Unusual No Trump

Unusual No Trump

This convention is so common-place now that "unusual" no longer applies. In the simplest case, your RHO bids one of a major, and you bid 2NT to show both minors, typically 5-5 or better. What sort of hand strength? Normally, it shows poor defensive values, and suggests competing in the minor, and maybe taking a sacrifice against their major suit game contract. In other words, it’s usually a preemptive action.

Some Examples

RHO You

1♠ ??

Let’s assume that neither side is vulnerable. What would you bid with the following hands?

♠ 65 Yes, this one looks like it’s straight out of the text book … the right

♥ 9 distribution, virtually no defense … bid 2NT an obvious application of

♦ KQJT6 the Unusual No Trump.

♣ QJT98

♠ 65 Same shape as before, but a better hand, and one with some defensive

♥ 9 values, too. We are not sure we want to encourage Partner to start

♦ AKJ97 sacrificing at the 5-level, so we would simply bid 2♦, planning to bid 3♣

♣ AJT98 next time, if we get the chance … we are happy to compete to the 3-level,

and if Partner wants to make any high-level bids he’ll know what to

expect from us.

♠ 652 We recommend that you don’t use the Unusual No Trump with 5-4,

♥ 9 though it might be tempting at favorable vulnerability, if you are lucky

♦ KQJT enough to have a Partner with a good sense of humor.

♣ QJT98

♠ 65 This time we have the right shape again, but the hand is lopsided in terms

♥ 9 of high cards. There is a fair chance that Partner will be on lead against

♦ AKQ76 a Heart contract, so there is something to be said for a lead-directing 2♦

♣ JT875 here. Which is not to say that 2NT is a bad idea, either bid could work.

♠ 9 A very nice hand! The plan here should be to bid 2NT and then to bid

♥ A5 more later on. To double with this hand would be a mistake, it would be

♦ AKJT6 difficult to recover if Partner were to bid Hearts (which he most likely

♣ AQJT6 will). So, ideally, the Unusual No Trump shows a preemptive type of

Hand, or a very good hand, and not something in between.

Other Applications

The Unusual No Trump has all sorts of extended uses, here are a few of them. Let’s figure out what these auctions mean (let’s assume that the vulnerability is favorable this time).

Opp1 Pard Opp2 You

1♥ Pass 2♥ 2NT Natural! Typically, 16-18, with a good Heart

holding, much the same hand that would

overcall a Weak 2♥ with 2NT.

Opp1 Pard Opp2 You

Pass Here we are a passed hand, so 2NT cannot be

1♥ Pass 2♥ 2NT natural, it’s for the minors.

Opp1 Pard Opp2 You

1♦ 2NT Yes, the Unusual No Trump can be used over an

opening bid of 1♣ or 1♦. It shows the two lower

unbid suits, Clubs and Hearts in this case.

Opp1 Pard Opp2 You

1♦ Pass 1♠ 2NT Another Unusual No Trump, showing the unbid

suits.

Doesn’t a take-out Double do the same? Yes, but that bid typically shows more high-card values, less distribution, whereas 2NT is more preemptive and shapely. In fact, some partnerships play the so-called Sandwich No Trump, whereby even a 1NT bid here would be for the unbid suits. We don’t particularly care for that treatment, being able to bid 1NT naturally seems more useful.

Opp1 Pard Opp2 You

Pass Regardless of whether we are playing the Sandwich

1♣ Pass 1♠ 1NT No Trump, this passed-hand sequence is clearly for

the unbid suits, again, showing more shape than a take-out Double. Here is a possible hand:

♠ K7

♥ QT764

♦ AT965

♣ 8

Opp1 Pard Opp2 You

Pass Here, we bid 2NT, when we had 1NT available

1♣ Pass 1♠ 2NT to show the unbid suits. Jumping to 2NT shows

more distribution and/or less defense, and is more suggestive of a sacrifice. A possible hand:

♠ 97

♥ QT764

♦ QJT96

♣ 8

Opp1 Pard Opp2 You

Pass 4♠ 4NT Yes, you could use this as Ace-Asking, but that is

not a particularly useful treatment. Most experts

use this to show a two-suiter. Not necessarily the

minors. After 4NT Partner bids his better minor,

and will hear another bid if that is not one of

Partner’s two suits.

Opp1 Pard Opp2 You

Pass 4♠ 4NT Clearly, we are showing a red two-suiter in this

Pass 5♣ Pass 5♦ in this sequence. And a good red two-suiter at

that, we don’t just jump into the fray over a

preemptive bid when we have a weak or preemptive

hand of our own. A possible hand:

♠ --

♥ AJT75

♦ AKJT76

♣ K6

Defense To Unusual No Trump

If Partner opens one of a major, and our RHO bids the Unusual 2NT, we have two cue-bids at our disposal … 3♣ and 3♦. There’s a variety of methods out there, different schemes to use these two cue-bids effectively. This is the so-called “Unusual vs Unusual”. We’ll outline one of the simplest of these, which we give the name “Lower for Lower”, so-called because the lower-ranking cue-bid is for the lower-ranking major, and the higher-ranking is for the higher.

Pard Opp You

1♥ 2NT ??

These are the options:

3♣ Shows invitational values (or better) in Hearts … at least 3-card support. Note that we are bidding the lower minor for the lower major, and that the lower minor just happens to be Partner’s suit.

3♦ Invitational values (or better) in Spades … as, in this case, the higher suit is the unbid major, we should be showing a 6-card suit (a really good 5 might be acceptable).

3♥ Competing in Hearts … 3+ Hearts, less than invitational values, something in the 6-9 range, or thereabouts.

3♠ Competing in Spades … same sort of hand strength as for 3♥, with 6-card Spade suit.

Dbl Shows values, invites Partner’s cooperation in competing or doubling their minor suit contract … creates a force, such that either we will play the hand, or they will play the hand doubled.

Pass This could just be a crummy hand, of course … another possibility is a hand which intends to double at least one of their minors, but which does not want to encourage Partner to compete. Passing 2NT, and then doubling them in one of their suits, is very much for penalty.