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Jacoby 2NT
The most common method of making a game-forcing raise opposite a 1♥ or 1♠ opening bid is the Jacoby 2NT. The standard follow-up to the forcing raise is for Opener to bid a new suit to show a singleton, to jump to game with a poor hand, and to rebid 3 of the major or 3NT with varying degress of extra values. We'll be the first to say that these responses are not effective, please follow the link for more on this subject. Below we have some examples of the Jacoby 2NT from past Wednesday Games.
6th April, 2011 N-S Vul
4NT was Roman Key Card Blackwood (in Spades, of course), and 5♦ showed 0 or 3 (1430 responses).
West has not-so-cleverly end-played himself in the auction! He would now like to use the Queen Ask, as the missing trump Queen is the only card that could prevent E-W from making a grand slam. In RKCB sequences, the cheapest non-signoff is generally used as the Queen Ask, but in this particular sequence, what is that cheapest non-signoff? Is your partnership on firm ground that 5♥ here is the Queen Ask and not an attempt to play in Hearts? We think it should be the Queen Ask, but would hate to risk it without prior discussion.
We are always told to think (and plan the whole hand) at Trick 1, and the same applies to Bid 1. After Partner’s 1♠ opening bid, West could have anticipated the above dilemma if he had planned the whole auction. He knew that he was likely to be using RKCB in Spades, and that if Partner responded 5♦ he would want to use the Queen Ask. So he might do better to forget about the Hearts and simply bid the Jacoby 2NT. That clears the way for a disaster-free RKCB follow-up. Not exactly kosher with 3-card support? No, but neither are bidding misunderstandings at the 5-level.
But nothing’s perfect, this might be the whole deal: ♠ K94 ♠ AJT65 ♥ KQJT9 ♥ A32 ♦ AJ54 ♦ K2 ♣ K ♣ A32 In this layout, the grand slam in Spades is 51% (must find the ♠Q) but in Hearts it is around 75% (can try ruffing out the Spades after pitching one on the ♣A, but only if trumps are 3-2).
Anyway, the bottom line is that, on the original deal, 7♠ makes with normal play, as does 7NT. Suppose that West does launch into RKCB and does find that he is missing the ♠Q. Then we’d suggest that he bids 6NT, that should be an above-average result, without risking defeat in 7♠.
3rd March, 2010 N-S Vul
2NT was Jacoby, showing a game-forcing Heart raise. Using the standard responses to this convention, South’s 3♣ shows Club shortness. This improves the North hand enormously, as there is no high-card wastage opposite that shortness, meaning that all of the North high-cards are working. North’s hand may have only 14 HCP but slam looks most likely. However, suppose that South had shown Diamond shortness … now there is serious wastage of high cards and the North hand is not nearly as good.
The standard Jacoby responses worked pretty well on this deal, but, if the truth be told, those responses are not particularly effective, there is a better way! Please follow the link.
4th March, 2009 Both Vul
First of all, let us say that West made a good choice when he supported Hearts immediately with a Jacoby 2NT response. There was no point in confusing matters by bidding those impressive Spades first, West knew where he was headed and had the kind of hand that should be taking charge of the auction. East’s 3♦ showed a singleton Diamond. Now what?
Bidding 4NT (Roman Key Card) will be no help whatsoever. If Partner shows 3 Key Cards, West will not know whether that includes the useless ♣A, or whether Partner has the perfect cards (♠A, ♥AK) for a grand slam.
Yes, it’s time for Exclusion Key Card! Yes, a spectacular leap to 5♣ says “Tell me your Key Cards, but leave out the (useless) ♣A from your response”. Following instructions, East will bid 5NT “two with” and West must satisfy himself with just 6♥. Of course, if the ♣A were changed to the ♥A, E-W would have coasted into the cold grand slam, even though they would be missing an Ace.
West did well to take charge of the auction, look at the mess he might have gotten into if he had wasted time showing his Spades: West East 1♥ 1♠ 2♣ 2♦ 2♠ 3♥ 4♣ Etc. In this auction, West got himself embroiled in a Fourth Suit Forcing auction, and was unable to agree Hearts at a low enough level. Consequently, there would be no chance of reaching the grand slam if East had the right Key Cards.
7th March, 2007 Board 11 None Vul
This hand is playing in some number of Spades, maybe a very large number. How should we proceed? The choices are: - Splinter of 4♦? Not our favorite, we think that the hand is just too good, we would be nervous about passing if Partner’s next bid was 4♠, saying “I am not impressed with your Diamond shortness”. - A bid of 2♥? That’s better, but Partner will never place us with such good Spade support, and a void in Diamonds, so it seems pointless to go this route. - Jacoby 2NT? Yes, that would be our choice, taking charge of the auction on the grounds that our hand is very good and tough to describe accurately.
31st May, 2006 Board 18 N-S Vul
After Partner’s 1♥ opening bid, what would be your own choice of response with the West hand? (a) 4♣? This would be a splinter, of course, showing Heart support and Club shortness and game-going values … we don’t like to do this with a 6-card side-suit, and this hand illustrates why … after 4♣, East will see the wastage of the AK♣, and will sign-off in 4♥ … however, what makes the hand for E-W is that lovely Kx in Partner’s 6-card suit. (b) 2♦? It would not be unreasonable to get this suit into the auction, certainly better than the splinter. (c) 2NT? Yes, we prefer the Jacoby 2NT, showing Spade support and game values … we have a 5-loser hand so feel that the Jacoby take-charge approach is a better way to go. Some partnerships play that a Jacoby 2NT denies a short side-suit, by virtue of the failure to make a Splinter. A rather poor treatment in our opinion ... we prefer to Splinter only with the right hand-type ... and we use Jacoby on all sorts of distributions, whenever we feel that we feel that we would do better to ask rather than to tell.
13th September, 2006 Board 1 None Vul
After Partner’s 1♠ it’s hard to imagine how we’ll stay out of slam, so the question is simply “What is the best plan for finding out about 7?” Let’s review the options:
Blackwood? We can forget about this one, of course, if Partner shows one Ace (or Key Card), we’ll not know whether it’s the useless A♦ or the much-to-be-desired A♥. Splinter? Not a good idea when we are short in two suits, and, anyway, when we splinter we are putting Partner in charge of the auction … instead we should be taking charge, on a quest for the A♥ and a Club control (singleton or King in this instance). 2♣? Again, not a good idea, in our opinion, though many might go this route … 2♣ is the start of a descriptive auction, whereby South will say “I have Clubs and Spade support” … and, again, we’ll reiterate that this is a “take-charge” type of hand. Jacoby 2NT? Now we are talking! Let’s make the bid which asks Partner to describe her hand!
11th April, 2007 Board 21 N-S Vul
West’s 2NT showed a game-going raise in Spades, the so-called Jacoby 2NT. Normally, we would show our singleton here, but not when it’s an Ace or a King, that is altogether too misleading, frequently causing Partner to mis-evaluate his own holding in that suit. So, East declined to bid the shortness-showing 3♥ and instead bid 3♠ showing extras (he could jump directly to game with a poor hand).
Now, Partner bids 4♠, without taking the trouble to cue-bid along the way. It goes without saying that he doesn’t like his hand very much! Is our own hand worth a try anyway? A little tempting, perhaps, but we really don’t think so, we have already announced a pretty good hand. Partner did not splinter at his first turn, and did not cue-bid the A♣, so it looks like he needs the perfect minor suit cards, with nothing wasted in Hearts. That’s a long shot, we’d just pass 4♠.
We’ve been most well-behaved lately, it’s been at least six months since we grumbled about the standard responses to the Jacoby 2NT. Enough’s enough, grumble, grumble! For an alternative, please follow the link.
16th April, 2008 Board 1 None Vul
Partner’s Jacoby 2NT shows a game-forcing raise and in the standard set of responses Opener shows a singleton or void if he has one. Does that mean that 3♣ is the bid here? We don’t think so, for the same reason that we avoid splinters with a singleton Ace or King, it’s likely to mislead Partner. For example, if she holds xxx in Clubs, that will look like a good holding opposite our shortness, having no wastage. But there is wastage if that is the Club situation, and it’s in the short hand!
Partner’s actual hand is: ♠ A98, ♥ T9874, ♦ KQ7, ♣ A7. Opposite North’s collection that will be worth only 10 or 11 tricks (10 with normal play in the Spade suit). Now let’s tweak the North hand by getting rid of some wastage. First, we’ll move the useless K♣ into the Spades. The J♥ is overkill in that suit, so we’ll combine it with the J♠ and transform it into the Q♠. We’ve still got 15 HCP’s, and the same shape but look at the difference: ♠ KQ43, ♥ AKQ32, ♦ J93, ♣ 2. Now, all the high cards are working and the slam is cold!
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