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Problem with better minor opening


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THe hand Ben just given in the thread about splinter is one example of opening better minor. I know many ppl play this method. This means you will usually opening 1D with 54 minor for the sake of rebid conveinence when you have a 11-16hcp hand. The problem with this method is that pd doesnt know which suit to prefer to or support. I once hand a hand with 44 minor after Jimmy, Lukewarm here, opened 1D and then compete with 3C in a competitive auction. After jimmy bid 3C, opponent bid 3H. I have a not bad hand, and was thinking of raising to 5minor. But the problem is I dont know which suit to bid. How to handle this kind problem?

 

I canot remember the exact hand I held, but it is sth like the following one.

 

VUL VS NOT

 

W     N     E    S

      1D     P     1N

2H   3C    3H    ?

 

S: AXX

H: XX

D: QTXX

C: QJXX

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If you want to be in five of your partner's better minor here, simply bid 4NT. After your 1NT, you are not looking for slam.

 

The problem is if you want to go to 4 of your parnters minor (which is probably all you should be willing to do with this hand. As it turns out with 4-4 in the minors you really don't have that big of a problem. But what if you were 3-3? and wanted to compete (say to the three level instead of 4 level....)...

 

      1D   (1H)   1S   P

      2C   (2H)   ? 

 

and you are 3-3 in the minors. Now if you guess wrong, you are in a 4-3 fit and miss a 5-3 fit. What choices do you have? I play double here is for takeout (all my non-conventional doubles are for takeout), asking my partner to pick a strain. The implication is clear, BID YOUR BETTER minor, or show support. If he bids 2, I will then bid 3 for him to pick between the minors if I am not happy with 2.

 

Yesterday papatgreek and I had a similar problem. I opened 1 with 4 and 5 and in a quiet auction... we went

 

1D-1H

2C-3D

Pass...

 

down one in a 4-3 fit when we can make an overtrick in 3C. What went wrong? A couple of things. First he was 3-4-3-3 and really shouldn't be jumping at all. Second, a fourth suit forcing which would not have excited me, would have elicited with minimum values (which I, as usual, had) a minimum rebid. In this case in my best suit..which was clubs. This non-competitive auction is harder to handle than the competitive ones...

 

Ben

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I would bid 4 NT if I want to go to minor suit game. But I think X is a very nice bid too, telling you have a max hand for your NT bid and also showing game interest. I think I opt for X, showing the more balanced hand.

 

Mike :(

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