and rebid 2NT, it is useful to have some
effective system to find the right contract. The bidding is
already uncomfortably high, so some artificiality is useful in
order to find the right contracts.Whenever you open 2NT, overcall 2NT, or open a strong 2 and rebid 2NT, it is useful to have some
effective system to find the right contract. The bidding is
already uncomfortably high, so some artificiality is useful in
order to find the right contracts.
A good basic system: 3 is
five card stayman, 3
and 3
are transfers, and 3
shows the minors. 4 and 4 are single-suited slam tries with that suit.
Over the 3 bid, opener shows his 5
card major, or else bids 3, over which
responder bids his four card major. Some examples:
1. AQxx Kx AKxx Axx opposite Kxxx J10xx Qxx xx. 2NT-3-3-3-3-4.
2. AKxxx Kx AKx Kxx opposite Qxx Qxx xx AQxxx. 2NT-3-3-4-4-4-5-6.
After hearing that partner has five spades, cuebid 4 to show slam interest.
3. With QJx xxx xxxx Kxx, simply raise to 3NT.
4. QJxxx x Kxxxx xx. 2NT-3-3-3NT. Show partner your spades and then
offer him a choice between 3NT and 4.
Do not bid 4 - whilst this would be
natural, it should also show a slam try as you should not try
to play in 5 rather than 3NT.
5. Kxx Axx Kxx Qxxx. Raise to 4NT, invitational to 6NT.
6. AQx KQxx Kxx Ax opposite xx J10xx AQxx xxx. After
opponents open a weak two in spades it proceeds (2)-2NT-3-3-3-4-4. The 2NT bid here shows
about 16-18 points, then the four card heart fit is found. Note
also that the overcaller cuebids 4 on
the way, since he is suitable for slam so he must tell his
partner in case he is too.
A problem: You may notice with this system that with
a single-suited major slam try you have something of a problem.
You can transfer to the major, but what then? The only way to
show the hand is to invent a second suit to show the slam
interest, and then later pull back to the major. Even worse is
that if it starts 2NT-3-3-4-4 you do not even know whether partner is cuebidding for
spades or for the clubs you don't have! A good solution to this
problem is to play all four level bids as single-suited slam
tries - but for the suit two up! Thus 4 is a slam try in spades (over which partner can sign off
with 4, or show interest with 4). Similarly, a 4
response is showing a slam try in clubs.
Describing and right-siding: There are two aims over 2NT - to be able to show all the hand types, and to right-side the contracts. Most people will be content with the above system, but below we give some fine-tuning to achieve those ends. In my opinion it is the best of many versions on the market, although what follows is somewhat simplified!
The big difference is over the 3
bid. 3 and 3NT responses are used to
show 5 spades and hearts respectively. 3 denies a four or five card major, and 3 shows at least one four card major. Over 3, responder bids the major he hasn't got with
one of them, 3NT with neither, 4 with
both and a slam try, 4 with both
without a slam try. 4 and 4 are also used to deny a major and show a five
card club/diamond suit respectively.
Other possible auctions include:
1. 2NT-3-3-3-3NT-4.
This shows 4 spades and 5 clubs, with slam interest (and opener
is known to have four hearts). If instead responder had bid
4, that would have been 4 spades and 4
clubs (he has already denied hearts so it cannot be natural,
and hearts and clubs are 'linked' suits).
2. 2NT-3-3-3-3NT-4.
3 denies a major, and 3 over this shows the troublesome hand with five
spades and four hearts. Over 3NT, which denies a fit, partner
can now show a three (possibly 4) card diamond suit, with a
slam try, leaving opener in a good position to judge if slam is
on. Alternatively responder could have rebid 4 to show a 5-5 majors slam try.
3. 2NT-3-3NT-4. The 3 bid shows at least 44
minors, and now responder shows a fifth club. With 55 minors he
would instead bid 4 or 4 to show his shortage.
4. 2NT-3-3-4. Opener has shown five spades,
and responder makes a general slam try with 4, agreeing spades. If instead responder had a balanced
hand with five diamonds or clubs, he would now bid 4 or 4 respectively. Or
if responder had a strong hand with 4-4 in two suits would now
invite slam with 4NT, since opener is unlikely to have a second
four card suit - if he has, he can still bid it later.
Now consider what hands types responder might have. Without
a slam try he simply looks for a major suit fit and otherwise
plays in 3NT. He finds all these via a transfer or 3. With a slam try, then if only four card suits
he starts off with 3 with a major, or
3 with both minors. With a five card
major he starts off with a transfer and then invites with 4NT
if balanced, or bids a 4 card suit (with 5 spades and 4 hearts
he starts off with 3 as above). With a
5 card minor he starts with 3, then
either shows the minor immediately if balanced, or shows his
major, and then the minor later. With a 6 card suit he shows it
at the four level immediately. Everything covered!
Another key feature of the system is that whenever possible retransfers apply to enable opener to play the contract. For example:
A. 2NT-3-4-4. The 4
bid was showing a good hand with spade support. Responder is
not interested and retransfers with 4.
If instead it went 2NT-3-4-4, this would show a
heart cue and non-forcing. (If responder wants to go beyond
4 with a heart cue, he starts with the
retransfer, and then bids on over 4.)
B. 2NT-3-3-3-4-4. The 3
bid shows four hearts, and opener agrees this suit and shows
slam interest by bidding 4. His
partner is not interested, but rather than playing the contract
by the weak hand, transfers it to partner by bidding 4.
C. 2NT-4-4-4NT-5-6-6. Responder shows a
single-suited heart slam try, and when his partner shows
interest, uses his favourite version of RKCB. He then leaps to
6 to allow the strong hand to play it.
In this case 6 would also have been to
play, so responder can choose which way to play the hand.