[HeartA]

With ♠QJT8x, ♥AQx, ♦KTx, ♣AK. Would you open 1S or 2NT (20-21). What if ♦T was replaced my ♦J (if you think the real hand can not upgrade to 20 hcp)?

[pbleighton]

With the DJ, I would bid 2NT.

Peter

[Walddk]

Yes, this hand is worth at least 20 hcp, so 2NT is fine with me. ♠10 in a 5-card suit and ♦10 are plenty to upgrade the hand.

Roland

[mike777]

Very close, can live with either. P will respond with any values.

In any case if this decision decides match it will give me a chance to plug Mexican 2D toy in bar later.

[luke warm]

guess i'd open it 1S... imo it's not a particularly good 19, but 2nt could certainly work out

[Walddk]

luke warm, on May 29 2005, 08:27 PM, said:

guess i'd open it 1S... imo it's not a particularly good 19, but 2nt could certainly work out

Now we are back to judgement again. If this is not a particularly good 19 count, I don't know what is.

KQ
A873
QJ72
AK5

This is not a particularly good 19 count. The hand HeartA presents is. ♠10 makes it a great 19 count even.

Roland

[luke warm]

well i will not back my judgment vs. yours for even penny a point.. i just don't like the hand for 2nt, that's all..

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

I never upgrade or downgrade, so with your original hand
I would open 1S.

With your changed hand, I still would open 1S, because I
expect partner to bid with hands containing nice 5HCP.

Addionally I play, that the forcing NT may contain 4-7HCP
with 3 card support, so the pressure to open this hand with
2NT is not so high.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Free]

Depends on the scoring for me. In imps I'd rather bid 2NT, but in MP's I'll take the slow way and start with 1♠, because I don't like the hand that much (I know it has some good values, but it's all forks and 2 possible ♠ losers before you can cash in)...

With ♦J I always open 2NT, cause I don't see any reason to downgrade the hand.

[joker_gib]

Walddk, on May 29 2005, 07:07 PM, said:

Yes, this hand is worth at least 20 hcp, so 2NT is fine with me. ♠10 in a 5-card suit and ♦10 are plenty to upgrade the hand.

Roland

Agree and I open 2NT too (with ♦10 or ♦J)

Alain

[Walddk]

QJT8x, AQx, KTx, AK

K4, 76, A754, 86532

Who do you want to declare 3NT? It takes one defender to hold A9xxx in spades to present any danger if played by North, so let's assume that the contract is cold on any lead.

If played by South, however, it takes some good fortune (guessing perhaps) to make it on a heart lead. Maybe it's just unmakeable no matter what you do. Now, where will the 1♠ openers end up?

Right, in 3NT played by South. You can obviously forget all about making it when hearts are:

J10x opposite K9xxx with RHO (East) holding ♠A.

It's not a crime trying to foresee what may happen later in the auction, apart from the fact that the North hand is clearly worth a 2NT opening. Hand evaluation isn't easy, but it's wrong to walk around with blinders, telling yourself that I have learned to open 2NT only if I have 20-21 or 20-22 hcp.

Let's go to the extreme and pass the following hand because it only has 10 hcp:

AKQJ1098765432
--
--
--

The other three at the table also have a 10 count, so it's a passout. You have your defence ready of course when you go to score up and lose 19 IMPs on the hand.

"Sorry team mates, but there was no way I could open the hand. I don't have enough high cards".

Roland

[reisig]

2NT - Want reasons?

I tend to look at many things when evaluating a hand..other than 4-3-2-1.
My hand is always better with a 5 card suit (not xxxxx)
And always worse with 4-3-3-3
NT opening bids tends to make partner's (and my) life easier for the rest of the bidding.
I look for non-working secondary honors (Jxx Qx) - I know they MAY help.
Is a suit headed by QJ10xx the same as QJ742? Not to me! Tens in longer suits that support higher honors must count for something.
One last thought - I'll get to play the hand! Sometimes - a key factor:))

[Fluffy]

Walddk, on May 30 2005, 11:34 AM, said:

Let's go to the extreme and pass the following hand because it only has 10 hcp:

AKQJ1098765432

You cannot go to that extreme whenn you have are talking about balanced hands.

I dunno if its worth opening 2NT or not, aplying your judgement is nice, but with balanced hands just opening what the system tells you to saves some energy for complicated hands .

[mcphee]

2NT is a no brainer with or without the J of D. I want the lead coming into this hand.
1S presents my side at the disadvantage of partner getting the lead through my positional cards.

I also expect the other team to open this 2NT, who am I to go against the grain.

[fifee]

♠QJT8x, ♥AQx, ♦KTx, ♣AK

2NT

5 card suit headed by QJT +
no wasted quacks & good tenace +
good middlin cards +

I add 1/2 point or so for most of these positive features when evaluating a hand for NT opening and of course deduct points for negative features

only negative in this hand is tight ♣AK. Always prefer to have AK in long suits

[luke warm]

just for the hell of it, and for whatever it's worth, i ran the hand thru the k~r thingy... it came up as worth 18.50... as i said, that's only for whatever it's worth

[Winstonm]

I think there is no doubt that this hand is fully worth 20-21, so would qualify for 2N.

The real question to me is: what hands might partner pass that would produce game? I hold a 5-loser hand, so partner only needs something like Kxxx, xx, xxxx, xxx for a spade game to have a reasonable chance - but with club leads, 9 tricks would be hard to come by in NT.

More than anything, this hand may get down to style. If playing forcing NT and pard is supposed to keep the bidding alive with Kxxx, xx, xxx, xxx, then I prefer 1S, looking for the most likely game. If pard would pass this hand, then I open 2NT, hoping pard has this passable hand: Kx, xxxx, Qxx, xxxx.

As far a slam goes, I don't think it matters much which you open - the critical difference seems to be between game/partscore.

Winstonm

[flytoox]

Always 2N. I dont mind pd xfer to 3H.