Smallest lie

[jillybean]

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Playing 12-14 nt, 1nt now would show 15-17

[apollo1201]

Playing 12-14 NT kinda helps, as I am not sure I’d have the guts to open 1NT, but here I’d rebid 1NT more easily. The SQ or SK would almost make the problem a no brainer in « modern bridge » tbh, with the same overall strength. All your tenaces are now ready to work should you play the hand.

 

You’ll also find H more easily with a NT rebid while you might bury them forever if you rebid those skinny diamonds. The imaginative 2C is closer to your cards than 2D, but is probably delaying the issue for next round if there is one.

 

Bidding 2H looks exaggerate to me with a slightly subminimal count but most of all because of those bad diamonds and the potential liability of the S singleton. Make my hand AQx AQxx KJ98x x and the bid is clearer. Especially at IMPs.

 

Anyway, I have a less promising hand so 1NT will probably be the best lie. And too bad if partner rebids 2S with 5. The funny thing is that it never happened to me to drive p into a 5-1 fit, the few times I opened or rebid NT w/ a singleton honor. Not that statistics can be drawn on that very limited experience, but the fear is probably overrated.

[apollo1201]

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[hrothgar]

1NT is mandatory

 

If you didn't want to rebid 1NT after 1♠ then you should have opened 1♥ (planning to rebid 2♦)

[paulg]

My style is different from hrothgar's in that I'll happily rebid two diamonds. The caveat is that I do not play matchpoints very often.

 

With my serious partner, where I open one club with most balanced hands, I play transfer rebids after opening one diamond, so two diamonds shows 5+ diamonds and 4+ hearts with less than reversing values. But with less serious partners I just hate rebidding one no trump with a singleton. Others seem far happier to do so.

[Cyberyeti]

Agree 1N

[mikeh]

It’s an important discussion to have with partner: is it ok to rebid 1N with this. The point being that if this approach will influence what responder will rebid with 5 mediocre spades and a weak hand.

 

If I held Qxxxx xx xx Kxxx, I’d always bid 2S, because in my partnerships we do not rebid 1N with a stiff

 

In my partnerships, the smallest lie would be 2C. I do think that the 1N rebid has become increasingly popular in bridge today. 30 years ago, 2C would likely be the strong consensus amongst experts: nowadays a perhaps weaker consensus would be 1N

 

The same principles apply regardless of notrump ranges: the goal is to minimize playing in 6 card fits but also to get to the 7 or 8 card fits whenever responder is weak. One can usually work things out when responder has good values.

[mycroft]

I can not bid 1NT for the same reason as MikeH. This is coloured somewhat by the fact that we live in a strong NT world, and where the field is bidding 1NT-2♥-2♠-p, we need to also be there (albeit from the other side).

 

I would flip a coin and bid the minor that comes up. There are arguments for opening this 1♥, but do we lie about the 5 card heart suit or the 6 card diamond suit?

 

There are hands that are awful for system. This is one for K/S in North America. Pick a lie and hope to survive.

[Tramticket]

Deleted nonsense. Mis-read as 1444.

[LBengtsson]

why reluctance rebid 1Nt? having stiff in responder suit should not stop you bidding no trumps. too many players make a big deal about it. rebid 2♦ with poor suit - no! rebid 2♥ with poor hand - no! xyz convention useful here when 1nt rebid.

[mycroft]

1♦-1♠; 1NT-2♠; p.

 

Which 6 card fit do you want to play? Or is it also "rebidding 2♠ with 5-card suit - no!"

 

XYZ is a great convention, especially with sub-invitational hands. Unless you sabotage it.

 

Now, as MikeH says, you and your partner have obviously had a discussion about 1NT responses on singletons, and your willingness to rebid 1NT depends on that discussion. Of course, you're playing 1NT out of your hand opposite ♠KQTxx and out all the times you have xx, or playing 1NT with a nice 8-card spade fit opposite Jxx, because partner's afraid you have this hand again.

[Douglas43]

I don't much like rebidding 1NT with a singleton but I prefer it to 2C on a three card suit, rebidding the puny diamonds, or reversing into 2H (and I'm never opening 1H). The corollary is that with a weak (5-8 hcp) responding hand and only 5 spades it's risky to rebid 2S. With 9+ hcp responder can use checkback.

[jillybean]

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Partner can rebid spades with 5 but it certainly wouldn't be the worse contract I've been in.

 

This is perhaps where the auction should have ended but at my table South went on and bid 2N

[Cyberyeti]

If you don't play some sort of relay over 1m-1suit-2m you should.

[paulg]

Coincidentally I now know what my wife rebids after last night's team match :)

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[jillybean]

Coincidentally I now know what my wife rebids after last night's team match :)

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Opposite hemispheres, same hand! How did that work out?

[mikeh]

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Partner can rebid spades with 5 but it certainly wouldn't be the worse contract I've been in.

 

This is perhaps where the auction should have ended but at my table South went on and bid 2N

Partner should rarely rebid a 5 card suit. Opener has either 6+ diamonds or a stiff/void spade (or both). Lesson number one with known misfits: pass! Do NOT try to improve the part score unless your hand suggests that your decision probably will actually do so.

 

Opener’s 2N is not unreasonable. One reason for responder to keep the auction, over 2D, alive is when responder holds about 8-10 hcp....2N by opener now shows about a 17 count. Make opener’s diamonds KJ10xx, for example, and I think 2N would be the near-unanimous decision of all good players.

 

While I think 2N is on the aggressive side, it’s far better than responder’s 2S if bid on a 5 card suit.

[jillybean]

Partner should rarely rebid a 5 card suit. Opener has either 6+ diamonds or a stiff/void spade (or both). Lesson number one with known misfits: pass! Do NOT try to improve the part score unless your hand suggests that your decision probably will actually do so.

 

Opener’s 2N is not unreasonable. One reason for responder to keep the auction, over 2D, alive is when responder holds about 8-10 hcp....2N by opener now shows about a 17 count. Make opener’s diamonds KJ10xx, for example, and I think 2N would be the near-unanimous decision of all good players.

 

While I think 2N is on the aggressive side, it’s far better than responder’s 2S if bid on a 5 card suit.

 

 

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When I say partner could rebid spades with 5, I say that rather flippantly, I don't except 5.

 

I'm not clear on the difference between an immediate 1N rebid by opener, and 2♦ followed by 2N, could you please explain?

[nullve]

Opener’s 2N is not unreasonable. One reason for responder to keep the auction, over 2D, alive is when responder holds about 8-10 hcp....2N by opener now shows about a 17 count. Make opener’s diamonds KJ10xx, for example, and I think 2N would be the near-unanimous decision of all good players.

I don't think you will find a single good player in Norway who would open 1♦ and rebid 2♦ over 1♠ with

 

J

AQxx

KJTxx

AQx.

 

30 years ago almost everyone (in Norway) would open 1♦ and reverse into 2♥. Today you'd see at lot of 1N openings.

[paulg]

Coincidentally I now know what my wife rebids after last night's team match :)

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Opposite hemispheres, same hand! How did that work out?

It went well and badly.

 

I passed with a balanced ten count, as we play 14-16 one no trump. Everything was very friendly, including the obvious opening club lead, and she wrapped up ten tricks.

 

The bad news was that the auction went the same way in the other room, where they were playing a weak no trump so the rebid showed 15-17. This led to a quick three no trump and we lost a game swing. Game was beatable as five spades were available to the defence at any time, including when they got in with a diamond but a little too difficult for club pairs.

[Winstonm]

I used to believe as Mikeh and others who have played a long time but Justin Lall absolutely convinced me that the best bid is 1nt - see , old dogs can learn.

[mikeh]

I used to believe as Mikeh and others who have played a long time but Justin Lall absolutely convinced me that the best bid is 1nt - see , old dogs can learn.

I was, also, persuaded by Justin that the 1N rebid could reasonably be played as including a singleton in responder’s suit, but it’s important, in my opinion, that the partnership agree on this and decide how this is to affect responder’s second call when holding no game interest and a 5 card major.

 

There are hands on which I think responder should pass even a traditional 1N rebid even with a 5 card major.

 

Say partner opened 1D and rebid 1N over our 1S response

 

With Jxxxx Kxx Qx Axx, where I have no game interest opposite a weak 1N hand, I pass. My spades are weak, I have help everywhere and we rate to survive in 1N even if he has 3 card support.meanwhile, if he has only xx in spades 2S will often be a disaster.

 

But KJ10xx xx xx Qxxx I’d always rebid 2S, since my spades may take very few tricks in notrump.

 

When his 1N may be based on a stiff spade, the calculations will change somewhat. There will still be hands on which bidding 2S will be better, on average, than passing, but fewer of them than otherwise.

 

The same factors are at play when we have invitational or better hands with a 6 card suit....sometimes notrump will be better than spades, when we have a 6-1 fit. Thus both partners have to recalibrate their bidding micrometers.

 

As it happens, neither of my partners want to rebid with a stiff and, more importantly, the situation rarely arises. We strain to open 1C, even with longer diamonds (not on all hands), and our transfer structure over that 1C means that we accept the transfer into a major with all minimum balanced hands, rather than rebidding 1N.

[jillybean]

All this is very interesting and makes sense but I am beginning to wonder if I am ready for this both at my personal bridge level and the interest/commitment level of my partner. I would love to look at transfers over 1♣, transfer leb on so on, and have this level of discussion but outside of forums, I'm not.

The quandary is that if I concentrate on improving my game, I'm playing at clubs and picking up or furthering bad habits and I know it's bad for my game. So how do you improve your game, in isolation, playing mediocre - terrible club bridge.

 

Anyway, we are off to play in another live tournament today where the level is very good. Hopefully I will stay disciplined, not mastermind and have some interesting hands to post later.

[blackshoe]

Maybe try a different system? Of course, that probably just means you'll have different problems. B-)