PhilKing, on 2015-June-04, 08:15, said:
Yep, natural 2NT for me (3♣ is also fine).
When there has been no raise and a protective double, our average spade length is just under four and our average point count is about 12 or so. Call me crazy, but it seems daft not to have a bid that reflects that.
I think partner rates to have a doubleton spade more often than not, so we can often shut out the spades. If partner is 1444 I should bid 3♣, but if he has short spades and a reasonable five card suit, he can pull 2NT to his suit.
No disrespect intended, but using 2NT as a final contract suggestion in a spot where the board is known to be a part-score contest and partner has announced a weakish shapely hand with shortness in the opponents' suit actually does sound pretty crazy!
This is a situation where having a bid which 'shows your hand' should take a backseat to having a bid which 'gets you to the right contract'. Aiming to accurately bid 12 HCP hands with spade length and strength, but not too much spade length and strength, that can make exactly 2NT but no other 3 level part-score is simply aiming at too small a target.
Using 2NT as an artificial scramble helps you get to the best 3-level part-score most of the time and affords a sensible call on otherwise impossible hands [xxxx AKx Qxx Kxx???]. It also has lots of incidental benefits like allowing partner to balance more aggressively on off-shape hands and being able to differentiate between a invitational 3H (bid 3H directly) or a non-invitational 3H (scramble there via 2NT).
However I'm sure you've heard these arguments before...
Matchpoints 2s is weak 2
you play leb