January 2025 - 50

Newer Players
Reasoning with Robert
Opening 1NT with a semi-balanced hand
S
ome players love to open 1NT
and others try to avoid it. This
often has to do with how much
a person likes to be declarer and specifically
how much they love to declare
1NT. My favorite opening bid in all of
bridge is 1NT. My favorite contract to
play is 1NT. I strive to do it as often
as reasonably possible. I'm not saying
that you have to love this bid or this
contract as much as I do, but if you
find yourself trying to avoid bidding
1NT, make it one of your New Year
bridge resolutions to overcome that.
Semi-balanced hands
On some hands, you must open
1NT, there is no choice - a hand with
15-17 HCP and 4-3-3-3 shape is
an example of a hand that you should
open 1NT. On other hands, you have
a choice between opening 1NT or
finding another way to describe the
hand, such as a semi-balanced hand,
specifically one with two doubletons.
Those two shapes are 5-4-2-2 and
6-3-2-2.
When your shape is 5-4-2-2,
opening 1NT is extremely attractive
when your honors are in the right
place. When you are thinking about
opening 1NT with a semi-balanced
hand, look at the location of your
honors.
Here are two similar, yet very different,
hands:
Here is a semi-balanced hand that
is not right for opening 1NT:
1 s9 4 hA K J 3 d7 6 cA K J 10 4.
This hand is 2=4=2=5 with 16 HCP.
CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH
North (Dummy)
Dlr: South s K 7 6
Vul: N-S h A 4
IMPs
d 7 6 5
c 10 8 7 6 5
South (You)
s Q J 10 9 8 2
h K Q 3
d A 9 3
c 2
As South, you are declarer in 4s
against silent opponents after the
aggressive auction of 1s-2s; 4s.
West leads the dK. What's your
plan?
continued on page 57
But with two small doubletons, it is
not a good 1NT opening bid. It is best
to open this hand 1c and reverse
into 2h if partner bids 1s or 1NT. (A
reverse is when your second-bid suit
is of a higher `rank` than your firstbid
suit. It is forcing for one round.
For responder to take a preference to
your first suit, they must do so at the
three level, so you should have more
than a minimum hand to make such
a bid.)
But this is a semi-balanced hand
that looks balanced:
2 sK 5 hK J 8 3 dA Q cQ J 8 4 3
Just open 1NT with this 2=4=2=5,
16 HCP hand. It is the best description
of the hand.
When our honors are in our short
suits (as in 2), we have stoppers,
and the hand usually plays well in
50 | Bridge Bulletin | January 2025
BY ROBERT S. TODD
robert@advinbridge.com
advinbridge.com
notrump - especially declared from
your side. But when your points are
all in long suits, the hand is best
described by bidding the two suits. If
you end up playing in a notrump contract,
it will often be best for partner
to play the hand.
The prepared rebid
Another important thing to focus
on when considering opening 1NT is
your rebid, or the ability to introduce
your second suit without reversing
when you have around 15 HCP.
Hands that are short in spades are
hardest to describe without reversing
- like in Example 2. When you have
length in spades, you are less likely to
face a rebid problem and that makes
opening 1NT more of a judgment
call.
With this hand:
3 sK J 8 3 hK 5 dA Q cQ J 8 4 3,
I would still open the bidding 1NT. I
want the lead to come into my hand
and this feels like a balanced hand.
Though 1NT may be the best bid on
this hand, it is not imperative, because
if the auction goes: 1c-1h;
you can rebid 1s, which is not a
reverse.
Sometimes you will open 1NT with
a semi-balanced hand, not because
it is a good bid, but because it is a
" less bad " choice than other bidding
sequences. Frequently this will mean
that you are striving to avoid reversing.
If you reverse with only 15 HCP,
the auction might get too high quickly.
Stay open-minded about opening
1NT with your semi-balanced hands.
It can make the rest of the auction go
much more smoothly. 2
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January 2025

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