Serious 3NT

The Serious (and Frivolous) 3NT

There's a concept known as the "obligatory cue-bid", which says that, in certain game-forcing situations, where a fit has been established, we are obliged to to make a cue-bid, if it is below game, however putrid our hand may be. But it takes more than controls to make a slam, a source of tricks and/or some extras are usually required. Here is the obligatory cue-bid in action:

West East

♠ KQ64 ♠ AJ52

♥ K3 ♥ A9865

♦ 73 ♦ AJ6

♣ A9876 ♣ 4

1♣ 1♥ (a) Fourth Suit Forcing

1♠ 2♦ (a) (b) Setting the trump suit in a game-forcing auction

3♣ 3♠ (b) (c) The "obligatory cue-bid", saying nothing about strength

4♣ (c) 4♦ (d) (d) More cue-bidding

4♥ (d) 4NT (e) (e) Roman Key Card Blackwood

5♠ (f) 5NT (g) (f) Two Key Cards with the Queen of trumps

5♥ (h) 6♠ (g) Asking for specific Kings

Pass (h) Showing the K♥, and denying both the K♣ and K♦

Our protagonists went through a Fourth Suit Forcing auction in order to agree Spades ... then West felt "obliged" to make a 4♣ cue-bid, and the partnership then cue-bid and Key Carded its merry way to a hopeless slam. The slam was hopeless because neither partner had any extra high-card values, nor any source of tricks. But they both had good controls and got propelled into slam on sheer momentum.

A Solution

The above auction would have gained some direction if one or other of the partners had either shown or denied some extras. Enter the Serious 3NT. The logic is that, once we have agreed a major suit in a game-forcing auction, we are not going to play it in 3NT. So, we can use 3NT to show that we have a "serious" slam hand. In the above auction, over 3♠, that 3NT bid is available to West as his way of saying "I have a serious slam try here, if I had less I would merely cue-bid".

Playing the Serious 3NT, in the above example, West would still bid 4♣, but it would now have a completely different meaning. It would show something in Clubs, of course, but it would also deny the ability to make a "serious" slam try. Faced with that information, East will gently come to rest in 4♠, seeing no reason to go to slam opposite a merely average hand.

So, suppose that we are in a game-forcing auction, and that Spades (or Hearts) have been agreed, let's give a simpler auction than the one earlier:

1♠ 2♣ 2♣ in this auction was game-forcing.

2♠ 3♠

Now, Opener's options, playing the Serious 3NT, are as follows:

3NT Serious slam try, Partner is forced to cue-bid.

Cue-Bid Not enough for a Serious 3NT, a hand without substantial extras, but one with decent slam

values.

4♠ A really bad hand (does not deny the ability to cue-bid, but does show a hand that strongly

discourages slam).

The benefit of the above method is that at least allows Opener to express an opinion about his hand, and that opinion can be expressed in three ways (serious, polite interest, no interest). Quite a contrast to the earlier auction where there was absolutely no opinion being expressed, merely cue-bids.

When Does The Serious 3NT Apply?

The basic conditions are:

- The auction is already game-forcing

- A major suit has been agreed

- The bidding is at the 3-level

- One player bids 3NT, which cannot possibly be to play.

Yes, it's that last condition which is the kicker! When, after agreeing a major, do we decide that 3NT is a possible contract? We'll offer two extremes:

- We can never play in 3NT after agreeing an 8-card major fit, at least not when one of the players has yet

to limit his hand

- We can always play in 3NT after agreeing a major, unless the fit is 9 cards (typically 5-4)

We think that the second treatment is too restrictive, we'd prefer to be able to use the Serious 3NT more often.

The Frivolous Alternative

An alternative to the Serious 3NT is the Frivolous 3NT. Here we simply switch the meanings of 3NT and a direct cue-bid, as follows:

3NT "Frivolous" slam try, shows a hand with no significant extras, but not a hand so terrible that

it dictates a direct 4♠ bid.

Cue-Bid Shows a good hand and something in the bid suit ... in essence it's a "serious" slam try!

4♠ A really bad hand (does not deny the ability to cue-bid, but does show a hand that strongly

discourages slam).

We prefer the Frivolous to the Serious, because it seems less likely to convey unnecessary information to the opponents. No reason to get into cue-bidding unless you are likely to get to slam ... in the Serious World, the first cue-bid is usually made by a minimum hand, when slam may not even be on the horizon (why advertise your hand in a just-game auction?) ... in the Frivolous World, the first cue-bid is usually made with a good hand when slam might well be on the horizon.