Lesson 2(a) - Opening balanced hands of various strengths

 

Opening the bidding

Starting with the dealer, each player in turn has the opportunity to be the first to open the bidding. With fewer than a good 12 points you normally pass (exceptions in Lesson 9 when we look at weak hands with good(ish) long suits) and let someone else open.

A 'good' 12 might be one with a 5-card suit headed by at least one of the top three honours, or a hand with points concentrated in two suits.  It is a hand that does not have a preponderance of queens & jacks - such an unappealing hand is wonderfully described as quacky.  Also, a 12-count with lone queens or jacks in a short suit is not so good. Prefer to have your lower honours accompanying other honours in longer suits.

Thus it may be wiser to pass with

ªQJx  ♥Kxxx  ♦QJx  §QJx   or

ªAxx  ♥KJx  ♦Qxxx  §Qxx,

but very reasonable to open with:

ªx  ♥AQxx  ♦KQJx  §xxxx  or

ªKJT  ♥QJx  ♦AJTxx  §xx

That was certainly the way I was taught when dinosaurs roamed the earth. But modern theory holds that it’s a bidder’s game.  Get in there if at all possible. And no tournament players today would pass with either hand above.

Even non-quacky hands with 10 or 11 HCP are opened at the one level when they have shape, hands such as ªx  ♥AQTxxx  ♦Axx  ♣xxx  or  ªKxxx  ♥x  ♦AKJxx  ♣xxx.  ‘Just do it!’ is the modern catchcry.  

If you have 13 or more points, either as dealer or if the players before you have all passed, then you must open the bidding.

Balanced and unbalanced hands

The choice of opening bid is determined by the shape of your hand.  The shape depends on the way in which the 13 cards are distributed among the four suits.  If you have an even distribution of the four suits the hand is balanced. The way you tell partner you have a balanced shape is by bidding notrumps as soon as the strength of your hand permits.

A balanced hand has no missing suits (voids), no one-card suits (singletons), and at most one two-card suit (doubleton).  Thus the only balanced distributions are:

a.   xxx             b.  xxxx              c. xxx
      xxxx                xx                      xxx
      xxx                  xxx                    xxxxx
      xxx                  xxxx                  xx

Each x above represents any card, regardless of rank.

hand (a) is a 4‑3‑3‑3 shape
hand (b) is a 4‑4‑3‑2 shape
hand (c) is a 5‑3‑3‑2 shape

All other hand patterns are unbalanced. 

How to bid balanced hands

Count HCP to assess strength, adding one point for a strong 5-card suit.  Then, with:
0‑11 HCP         Pass
15‑17 HCP       Open 1NT
20‑21 HCP      Open 2NT

And what about balanced hands outside these notrump opening ranges?

• 12-14 HCP balanced

Bid 1 of a suit intending to rebid notrumps at the lowest level unless you immediately uncover a major suit fit.

• 18‑19 HCP balanced

Bid 1 of a suit, planning to jump one level in   notrumps unless you find a major fit

• 22 + HCP balanced

Open 2♣ (a conventional bid to show any very strong hand - Lesson 9)

Thus with a balanced hand of any strength the principle is to open with notrumps if the HCP fit, or rebid notrumps at your first opportunity unless a major suit fit is immediately  discovered. 

Which suit do I open?

To assess your hand for opening purposes add your HCP and next add an additional point for every card more than 4 in your long suits.

Then use the following guide:

0‑11 pts      Pass
12‑21 pts    Open 1 of a suit (occasionally 2♣)
22 + pts      Open 2♣ 

When you play, as we do, a 'Five-Card Major System', the general principle is to open:

• your longest suit unless that suit is only a 4-card major
• the higher-ranked of two equally long (5+) suits
• your longer minor when your longest suit has only 4 cards
• 1♦ with no 5-card major & 4-4 in the minors
• 1♣ with no 5-card major & 3-3 in the minors

The opening bids of 2♦/♥/♠ and 3 or 4 or 5 of a suit are reserved for weaker hands with long suits. (Lesson 7)