Posted 2024-May-20, 15:24
Late to the thread but have read the posts with interest
Fwiw, here’s my two cents worth:
On the specific hand, I think it an error to open 2N with a 6 card major. Not only do you usually miss a 6=3 fit (even puppeteers don’t usually puppet unless they have a potential ruffing value should a 5=3 fit exist and non-puppeteers are doomed, but you also miss a good 6=2 fit on occasion, without partner ever knowing of that fit (even with puppet) and having no ability to evaluate accordingly. In addition, the hand is too strong for 2N, and the alternative of 2C then 2N suffers from the earlier problems plus may fatally mislead partner as to the likelihood, if he is two suited, without hearts as one of the suits, of a good fit somewhere. Plus if the opps interfere, bidding notrump may lead to a silly result while opening 2C then bidding hearts shows a better playing hand than this, for hearts.
Thus the process of elimination suggests we don’t like 2N or 2C, which leaves 1H. Now, we need to consider the downsides of 1H, and determine whether they are so bad that we need to revisit 2N or 2C.
Downsides? If partner fits hearts, we’ll usually be ok. We go to game over a single raise, with no fear of missing a good slam. We cuebid over a limit raise sequence, expressing slam interest and what we do next depends on what partner does but, assuming an expert partner, he will be aware that we may be just shy of a 2C opening bid so I would not expect to miss many decent slams. As an aside, I do jpknow that most players are neither experts nor do they play with expert partners. However, the reality is that difficult hands for experts are often simply guessing hands for non-experts and one way to become expert is to read about how experts think and bid. Not that experts are often unanimous, lol.
If partner passes, we won’t have missed a game unless partner is one of those who thinks one needs 6+ hcp to respond (that thinking is extremely old fashioned and anyone using it these days will get eaten alive in good competition).
If the opps interfere we can double, cuebid, bid more hearts, etc,,,lots of ways to show a good hand. While I said earlier that this hand is too strong for 2N, that’s based on the assumption that partner has his share of the missing hcp, or close to it. If the opps tell us that partner is bust and if he tells us (by passing) that he lacks a good heart fit, this hand is no longer that good.
If partner responds 1N, whether forcing, semi forcing or not forcing, we have an easy and descriptive 3N…which is only a slight underbid.
Raising 1N to 2N shows a hand just short of a 2N opening bid. Thus we do NOT need 3N to show that hand (although I’ve seen many, many non experts jump to 3N with 18, presumably because they don’t know any better or don’t trust partner). That means that we can use 3N to show about 19 hcp with a card major!
What do we hold? We hold a 20 count with a 6 card major….’about’ mp lies 18-20 so we have a maximum for the bid, but it’s silly to argue that we can’t make a descriptive bid because we’re maximum for the bid. Besides, I know that I’m almost always happy when partner tables a maximum as dummy!
A 2/1 response,me specially if that’s gf, is unlikely to cause a problem. We are almost always driving to slam and we have lots of bidding space in which to show slam interest and get info from partner.
It’s really only a 1S response that is likely to be a big problem. 1H 1S 3N carries a quite different message than does 1H 1N 3N. I think it normal for the 1H 1S 3N sequence to promise solid hearts and some cards in the unbid suits rather than 19-20 hcp.
xx AKQJxxx Ax Kx wouldn’t be a surprise hand for that auction.
So I think we’re forced to jumpshift into 3C, which should always be suspect in any partnership, which in turn means we’re likely to survive.
I think this shows that 1H, while imperfect, is probably going to lead us to reasonable collaborative auctions and that it’s downsides aren’t anywhere nearly as bad as the alternatives (other than the fact that these sorts of hands get the strong club players feeling very smug about their methods).
More generally…I will almost never open 1N with a 6 card minor, but I play mostly imps and don’t bother changing much, systemically, when I play mps (1 do change my exercise of judgement). At imps I’d rather be in a cold 5C/D contract than 3N which fails on a plausible lie of the cards, even if 3N will make most of the time. I’ll happily give you 1 or 2 imps for your overtrick(s) when 3N makes provided I get my 10 or 12 imps when 3N fails. Opening 1N greatly reduces the chances of even finding a fit in that minor.
Also, these days in strong fields, it’s naive to think that 1N eliminates interference. Take a look at what experts are bidding on at favourable or even equal. All good players know that other good pairs will bid with great accuracy after 1N if given free rein (ok, an exception being if 1N could have a 6 card suit, lol, but even if one likes to do this m the fact is that 4432/4333/5332/4441 hands are collectively far more likely). So experts partnerships compete over 1N aggressively if protected by shape and distribution.
Competing over 2N is far different, but 2N has such severe problems that any edge that gives us is, imo, negligible since the opps don’t need to compete in order to disrupt our auction…we’ve done that already, lol.
I should add one last thought. Show me a player who opens 2N here, and doesn’t consider it as deliberately making a misleading call and I suspect we’re looking at a player who likes to be in charge on every hand if possible. Such an approach sometimes leads to spectacular successes but overall it is destructive of partnerships and leads to too many random results.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari
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