[apollo1201]

Another one from our (IMPs) final

Partner opens a 15-17 NT, and you have the hard to bid
-
Kxx
X9xxx
KJxxx

Agreements are Stayman, natural 2NT invite, minor transfers (weak or GF).

FWIW, partner passed, opps had kept silent and collected the first 6 spades, with 7D cold (I held xxx AQxx AKxx Ax and D behaved)!

[FelicityR]

With ♠xxx ♥AQxx ♦AKxx ♣Ax I'm opening 1♦. That hand is worth more than 17 HCPs with its aces and tenace.

[Cyberyeti]

I looked at your hand and thought "that's way too good for 15-17 with those crisp cards", K&R says 18, so I'd have opened a diamond, now you're getting to at least game. The problem still exists though, take away ♥Q and ♣J you still want to be in game.

You can play 1N-3♣ as 5-5 minors weak (or semi invitational if you prefer)
We play (in a weak no trump context) 1N-2♠ as weak with one minor or strong with both, partner in this case bids 3♣ showing 4+♦ and you bid 5♦ if unambitious, 4♠ voidwood if ambitious.

[pescetom]

We play 1N-3♣ as 5-5 minors NF and 1N-3♦ as 5-5 minors FG. Within our Stayman responder could show ♣ in transfer and then opener with ♦ max and no ♣ would bid 4♦, but responder is not strong enough for that sequence here.
If opener bid 1♦ as he should then responder might splinter 3♠ and opener holding all the other keycards might control-bid to slam, although stopping in game seems more likely.

[apollo1201]

Thanks all for those 1st replies. I was also feeling a bit strong too for the 1NT but had wrong-sided an AQ tenace some hands before😉
Overall, the research of Majors seem to take too much after NT openings vs minor-oriented hands.

[rmnka447]

I'm also opening 1 ♦ on the NT hand. You get more aggressive as the number of QTs goes up.

Unless you have some way to show a 5-5 minor hand, the best you can do is pick a minor and play there. You know that you have an 8 card minor fit somewhere. You also know that partner can't have more than 5 ♠ and often less. So you can't pass 1 NT for fear of the opponents setting up long ♠.

[heart76]

Besides the opening, my partner and I also think that minors shouldn't be forgotten. Our 2S asks opener to bid 2NT with equal length or longer D, else 3C. 3m are to play, 3M splinters and 4m single suit slam inviting.
The hands that fall in between still give you a guess but that's life.
Signoff in 4m is not possible and sometimes one has to guess between 3m and 5m.
In your case, after 2S and 2NT from opener, I would probably bid 3D and play there at MPs. At IMPs it's less clear. You can always agree that a M splinter now is at least game try and not mandatorily slam try, so 3S is bid after 2NT and opener has a clear 4D. Responder has now to guess how many wasted values opener has, I think.

[pescetom]

heart76, on 2019-October-15, 00:05, said:

You can always agree that a M splinter now is at least game try and not mandatorily slam try, so 3S is bid after 2NT and opener has a clear 4D.

In our more European style splinters are not as top heavy and often a bit of a gamble for game, which if you think about it makes sense considering how preemptive they are. So 3S here promises nothing much better than this hand.

[PhilG007]

apollo1201, on 2019-October-14, 06:03, said:

Another one from our (IMPs) final

Partner opens a 15-17 NT, and you have the hard to bid
-
Kxx
X9xxx
KJxxx

Agreements are Stayman, natural 2NT invite, minor transfers (weak or GF).

FWIW, partner passed, opps had kept silent and collected the first 6 spades, with 7D cold (I held xxx AQxx AKxx Ax and D behaved)!

This is a time when a bid of 2♠ asking for a transfer to a minor suit comes in very handy.
You say you had an agreement to play minor transfers,why didn't you utilise it(?) It was not a hard choice at all IMHO you dug your own grave

[Cyberyeti]

PhilG007, on 2019-October-15, 13:34, said:

This is a time when a bid of 2♠ asking for a transfer to a minor suit comes in very handy.
You say you had an agreement to play minor transfers,why didn't you utilise it(?) It was not a hard choice at all IMHO you dug your own grave

Because presumably he played single minor suit transfers, so 2♠ would be clubs, 3♣ diamonds if 2N was nat, and you'd choose the wrong one here and play 3♣.

[PhilG007]

Cyberyeti, on 2019-October-15, 14:07, said:

Because presumably he played single minor suit transfers, so 2♠ would be clubs, 3♣ diamonds if 2N was nat, and you'd choose the wrong one here and play 3♣.

3♣ would be a far better contract than 1NT especially since the spade suit was found to be open to the winds

[cleveritis]

1NT might be a tiny bit heavy - but as Robson says, you have to be maximum sometimes.

Passing 1N with the 55 is daft, a) might not make, b) we want to make it hard to bid spades their way, c) we might go down in 1N cold for game or slam.

Isnt 2S (minors), then 3S (shortness) standard?
Pard can sometimes bid 4H, ok sometimes we go down in 4m, sometimes in 3N, but sometimes 3N will make if one of your suits comes in.

[cleveritis]

1NT might be a tiny bit heavy - but as Robson says, you have to be maximum sometimes.

Passing 1N with the 55 is daft, a) might not make, b) we want to make it hard to bid spades their way, c) we might go down in 1N cold for game or slam.

Isnt 2S (minors), then 3S (shortness) standard?
Pard can sometimes bid 4H, ok sometimes we go down in 4m, sometimes in 3N, but sometimes 3N will make if one of your suits comes in.

[smerriman]

cleveritis, on 2019-October-15, 15:59, said:

Isnt 2S (minors), then 3S (shortness) standard?
Pard can sometimes bid 4H, ok sometimes we go down in 4m, sometimes in 3N, but sometimes 3N will make if one of your suits comes in.

If you're going to go that route, an immediate 3♠ might be better - I play it as showing 13(54), but at least you've shown 3 hearts specifically.

[Vampyr]

cleveritis, on 2019-October-15, 15:59, said:

Isnt 2S (minors), then 3S (shortness) standard?

No.

[Cyberyeti]

PhilG007, on 2019-October-15, 14:27, said:

3♣ would be a far better contract than 1NT especially since the spade suit was found to be open to the winds

1N made, there is little difference between +90 and +110/130/150 at IMPs, it doesn't get you to game was my point.

[aawk]

To bid every slam that can be made is impossible accept that. playing precision would or if you play a weak 1nt might also get you to slam. but chancing your system on 1 board is a losing strategy.

[Vampyr]

smerriman, on 2019-October-15, 16:43, said:

If you're going to go that route, an immediate 3♠ might be better - I play it as showing 13(54), but at least you've shown 3 hearts specifically.

We bid the fragment instead of the singleton. I do not know whether one is better than the other.

[pescetom]

Vampyr, on 2019-October-16, 08:08, said:

We bid the fragment instead of the singleton. I do not know whether one is better than the other.

We bid the singleton. Better if opener can have a 5-card major, I would have thought.

[Vampyr]

pescetom, on 2019-October-16, 14:53, said:

We bid the singleton. Better if opener can have a 5-card major, I would have thought.

Not sure what you are saying here. Opener cannot have a 5-card major when she is 3-1 in the majors.