Weak Two Openers

Weak Two Openings – Follow-Up

In the Weak Twos Introduction, we discussed at some length what hand types were suitable for opening with a Weak Two, and how our position and the vulnerability affected the decision. OK, we’ve opened one of those Weak Two bids, what happens next?

There are numerous different follow-up methods, we cannot discuss them all here, but we shall mention 3 of them … one of them is the most commonly used, another is probably the most simple, and the third is our own personal favorite. In all cases, after the Weak Two opening, a bid of 2NT is artificial and asks the Opener to describe his hand further.

Ogust & New Suits Forcing

This is probably the most commonly used method, and also our least favorite. After the Weak Two, a 2NT bid asks, and now Opener responds thusly:

3♣ Bad hand, bad suit

3♦ Bad hand, good suit

3♥ Good hand, bad suit

3♠ Good hand, good suit

3NT AKQxxx in the bid suit.

The problem that we have with these responses can best be explained by looking at an example:

♠ 87 You Partner

♥ KJ9432 2♥ 2NT

♦ A32 ??

♣ 92

How do you assess this hand? Is the suit good or bad? No, it’s somewhere in between. And the hand, is that good or bad? Well, if we divide our 5-10 range into 5-7 (bad) and 8-10 (good), we just fall into the “Good” category … but that might be a stretch, looking at our blah shape. Playing Ogust, we can hardly call this a “Good, good” hand, and it seems almost arbitrary whether we classify it as “Good, bad”, or “Bad, good”. If we claim to be one or the other, Partner will conjure up visions of one or other of these hands:

♠ 82 ♠ 8

♥ KT9432 ♥ KQT943

♦ AQ2 ♦ 432

♣ J9 ♣ 962

These two hands are worlds apart, and yet in the hand that we held earlier we are obliged to go in one direction or the other. Yes, indeed, altogether too arbritary!

Enough of the Ogust part, on to the “New Suits Forcing” part, or, to put it another way “RONF”, as in “Raise Only Non-Forcing”. In other words, an auction such as 2♥ 2♠ is forcing, whereas 2♥ 3♥ is purely preemptive. Again, not our favorite, and a method that is losing favor in the tournament world. We’ll come back to this later.

2NT Asks For Feature

This is a simple enough method … after the Weak Two, we bid 2NT asking Opener to show us a “feature” in a side-suit. Typically, a feature is defined as an Ace or a King, though you might choose to stretch that definition to include holdings such as QJx. The idea of the convention is to see if the hands fit well together, and, especially, to discover whether we have all the suits stopped for a 3NT contract. For example:

You Partner

♠ AQ ♠ 954

♥ 82 ♥ KQT654

♦ AKQJ654 ♦ 82

♣ 72 ♣ A6

A good hand for the system … once Partner opens a Weak 2♥, we want to be in 3NT if only Partner has something in Clubs. And, if Partner does not have a Club feature? Well, you’ll just have to hope that 4♥ makes.

One commonly played refinement of the Feature method is that Opener does not have to admit to having a feature if his hand is especially poor. Giving Opener some discretion in the matter is usually a good thing, but not always … for example, in the above deal, we really don’t care about Partner’s opinion of his hand, we just want a Club stop.

Modified Ogust (5666)

Actually, there are a few Ogust variations, they are all an improvement on the original (at least in our humble opinion), and “5666” just happens to be our own personal favorite. After we open a Weak Two, and Partner bids 2NT, these are our responses:

3♣ 5-card suit, any strength (now 3♦ asks for strength, to which the responses are 3♥, 3♠, 3NT respectively for Bad, Medium, Good)

3♦ 6-card suit, bad hand

3♥ 6-card suit, medium hand

3♠ 6-card suit, good hand

3NT AKQxxx in the bid suit.

Here are three hands from before where we were agonizing whether to treat them as “Good, Bad” or “Bad, Good”, or whatever. Well, in a plain and simple “Bad, Medium, Good” world, these are pretty straightforward:

Good Medium Bad

♠ 82 ♠ 87 ♠ 8

♥ KT9432 ♥ KJ9432 ♥ KQT943

♦ AQ2 ♦ A32 ♦ 432

♣ J9 ♣ 92 ♣ 962

A refinement to the 5666 method, occurs after Opener, in response to 2NT, bids 3 showing a 5-card suit. Now, Responder can bid 3♦ which re-asks about Opener's strength ... the responses are 3♥, 3♠, and 3NT respectively for Bad, Medium, Good.

New Suits Constructive

If you play that new suits over a Weak Two are forcing, then you are probably in the majority of duplicate players. But, please, keep an open mind here, and consider an alternative style. That alternative is “new suits constructive”, whereby Responder shows the following hand type (after 2♥ 2♠):

(a) It is not a forcing bid, not a monster … if Responder wanted to insist on game he would have jumped to 3♠ or else bid a forcing 2NT. But he does have a pretty decent hand, he is seeking our help to get to game.

(b) Not only is Responder unsure about playing in game, he may well be unsure about which strain to play it in … it may be our suit, his suit, or No Trump.

Here are a few “new suit constructive” candidates, after Partner opens a weak 2♥.

♠ AQ765 No need to waste time showing our Spades here, on this hand we

♥ A32 would like to get to 4♥ if Partner has a decent hand. So, bid

♦ A87 2NT, in search of that “Bad, Medium, Good” response … if it’s

♣ 73 Medium or Good, go for it!

♠ Q7654 How did this hand get in here? Oh, yes, it’s a reminder that,

♥ A32 opposite a 2♥ opening bid, a raise to 3♥ is not invitational, it is

♦ K75 merely furthering the preempt.

♣ 74

♠ AQJ76 Not enough to go to game on, and uncertainty as to where we

♥ 96 belong … so bid 2♠, non-forcing, but constructive … Partner may

♦ A753 well pass with an execrable hand and Spade tolerance, but at least

♣ K4 this bid gets Partner involved in the auction, and gives us a chance to investigate the best strain.

♠ AQJ76 Definitely not a 2♠ bid! Way too good, and, anyway, we know

♥ 92 where this one belongs. Yes, we bid 3NT, no reason to consider

♦ AQT anything else.

♣ KQT

Armed with those basics, try these hands from the other side of the table. We have opened 2♥, Partner has bid 2♠, and it is our turn with the following:

♠ 75 An easy one to start off with. Our hand is quite minimum, no

♥ QJT764 reason to bid again. Partner’s 2♠ bid was not forcing, it was

♦ K87 merely constructive. OK, Pard, I pass, now see if you can

♣ 53 construct 8 tricks out of this mess!

♠ 7 We have a poor hand, shortness in Partner’s suit, and a very

♥ KQJT94 fine suit of our own. Bidding 3♥ here will convey that message.

♦ 763 3♥ is not forcing and it clearly says that we like Hearts more than

♣ 853 Spades.

♠ 7 Same hand as before, but beefed up by a side-suit King. Now, we

♥ KQJT94 accept Partner’s game-try, and we know exactly where we belong.

♦ K63 Yes, 4♥ is the call.

♣ 853

♠ J53 Well, how are we going to explain this Weak Two bid to Partner?

♥ KJ9763 However, now that Partner has bid 2♠, our hand has suddenly got

♦ 652 better! We have 3-card support, and a singleton to boot! We could

♣ 8 just pass out of shame and embarrassment at our original bid, but

surely we owe Partner a raise to 3♠. And, replace that K♥ with the

Ace and we would advocate a 4♠ call.

♠ 84 Here, we have a good hand, but we are not crazy about Partner’s

♥ AQ9765 Spades, and our own Hearts are nothing to write home about,

♦ KT7 either. But, we want to cooperate, and the best way of doing that

♣ 74 is to bid 3♦. We are just bidding what we have, and hoping that

this information allows Partner to bid 3NT. If not, we’ll be happy

to play this one in 4 of a major, whichever one Partner prefers.

Other Sequences

So far, using our recommended methods, we have established the following:

2♥ 2♠ A constructive bid, trying for game, at least a 5-card suit, not

forcing. Let’s make one important point here … Responder is not

bidding 2♠ in a desperate attempt to escape Hearts, he is bidding it in search of a game somewhere or other … with a bad hand and Heart shortness and lots of Spades, he must just pass. If rescuing is required, it will have to occur after the opponents have doubled.

2♥ 2NT An asking bid, with the responses as described above. Responder

usually knows where this will be played (presumably Hearts or No

Trump), and it’s just a matter of how high.

2♥ 3♥ A preemptive move, making them guess one level higher.

Here are some other follow-ups:

2♥ 4♥ We haven’t discussed this one, but it’s not so hard to figure out

what it means. Yes, we want to play it in 4♥! But that is an over-

simplification, of course. We might have 4 small Hearts and out, merely seeking to

obstruct the opponents’ auction … or, we might have a good hand with Heart support and

an expectation of making game. How does Partner know which? He doesn’t, and nor

should he care, he made his preempt and handed the reins over to us, his opinion is no

longer required, unless we ask for it. And how do the opponents know which hand-type

we have? Well, they don’t, and that’s exactly how we like it!

2♥ 3♠ This is the bid that we make when we want to force to game, and

when we have a good suit of our own. For every time that this

auction occurs, an auction that starts 2♥ 2♠ will surely occur a dozen times. It’s that frequency which makes the “New suits constructive” style so appealing.

2♥ 3♦ However, some partnerships make a distinction between new suits at the two-level (which they play as constructive) and new suits at the 3-level (which they play as forcing). That’s an OK treatment, in fact we recommend it, but to be honest, it hardly ever comes up … usually, with that hand type, Responder just charges into 3NT.

2♥ 4♣ Discuss this with your Partner first, of course, but we strongly

recommend that you play this as Roman Key Card. And, at the risk of adding too much clutter to your convention card, we would further suggest that you modify the responses somewhat. Just remember “01122”, by which we mean the following:

0 0 Key Cards

1 1 Key Card without the Queen of trumps

1 1 Key Card with the Queen of trumps

2 2 Key Cards without the Queen of trumps

2 2 Key Cards with the Queen of trumps.

Yes, of course, you could use the standard Roman Key Card responses (and most of the time you will get by just fine with those), but the modified responses are a definite improvement opposite a Weak Two bid.

Recap

That’s it for the uncontested auctions. We are recommending a modified version of

Ogust, and new suits constructive, at least at the 2-level. So much writing for such a

simple approach!

Weak Two Openings - Competition

Weak Two Openings - Lebensohl