Glenfield Technical Library

The Opening Bid of Two No Trumps

Last Updated on 17^th August 2008

Most pairs use this bid to show a strong balanced hand; usually with 20-22 points.
Board 21 Dealer N NS Vul	North ª Q4 © AJ2 ¨ K97 § AKQ63		This deal comes from the Buckby Cup on 26^th February 2003. North opened two no trumps. South bid three clubs, Baron, and North showed that his only suit with four cards or more was clubs by rebidding three no trumps. It is, however, becoming increasingly popular to play the opening bid of two no trumps as Unusual; showing at least five cards in each minor.
West ª K762 © T63 ¨ Q86 § 982		East ª AJ53 © Q97 ¨ J54 § T54
	South ª T98 © K854 ¨ AT32 § J7

I still use the old-fashioned method of 20-22 points but I don’t like to open two no trumps unless I also have at least 6 playing tricks.
Board 1 Dealer N Love All	North ª JT5 © T5 ¨ 98432 § 874		Because we play Crowhurst we can play a jump rebid of two no trumps as showing 19-21 points and, for the upper range, less than six playing tricks. In other words, if we are unlikely to make two no trumps when partner has a hand that is too weak for a change of suit response to a one level opening bid, we don’t open two no trumps. This approach gained most of the match points on this deal from Glenfield Bridge Club on 16^th April 2003. This South hand therefore was opened one club, intending to rebid two no trumps if North made a change of suit response. The objective of opening one club rather than one heart is to avoid forcing North into a one no trump response and having the hand played the opposite way round to the field. In the event, North passed and one club was the final contract. West led a spade, which ran to the ten queen and ace. South then cashed the ace and king of hearts and ruffed the six. The six of diamonds was thrown on the jack of spades and a diamond was led from dummy. East won the ace and switched to a trump. South played low so West won the jack of clubs, cashed the ace and led another. This was a pretty good score. The board was played nine times. On seven occasions South opened two no trumps and played there. The number of tricks made varied from 4 to 8. The best North South effort came from Cynthia & Dave McCloughlin who made the contract; while top score for East West went to Bill Youngs and Derick Symonds who took the contract four down. Irene Robinson & Renee Berrington were the only other pair not to stop short of two no trumps. I do not know whether that is because East elected to open one spade or whether South initially opened one club or one heart and West protected with one spade. In any event, East finished in two spades, was doubled, and went one down giving North South a second top.
West ª 754 © J942 ¨ J5 § AQJ6		East ª Q9832 © Q73 ¨ AQ7 § 93
	South ª AK © AK86 ¨ KT6 § KT52

There are a number of conventions used to look for a suit fit after a strong two no trump opening.
	North ª KJ652 © T954 ¨ 87 § T9	Board 15 Dealer S NS Vul	Baron or Stayman can be used to look for a four-four fit. A variation of Stayman, called five card Stayman, can be used to find either a four card or five card major in opener’s hand. On this hand, from Glenfield Bridge Club on 13^th July 2005, the match points went to the pairs who chose not to locate their 4-4 heart fit. Our style is to play in a 4-4 major in preference to no trumps unless both hands have 4-3-3-3 distribution, so I opened two no trumps, Peter bid three clubs, Baron, I bid three hearts and Peter went to game. I bemoaned my luck when West led the eight of spades, East won the ace and delivered a spade ruff. I still had two trump tricks to lose for one down. That should have been a fairly normal score. However, the other North/South scores were 2NT just made, 4S just made, 3NT just made, 5NT-1, and 4H-2, which occurred twice.
West ª 8 © KQ83 ¨ 9654 § 8654		East ª A743 © 6 ¨ JT32 § KQ72
	South ª QT9 © AJ72 ¨ AKQ § AJ3

Board 18 Dealer E NS Vul	North ª A7 © Q3 ¨ AQ97 § K9854		Peter Neville and Tim Glover also use Baron after they have overcalled two no trumps in defence to a weak two, Lucas two or multi-coloured two diamonds. They produced this comical auction to reach six clubs in the Porter match between Leicestershire and Gloucestershire on 13^th November 2005 after Tim forgot their methods. East opened two hearts, Tim overcalled two no trumps and Peter sought a minor fit by bidding three clubs. Tim, taking this as natural, but unsure whether it was forcing, was reluctant to pass and bid three no trumps. Peter took that as a four-card suit and bid six clubs.
West ª J853 © T7 ¨ T6542 § JT		East ª T62 © K98652 ¨ K3 § 63
	South ª KQ94 © AJ4 ¨ J8 § AQ72

When you open a strong two no trumps, you are, perhaps, hoping for a slam yourself. You certainly don’t expect opponents to have a slam available. Look at this deal from the LCBA Green Point Swiss Pairs on 8^th March 2003.
Board 10 Dealer E Game All	North ª 6 © J94 ¨ AQT6432 § 86		South opened two no trumps, West bid three clubs, North bid four no trumps, intended as Blackwood, South took it as quantitative and bid six no trumps. West had no trouble either doubling or cashing two aces. Interestingly, East/West can make six spades. Clubs are ruffed in dummy twice to provide the entries to finesse twice against South’s king of spades. After that, West’s clubs are good. Perhaps North/South knew this all along and bid six no trumps as an advance sacrifice.
West ª AQJ4 © 7 ¨ – § AT975432		East ª 98753 © T8652 ¨ J98 § -
	South ª KT2 © AKQ3 ¨ K75 § KQJ

Tim’s Statistics Imps	Partner	We Open 2NT	IMPs	Imps/Bd
Porter – Nottinghamshire 5 Leicestershire 15	Peter Neville	1	3	3.00
Markham – Derbyshire 0 Leicestershire 20	Peter Neville	1	0	0.00
Porter – Lincolnshire 0 Leicestershire 20	Peter Neville	2	1	0.50
Total for 2006		4	4	1.00
Glenfield A 4 County A 8	Peter Neville	1	0	0.00
Porter – Leicestershire 5 Oxfordshire 15	Peter Neville	1	-6	-6.00
Total for 2007		2	-6	-3.00
Total		6	-2	-0.33

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6.1 Bidding	Strategy	Acol	Psychic Bidding	Precision	Blue Club
6.1.1 Hand Evaluation	Defensive Tricks	Losing Trick Count	Playing Tricks	Point Count	Total Number of Tricks	Passing
6.1.2 Opening Bids	One Club	One Diamond	One Heart	One Spade	One No Trump	Pre-empts
	Two Clubs	Two Diamonds	Two Hearts	Two Spades	Two No Trumps
6.1.3 Responding to an Opening Bid	Simple change of suit	Opener’s Rebid	Responder’s Rebid	Preference	Opener’s Second Rebid	Jump in a new suit	Responding in no trumps
	Limit Raise	Inverted Minors
6.1.3.1 Responding to 1NT	Transfers
6.1.3.2 Responding to 2NT	Transfers	Baron
6.1.4 Conventions	Stayman	Fourth Suit Forcing	Reverse	Crowhurst
6.1.4.1 Conventional Opening Bids	Lucas Twos	Multi Two Diamonds	Weak Twos
6.1.4.2 Competitive Conventions	Jump Overcall	Lebensohl	Unassuming Cue Bid	Unusual No Trump	Continuing after opponent’s take out double	Take out Double	Cue Bid
	Fishbein	Defence to 1NT	Halmic	1NT Overcall	Redouble	Simple Overcall
6.1.4.3 Slam Conventions	Blackwood	Gerber	Roman Key Card Blackwood	Splinter	Jump to 5 of a suit	Grand Slam Force	Acol Four No Trump Opening
	Asking Bids	DOPI and ROPI
6.1.5 Doubles	Optional	Penalty	Lead Directional
6.1.6 The Protective Position
6.2 Declarer Play
6.2.1 General Technique	End Play	Squeeze	Finesse	Lose tricks early	Pin	Avoidance	Restricted Choice
6.2.2 Trump Management	Ruffing	Ruffing Losers before drawing trumps	Trump Coup	Ruffing Finesse	Loser on Loser	Coping with bad splits	Cross Ruff
	Dummy Reversal
6.3 Defence	Second Player	Signals	Third Player	Play the cards you are known to have
6.3.1 Defensive Tactics	Forcing Defence	Passive Defence	Merrimac Coup
6.3.2 Opening Leads	Fourth Highest	Third and Fifth	MUD	Top of Nothing
6.3.3 Plays in Third Hand	Finesse Against Dummy	Finesse Against Partner
6.3.4 Entry Management	Unblocking
6.4 Probability
6.5 Glossary of Terms
7 Through the Pack