 ♦ Q85

♣ QT543 ♣ A9

1♣ 1♠

1NT 2♦

2♥ 2♠

Pass

In this sequence, East shows an invitational hand with 6 Spades without going to the 3-level … just as well on this hand, as 3♠ would be in some jeopardy.

West East

♠ K4 ♠ QJT7

♥ A642 ♥ 3

♦ K7 ♦ AQ5

♣ QJ543 ♣ AK962

1♣ 1♠

1NT 2♦

2♥ 3♣

etc

East’s 3♣ is forcing, at least the way that most people play the convention. With a weaker hand, let’s say the same hand without the AQ♦, he would have rebid 3♣ over 1NT.

West East

♠ K43 ♠ QT72

♥ AT6 ♥ K32

♦ KQ7 ♦ A

♣ QT94 ♣ AK632

1♣ 1♠

1NT 2♦

3♠ 4♣

…

In this auction, West shows jump support for Spades, and thus a maximum. But it turns out that East is actually on a slam hunt in Clubs … the point here is that East has no way, in currently standard methods, of creating a force in Clubs, other than going via NMF. But, after 2♦, West crosses his intentions by leaping to 3♠ … so East is now forced to bid 4♣ to show interest in a Club slam.

This last auction illustrates the downside of allowing Opener to jump to the 3-level whenever he has 3 of Partner’s major and a maximum … occasionally (fortunately not very often) it will turn out that East was not interested in the majors at all, but in a minor suit slam.