1NT opening with a singleton

[cranebill]

I am being encouraged to open 1NT with a singleton by a f2f partner, please may I have your thoughts on this and can I have some example hands of what can be an acceptable opener, if I decide to go down this route

[cranebill]

I play 15-17 normally with this partner good 14 usually a solid minor suit, will be upgraded and 18 will be downgraded (occasionally, I am not overly fond of this, but my partner insists) if I am 4333 dist with bad spots

[jillybean]

Dont do it ;) I will try to find some old discussions on this

[ArtK78]

For most players, opening 1NT with a singleton is a rare, if ever, choice.

 

It is not something I would encourage, and it is not something I would want my partner to be encouraging.

[hrothgar]

I think that there are hands where you don't have a good rebid after 1m - 1♠

 

♠ K

♥ KQT3

♦ KJT9

♣ AQT9

 

and

 

♠ K

♥ AJT3

♦ AK9

♣ Q7653

 

would probably be considered prototypical examples.

 

I tend to be a bit over enthusiastic about 1NT openings.

[awm]

I think there are times when you get bad results from partner transferring to your singleton and passing (never liked the 5-1 fits, Burn's law and all that). There are also times when it goes 1N-3N and you go down when opponents lead opener's singleton major while cold for a minor suit slam.

 

A lot of this depends on how light you are willing to reverse -- if you want your reverses to be super sound then you will be "stuck" with a lot of hands and have to choose some "least of evils" option like opening 1NT.

 

I also think there is a difference between 1NT openings and 1NT rebids.

[helene_t]

IMHO the singleton should be an ace or a king, preferably a minor, and you should havea potential rebid problem. Maybe something like

 

xxx

AKJx

A

Axxxx

[Hanoi5]

Make sure it is alerted.

[kenrexford]

The short answer is to open 1NT with a stiff if you have a balanced hand with 15-17, especially if there is a rebid problem. A hand can be balanced with a stiff. That stiff will be a card that carries full weight.

[Stephen Tu]

If it's one of these rare singleton/K/A things (usually spades), it's not alertable, at least not in the ACBL. You'll get in trouble if you alert it actually, as it's not supposed to be "systemic", only allowed as "judgment", although their position on the matter is nonsensical as if your judgment is all consistent it becomes implicit system even if it comes up only 1%.

 

It would be better if their rule was that "it's OK as long as it occurs less than x% of the time & no system to find out about the stiff".

 

OTOH routinely opening 1nt with a small stiff isn't allowed under ACBL GCC, unless you play it as 16+ forcing ala Romex.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

 

you could make a case for opening 1NT

with 4441 shape.

The singleton being an Ace or a King, but

even this requirement is no must be.

 

Because there is no real difference between

such a hand a a hand with 4432 shape, the

doubleton being two smalls.

 

But be aware, that not all systems after a 1NT

opening bid will work, if you do this.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[blackshoe]

The Tech Files in ACBLScore have this to say about 1NT on a singleton:

 

"There is not now, nor has there ever been, any regulation which prohibits a player from opening (or overcalling) a natural NT with a singleton if sound bridge judgment dictates doing so. What IS

prohibited is any agreement that such bids do not promise balanced hands."

 

You have to be careful here: the above assumes your *agreement* is that 1NT is natural. An agreement that 1NT is artificial is permitted on the GCC, provided it conforms with "FORCING 1NT OPENING BID indicating a balanced or unbalanced hand and a minimum of 16 HCP." IOW, it must be forcing and have a minimum of 16 HCP.

 

The bottom line is that to agree that a 1NT opening is ostensibly natural (i.e. balanced), but may contain a singleton, is illegal. OTOH, it *is* permissible to open 1NT with a singleton, provided that it is not done often enough to constitute an implicit agreement, and provided it makes "bridge sense" to do so. Burden of proof on that is on the bidder, btw.

[dbsboy]

This reminds me of a hand I held two days ago

 

♠Q

♥KQX

♦QXXX

♣AKXXX

 

I bid 1♣, and partner bid 1♠, What should i bid now, 2 Clubs or 1NT or 2 Diamonds?

 

 

And I think even if I open 1NT with a singleton, quite often it will be 1=4=4=4 or 1=3=4=5 or 1=4=3=5 (opposite to Helene's view)

 

With a minor singleton I often dont have a rebid problem. say it goes 1C-1S, with 3-4-1-5 i am happy to make a reverse, whereas 1-3-4-5 makes me think

[Flameous]

Playing 10-12 NT I tend to open many 44(41) with NT cause passing makes it harder for partner in the future, besides the preempt is always worth it. With 15-17 I remember doing it only once or twice. 2NT again I tend to open a bit more with shapes where I have singleton ace.

[helene_t]

And I think even if I open 1NT with a singleton, quite often it will be 1=4=4=4 or 1=3=4=5 or 1=4=3=5 (opposite to Helene's view)

 

With a minor singleton I often dont have a rebid problem. say it goes 1C-1S, with 3-4-1-5 i am happy to make a reverse, whereas 1-3-4-5 makes me think

Yes that's right, with a 3-card spades you can either reverse (with something like a max 1NT) or raise spades (with a min). With a stiff spade you may have a more serious rebid problem.

 

OTOH the stiff minor is less likely to be an issue.

[rbforster]

There is an important distinction in terms of discussing NT bids on singletons here that is often overlooked I think. This is the difference between whether a given hand is balanced or unbalanced, and whether an opening bid, like 2NT, is balanced or unbalanced.

 

A notrump opening or overcall is natural if not unbalanced (generally, no singleton or void and only one or two doubletons).

Going with this definition, a hand with a singleton (or void!) would be considered unbalanced. However, a NT opening is natural if it "generally has no singleton, etc". Note that it says the opening is natural/balanced if you "generally" don't have a singleton, not that you can never have a singleton.

 

If I open 2NT with a singleton half the time when I've got a 4441 hand, my 2NT opening will still "generally have no singleton, etc." In fact for that case, over 95%+ of the time 2NT would show a balanced hand, and hence be natural/balanced as an opening, even if a few % of the time you actually had an unbalanced 4441 hand. The point here is that 4441 is a very rare shape compared to the classic balanced hand shapes (4432, 4333, 5332) so almost always when I open 2NT I have a specific hand that is balanced.

 

The Tech Files in ACBLScore have this to say about 1NT on a singleton:

 

"There is not now, nor has there ever been, any regulation which prohibits a player from opening (or overcalling) a natural NT with a singleton if sound bridge judgment dictates doing so.  What IS prohibited is any agreement that such bids do not promise balanced hands."

Under the GCC definition of an opening being balanced, I think you can still agree to open 2NT with a singleton on a reasonable fraction of 4441 hands for example, since your agreement is still that your 2NT bid "generally has no singleton, etc" (to some appropriately high level of probability) and hence is natural/balanced as required.

[Finch]

Hi,

 

you could make a case for opening 1NT

with 4441 shape.

The singleton being an Ace or a King, but

even this requirement is no must be.

 

Because there is no real difference between

such a hand a a hand with 4432 shape, the

doubleton being two smalls.

no real difference?

of course there's a difference.

 

Compare partner's

xxx

KQx

Axx

Kxxx

 

which will raise an opening 1NT to 3NT

 

opposite

(i)

xx

Axxx

KQxx

AQx

or

 

(ii)

x

Axxx

KQxx

AQxx

 

on (i) 3NT is cold 33% of the time, and if you assume LHO will lead their longest suit with a preference for a 4-card major, will make about 66% of the time

 

on (ii) 3NT is cold roughly 1% of the time, and if you make the same assumptions about the lead, will make maybe 20% of the time.

 

also,

on (i) 3NT looks to be the best game

on (ii) you would rather be in 5C or 6C than 3NT

[foo]

This reminds me of a hand I held two days ago

 

♠Q♥KQx♦Qxxx♣AKxxx

 

I bid 1♣, and partner bid 1♠, What should i bid now, 2 Clubs or 1NT or 2 Diamonds?

 

 

And I think even if I open 1NT with a singleton, quite often it will be =1444 or =1345 or =1435 (opposite to Helene's view)

 

With a minor singleton I often dont have a rebid problem. say it goes 1C-1S, with =3415 i am happy to make a reverse, whereas =1345 makes me think

You hold a =1345 or =3145 shape and it goes 1C-1S;??

 

Any of 1N, 2C, or a reverse might be right. Depends on the strength and texture of the hand.

 

Let's say the hand is x-KQx-Qxxx-AKQxx. (or x-Qxxx-KQx-AKQxx)

Unless you think this hand is strong enough for a reverse, and having a stiff in partner's suit argues that you should downgrade these hands, a 2C rebid stands out as the best description of your hand's trick taking strength. Frankly, I'd probably reverse with either of these. Take away a Q, or change a Q into a J, and I'd probably rebid 2C.

 

OTOH, just about any =3145 or =3415 with those values,

KQx-Q-Qxxx-AKxxx, Qxx-x-KQxx-AKQxx, etc, =is= worth seriously considering a reverse with because the odds are good that you and partner have a ♠ fit.

It's having 3 cards in Responder's suit that matters, not whether the stiff is in ♥'s or ♦'s.

 

Now give yourself a =1345 or =1435 where most of your points are in your short suits. The extreme example is something like A-KQx-KQxx-Qxxxx. This hand has far less trick taking strength than one where the HCP are in the long suits

(ie x-Qxx-KQxx-AKQxx). While I would reverse with the 2nd of these, the first of these is the classic hand you may be forced to open 1N= 15-17 with as the least lie.

BTW, if you do open 1N with A-KQx-KQxx-Qxxxx, you should also treat it as a =minimum= 1N opening. Decline any invites responder makes if you hold such a hand and open 1N with it.

 

In fact, if you have a =1345 or =1435 with 15 HCP containing a stiff honor, downgrade it to below 15 HCP and bid it like a minimum. Such hands are best described with either a 1N or 2C rebid depending on exactly where the values are.

Frances' excellent post gives the practical reason why.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

 

you could make a case for opening 1NT

with 4441 shape.

The singleton being an Ace or a King, but

even this requirement is no must be.

 

Because there is no real difference between

such a hand a a hand with 4432 shape, the

doubleton being two smalls.

no real difference?

of course there's a difference.

 

<snip - valid examples>

First of all, I dont do it and of course you are right,

"no real difference" is an oversimplification.

 

But 4441 shapes occur how often? 3% of the time?

And the described scenarios do occur how often as a

portion of those 3% of time?

 

I would not worry too much, and if all comes together,

I would hope that the x% chance of success holds.

And if it does not hold, I know it was not may day.

 

The advantage would be, that I dont need to worry

about the 4441 shape in other bidding sequences.

 

Actually it is not uncommon to pretend, that 4441 does

not exist.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[foo]

Actually it is not uncommon to pretend, that 4441 does

not exist.

Yup. I've played in more than one partnership where we agreed that 4441's break System. Any bidding done with them was agreed to be a case of telling the least lie.

 

I've even played in partnerships where We agreed to pass all 4441's with less than 14 HCP and a rebid problem (so we'd pass all =1444 13 counts for instance).

[gnasher]

In some partnerships I play that all 4441 shapes in range are opened 1NT, but that responder bids as though opposite a balanced hand. We accept that we'll occasionally reach a silly contract in exchange for improving the definition of our one-bids.

 

This approach doesn't result in an inferior contract as often as you might expect. A 4441 shape occurs 1/16th as often as 4333, 4432 or 5332. For the opening to result in an obviously wrong contract, responder has to have a five-card major and a weak hand, a six-card major and a good hand, or a raise of notrumps without a strong holding in opener's short suit.

[andy_h]

My current partnership treats 4441 as balanced whenever we have a rebid problem. The hands with the singletons are usually the 1=4=4=4 and (13)45 type of hands. It can put us in a silly contract (admittedly, it has only happened to us once after 1NT-3NT and our spades were combined x-xxx) but we have agreed that it's the least of all evils lie that we prefer to tell.