What should you think when you pick up a hand with a solid, long running minor suit and opening values? No trump!
Requiring 11 tricks for a minor-suit game, you’d need near-slam 29+ high-card points. By contrast, major-suit tricks count 30 points per trick on the road to 25 HCP and 10-trick games. Best of all, NoTrump games need only nine tricks and get a scoring bonus of 40 points for the first trick and 30 for each subsequent one. Games can be bid with surprisingly low combined HCP.
Here’s an example from an online game. South is dealing, with both sides vulnerable:
NORTH
♠ K 9 6 5 4 3
♥️ A K 8
♦️ K 7 4 3
♣️ —
WEST EAST
♠ J ♠ A Q 2
♥️ J 9 ♥️ Q 10 7 5
♦️ A 6 5 ♦️ 10 9 2
♣️ A K Q 8 7 6 3 ♣️ 9 5 2
SOUTH
♠ 10 8 7
♥️ 6 4 3 2
♦️ Q J 8
♣️ J 10 4
The bidding proceeded as follows:
South West East West
Pass 1♣️ 1♠ 1NT
Pass 3NT All Pass
Opening lead: ♠10
With eight likely tricks in hand, West had no need to rebid a strength-showing but non-forcing 3♣️. East was bound to add another trick and had two when South led a spade, adding to +630 and a competitive triumph of +5.68 imps. Game was bid and made with a combined 23 HCP.
Writers have turned out whole volumes about when to open 1NT and won’t be regurgitated here, but I’ve added a new bid to my arsenal. Open 1NT with 13-17 HCP and a solid six-card minor suit:
♠ A Q
♥️ J 4 3
♦️ 10 3
♣️ K Q J 4 3 2
Point-count range must be announced for 1NT openings. You’ll get some raised eyebrows for saying 13-17 HCP, but it’s worth it for the expanded range.
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