Tuesday, December 07, 2004 9:48 PM

Ignoring Opponents

PITBULLS:

Did a search on the Internet and the popular way of playing NMF is that the convention is off in competition and as a passed hand. The reason being that the opponents may bid again to disrupt your sequences anyway . Secondly on the general principle that with opponents lurking it is best to bid naturally so partner is better placed to compete if the auction gets “busy”.

I disagree with this popular treatment. 2-way new minor forcing is too good a tool to let the opponents take it away from by the simple action of sticking their noses in the auction . There are two situations where this bid is applicable in competition. Partner opens 1♣,♦, ♥ and you respond at the one level and the opponents overcall 1♠ or double in the sandwich position with partner rebidding 1NT. The 2^nd situation occurs when they overcall 1♦/♥ or double in the direct position. Partner now bids 1NT after your major response so what does 2♣ or 2♦ mean ? There is no reason why we can not have the same understandings. 2♣ is a relay to 2♦ and 2♦ is a game force . If you want to compete in clubs , bid 2NT to force partner to 3♣ via the relay.

If you do not have this tool in competition , you would have to Q bid or in the case of a double be very poorly placed if you want to force and explore. With a cheeky 10 HCP double by the opponents your side can still have slam with the right cards so why give up ? With 2 way NMF , you can still compete in competition without losing anything. If the auction really takes off with the opponents raising the level of the auction quite drastically you be glad that you did bid 2♦ or 2♣ to gave partner information about the strength of your hand.

What if the opponents overcall and you bid a major and partner rebids 1NT and LHO passes ? Still no reason to discard 2 way NMF . Even if they overcalled 1♦ , 2♦ as an artificial game force fits in. I just dislike allowing the opponents to disrupt my system by the mere fact that they entered the auction. If you can have the best of both world than why not ?

A contentious 2 way NMF auction is when LHO makes a takeout double of your partners minor. You bid a major and partner bids 1NT. With the 2♣ bid as a relay you can not get hurt . Again 2NT would be a relay to 3♣ as you did not redouble going in so 2NT as natural seems a little far fetched. If you had a weak hand where 2 of a minor is the place to play the contract , you would never buy the contract anyway. So why not still play 2-way NMF in competition ?

Playing just normal NMF it is obviously off as a passed hand . With 2 way NMF , the 2♣ bid is still in effect as a passed hand . Why not use the bid to show all invitational hands as a passed hand ? Of course there is no 2♦ bid as you can not force to game as a passed hand . As long as your system does not rob you of any natural contracts keeping it the same in competition or as a passed hand will pay dividends.

In general, if you preserve your understandings in competition do it. The opponents make tactical psyches or light redoubles to “muddy the waters” . BJ Trelford had this hand Ax AJ10xx AJ10x 10x and the auction went 2♠-X-XX-3♦ . Now what ? Is Lebensohl on after a XX ? If you have a general default of ignoring the opponents in competition , yes it is. However , if you are not sure bidding 4♦ can not hurt. If partner has nothing but weak diamonds , you are not buying this hand as they will bully you with the spade suit. If partner has a decent hand in diamonds , she has hit your 4 card suit and an invite to 4♦ is in order. Passing 3♦ is “single handed” as a 4♦ invite keeps the bidding open and preserves options. A 5♦ sacrifice against 620 in spades if all partner holds is Kxxxxx of diamonds. By bidding 4♦ , you allow D.S.I.P. doubles to enter the picture if they bid again. Hiding your 4 card fit from partner is never a good idea.