Opening 3NT – The Gambling 3NT

An opening bid of 3NT is defined as a long, solid minor. Either 7 or 8 cards (occasionally 9?). There is no problem there and virtually everybody plays this. Gone are the days when it would be a balanced 25+.

First of all, the definition of a solid suit. Obviously the only really solid 7 card suit is AKQJ1098, but that really is too much to hope for. We just go with the odds and hope for no really wild breaks. Thus we define AKQxxxx as good enough. It really is a luxury which we cannot afford to require the 7 card suit to also contain the Jack. The other cards (ten, nine ets) are really unimportant, usually the suit runs and occasionally we are unlucky and it does not. AKQxxxxx is even more likely to run.

Now ‘everybody’ plays an opening 3NT this way. There is, however, some debate as to how much strength the 3NT opener should have outside his suit. There are 3 main schools of thought:

- School ANothing outside. No semblance of a stop.

- School BA smattering of bits outside (for security and peace of mind).

- School CTwo or three stoppers outside. Should make 3NT opposite very little.

Now all of these schools have their followers, but it is generally accepted among the more experienced players that the bid should not

Hand AHand BHand C promise anything outside. So we open

Hand A with 3NT. With Hand B we open

 75 J5 K51 and Hand C is worth a 2NT opener.

 84 Q4 Q4

 AKQ8762 AKQ8762 AKQ8762

 86 K8 K8

So, does that mean that we are a member of school A? Well, maybe not. We have got the question wrong! We all agree that 3NT should not guarantee a stop outside, but the question is – are we allowed to have a stop (or a ½ stop) outside?

All of these hands are worth a 1 opener (let’s assume that you do not play strong twos or Benjamin twos). But is it the best bid or is 3NT more descriptive?

With two aces, there is little doubt that 1 is

Hand DHand EHand Fthe best opening bid with Hand D. With

Hand F there is also little doubt that 3NT

 75 75 J5would normally turn out best. But what about

 84 84 84Hand E? Now we have provisionally joined

 AKQ8762 AKQ8762 AKQ8762school A and do not guarantee an outside

 A8 K8 Q8stopper or ½ stopper, but that is not the same thing as do we allow it (a ½ stopper)?

So, let’s have a look at Hand E again with a couple of possible hands for partner. West

holds Hand E and opens 3NT. East 1 has no

WestEast 1East 2problem with passing, having something in

all 3 suits. East 2 pulls it because he has no

 75 AJ6 A96 stop and so 3NT is missed.

 84 AJ73 A973Before we make up our mind with hand E,

 AKQ8762 94 94let’s see what happens if we open 1.

 K8 A963 7653Partner responds with 1, what now?

2 is rather pathetic and so we try a pushy

rebid of 3.Give partner East 2 again and he is in the same boat and does not know if we have ’s stopped. But that is not all, he does not know that our  suit is solid, so 3NT may be missed anyway.

So we have to take this a little further and see if there are East hands that work with one philosophy and not with the other. If partner

WestEast 3East 4has hand East 3 or 4, he will pass an opening

3NT but you may well not get to 3NT after

 75 AJ6 AJ6an opening 1 as East does not know that the

 84 AJ73 AJ73’s are long and solid. He does not know that

 AKQ8762 94 94he just needs 1 stop in each suit if the

 K8 Q963 J1053opening bid is 1.

Now this really is up to your own preference and personal/partnership style, both are widely used. It is not really important but is something you need to discuss. The advantage of not allowing an outside king is that responder knows that something like Q97 is not a stop; the disadvantage is that you may never get to open 3NT on many hands where it’s an easy make! I personally have no strong feelings either way and am happy to go along with whatever partner prefers. The following caters for both (allowing an outside king or not).

One more point to consider. Opening 3NT really is very descriptive and limits the hand. If partner has a good hand (looking for slam) it really is easy as the next sections will show. Another way of looking at it (an opening 3NT) is that it is not really a pre-empt; it is a very reasonable hand!

Just one final point. How do we bid stronger hands with a solid minor? We have met Hand A

already and open 3NT (or 1 if you prefer).

Hand AHand BHand CAdd a couple of more points and

you open 1 with a 3 rebid. Add a bit

 75 6 Kmore and we get Hand B. We open 1 and

 84 Q73 AQrebid 3NT over a 1 response to show a

 AKQ8762 AKQ8762 AKQJ762good(but not necessarily running) suit.

 K8 KJ AQ7Hand C is even stronger with a solid suit.

We have a special sequence for this:

2 - 2 - 4,an unnecessary jump shows a solid suit.

Responses to a 3NT Opener

So returning to the 3NT opener, if partner has the other 3 suits reasonably well covered, he should pass (provided he is not void in partner’s suit!). Other responses are mainly conventional and we shall cover them all: -

-1-pass

-2-4- pass or correct

-3-4- singleton enquiry

-4-4/- natural, to play

-5-4NT- length (and honour) enquiry

-6-5 and 5- pass or correct!

-7-5NT (and 5/)- grand slam try

-8-6 and 6- pass or correct / to play.

13NT - Pass

Opener has 7 or 8 tricks. If responder has cover in all three other suits and a reasonable expectation of two or more quick tricks, he

Hand AHand BHand C should accept the gamble and pass. Hands

A and B should both pass the 3NT opener.

 AQ7 A75 K75Hand C has all 3 suits reasonably well

 KQ63 A863 QJ93stopped; but the opponents are likely to cash 5

 63 Q1065 Q1065tricks, and on a bad day, a lot more. So it’s

 K1065 74 75best to pull it by bidding 4. This is an easier decision if we do not allow an outside king.

24 - Pass or Correct

If one or more suit are not stopped, it is best not to gamble. Bid 4 with no prospect of a

minor suit game. So with Hand A, we simply

Hand AHand BHand C bid 4 which partner will correct to 4.

Although 4 may play better from our side,

 AQ7 AK975 AK975we cannot bid it directly as it is conventional.

 Q632 KQ63 KQ63With Hand B, 4 is the limit if that is

 63 752 5partner’s suit. We bid 4 and if partner

 Q1065 4 752corrects to 4, we raise to 5. Hand C is the other way round. Unfortunately we cannot bid

4 for partner to pass or correct as that is conventional, so we simply have to grit our teeth and bid 4. Fortunately, these hand types rarely occur, we usually know partner’s suit.

34 - Singleton Enquiry

4 is conventional and asks partner to bid a singleton/void if he has one. Opener bids a major suit with a singleton/void and bids his minor with a void in the other minor.

A 2272 or 2227 hand rebids 3NT to show no singleton. Some people (including a few experts) play 4NT to show a minor suit shortage and 5 to show no singleton. I can see no advantage in this, so let’s keep it simple and go along with the majority. Note that we have to ‘invert’ these minor bids in order not to go above 5 of our minor. So we have: -

After 3NT, 4 asks: -4= singleton/void 

4= singleton/void 

4NT= no shortage

5= singleton/void 

5= singleton/void 

Now let’s assume that we have opened 3NT and shown a shortage. If partner signs off in our suit, then it was obviously the wrong shortage. But what if partner bids the small slam and we have a void? Should we go all the way? And what if partner signs off and we have two singletons? Clearly we need to define some rules here: -

-1-if we have two singletons, we always bid the cheapest

-2-if responder signs off, then that’s it. We have presumably gone past any suit of interest

-3-if responder has no interest in the shortage shown but is interested in another suit, he simply bids that suit - An asking bid (for a singleton) in the suit bid. Responder may have to bid 4NT for the other minor if he is unsure of opener’s suit – see example 4.

-4-if responder is encouraged by the first shown shortage and can bid the grand opposite a void, he bids the shortage suit himself. This is a void asking bid.

-5-if responder is encouraged by the shortage but only needs a singleton, he signs off in the appropriate slam.

Example 1WestEastWest East

(1) shortage? 3 J73NT4(1)

(2) singleton/void  6 AKQ24(2) 4(3)

(3) yes, but what about ’s 7653 AKQ26(4)pass

(4) singleton  AKQ9732 854

Example 2WestEastWest East

(1) shortage? - J73NT4(1)

(2) singleton/void  63 AKQ24(2) 5(3)

(3) void? 7653 AKQ27(4)pass

(4) yes AKQ9732 854

Example 3WestEastWest East

(1) shortage? 86 AKQ753NT4(1)

(2) singleton/void  64 AKQ25(2) 6(3)

(3) void? AKQ98732 846(4)pass

(4) no 7 82

Example 4WestEastWest East

(1) shortage? 6 AKQ753NT4(1)

(2) singleton/void  643 AKQ24(2) 4NT(3)

(3) singleton minor ? AKQ98732 846(4)pass

(4) yes 7 82
44/ - Natural, to play

If responder has a good major, he can elect to play in it. Opener must pass, even with a

void. 4 is probably best with this hand

 KQJ10654  KQ7  64  9regardless of opener’s suit or  holding.

5The 4NT Length and Honour Enquiry

A 4NT bid is defined as natural (announcing 11+ tricks between the two hands) and invites opener to bid slam if he has anything extra. An 8th card in the long suit is enough, as is an outside king (if you allow that with your 3NT opening). But ….

-1-what about an outside queen?

-2-we could miss a grand slam if opener has the right cards.

Clearly we need to be a bit more specific here and we need serious responses to the 4NT bid rather than a gamble at the correct slam. This gets a bit complicated and I’ll leave it here for now, with the complete solution coming at a much later date once I have sorted much more urgent matters out.

65 and 5 - Pass or Correct

Now responder usually knows which minor opener has, but not always: -

Hand AHand BWith Hand A, responder bids 5 as he wants to play in

5 or 5.

 AK742 KJ74

 A432 3Hand B is interesting. 5 is worth a try and is better if played

 63 762by responder, so bid 5.

 85 AK974

With Hand C, responder is not sure of his partner’s suit. On

Hand CHand Dthis occasion, either 5 or 6 are probably making. So bid

5, pass or correct!

 AK742 AKQ74

 AK93 AK93Hand D is the other way round, so this time we simply bid

 7 7625. If partner passes, that’s fine. If he corrects to 5, we

 974 4 raise to 6.

Hand EHand FNow we don’t always bid to make. With hand E we bid 5. This is sure to be a good save, and if the opponents bid then

 2 KQ742they have to find both the correct suit and level by beginning

 73 KQ873at the 5 level. Do not bid 6, you may push them into slam.

 KQJ876 KQ2

 9764 - With Hand F, we simply bid 4. Maybe the opponents will bid? We cannot make 3NT with the unfortunate void.

75NT (and 5/) - Grand Slam try

This gets a bit complex and I’ll cover it at a much later date.

86 and 6 - Pass or Correct and To Play

This time, the 6 bid cannot be pass or correct as you would need a  void and do not know if partner’s suit is completely solid. So 6 is pass or correct

Hand AHand Bbut 6 is to play. Occasionally, it is essential that responder is declarer. With Hand A, 6 makes if responder bids it.

 -  AK4Hand B is somewhat unfortunate, as 6NT makes from

 K75 K7responder’s hand. Since he cannot declare that contract, he

 762 762settles for 6 to ensure that he plays the hand.

 AKQJ962 AKQ74

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