Hand of the day #242
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff The old-fashioned textbooks tell you to lead k...
This conundrum was written by Barbara Seagram's and was originally published in the book Beginning Bridge - you can find out all about it further down the page.
Opening the bidding with 1NT
Now that you have decided to open the bidding, the next question is what bid to make. Let’s look first at a very special opening bid: 1NT. It is special because it gives partner a very precise picture of your hand. An opening bid of 1NT promises exactly 15, 16 or 17 high card points. You are suggesting playing the deal in notrump because although you have a lot of high card points, you don’t have any particular suit you want to play in. Your cards are evenly distributed between the suits. In fact, opening 1NT promises that you have no voids, no singletons and at most one doubleton. Hands like this are called balanced hands. If your hand has more distribution than this, you should be opening one of a suit instead.
"Balanced Hand"
A hand with even distribution and no short suits - at most one doubleton
Here is an example of a hand that is suitable for an opening 1NT bid.
Remember this!
With a balanced hand and exactly 15, 16 or 17 HCP, open 1NT. Do not count distributional points when bidding notrump.
This is as balanced as you can be. We call this distribution 4-3-3-3 since you have one four-card suit and three three-card suits. You don’t need to memorize this, but there are only a few specific distributions that qualify as balanced. They are 4-3-3-3, 5-3-3-2 or 4-4-3-2. Here are some other examples of hands suitable for opening 1NT.
a) ♠J6 ♥Q103 ♦AQ765 ♣AK2 16 HCP
b)♠A1093 ♥AJ32 ♦K32 ♣AJ 17 HCP
Hand (a) has 16 HCP and only one doubleton (it is 5-3-3-2 distribution). Hand (b) has 17 HCP and only one doubleton (it is 4-4-3-2 distribution).
Here are some hands that should not be opened 1NT:
c) ♠J6 ♥Q1032 ♦AQ765 ♣AK 16 HCP
d) ♠A1093 ♥AQ32 ♦K32 ♣AJ 18 HCP
Hand (c) has two doubletons (it is 5-4-2-2 distribution). It is not balanced. Hand (d) has 18 HCP — too many to open 1NT.
Let's try it!
Should these hands be opened 1NT? If not, explain why not.
1. ♠AJ93 ♥AJ ♦KQ1032 ♣32.
No. Although this hand does have 15 HCP, it has two doubletons and is therefore not balanced.
2. ♠A10932 ♥QJ2 ♦K3 ♣KJ3
No. This hand is balanced, but has only 14 HCP. We do not count distribution points for notrump.
3. ♠KQ3 ♥AJ3 ♦K3 ♣AJ1076
No. This hand is balanced, but it has 18 HCP. That is too much to open 1NT.
4. ♠KJ3 ♥AJ32 ♦Q1032 ♣A2
Yes. This hand is perfect. It has 15 HCP and only one doubleton.
It doesn't matter whether you know a heart from a spade right now - by the time you finish this book you'll be able to enjoy a social game of bridge with your friends. This book, for complete beginners, is based on the material that Barbara uses in her own classes to introduce new players to the game every year. Every aspect of the game of bridge is covered - bidding, declarer play, defensive cardplay and scoring - with user-friendly tips, stories and quizzes to help you have fun while you learn.
But in modern bridge c and 1 are opened 1nt