Good-Bad 2NT

 

Most of us are familiar with the use of Lebensohl after Partner has opened 1NT and RHO has interfered.  There are similar applications in other competitive situations, which come under the general term of "Good-Bad 2NT".  The basic logic is the same as Lebensohl opposite Partner's 1NT, namely that 2NT bids are used to compete to the 3-level, and bidding to the 3-level directly shows a better hand.

 

The Good-Bad 2NT is not for casual partnerships.  That's not because it is uncommonly difficult, but because there are numerous situations for the partnership to discuss, the potential for misunderstanding is considerable!

        

25th October, 2006           Board 16      Dealer West       E-W Vul

 

 

Here’s a fairly common situation … North would like to compete to 3♥ with her minimum hand, but doesn’t want Partner placing her with extras.  On other deals, she’ll have something extra (say the same hand with an extra King) and will want to invite game in Hearts.  Obviously, it’s far from ideal to use the same 3♥ bid for both the competitive hand and the invitational hand.  A variety of Lebensohl, commonly known as the Good-Bad Two No Trump, can be used to solve this dilemma.

 

Briefly put, playing the Good-Bad Two No Trump, with the given hand, North merely want to compete to 3♥, and her method of doing that is via 2NT.  Partner is supposed to accept the relay to 3♣, and then North will convert to 3♥, sending the message "Just competing, Partner!".

 

 

26th July, 2006                  Board 4      Dealer West       Both Vul

 

 

North thought that her hand was too good for a Weak Two, and we agree with that assessment.  However, is she good enough to take a another call? ... at the three-level, and vulnerable, no less!  First, though, what does Partner's 1NT show after that Double?  Typically, 6-9 HCPs, maybe a rotten 10 ... in other words, a hand not good enough to redouble.  It looks like we have half the points, maybe slightly less, and probably 9 Diamonds (but no guarantees), so 3♦ seems like an obvious call here ... true, Partner may have 3-3-2-5 distribution, in which case we'd much prefer to play it in Clubs, but we don't have a way of discovering that, so we'll go with a known fit of at least 8 cards.

 

Consider the actual hand above, side by side with a stronger version:

     Hand A               Hand B

     ♠ T9                    ♠ A9

     ♥ T                      ♥ T

     ♦ AK7532           ♦ AKQ532

     ♣ K873               ♣ K873

 

With Hand A we want to compete to 3♦ and have no aspirations to game ... holding the stronger version, we also want to compete to 3♦ (at least), but we have hopes for game, too.  If that sounds like deja vu as you read it, then it sounded the same way as we wrote it ... here's an extract from our article "Lebensohl after 1NT Openings", describing a situation where the opponents have overcalled Partner's 1NT opening with 2 of a major:

      With Hand A, you have no aspirations for game, but you would surely like to compete to 3♦.  With Hand

      B, you want to play in game. … whether that game should be 3NT or 5♦ will depend to a large extent on

      Opener’s Spade holding.  Clearly, you cannot use 3♦ for both of these hands.

 

It sounds like the same problem, doesn't it?  So, no surprise that the solution is the same!  Yes, some partnerships play Lebensohl here, too, except that they often call it "The Good-Bad Two No Trump".  Playing this convention, with Hand A you would bid 2NT (relaying to 3♣) as the weak way of bidding 3♦, and with Hand B you would bid 3♦ directly as constructive (but non-forcing) ... now, Partner can try 3NT if his 1NT bid was something like: ♠ Q76  ♥ K743  ♦ T64  ♣ A9. 

 

When does this convention apply?  Aye, there's the rub ... ask 10 experts and you'll get at least 11 different answers.  Here's a simple set of rules covering a limited number of situations, no doubt we'll complicate matters with a future article:

  - Good-Bad 2NT is only bid by Opener;

  - Responder must have bid something other than Pass;

  - Opener's RHO must have bid 2♦ or 2♥ or 2♠.

When this situation occurs, the 2NT rebid by Opener is a relay to 3♣ and a way of competing ... and bidding directly at the 3-level is a constructive move.

 

Warning

This convention is not for the casual partnership!

 

 

25th April, 2007                Board 3      Dealer South       E-W Vul

 

 

It’s usually not good when we let the opponents play at the two-level in a 9-card fit when we have half the HCP’s, and it’s even less auspicious when we have a 9-card fit of our own.  But, that’s what happened to N-S on this board, non-vulnerable no less.  Did N-S blunder?  Not as far as we can see, at least not playing “standard” methods.  North was not quite good enough for a 2♥ bid over 1♠ and had to make do with a Negative Double.  As for South, she had a rock-bottom minimum opening bid and could hardly bid 3♥ for fear that Partner would assume better values and push on to game.

 

However, there is a useful gadget for this situation.  It’s come up a few times in recent Wednesday Games, and here it is again.  Yes, we are talking about the Good-Bad 2NT, which is just another flavor of the Lebensohl convention.  Looking at the South hand, after 2♠, playing the Good-Bad 2NT, a bid of 2NT is artificial, and gives Opener two ways to compete:

-         She can go to the 3-level directly (3♣ or 3♥) to show a decent hand (though the bid is non-forcing)

-         She can bid 2NT, relaying Partner to 3♣, whenever she has a hand which merely wants to compete.

 

This convention is perfect for the hand in question!  With such a horrible hand, the last thing South wants to do is to offer encouragement to Partner.  But, she’s non-vulnerable, it would be pusillanimous to sell out to 2♠.  So, a weak 3♥ is the answer, achieved via the 2NT relay.

 

 

28th March, 2007             Board 18      Dealer East       N-S Vul

 

 

Playing standard methods, there is no satisfactory solution to this problem.  Opposite Partner’s 4-card Heart suit we’d love to compete to 3♥ with this hand, but, if we bid 3♥ here, Partner will expect rather more than we have and is likely to get us too high.  What we really want here is:

-         An invitational 3♥ bid

-         And a competitive 3♥ bid.

 

Fortunately, there is a gadget available which allows us to have it both ways.  It’s generally called the Good-Bad 2NT, though it’s actually no more than another manifestation of the Lebensohl convention:

-         A direct 3♥ bid is invitational, let’s say the actual hand with another King;

-         A 2NT bid is a relay to 3♣, after which 3♥ is the competitive Heart bid.

 

This is an easy enough convention to master, but the tricky part is recognizing the situations where the Good-Bad 2NT applies.  Some of the possibilities are:

-         The situation above!

-         After they open a Weak Two and Partner doubles.

-         Those situations discussed in our article on the subject

-         Many others (we’ll prepare a definitive list in the fullness of time)

 

 

17th May, 2007                 Board 15      Dealer South       N-S Vul

 

 

If West had not bid 2♠, you would rebid 2♥, there would be no second choice.  But, with that 2♠, you are placed in a common dilemma … you want to let Partner in on the Heart fit, but you don’t have the values to go to the 3-level.  Yes, we’ve discussed this one previously, the solution is the “Good-Bad 2NT”, a convention that we keep promising to add to the System Library, and no doubt shall one day soon.

 

Using the Good-Bad 2NT, North has two ways to get to 3♥ … she can bid it directly, which says that she has a “real” 3♥ bid, as in some extras … or she can go via the Good-Bad Lebensohl-style relay of 2NT, then, after Partner’s 3♣, she can bid 3♥ saying “Yes, I have 4 Hearts but not a hand with extras”.

 

On the actual board, we predict that the Good-Bad players will stop in 3♥, making +140, and that the rest of the field will stumble into 4♥, down one (South has an 11-count and will raise 3♥ to game).  So, a good commercial for the convention!

 

 

13th June, 2007                 Board 13      Dealer North       Both Vul

 

 

Pass is certainly an option considering the vulnerability, but if we were feeling more adventurous we might make the bid which says “I don’t have much of a hand but I would like to compete to 3♣, please don’t place me with more than a smattering of points”.  Does such a bid exist?  Well, it does for those pairs who play Good-Bad 2NT in this situation.  If that is the case then 3♣ directly says “I have a real 3♣ bid with invitational values” and 2NT is a Lebensohl-style relay to 3♣, after which East passes to signify the lesser hand with Clubs.

 

 

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