Forcing No Trump

 

The Forcing No Trump is used opposite a 1♥ or 1♠ opening bid as part of the 5-card major 2/1 system.  For a brief introduction to this please follow the link.  Here are some examples of the Forcing NT from past Wednesday Games.

 

 

17th May, 2006                 Board 11      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

When you are playing a 2/1 style of system, part of which is the Forcing NT, of course, Opener is sometimes obliged to rebid a 3-card minor … on this particular occasion, Opener is obliged to rebid a 2-card minor!  West’s hand is just not good enough to reverse into 2♠, so an improvisation of 2♣ is required.

 

 

7th June, 2006                  Board 18      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

After 1NT are you tempted to rebid 3♥ or 3♠?  Not a good idea in our opinion ... true, you do have 17 HCP's, and that nice 6-4 shape ... but the Q♣ is quite useless ... better to downgrade the hand a little bit, and give your side a better chance to find the right strain.  3♥ here would be a plain overbid ... and 3♠ would be approximately OK on values but would overstate the Spade suit and give up on the potential 4-4 Heart fit.  So,

2♥ it is ... if Partner takes us back to 2♠, we'll invite to game with 3♠.

 

 

19th July, 2006                  Board 27      Dealer South       None Vul

 

 

With this 6-4 distribution, South has three obvious ways to bid this hand:

  - Rebid 2♠ ... this shows a 6-card suit and not much extra, so we can eliminate that one right away, the hand

     is too good ... take away an Ace or a King and then rebidding 2♠ would be fine.

  - Rebid 3♠ ... this non-forcing bid typically shows a 6-card suit and 5-loser hand (which South has), and that

    would be our choice here ... we'd say that we are about minimum for this bid.

  - Rebid 2♦ ... with 6 Spades and 4 Diamonds, we'd normally rebid the 6-card suit, unless we are planning to

    take one more call ... so, for example, if the auction started 1♠ 1NT, 2♦ 2♠, now a bid of 3♠ shows a hand

    that is somewhere in between a 2♠ rebid and a 3♠ rebid ... perhaps the hand above, but without the J♠, or

    with the A♦ changed to the K♦

So there we have it, three ways to bid those 6-card major suit openings after Partner responds 1NT.

 

 

7rh June, 2006                  Board 18       Dealer East        N-S Vul

 

 

A tantalizing hand for North!  A decent hand, but no clear direction, and not quite good enough to invite.  We clearly have at least a 5-2 fit in Spades, and at least a 4-3 fit in Hearts.  Which is better?  Do you pass 2♥ or correct to 2♠.  In general, the 5-2 fits work out better than the 4-3 fits (yes, of course, there are numerous exceptions).  And, there is a second reason to bid 2♠ here ... it keeps the auction alive!  Partner's 2♥ could be made on a fairly robust hand, one with some extras, so with our 9-count we want to give her another chance.

 

 

2nd August, 2006              Board 24      Dealer West      None Vul

 

 

West’s 2♥ bid could be made with quite a strong hand (as we already saw on Board 21), therefore it behooves East to keep the auction open when he has 7 or 8 working points and 4-card Heart support.  It follows that, if you must stretch to 3♥ on that type of hand, you must also stretch to 4♥ on the actual 11-count that you hold here.  Clearly, 3♥ would be overworked if it were used for hands in the whopping range of 7-12, so we take a little bit of pressure off the top end by bidding game with the actual hand.

 

 

20th December, 2006        Board 12      Dealer West       N-S Vul

 

 

Playing standard methods, here are West’s options:

-         Well, 3♠ is not an option, the bid is non-forcing and this hand is going to game somewhere

-         How about 4♠?  No, the Spades don’t have enough interior strength for us to be insisting on the suit

-         3NT?  That’s a possibility but it doesn’t do justice to our 6-card Spade suit, especially considering our dangerous looking Heart holding

-         A fake jump shift to 3♣?  That will establish a force and if Partner does not take our Clubs to seriously we should be able to investigate the best game contract.

 

We wouldn’t argue with 3NT or 3♣ here, they seem like the best choices in an awkward situation.  However, there is a gadget available which gets around West’s problem on this hand.  We know it by the name of Power Relay, but it may go under other names as well.  Using this device, a rebid of 2NT by Opener is an artificial game force … Responder normally relays to 3♣, after which Opener further describes his hand.  Please follow the link if you’d like to learn more.

 

 

14th November, 2007       Board 22      Dealer East       E-W Vul

 

 

In many bidding systems, this hand would be an easy Pass opposite Partner’s 1NT response.  However, let’s assume that we are playing a 2/1 style of system where 1NT is the so-called “Forcing No Trump”.  In that case, even though it’s quite possible that 1NT is the right contract, we are obliged to find another bid.  Here, we would have to bid 2♣, and what often happens next is that Partner, with a weak hand and two Spades, gives a Spade preference.

 

That scenario is a disadvantage of the Forcing No Trump, and some partnerships overcome that by making their 1NT response “semi-forcing”.  The basic agreement is that 1NT may be passed if Opener is absolute minimum and has 5-3-3-2 distribution.  Minimum is usually a 12-count, but miserable 13-counts might also qualify.  The basic premise is that Opener cannot envisage game opposite a Partner who is not good enough for a 2/1 game-forcing bid.

 

The main downside of the semi-forcing No Trump is that occasionally Partner will have 3-card support for Opener’s major and a hand not suitable for a direct raise, for example a hand with invitational values.  On the actual hand the semi-forcing No Trump works just fine.  Opener’s hand qualifies for a Pass, and 1NT turns out to be the right spot.

 

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