This deal comes from the NZ Wide Loveblock event on Friday 15/11/24. I have chosen it because a deal like that will never come up again but it does illustrate the need for a more intricate bidding system to handle an opening 1NT from the opposition, not just Hamilton (aka Cappelletti or Pottage - ed), which seems to be the most common in current use. Let’s look at the full deal before I make some suggestions.
Board 4 Dealer W All Vul
West has a perfectly normal weak 1NT opening, but North has a real freak. The problem with a bid of 2D for the majors is that it might even be passed if South has a long diamond suit and no interest in either major. Do YOU play Hamilton and is 2D 100% forcing partner to choose the better major? In most cases, 2D, while asking partner to bid a major, will not contain such a huge distributional hand, and I suggest that many pairs will have an understanding that a bid of 2D can be passed (as can 2C if you’re playing basic Landy). How then can North force? One suggestion in the booklet was that North bids 4H immediately. And of course as it happens East then has an easy decision to bid 5D, and North can bid 5S which describes North’s hand perfectly. But in the other scenario, North bids 2C for the majors and East bids 2D. But if East had, perchance, not bid anything, could South be blamed for PASSING? Seriously, would YOU consider it? Without any specific agreement that South MUST bid, might South not pass? All the suggested ifs and buts given the actual deal may well lead to NS bidding to 6H and then a brilliant EW sacrifice of 7D, but let’s stop dreaming and come up with something that we can use in future.
When was the last time that you or your partner bid 4C or 4D over a 1NT opening? Never, I suggest. When, on the other hand, did you have a hand that warrants bidding a major suit game when you had a decent hand with both majors? My suggestion is that a bid of 4C is showing longer (or equal) hearts and 4D longer spades. North would then bid 4C and in this particular case when East were to bid 4D or 5D, could safely bid hearts or, if optimistic enough, cue bid diamonds even at the six level. But note that South does have the one card that really matters, the jack of hearts, but hey, bridge should be an adventure not a boring science experiment!
AKQ862
KQT9432
