Sunday, August 27, 2006 7:33 AM

Jacoby 2NT - Serious 3NT

PITBULLS:

Playing Jacoby 2NT as limit raise or better which most of us do by now , raises the importance of the “serious 3NT” in Jacoby 2NT auctions. Jacoby 2NT hands are three tier auctions. Limit raise , courteous Q bids and serious slam tries. Failure to use the serious 3NT bid is a very important negative inference in these auctions. You hold ♠Axxx ♥Axx ♦Qxxx ♣xx and partner opens 1♠. You bid 2NT and partner bids 3♦ saying she has a good hand with a singleton minor. You are not strong enough to ask the location of the singleton so you show your limit raise by bidding 3♠. Partner now bids the serious 3NT so you Q bid 4♥. Partner bids KCB and you get to your 6♠. Partners hand is ♠KQJ10xx ♥Kx ♦AKJx ♣x which is a hand she would have made a slam try opposite a limit raise.

Do not forget that with 3♣ showing all weak hands , a jump to game is a picture bid. This is a distributional stab at game which shows most of your HCP’s in the trump suit with no controls on the outside. If you have a good 14 HCP and no stiffs you bid 3 of your trump suit. Partner has an obligation to bid 3NT as a serious slam try with a super hand , a Q bid to show better than a limit raise or returning to the suit to show the limit raise. With hearts trump , a serious 3NT denies a spade control as you must show your spade control first ( fundamental of serious 3NT theory) .

Serious 3NT is a tool to assist in bids like 2/1 & Jacoby 2NT bids which have a huge range. Show partner immediately that you have serious slam interest rather than Q bid. Once you have that bid off your chest , you can give partner leeway as you have in effect done your duty. You do not have to retreat to the trump suit just because you have a limit raise. If you have nice controls , bid them as a courtesy. A good 10 with controls is better than 13 HCP with queens anyway. If you have an atrociously bad limit raise , fast arrival to game would be the bid of choice when partner shows a good hand. Pre-empting partner who has an unlimited hand is a pretty rare bid playing the “serious 3NT” style of bidding.

I prefer using serious 3NT with voids. Forcing partner to Q bid ferrets out duplication of value if she Q bids your void. If she bypasses your void with a forced Q bid , you have hit gold. A jump to the 4 level is a 2nd suit and not exclusion or a void. Showing a 2nd suit helps partner count tricks for slam and location key controls for slam purposes. A leap to the 5 level would be exclusion Blackwood.