Raising responder's suit

[NickToll]

I need opinions about how raising responder's suit in a five-card majors and weak notrump foundation.

 

The sequence under discussion is 1m - 1M - ?, and the question is: how do you bid as opener holding 15+ points, balanced distribution and a fit for partner? Is there a way to differentiate good balanced hands from minimum and better-than-minimum unbalanced hands?

 

Better minor versus four-card diamonds could make a difference here. If you have a case for both, you're welcome...

[inquiry]

I have a rather convoluted concept of raises on the auction 1m-1M that I like. Odds are strong that you will not like it, but here goes.

 

To start off, I will not have "balanced 15" because I open 1NT with that, you may have to adjust your methods should you use a weak notrump.

 

First, my direct raise (1m-1M-2M) promises only three card support, but is more often 4 card support. The raise to 2M with three card support will include a ruffing value in a side suit.

 

Second, my jump raise to 3M (1m-1M-3M) is both weaker than traditional jump raises and includes ruffing values. I will jump to 3M with a 14-15 hcp hand with ruffing value.

 

Somewhere in here, there are options for splinter raises to the three level (1c-1S-3H, or 1c=1S-3D) which shows the same kind of hand as 1m-1M-3M but identifies the short suit.

 

I wlll jump rebid my minor with support for the major. The auction 1m-1M-3m shows a good six card suit and three card support for the major, while 1m-1M-4m shows an excellent 6+ suit and four card support for the major. A corrollary that is unusual is that I play 1m-1M-4M as a hand with excellent cards in the major, a seven card minor that is not such a strong suit.

 

As you can see, this leaves a huge gulf in hands that are too good for the jump raise and are inappropriate for the splinter raise or jump rebid in my minor. I use "jacoby 2NT by opener" to show all STRONG (based upon hcp) raises of partners major on 1m-1M. I use the same (non-standard) type responses to this bid by responder as I do on 1M-2NT auctions. Responder bids 3C with all hands where he is praying we stop in 3M. Should partner bid 3C, then 3D is a second game try (of course opener can just jump to game). This 3D rebid allows responder to reconsider his wishes to stop short of game. There are some other tricks over this 2NT but that is the bulk of the method.

 

The "problem" with this approach can be viewed by:

1. Lack of a natural jump to 2NT

2. Lack of a natural jump rebid of 3 of your mnor.

 

I handle both of this by using Cole-like new minor by opener on 1m-1M-2om as forcing and where opener can rebid 2NT to show the "strong" balanced hand, or his minor to show the strong one suited hand. As always there are tradeoffs, I know you are wondering about what if opener had a big minor two suiter or a weak minor two suiter. Those have to be dealt with as well. I keep the strong minor two suiter within the cole response, and I open 1D and jump rebid 3C with the minor two suiter (or rebid 1NT or raise on three card support, or rebid 2D).

[Robert]

Hi everyone

 

I played a lot of KS(with a weak 1NT opening) over the decades. With a 15-17HCP hand I would open 1m and raise 1M to 2M. With a somewhat better hand I would jump to 3M.

 

Minimum unbalanced hands show a solid opening playing a KS style. You open 1m and still raise partner to 2M holding some 1345 type hand. The ruffing value makes up for the minimum HCP values.

 

If you are playing a weak NT type style, you might want to open 2452 or 2425 hands with 1NT if 12-14HCP. If you open a suit and raise partner, he should expect a ruffing value or

15-17HCP 'if balanced' for a single raise.

 

Hi inquiry

 

Playing a version of Cole, why not bid 1m-1M-2C-any-2M holding 3 card support?

I would have guessed that a direct raise(playing Cole) would show 4 card support.

 

Regards,

Robert

[awm]

In a strong notrump system, 1m-1M-2M is often based on a weak notrump. This is obviously not a possible hand type in a weak notrump system.

 

So the first question is, what should opener do with a strong notrump and four-card support? It seems wrong to bid 3M because this means opener will bid 3M a lot and rarely bid 2M (the 2M bid would be reserved only for shapely hands, and a fair number of these hands have roughly equivalent playing strength to a strong notrump anyway, for example Axxx x Axxx KQxx is probably worth about 16 hcp in support of spades).

 

Therefore it makes sense for the minimum strong notrump hands to bid 2M. This means the 2M raise on a balanced hand is roughly a king better than it would be in a strong notrump system. The 3M rebid can be reserved for really strong hands (like 17-18 hcp if balanced).

 

The main issue here is with shapely hands including only three-card support, or really awful shapely hands with four card support, that really aren't worth as much as 15 points in support despite the ruffing value. An example might be:

 

Kxx

KJxx

KJTxx

x

 

You open 1♦ and hear 1♠ from partner. In a strong notrump system, it's pretty easy to raise to 2♠ on this hand. You have a decent fit and a ruffing value, and your hand will probably play better in spades than a lot of lousy weak notrump openings with four trumps. But in a weak notrump system partner will expect a strong notrump type hand, and with only three card support this hand probably doesn't make the cut.

 

Along with some rebid problem issues (where in a strong NT system you might rebid 1NT on singleton), this argues for playing sound minor suit openings in a weak NT approach.

[inquiry]

Missed the KS thing in the title.. ok so you are playing weak notrump. This is a horse of a different color.

 

1m-1M-2M should be 15-18 points countnig distribution

 

over this raise, relay by responder starts slam try, jump shifts by responder are splinter, a re-raise should NOT BE preemptive here. Opener is strong, they haven't bid. Make a reraise six card suit, looking for 3NT on 9 tricks. A jump in partners minor should be lots of cards in the two suits and something like 4522.

 

Jump raises need to be stronger than this, (19+ points). I would still use some of the methods I mentioned in an earlier post.

[pclayton]

In KS, unbalanced minor hands tend to be stronger, so the single minor raise approximates to 15-16 points anyway.

 

Some sort of 2N checkback is helpful in clarifying these ranges however.

 

1♥ - 1♠ - 2♠ can be very wide ranging however.

[inquiry]

Hi inquiry

 

Playing a version of Cole, why not bid 1m-1M-2C-any-2M holding 3 card support?

I would have guessed that a direct raise(playing Cole) would show 4 card support.

 

Regards,

Robert

I do play that after the new minor forcing (Cole-like) bid, opener can then support the major with three card support. This raise will not include those hands that allow a jump rebid of the original minor, so as responder tries to picture the hands opener can hold, those with six/seven in the original minor are not liekly (however, he can be 3136 for instance with less than great clubs).

 

IF you play 1D-1H can be three card suit, you might want to play the raise 1D-1M-2M as promising 4. So far, I have managed to avoid playing in 3-3 fit after responder bids 1H on three and I raise on 3, but the day is surely comming when I paly 2H in a 3-3 fit. I don't worry about playing in 4-3 at all however.

[Free]

The point of playing weak NT is that your 1-level openings should be solid to prevent similar problems. The hand awm gives (Kxx-KJxx-KJTxx-x) is a clear pass!

Now you play solid openings, you just raise to 2-level with any minimum unbalanced with 3+ card support, or balanced 15-17 with 4 card support. I don't like the style where you bid 2M with balanced hands and only a 3 card support, but that's a matter of style I guess.

 

It's a change of mind really. As opener you don't have to SHOW your extra's by jumping or something else, you just support and partner will make a decision on the info he knows. HE will invite opposite the hand you just showed.

 

An interesting point is to have a 2NT rebid to show a strong hand with fit! This makes sure you can play minisplinters which are imo a real asset.

[Codo]

I play weak NT including 5 card major, so the bidding will be:

 

after 1 m 1 M :

 

-with 3 card support balanced: 15-17: 1 NT

- with 3 card supp. unbalanced 12-14: 2 M

-with 3 card support unbal. 15+: depends on system, maybe 2. suit, intending to raise later, maybe treated as balanced an rebid 1 NT

-with 4 card support balanced 15-17: 3 M

-with 4 card support unbal. 12-14: 2 M

-with 4 card support unbal. 15+: Minisplinter

 

Downsides:

-You cannot show 2 or 3 card support when you rebid 1 NT

- 3card support 15-17 not balanced is sometimes muddy

-After 1 m 1 ♥ you need 2 ♠ as a minisplinter or you need other tools to show a hand with short Spades. (I prefer the later)

 

Upsides:

-You can open weaker distributional hands then Free

-1m 1M 2M is avaiable for weak support.

- PD knows quite often how strong your fit and distribution is

[Free]

I play weak NT including 5 card major, so the bidding will be:

 

after 1 m 1 M :

 

-with 3 card support balanced: 15-17: 1 NT

- with 3 card supp. unbalanced 12-14: 2 M

-with 3 card support unbal. 15+: depends on system, maybe 2. suit, intending to raise later, maybe treated as balanced an rebid 1 NT

-with 4 card support balanced 15-17: 3 M

-with 4 card support unbal. 12-14: 2 M

-with 4 card support unbal. 15+: Minisplinter

 

Downsides:

-You cannot show 2 or 3 card support when you rebid 1 NT

- 3card support 15-17 not balanced is sometimes muddy

-After 1 m 1 ♥ you need 2 ♠ as a minisplinter or you need other tools to show a hand with short Spades. (I prefer the later)

 

Upsides:

-You can open weaker distributional hands then Free

-1m 1M 2M is avaiable for weak support.

- PD knows quite often how strong your fit and distribution is

Another downside: you'll be playing 3M with 21 hcp way too often

[pclayton]

Playing a weak NT, you generally just make a single raise with a 7 loser 15 or even 16 count:

 

AJxx, KQx, Qxx, KJx or

AJxx, Ax, Qxx, KJxx

 

Upgrade these hands a little and you can jump.