[han]

I am a firm believer that one should open 1NT with all balanced hands in the appropriate range. At the local club last Wednesday, I went against my own principles when I picked up:

AQ9xx
KQ10
xx
KQx

Our notrump range was 14-16. I figured that the whole room would be opening 1S and decided to do the same.

This was our unusual auction:

1S-(2D)-pass-(pass)
Dbl-(2H)-pass-(pass)
pass

Partner had x xx KQJx xxxxxx, and LHO, believe it or not, was 4-4 in the red suits. 2H-1 was a bad score, we would do quite well in clubs.

Was there a lesson to be learned from this? Is this just one of the things that can happen when playing against really weak opponents? Or was this actually partner's fault for not bidding 3C?

I know one thing, next time I'm opening 1NT again.

[whereagles]

Yes, there is a moral to the story. You have sinned against your own god. You deserve capital punishment and an eternity of rubber bridge with godzilla as pard

[mike777]

Yes, totally pard's fault for not bidding 3c.
Yes I open 1nt on the hand playing 14-16.

[awm]

This auction is pretty weird (overcall in 4-card suit and run to other 4-card suit) and I wouldn't really chalk it up to the 1♠ opening. In fact I think this hand is probably too good for a 14-16 1NT open. Opponents are probably more (not less) likely to bid four-card suits over 1NT (I know a lot of DONT players who somehow think this is good bridge). And partner really should bid 3♣; I don't see that this gets any easier for partner after 1NT-(2♦ DONT)...

[han]

pop? Is that slang for double?

I also thought the hand was a bit good for 1NT.

[mike777]

Jlall, on Jul 1 2005, 06:06 PM, said:

This 16 is great. Opening 1S and then showing 17-19 is right on values and gets your 5 card suit in.

Yes pop is slang for X.

i can live with 1s and planning on rebid of 2nt showing exactly 17 hcp
either way we should get to 2d x or 3clubs.

[microcap]

Rex and I open most balanced hands 1NT, but for some reason I have found that it works well with ♥ as the five card major and badly when♠ are the major. So I think 1♠ is right here, and agree that partner was a little chicken.

[MickyB]

I'm not at all surprised that you have done better opening 1NT with five hearts than with five spades. A 1NT opener can bury both sides' fits, which will often lose when your suit outranks theirs and gain when the opposite is true. Also, opening 1♥ on 2533 is asking for trouble!

[Double !]

whereagles, on Jul 1 2005, 06:00 PM, said:

Yes, there is a moral to the story. You have sinned against your own god. You deserve capital punishment and an eternity of rubber bridge with godzilla as pard

Disagree
Han has immediately repented and recanted. Agree with one thing: you are dead as soon as you start going against your own belief system, even if no one else agrees with you. To thine own self.......?

As Stockard Channing sang in the movie "Grease": "there are a lot worse things that I could do".

[cherdano]

I think you chose an excellent hand to break with your principle. Imagine partner had a tool to show a balanced 3-card limit raise in spades -- would you dream of offering 3NT as a choice?

[ochinko]

I can't think of a better possible outcome from your experiment. You tested your beliefs in a place where you could afford it, and came out as an even firmer believer

It is already a routine for me to open 1NT with any 5332 and honors in at least three of the suits. I played for a while with a partner who opened strong NT with anything between 14 and 19 points, who also mocked me for being too rigid, yet she finds opening NT with a 5-card major unthinkable. Go figure.

Petko

[pclayton]

Jlall, on Jul 1 2005, 03:06 PM, said:

This 16 is great. Opening 1S and then showing 17-19 is right on values and gets your 5 card suit in.

Yes pop is slang for X.

Touch, hit, smack or pop = double.

Rewind, send it back, cap it = redouble.

I'm sure there are others.

[Double !]

pclayton, on Jul 2 2005, 03:33 PM, said:

Jlall, on Jul 1 2005, 03:06 PM, said:

This 16 is great. Opening 1S and then showing 17-19 is right on values and gets your 5 card suit in.

Yes pop is slang for X.

Touch, hit, smack or pop = double.

Rewind, send it back, cap it = redouble.

I'm sure there are others.

Crack = double

Beaver (from backgammon) = redbl

[FrancesHinden]

Well, just the other day, I had

AKQxx
Qx
Qxx
Qxx

and I violated my own principles and opened 1NT.
We got a dreadful result.
Oh yes, and I was (genuinely) Grosvenored on the hand, so I was even crosser.

[MickyB]

How did your bad result occur Frances?

[luke warm]

i'd be interested also, that's a standard 1nt in my methods.. probably it has something to do with the followups, or possibly the opps interference

[FrancesHinden]

Scoring: MP

1NT x xx P
P 2♦ x P
2S P 2NT all pass

---

1NT 15-17
the first double showed 5minor+4major. xx was strong.
North's double of 2D was "take-out" (usually a doubleton or xxx)
North's 2NT was slightly conservative as we could have had no diamond stop.

West did extremely well by leading a top diamond on which East played the Jack (I'd have led a low diamond at trick 1). West then switched to a spade. East ducked TWO rounds of clubs, so I could have cashed out for 8 tricks. But funnily enough I assumed that West had the CA after two rounds had held (or that diamonds were 6-1), so I played a third round and was back to 7 tricks.

It could have been worse: had West switched to a heart at trick 2 I'd have gone two off! Had west passed over 1NT I would have gone off in 3NT instead.

Had I opened 1S, North would have bid 1NT and played there on a heart lead, and I bet he would have made a plus score. The field was, I think, generally going positive in 1NT or 2S.

I'd probably open 1NT again on that hand as it still looks so suitable for NT. But maybe the moral of this thread is not to violate your own principles....