Source: http://www.wednesdaygame.com
Let’s prefix this article with a warning. Please, no reason to read this unless you and your Partner are fully familiar with the [ilink url=»http://csbnews.org/convencion-lebensohl-despues-que-el-companero-abrio-de-1nt/»]Lebensohl[/ilink] concept. If these Lebensohl situations are already part of your bidding arsenal, then you are no doubt ready for the Good-Bad 2NT!
Let’s start by reviewing the basic 1NT-Lebensohl situation, as illustrated by these two hands:
A: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
B: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
After Partner opens 1NT and RHO bids a natural 2v, with Hand A, you have no aspirations for game, but you would surely like to compete to 3. With Hand B, you want to play in game … whether that game should be 3NT or 5
will depend to a large extent on Opener’s Spade holding. Clearly, you cannot use 3
for both of these hands.
Using Lebensohl, we can give up on the natural 2NT and use it as a way to double the rest of our sequences … 2NT is used as our way of competing to the 3-level, and bidding directly at the 3-level is a stronger sequence.
Here’s an example from Board 16 of the Wednesday Game, 25th Oct, 2006. The auction had started as follows:
West North East South
Pass 1 1
Dbl
2 ??
This was North’s hand : AQ8
T932
Q9632
A
North would like to compete to the 3-level in the 4-4 Heart fit, but she does not want to show extra values. So, she bids 2NT, requesting that Partner bids 3 (or 3
, we’ll come back to that later). Now, when North converts to 3
, Partner will know that we have no extras to speak of and are merely competing. But, give us the same hand but with an extra King and we would bid 3
directly, inviting game.
Basic Conditions
Under what conditions does this Good-Bad 2NT apply? You’ll get numerous different answers to that question, we suggest that you start with a rigorous and limiting set of rules, and then consider expanding from there. At the very least you could play Good-Bad under these conditions:
Only on by Opener
and Responder must have taken some action (but not a game-invitational bid, see below)
and Opener’s RHO must have bid 2 or 2
or 2
Extensions
Click here to continue reading