April 2021 - 62

Advanced Players

Bidding Matters
Relearning bridge - part 13

I

f you've been playing for at least a
few years, you've probably changed
your bidding methods multiple
times. Most players build on the simple
system they learned as beginners and
eventually add more sophisticated
ways to describe their hands. Many of
these are clear improvements. Others
are adopted to accommodate partners'
preferences or because " everyone plays
it this way now. "
Notrump opening bids have undergone some of the biggest changes. For
years, I played 1NT as 16-18 points.
When 15-17 became popular, I made
the transition, although that range
seemed quite daring at the time.
Eventually, after experiments with
10-12 and 12-14 ranges, I settled on
" 14+ to 17- . "
Adopting a new notrump range
involves more than just adjusting the
arithmetic for responder's actions.
Some changes require opener to look
past high-card points and carefully evaluate other features of his hand. Here are
some modern trends in notrump bidding that you may want to consider:
What is 14+ to 17- ? This has become a popular choice for experienced
pairs. The translation is a " good " 14
points to an " average " 17 points.
Your success with this range will
depend on how you define " good " and
" average. " Some players base their
decision on the presence of high spot
cards. Although 10s and 9s are undervalued in the point-count system, they
don't always make a hand worth an
upgrade, especially if they're in your
shorter suits.
A better measure of extra tricktaking power is a good five-card suit. A
14-point hand such as:
K 6  A 7 3  K Q 10 6 5  Q 10 4

62 | Bridge Bulletin | April 2021

has as at least as much playing strength
as most 15-counts and qualifies for an
upgrade to 1NT. Change it to:
K 10 6  A 7 4 3  K Q 10  Q 10 9,
though, and it's better to open 1 and
treat it as a balanced minimum, even
with all those big spot cards.
That evaluation works in reverse
when deciding if a 17-point hand is
right for 1NT.
A J 10  K 6  10 7 6  A K Q 10 4
looks more like 18 points than 17, so
open 1, planning to rebid 2NT. The
spot cards are a plus, but the deciding
factor is the strong five-card suit.
2NT openers. If you were taught
Goren-style bridge, you probably
played a 2NT opener as 21-23 points.
When the 15-17 1NT became widely
accepted, the 2NT range was adjusted
down to 20-21 or 20-22. Now, many
pairs find it advantageous to play it as
19+ to 21.
You use the same criteria as above to
decide if a 19-point hand is worth the
" +. " You'll usually want to have a long
suit - a decent five-carder or a six-card
minor:
A Q  A J 9  K Q 9 8 6 5  K 7.
One of the benefits of this agreement is that it can help you avoid being
propelled into poor game contracts
when you don't open 2NT. If you open
a one-bid and jump to 2NT, your range
will be a good 17 to an average 19. With
a bare 5-6 points, responder can judge
to pass because he knows you can't
have a rock-solid 19 points.
Should you downgrade? The better
your hand-evaluation skills, the greater
the temptation will be to overthink
routine decisions. That's what you're
doing if you decide not to open 1NT

BY KAREN WALKER

kwbridge.com

with a hand such as:
A K Q  J 6 5  Q J 4  Q 7 5 3.
It's true that this is a poor 15 points
with only one weak four-card suit,
no heart stopper and no spot cards.
Demoting it and opening 1, though,
doesn't rate to be a successful strategy.
If there's a " field " contract on this
deal, you don't want to miss it. Other
pairs will get there by opening 1NT and
taking advantage of their notrump response system. Even if your " anti-field "
1 eventually lands you in the same
spot, you may get a worse score by giving the opponents more information,
allowing them to overcall or making
the wrong hand declarer.
Notrump opening bids offer so many
advantages that you should be looking for excuses to make them, not
avoid them. That's why expert players will freely upgrade their 14-point
and 19-point hands, but rarely, if ever,
downgrade a balanced hand that fits
their range.



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April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2021
