ALTRINCHAM BRIDGE CLUB
DIRECTORS NOTES
ASKING ABOUT THE STRENGTH OF AN OPPOSITION 1NT OPENER
DURING THE COURSE OF THE AUCTION.
I have stressed before, in a memo sheet (there are still some in the carousel), that the opponent’s no trump strength on opening is best obtained at the start of the round. If a player enquires the strength of a 1NT, learns that it is as little as 10-12 & then passes, he is limiting partner’s freedom to act.
This means that if you ask the strength during the course of the auction & then pass, the Director should not allow your partner to overcall unless it is a sound overcall.
Consider the following example :-
West // North // East // South
-------- // -------- // --------- // Pass
Pass // Pass // 1NT // Pass **
Pass // 2S // all pass //
** South asked the strength of the 1NT opener & was told it was 10-12 and he then passed.
North bid 2S on the following hand :--- s/ Q 9 7 6 3 -- h/ J 7 2 --d/ 7 -- c/ A J 7 3
At the end of the hand, East called the Director and North said that he bid the 2S because it paid to be competitive at duplicate & he had a distributional hand and was prepared to risk a penalty. The Director took the view that after the enquiry from South, the overcall was not a sound one & he adjusted the score to 1NT making by E/W, which was the most likely result from the four hands.
It is interesting to note that if 2NT is at all probable, then N/S would be awarded -120 (and not -90 ). The E/W and the N/S scores may be, but do not have to be, the same.
It is not wrong or illegal, as such, to enquire about the opponent’s 1NT opener strength during the auction but if you do and then pass, the obvious inference is that you would have taken other action upon receiving a different answer. This is giving unauthorised information to partner, which he is not allowed to use.
When asked, all members should state the range of their opening 1NT and not use the words "weak" or "strong". The reason for this is because a 1NT opener is limited to a 3 point range between 10 & 18 points. Ie. It could be 13-15 or 14-16 or 16-18 etc. It may also vary between this range according to the vulnerability.
Peter Dawson ( January 2001)