Comments on: Opening 1NT with a 5-Card Major http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/ Contract Bridge Themes with a Midwest Accent! Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:48:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.9 by: Christopher Monsour http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/#comment-104 Tue, 21 Nov 2006 05:00:17 +0000 http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/#comment-104 A related issue is how you rebid the strong NT hands with a five card heart suit after 1H-1S. Rebidding a minor is awkward, but I have found that 11+-17- is a very playable range for 1H-1S-1NT: Responder doesn't need to check back for heart length, so part of your checkback structure can be refocused on having both strong and weak invites. I've switched to this even though I was used to rebidding 3 card minors. (I used to use a 1NT response to 1H to show spades.) When playing Precision, I open balanced 16 counts with a five card major in the major, and rebid 2NT after 1M-1NT-2m-2M, so I guess I don't find that particular sequence problematic. I do not like losing my five card majors. (Note that I open 1C on balanced 16s without a 5 card major.) A related issue is how you rebid the strong NT hands with a five card heart suit after 1H-1S. Rebidding a minor is awkward, but I have found that 11+-17- is a very playable range for 1H-1S-1NT: Responder doesn’t need to check back for heart length, so part of your checkback structure can be refocused on having both strong and weak invites. I’ve switched to this even though I was used to rebidding 3 card minors. (I used to use a 1NT response to 1H to show spades.)
When playing Precision, I open balanced 16 counts with a five card major in the major, and rebid 2NT after 1M-1NT-2m-2M, so I guess I don’t find that particular sequence problematic. I do not like losing my five card majors. (Note that I open 1C on balanced 16s without a 5 card major.)

]]> by: Bill Wickham http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/#comment-25 Wed, 09 Aug 2006 19:56:17 +0000 http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/#comment-25 My personal rules for when to open 1NT with a five card major are as follows, in my assinged order of importance: 1) 3 cards in the other major are required. 2) Every suit must be (at least) partially stopped. 3) The major suit must be high quality. Kx - AQJxx - QTx - Kxx fails #1 KJx - AKT9x - KJx - xx fails #2 ATx - QTxxx - AQ - K9x fails #3 Special rules for opening a six card minor with 1NT when playing with Jeff :-) NEVER! Somehow Kx - AQx - Kx - QT9xxx won't work (OK for other partners however). (And YES, K & R says this hand is worth 14.80) My personal rules for when to open 1NT with a five card major are as follows, in my assinged order of importance:

1) 3 cards in the other major are required.

2) Every suit must be (at least) partially stopped.

3) The major suit must be high quality.

Kx - AQJxx - QTx - Kxx fails #1

KJx - AKT9x - KJx - xx fails #2

ATx - QTxxx - AQ - K9x fails #3

Special rules for opening a six card minor with 1NT when playing with Jeff :-) NEVER!

Somehow Kx - AQx - Kx - QT9xxx won’t work
(OK for other partners however).
(And YES, K & R says this hand is worth 14.80)

]]> by: bernie miller http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/#comment-24 Wed, 09 Aug 2006 19:55:55 +0000 http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/#comment-24 imho, the main advantages of opening 1nt w or w/o a 5cd maj is that you prempt overcalls at the two level, you eliminate the oppo,s t/o dbl of your maj opener, you get to play all the other suit contract partials from the strong hand,especially pard's major, and after 1maj-1nt-2min-2maj, you never have to guess wether to bid again. even if the 3nt, 4maj is a 50-50 proposition, these other issues sway me towards opening 1nt imho, the main advantages of opening 1nt w or w/o a 5cd maj is that you prempt overcalls at the two level, you eliminate the oppo,s t/o dbl of your maj opener, you get to play all the other suit contract partials from the strong hand,especially pard’s major, and after 1maj-1nt-2min-2maj, you never have to guess wether to bid again. even if the 3nt, 4maj is a 50-50 proposition, these other issues sway me towards opening 1nt

]]> by: Jonathan Weinstein http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/#comment-23 Wed, 09 Aug 2006 19:55:38 +0000 http://oldprofbridge.com/2006/01/04/opening-1nt-with-a-5-card-major/#comment-23 There are two separate questions here: Judgment question: playing standard responses, should you open 1nt With a five card major? I usually do with hearts, usually not with spades, but don't feel strongly about it. System question: do you play puppet stayman over 1nt? I have played the nt structure on Pavlicek’s web page for many years and really like it. Actually, I feel that most of the gain is not from the added ability to find five card majors, but from the fact that he defines so many sequences clearly and precisely that you are well equipped to handle any hand type. You might get the same gain from designing your own thorough system, but his is ready made (and much less work for me since I already know it :-) ). I guess this is a very interesting crowd if Jeff found it necessary to specify that he doesn't open nt with 2227:-) There are two separate questions here:

Judgment question: playing standard responses, should you open 1nt With a five card major? I usually do with hearts, usually not with spades, but don’t feel strongly about it.

System question: do you play puppet stayman over 1nt? I have played the nt structure on Pavlicek’s web page for many years and really like it. Actually, I feel that most of the gain is not from the added ability to find five card majors, but from the fact that he defines so many sequences clearly and precisely that you are well equipped to handle any hand type. You might get the same gain from designing your own thorough system, but his is ready made (and much less work for me since I already know it :-) ).

I guess this is a very interesting crowd if Jeff found it necessary to specify that he doesn’t open nt with 2227:-)

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