Glenfield
Technical Library
The Opening Bid
of Two No Trumps
Last Updated on
17th August 2008
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Most pairs use this bid to show a strong balanced hand; usually with
20-22 points. |
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Board
21 Dealer
N NS
Vul |
North ª Q4 © AJ2 ¨ K97 § AKQ63 |
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This
deal comes from the Buckby
Cup on 26th 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. |
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West ª K762 © T63 ¨ Q86 § 982 |
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East ª AJ53 © Q97 ¨ J54 § T54 |
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South ª T98 © K854 ¨ AT32 § J7 |
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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. |
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Board
1 Dealer
N Love
All |
North ª JT5 © T5 ¨ 98432 § 874 |
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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 16th 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. |
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West ª 754 © J942 ¨ J5 § AQJ6 |
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East ª Q9832 © Q73 ¨ AQ7 § 93 |
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South ª AK © AK86 ¨ KT6 § KT52 |
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There are a number of conventions used to look for a suit
fit after a strong two no trump opening.
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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 13th 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. |
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West ª 8 © KQ83 ¨ 9654 § 8654 |
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East ª A743 © 6 ¨ JT32 § KQ72 |
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South ª QT9 © AJ72 ¨ AKQ § AJ3 |
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Board
18 Dealer
E NS
Vul |
North ª A7 © Q3 ¨ AQ97 § K9854 |
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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 13th 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. |
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West ª J853 © T7 ¨ T6542 § JT |
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East ª T62 © K98652 ¨ K3 § 63 |
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South ª KQ94 © AJ4 ¨ J8 § AQ72 |
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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 8th March
2003. |
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Board
10 Dealer
E Game
All |
North ª 6 © J94 ¨ AQT6432 § 86 |
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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. |
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West ª AQJ4 © 7 ¨ – § AT975432 |
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East ª 98753 © T8652 ¨ J98 § - |
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South ª KT2 © AKQ3 ¨ K75 § KQJ |
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Tim’s Statistics Imps |
Partner |
We Open 2NT |
IMPs |
Imps/Bd |
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Peter
Neville |
1 |
3 |
3.00 |
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Peter
Neville |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
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Peter
Neville |
2 |
1 |
0.50 |
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Total
for 2006 |
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4 |
4 |
1.00 |
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Peter
Neville |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
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Peter
Neville |
1 |
-6 |
-6.00 |
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Total
for 2007 |
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2 |
-6 |
-3.00 |
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Total |
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6 |
-2 |
-0.33 |
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Site Map Last Updated 17th August
2008 |
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