Convention-of-the-Week .

(courtesy = Convention of Bridge Club by Matts)

July 10, 2002

You pick up:

ª A987
© Q875
¨ K2
§ AJ2

Partner opens 1C. You respond 1H. Partner rebids 2C.

1C  pass  1H  pass
2C  pass  ?

What is your next call?

Convention of the Week: New Suit 2NT

This means that when responder bids 2NT on his second turn (after
first responding in a new suit), it's like bidding another new "suit"
-- it's natural and forcing, showing 10 or more points. This applies
after opener has rebid anything but 1NT.

The following formula demonstrates this convention (no interference
by the opps):

Opener                Responder
one of a suit            one of a suit response
any rebid but 1NT       2NT (natural, forcing one round)

Over 2NT, opener gets to make a third bid to complete the picture of
his hand. Responder may pass a weak rebid:

1D - 1S
2S - 2NT
3S - pass

1H - 1S
2D - 2NT
3D - pass

If opener wants to make a forcing bid, he must bid 3C, the fourth suit.

1D - 1H
2D - 2NT
3C - pass

Responder may pass this, because it's not the fourth suit.

Sequences responder may not pass:

1D - 1H
2C - 2N
3D

1H - 1S
2C - 2N
3H

These bids are forcing, because with a weak 6-4 opener should rebid
the six immediately.

1D - 1S
2C - 2N
3S

This is forcing, because with 3-card support and a minimum, opener
should raise to 2S.

1D - 1S
2S - 2N
3C - pass

This is not forcing, because it's not the fourth suit.

Why use New Suit 2NT?

For many reasons:
(1) You may not want to bid the fourth suit to force, because you
have the fourth suit well stopped and you want to declare the notrump.

(2) You may want to bid 2NT and later raise partner's suit to force
to game, rather than go through the fourth-suit-forcing concept,
because, again, you have the fourth suit well stopped.

(3) You may want to get real information from your partner. The
fourth suit doesn't obtain real information, because it forces opener
into a corner:

Opener  Responder
1D      1H
2C      ?

You hold as Responder:
ªAQ  ©AJTxx  ¨Kxx  §JTx

If you bid 2S and partner bids 3C, you have no idea what he has. He
is forced to bid 3C with xx  Qx  AJxxx AQxx, because he has no spade
stopper. But when you rebid 2NT, partner can bid naturally, raising
to 3NT (on this sample hand) or rebidding a suit to show a shapely
hand (for example, a minimum 5-5) or rebidding 3S (fourth suit) to
show a strong shapely hand.

(4) You can now use the jump to 3NT as a mild slam invitation, a hand
with 16-17 points.

Back to our preview:

ª A987
© Q875
¨ K2
§ AJ2

Partner opens 1C. You respond 1H. Partner rebids 2C.

1C  pass  1H  pass
2C  pass  ?

2NT, forcing.

Partner now bids 3D. You bid 3S and partner bids 4S! Are you prepared
to bid a slam now? You can actually make 7C. But at the table, the
player with this hand bid 3NT over 2C and went down one.

   North
ª KQ3
© --
¨ A654
§ KQT876
West            East
ª J2             ª T654
© AJ943      © KT62
¨ J87           ¨ QT93
§ 543          § 9
   South
ª A987
© Q875
¨ K2
§ AJ2

1C  pass  1H  pass
2C  pass  3NT (all pass)

West led the 4 of hearts. East made a nice play by returning the ten.

What do you lose by playing New Suit 2NT?
-----------------------------------------------------
The possibility of playing in 2NT when exactly 8 tricks are available
and no other contract at the three level is makeable. You also may
get overboard occasionally playing a 23- or 24-point 3NT (some of
these contracts make, however).

Check List: New Suit 2NT

         ___ Responder's second bid (after making a one-of-a-suit response)

of 2NT is forcing one round, unless opener has rebid 1NT.

         ___ Responder's jump to 3NT on the second round is a mild slam try.

         ___ Responder may pass opener's third bid if it's the third
suit of the auction, but the fourth suit by opener shows a shapely
strong hand.