Sunday, April 17, 2005 11:27 PM

Hand Evaluation - Godfather 2NT ( Granovettor )

PITBULLS:

4^th suit forcing is clumsy at the two level  so needs some repair work. 4^th suit forcing violates one of the strengths of natural bidding because it introduces artificial sequences. These sequences introduce ambiguity so just confuses many auctions. The only purpose of 4^th suit forcing is so that jumps & jump preferences & 2NT by responder can be invitational. This treatment means that good balanced hands by responder must be bid with 3NT which contradicts “fast arrival” & pre-empts opener when she holds an intermediate hand. As per most all modern bidding theory , the 2NT invitational bid is thrown in the garbage can in order to improve 4^th suit forcing. This conceptual bid by responder is sometimes called the “godfather 2NT” or an invitation you cannot refuse .J Since we are discussing 4^th suit forcing by responder , this means three bids have already been made. Three bids at the one level are handled nicely by XYZ. Three unique bids with the 3^rd bid at the 2 level or even a simple rebid by opener causes a problem. Flat NT hands by responder with a stopper in the 4^th suit should be bid with a NT bid , not a 4^th suit forcing bid. Keep balanced hands in the NT family of bids. Leave 4^th suit forcing for distributional hands or a fit with partner or balanced hands without a stopper in the 4^th suit. .

Granovetter recommends any 2NT bid by responder be considered as a 4^th suit forcing bid or a “new suit” forcing one round rather than just invitational at the two level. This is the “limit raise or better” concept . Everybody knows that jumping to 3NT by responder with13-15 HCP’s pre-empts opener when she has distributional intermediate hands. Searching for the best spot or slam at the 4 level is not very desirable. This understanding prevents leaping to 3NT by responder on the 2^nd round , missing minor slams or putting up with silly artificial 4^th suit forcing sequences.. You can still bail out to a partial with opener rebidding her suit , so the invitational 2NT is still included in this bid. Prevents wrong siding 3NT with bad artificial 4^th suit forcing auctions. A 2NT contract is not a desirable place to play a contract anyway. This understanding allows a jump to 3NT to be a picture bid of a strong NT opener ( 15-17 ) with soft values suitable for NT. You can also choose 3NT to be a “fast arrival” shot at game as an alternative to the strong NT picture bid.

Playing this “godfather “ style allows useful bidding space therefore does not encourage pre-empting partner. Good players realize how pre-emptive a leap to 3NT can be in hogging bidding room. This means slam tries can be made below 3NT with the insurance that the aborted slam try is played in 3NT by the correct side. My partner & I had a simple auction last night. My partner opened 1♦ with ♠xx ♥Qx ♦AQ10xx ♣AQxx , I held ♠AKx ♥AJ9x ♦Jx ♣J10xx & I responded 1♥. Partner 2♣ so I bid 2NT as a one round force to conserve bidding room & hear what partner does next. Note if I bid the 2♠ 4^th suit forcing , partner would have to come up with the “best lie” . He would have to bid NT without a stopper to show his flat hand or rebid diamonds showing a 6 card suit he does not have. Over 2NT , partner bid 3NT so I told the opponents he was a 5-4-2-2 opener. I passed & made 460. When partner showed some distribution over 2NT ( patterns out ) , the eventual contract would have been 6♣ which is a 75% slam on these cards.

I like the “godfather 2NT” to apply to any 2NT bid by responder no matter what the auction as per Granovettor below .

1♥-P-1♠ 1♠-P-1NT-P 1♦-P-2NT 1♣-P-1♥-P

2♥-P-2NT 2♥-P-2NT 2♣-P-2NT

Here is the original article by Granovettor from the net :

You pick up:

ª A987
© Q875
¨ K2
§ AJ2

Partner opens 1♣. You respond 1♥. Partner rebids 2♣.

1♣  pass  1♥  pass
2♣  pass  ?

What is your next call? Probably 3NT which ends all auctions. Partner will not describe her hand at the 4 level . Would’t 2NT forcing one round be nice with this hand ?

This means that when responder bids 2NT on his second turn (after first responding in a new suit), it's like bidding another new "suit" -- it's natural and forcing, showing 10 or more points. This applies after opener has rebid anything but 1NT.

The following formula demonstrates this convention (no interference by the opps):

Opener  Responder
one of a suit            one of a suit response
any rebid but 1NT       2NT (natural, forcing one round) even a jump to 2NT


Why use New Suit 2NT?

For many reasons:

(1) You may not want to bid the fourth suit to force, because you have the fourth suit well stopped and you want to declare the notrump ( right siding ). You do not want to pre-empt partner by leaping to 3NT.

(2) You may want to bid 2NT , later raise partner's suit to force to game, rather than go through the fourth-suit-forcing concept, because, again, you have the fourth suit well stopped & you can abort the slam try to 3NT right sided..

(3) You may want to get real information from your partner ( opener or responder ) . The fourth suit doesn't obtain real information, because it forces opener into a corner: Natural bidding “shows where you live”.

(4) Leaves a minor at the 3 level as an invitational sequence in some auctions

(5) 4^th suit forcing auctions can be clarified as natural or invitational with distribution & controls as opposed to flat & soft values. NT hands are taken out of the 4^th suit forcing picture with godfather 2NT.

Opener  Responder
1♦      1♥
2♣      ?

You hold as Responder:
ªAQ  ©AJTxx ¨Kxx §JTx

If you bid 2♠ and partner bids 3♣, you have no idea what he has. He is forced to bid 3♣ with xx Qx AJxxx AQxx, because he has no spade stopper. But when you rebid 2NT, partner can bid naturally, raising to 3NT (on this sample hand) or rebidding a suit to show a shapely hand (for example, a minimum 5-5) or rebidding 3♠ (fourth suit) to show a strong shapely hand.

(6) You can now use the jump to 3NT as a mild slam invitation, a hand with 16-17 points or define it as a shot with soft values. A 4NT bid as quantitative showing a higher range.

Back to our preview hand ( beginning of article ) :

ª A987
© Q875
¨ K2
§ AJ2

Partner opens 1♣. You respond 1♥. Partner rebids 2♣.

1♣  pass  1♥  pass
2♣  pass  ?

2NT, forcing.

Partner now bids 3♦. You bid 3♠ and partner bids 4♠! Are you prepared to bid a slam now? You can actually make 7♣. But at the table, the player with this hand bid 3NT over 2♣ and went down one.

   North
ª KQ3
© --
¨ A654
§ KQT876
West            East
ª J2             ª T654
© AJ943      © KT62
¨ J87           ¨ QT93
§ 543          § 9
   South
ª A987
© Q875
¨ K2
§ AJ2

1♣  pass  1♥  pass
2♣  pass  3NT (all pass)

West led the 4 of hearts. East made a nice play by returning the ten. Why pull 3NT when partner can have severe duplication of value in hearts ? Why guess when 3NT pre-empts partner ?

What do you lose by playing New Suit 2NT?
-----------------------------------------------------
The possibility of playing in 2NT when exactly 8 tricks are available and no other contract at the three level is makeable. You also may get overboard occasionally playing a 23- or 24-point 3NT (some of these contracts make, however).