Choice of Opening Bid

 

Here we consider an assortment of opening bid decisions.  Open or preempt?  1NT or one of a suit?  Which suit to open? 

 

 

2nd January, 2008             Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

There are varying theories on what to open when holding 4-4 in the minors, you’ll find plenty of advocates for 1♣ or 1♦ or “better minor”.  In most cases it’s not particularly important, really not worth worrying about too much, but on this particular South hand it’s essential to open 1♦.  It’s easy enough to see why.  If South opens this 1♣ and North inconveniently responds 1♠, South will be without a rebid.

 

So, generally speaking, open those 4-4 hands 1♣ or 1♦, whichever you prefer, but when you are 15-17 with specifically 1=4=4=4 distribution, it’s necessary to open 1♦ to avoid an impossible rebid problem.  With 1=4=4=4 and 12-14 we have no qualms about rebidding 1NT after the 1♠ response, but if you find that distasteful, then you had better open these hands 1♦ also.

 

3rd January, 2007             Board 26      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

Here are our choices:

-       Pass?              Absolutely not!  We surely cannot suppress such a good suit in a hand with such offensive potential.

-         2♦ or 3♦?         Both would be better than Pass, at least these bids mention our prime asset.

-         1♦?                  That would be our choice … only 19 on the Rule of 20 scale, and only 9 HCP’s, but look at all the compensating factors! … lovely shape, a void as well, great Diamond fillers, and the potential for a Heart contract (if we preempt, that will be lost)

 

3rd January, 2007             Board 29       Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

When we hold opening values, but not reverse values, those 5-6 hands in the red suits can be a problem.  Do we bid the 5-card Heart suit first?  Or do we open 1♦ and stretch the hand into a reverse?  We are not averse to a little stretching, but with only 11 working HCP’s this is not the hand for it.  So, with no enthusiasm whatsoever we would open that feeble Heart suit and keep that wonderful Diamond suit a temporary secret.

 

Actually, this hand is so extreme, we might even consider a third possible strategy:  open 1♦ and never introduce Hearts at all!  No doubt we would deign to raise Partner’s Hearts, but if she cannot bid them we’d just rebid Diamonds.  Sure, we’ll miss a few 5-3 Heart fits that way, but still not an unreasonable strategy, at least we’ll always play in Diamonds when it’s right.

 

17th January, 2007           Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

It would be difficult to find extreme fault with a 1NT opening bid here.  After all, it is a balanced hand with 15-17 HCP’s and that is probably what your Convention Card describes as your requirements for a 1NT opening bid.  Also, there’s a lot to be said for making the same opening bid as the rest of the field, it allows you assert yourself through superior card play.

 

Having said all that, consider downgrading your hand to a 1♦ opening followed by a 1NT rebid, showing 12-14 instead of the actual 15 that you possess.  It always such fun to upgrade our hands, isn’t it?  We fall in love with our shape, our Tens and Aces, our working honors, and our blessed absence of unsupported Queens, and we bid one more for the road.  The flip side of this, which we often omit, is to downgrade our hands when appropriate.  We would say that the featured hand is just bursting with downgradeable appropriateness:

-         Square hand

-         Not a Ten in sight

-         More Queens than Aces, one of them unsupported.

 

So, bid 1NT if you really must, and get your top when you play the hand even more brilliantly than the rest of the field.  But consider also getting your top by superior hand evaluation, which in this case, and in our opinion, would be to open this hand 1♦.  Food for thought.

 

 

7th September, 2006         Board 3      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

We confess that we would open the North hand 1NT!  True, it’s a point shy, but it has the compensation of a 5-card suit and some useful fillers.  This one looks better than many 15-counts to us, and there’s a lot to be said for getting that 1NT card out on the table against vulnerable opponents, they may find it hard to get into the auction.  Also, opening 1NT makes it very likely that North will be Declarer, a good thing as this is a hand which needs to be protected from the opening lead.

 

If you are going to start opening these hands 1NT, it would be wise to announce your opening 1NT bids as “a good 14 to 17”.

 

 

8th Novemebr, 2006         Board 26      Dealer East       Both Vul

 

 

Square hand, 15 HCP’s.  1NT, right?  Well, that’s certainly the mainstream bid, nobody would fault you for making it.  But please consider also the following:

-         This hand is square and though the hand adds up to 15 it doesn’t look like 15.

-         Not a filler in sight.

-         There is no positional benefit to be gained by having this hand declare No Trump, it would surely be better if Partner declared.

So, we would open 1♣!  Yes, we really would!

 

 

31st May, 2006                 Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

Would you open 1♥ with the West hand?  We really don’t care to preempt at the 3-level with 2 Aces … we are not crazy about Weak Twos with a 7-card suit (but see next hand also) … and we hate to pass such a good-looking hand with a 7-card major.  This one is something of a style choice, and our own preference would be a light 1♥ opening.  Many will disagree with 1♥, that’s their style.

 

 

1st August, 2007               Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

Three choices here … Pass or 1♠ or 2♠.  Let’s eliminate the Pass, that suit really needs to be introduced into the auction.  So, is this a preemptive 2♠ or an opening 1♠?  Neither bid is quite perfect … it’s not quite an opening bid … but with two outside Kings it’s not exactly your text-book Weak Two either.  Take your choice on this one, just don’t pass.  Our own choice is a flawed Weak Two.

 

 

17th January, 2007           Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

We very much belong to the school of thought which says that we really have to bid some number of Diamonds with this hand.  In other words, just because it would be an imperfect preempt or a shaded 1♦ opening, does not provide us with an excuse for inaction.  Having said that, the choices are:

-        3♦:       Perhaps a little bit “out there”, what with our outside Ace and Queen and void and rather suspect suit.

-        2♦:       Unlike some, we are not utterly averse to occasional 2♦-with-a-seven-card-suit adventures, but they are few and far between, usually when we are vulnerable and lacking the courage to preempt 3♦, typically with a rotten suit where the 7^th card provides some much-needed bolstering for a 6-card preempt.

-       1♦:       Yes, that’s the ticket!  Maybe not the perfect ticket, but we’d consider it the best ticket available.  Just a point shy on the Rule of Twenty, with all sorts of compensating plus factors.

 

 

17th January, 2007           Board 23      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

1♥ or 4♥?  We’d go for 1♥ ourselves, we think that we have a bit too much outside for a 4♥ preempt.  The main knock against 4♥ is not that it has too much playing strength (it has 5 losers, not unreasonable for a 4♥ preempt), but that it has too much defense.  When we preempt, Partner should feel entitled (at least if she is an unpassed hand) to sacrifice at a high level, safe in the knowledge that the preemptor is not loaded with defense.  Having said that, we are the first to admit that this scholarly approach is not always the winner, and the rock ‘em, sock ‘em 4♥ preempt will sometimes work better.

 

 

19th July, 2006                  Board 7     Dealer South      Both Vul

 

 

Anyone for that 1♥ opener with the West hand?  We rather like it, if you ever have to lie about your “5-card major” in second seat, this is the hand for it … pathetic 3-card minor suits and a spectacular 4-card Heart suit.  Yes, lead-direction is a big part of the bidding process, and opening a minor suit here will not be very helpful in that regard.  In fact, quite the reverse!

 

 

6th September, 2006         Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

Here we go again, upsetting the “Law” proponents by suggesting a 1♠ bid here.  To us, it looks like a 5-card suit, and we know what suit we want led if we end up defending.  But, if you are a Law-abiding citizen, and if you prefer to open a 643 suit when you have an AKQJ suit available, then we won’t press the point.

 

 

23rd August, 2006            Board 21      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

Most partnerships nowadays play a range of 5-10 or 6-10 HCPs for their Weak Twos.  In terms of HCPs, this hand fits right in, but it has other intangibles which make it too good for a mere Weak Two … two Aces, great trump fillers, lovely 6-4 distribution.  For us, this is a clear-cut 1♥ opening bid.

 

 

13th Septemebr, 2006       Board 4      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

When we are 5-5 in the black suits, our preferred style is to open 1♠.  One problem with opening 1♣ occurs when Partner responds 1NT … now Opener is stuck for a rebid if her hand is not up to the Reverse strength needed for 2♠.  Does this mean that it’s OK to open 1♣ here with the actual South hand?  It’s certainly strong enough to overcome the rebid problem, and some players would open 1♣ accordingly.  Nothing terrible about that, although we still prefer the 1♠ opening ourselves … Spades (being a major) is a more likely place to play, so there’s a lot to be said for mentioning that suit first.  Compare these two auctions:

 

          North   South                North    South

          Pass    1♠                      Pass      1♣

          2♠        4♠                     1♥          2♠

          Pass                              3♣         3♠

                                                4♠         Pass

 

The left-hand auction is completely uninformative, but the right-hand auction gives the opponents all sorts of information as they seek to find the best opening lead and defense.

 

 

4th October, 2007             Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

Only 10 HCP’s (and two of those are quite wasted), but, yes, we’d open this 1♣.  This may not be to everybody’s taste, but experience shows that it’s a bidder’s game.  For what it’s worth, the hand passes the Rule of Twenty with something to spare, but the real point is that it’s essential to get those good suits into the auction whenever we can.  Of course, if Partner now responds 1♠ we will not be bidding 2♥, that would be a strength-showing reverse … no, our rebid is 2♣.

 

 

4th October, 2006             Board 20      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

We might bid 1♣ here, we might bid 3♣.  But we certainly would not pass.  It would be rather feeble to say “Not strong enough to open 1♣, don’t want to preempt 3♣ with a 4-card major and a void, so I’ll pass”.  We have a strong desire to get that magnificent suit into the auction, one way or another, notwithstanding the flaws.

 

 

12th September, 2007       Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

East can approach her hand in one of two ways:

-         Either, bid the hand as if it is 5-5, opening 1♥ and rebidding Diamonds;

-         Or, open 1♦ planning to reverse into Hearts.

 

We like the second route, the hand may have only 12 HCP’s but it also has only 4 losers, which is quite enough playing strength for a reverse.  It’s true that Partner will expect more high-card strength and more defense from us but he’ll no doubt get the message when we bid Hearts twice.

 

 

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