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Another weak nt question


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jillybean asks "MP 12-14 nt. You are south, please explain your next call."

 

I rank

1. Pass. Especially NV at MPs. If partner has 9+ HCP, he might reply at 2-level.

2. 2N. Both majors stopped and a likely fit (but at MPs, minus scores are bad).

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Yeah, you hit upon one of the potential weaknesses of the weak 1N system.

 

Playing *strong* 1N you assume that a 1m opener is a weak 1N and respond 1N with about 5-10 points, expecting opener to pass. if opener shows game interest then he is either too strong to open a strong 1N or is distributional. All fairly safe.

 

You are to some extent resigned to a 1N response having a wider range than either a 1N opener or 1N rebid, even with a weak 1N system, and with that comes an inevitable consequence, that there will be occasions where 3N is in sight but 2N is at risk.

 

A flat 16 count is at the cusp where both risks are significant, but on balance I favour pass.

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Pass!

 

Yeah, you're probably playing 1 NT opposite the field, but that's an occupational hazard of playing weak NTs.

 

Playing a weak NT, a 1 NT call by responder should be 5-8. 2 NT should 9 to 10-. 3 NT 10+ to 15.

 

Since you're playing a weak NT, 1 m bids tend to be stronger. The only minimum hand opened 1 m is an unbalanced hand where opener intends to rebid 2 m. So you ought to adjust the NT response ranges to reflect this reality.

 

Since opener's hand looks to be headed toward no trump, opener might consider opening this hand 1 . This would let responder manufacture a 1 bid with certain hands and let opener rebid 1 NT with a strong NT hand to right side the contract.

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I think the folks saying 1N should be 5 to 8 are exaggerating things a bit. I'm happy to play 1N as 6 to 9. Having 5 opposite 15 isn't that great a 1N contract.

 

I still pass. The perfect 9 count from partner is still only about 75% for 3N.

Kaplan and Sheinwold were not exaggerating when they decreed that the range of the 1NT response to one of a minor is 5 to 8 points to avoid the problem posed by the OP in Kaplan-Seinwold.

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