Unusual No Trump

 

The Unusual No Trump term refers to No Trump jumps where the bidder is showing a two-suited hand, usually the minors or the two lower unbid suits.  The standard requirement is at least 5-5 in two suits.  This collection of hands gives examples of where the Unusual No Trump is appropriate, and also how the othe side might combat the bid, via such gadgets as "Unusual vs Unusual".
       

 

14th June, 2007                 Board 26      Dealer East      Both Vul

 

 

After 1♦, South could bid the Unusual 2NT, showing the two lower unbid suits.  But that hardly seems right here, the Hearts are longer, and so much stronger.  Our own choice is 3♥, something of a stab in the dark, it won’t always work out well, but it’s a reasonable shot.  However, if your partner is of a nervous disposition, consider bidding just 2♥.

 

 

23rd August, 2006            Board 5      Dealer North       N-S Vul

 

 

West doesn’t have much in the way of high cards but he does have a yummy 6-5 distribution, and is White versus Red.  Such hands cry out for vigorous preemption, and the best way into the auction here is with a bid of 2NT, the Unusual No Trump, showing the two lower unbid suits (in this case, the only two unbid suits).  The objective of this bid is twofold … first, it crowds the opponents’ constructive auction (and maybe Partner can crowd it further) … and, second, it gives the partnership a chance to find a profitable sacrifice, if they have one.

 

 

21st February, 2007          Board 23      Dealer South       Both Vul

 

 

West’s 2NT showed the minors, giving us two different cue-bids with which to show a good hand.  There are various methods in use in this situation, we don’t advocate any one in particular, we merely recommend that your partnership is clear on the meaning of 3♣ and 3♦ here.  Follow our link to one schema of “Unusual vs Unusual”, as it is called.  But, if you already have a method in place, one which your Partner can remember on a regular basis, then by all means stick with it.

 

Anyway, to answer the original question, our bid here is whichever of 3♣ and 3♦ shows Spade support and some values.  We can always make a slam move later on, for now the first order of business has to be to set the trump suit.

 

 

3rd May, 2007                   Board 1       Dealer North         None Vul

 

 

East’s 2NT showed the minors, the so-called Unusual No Trump.  This bid offers to the opening side two cue-bids, in this case, 3♣ and 3♦.  Most tournament players put these cue-bids to good use with well-defined meanings … please follow the link to “Unusual vs Unusual”.  There are various “Unusual vs Unusual” methods out there, the N-S pair in the featured auction were using a method whereby 3♠ was purely competitive, typically showing a decent 6-card suit and about 6-9 HCPs.  True, South happens to have 10 HCPs, but those minor suit holdings look pretty useless.

 

 

17th May, 2006                 Board 10       Dealer East        Both Vul

 

 

2NT showed the minors, after which many partnerships play some flavor of “Unusual vs Unusual” … in other words, they have precise meanings for the cue-bids in the opponent’s 2 minor suits.  Our own favorite, mainly because of its simplicity, is “lower for lower” … we bid Clubs for a good hand with Hearts (lower ranking minor for lower ranking major), and Diamonds for a good hand with Spades … this applies, regardless of which major Opener has originally bid.

 

So, assuming that method is being employed, West will bid 3♦, showing at least limit raise values in Spades.  Of course, West is somewhat better than merely a limit raise, but he must first set trump before zooming onward and upward.

 

 

24th May, 2007                 Board 14       Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

After West’s “Unusual 2NT” (showing the minors), as North, would you support Spades or introduce Hearts?  We’d mention that 6-card Heart suit first, and then support Spades later … but we would be nervous that by the time the bidding got back to us, things would be at the 5-level.

 

Having decided to show our Hearts, the next question is “How?”  One popular gadget in this situation is “Unusual vs Unusual”, of which there are different flavors … we favor the one which seems simplest to us … the 3♣ cue-bid always shows Hearts, the 3♦ cue-bid always shows Spades, and both cue-bids show at least invitational values.  In this schema, we’d bid 3♣, of course (bidding 3♥ directly would show a weaker hand).

 

 

27th September, 2006       Board 14      Dealer East       None Vul

 

 

South’s 2NT showed the minors which means that both 3♣ and 3♦ are available as cue-bids.  There are various methods for using these, and they come under the collective heading of Unusual vs Unusual.  We happen to use the variation known as “Lower for Lower”, which simply means that, regardless of which major was opened by Partner, our lower cue-bid shows the lower major, and the higher one shows Spades, of course.

 

Armed with this weapon, we’d bid 3♦ here, showing at least an invitational raise in Spades.  With a lesser, purely competitive hand with Spades, we’d bid 3♠ directly over 2NT.

 

 

20th December, 2006        Board 32      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

North’s 2NT is the Unusual No Trump, showing the lower unbid suits, in this case Clubs and Hearts.  In this situation it is common to play Unusual vs Unusual, whereby the cue-bids of 3♣ and 3♥ have pre-defined meanings.  One commonly used method (there are other equally good approaches) is:

-         3♣ is a good hand with Diamonds (lower of their suits for the lower of ours)

-         3♥ is the same but with Spades (higher for higher)

 

In this case, the problem with those responses is that we have both support for Partner’s Diamonds and a substantial Spade suit of our own so neither bid quite fits.  In the circumstances, our suggestion would be to double, keeping all options open and creating a forcing auction for us (we play it in game or they play it doubled).

 

16th May, 2007                 Board 1      Dealer North       None Vul

 

 

Anyone for the Unusual 2NT here?  This bid conventionally shows the two lower unbid suits, and South certainly has that.  But is it the right bid?  No, we don’t think so, we’d prefer a hand with less defense, and our own choice would be 1♥, planning to compete later in Diamonds if it seems appropriate.  So, what would be an appropriate 2NT bid here?  Something like:

            ♠ 62

            ♥ KQJT2

            ♦ QJT87

            ♣ 4

That’s more like it!  Some stuffing in the long suits and not much in the way of defense.

 

17th October, 2007           Board 4      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

East could try the Unusual No Trump here, bidding 2NT to show the two lower unbid suits.  A perfect description of the hand, wouldn’t you say?  Yes, we do have those two suits, but, as we’ll likely end up defending this one, surely it would be better to get those Clubs into the auction.  That’s our whole hand and the suit that we want led, so we’d bid 2♣ and forget about those miserable Hearts.

 

2♣ is very much the winning call on the actual hand, because South is destined to play this one in 4♠.  If Partner leads a Club against that contract, it’s 11 tricks for Declarer, any other lead and it will be 12 tricks.

 

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