Tuesday, September 16, 2003 12:55 AM

NT Openers – Hand Evaluation

 

PITBULLS:

 

          The strong NT bid is the cornerstone of standard bidding . It is a clear and unambiguous bid that gets your auctions off to a good quantitative start . Normally it describes a balanced hand which means a 4-4-3-2 or 4-3-3-2 or 5-3-3-2 distribution with the 5 card suit being a minor .

 

          Experts have given ‘practical considerations’ as a reason to modify the 1NT bid to show 5-3-3-2 hands with a major , 5-4-2-2 and 6-3-2-2 distributions. Why ? There is no practical rebid with these kind of hands if you open a suit and rebid the suit or make a simple rebid in a 2ND suit . You have not described 15-17 HCP to partner and quite often games are missed or stretching occurs which causes partials to be blown.

 

          I do not blindly subscribe to rebidding 1NT with all these hand patterns . With me , it depends where the HCP’s are concentrated . If they are concentrated in the suit , I avoid NT as I have a natural rebid  Kxx Kx xx AKQJxx  .  Opening 1NT with this hand is silly as I can described it better with 1♣ and a 3♣ rebid . Change the quality of the suit KQx Qx Ax AJxxxx  and I rather open 1NT so I do not have to rebid 2♣ with 16 HCP .

 

          The 5 card major hands with 5-3-3-2,  I will frequently open 1NT with the only exception being the majority of my points being in my 5 card major or the richness of the controls. With queens and jacks I will always bid 1NT . AKQ10x Axx Kxx xx is a 1 spade opener as I have a good suit with controls.

 

          With 5-4-2-2 patterns you are stuck with a bad rebid with NT range HCP’s. It is damned if you do and damned if you do not.  Ax Kx AJxx KJ10xx    Opening 1♣ or 1♦ leaves you a rebid problem so err on the side of opening 1NT . xx xx AKxx AKQxx   With points concentrated in the two suits I would rather make a light reverse then open 1NT.   Same rule with a 4 card heart suit  and 5-4-2-2 . You lose the heart suit with Ax KQxx Kxxxx Ax  by opening a diamond plus leaving yourself a bad rebid . May as well open 1NT and at least there is Stayman to find the heart suit. Again if points are concentrated in the 2 suits it is better to avoid 1NT and make a reverse . xx AKJx AKJxx xx  It is silly to open 1NT on these hands.

 

          Good Bridge players have hand evaluation skills. They know Aces & Kings are better cards that queens & jacks. They know a 5 card suit with good spots is a feature for NT hands. Do I open a strong NT with 14 HCP’s ?. I do only when I promote the hand to 15 due to a 5 card suit or high quality cards located in suits rather than doubletons. AQ10x  Q109  AQxx xx  is a strong NT as well as Axx xx KQx AJ10xx .  Bad 14’s QJx KQx QJxxx Kx  are not even close to a 1NT bid even with a 5 card suit.

 

          Of course all these hand patterns exist with more HCP’s a 2NT rebid or 2NT opener or 2♣ balanced hand. Again same rules as discussed above apply for 2NT rebid hands . If there is a more natural bid then use that bid. The mere fact that you have a 5 card suit or 6 card suit makes your hand stronger. Do not open 1NT with 17 HCP and a 5 or 6 card suit. These hands are best described by rebidding 2NT or a natural jump. With 19 HCP’s and a long suit , I promote it to a 2NT opener rather than a 2NT rebid.

 

          What value do you put on a good 6 card suit and 20 HCP’s ?   Ax Kxx KQx AKJxxx  is too strong for a 2NT opener . You evaluate the long suit and open 2♣ and rebid 2NT . With 2NT openers , I recommend Puppet Stayman to find the 5 card majors or bids to “recover” the 6 card suit . Many experts play the sequence 1NT-2♣-2♦-3♣   as a second Stayman to ferret out a 5 or 6 card minor or find a minor fit. Same with a 2NT rebid a 3♣ bid is a relay or a check back . If a check back you can define a 3NT response as a long minor. Playing relays you might not accept the relay and bid 3NT with the 6 card minor.

 

          Puppet Stayman is a good bid over 2NT or 2♣ balanced. The main change with Puppet Stayman is that the Stayman bidder shows the major suits to the strong hand rather then asking the strong hand for a major. Once you get used to that concept, finding 5-3 major suit fits make the bid more then worthwhile.