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Two-suited options

LHO has opened, partner has passed, and RHO has made an unlimited change of suit.

As you are competing against opponents who may well hold the balance of points there is much to be said for confining your intervention to hands on which you have considerable playing strength represented either by a long suit of excellent quality or by a two-suited holding.

The bids most likely to be used to show a two-suited holding are:-

double, 1NT, 2♣, 2♦, 2NT and cue-bids in any suit bid naturally by the opponents.

You may choose to use any or all of these bids when available.

Depending on your choices you may also redefine the range of a natural 1NT.

Many online sources and discussion forums concentrate on just one of these bids -

1NT

You might choose to retain 1NT as natural - i.e. strong and balanced.

But remember, even if you play it as strong as seventeen to nineteen it is still possible that your opponents hold the balance of the points, and LHO knows exactly where to start his defence of the title.

If you do hold that hand there is a lot to be said for ‘lyin’ low and sayin’ nuffin’, which is another way of saying that the loss of a natural 1NT in this position will not be something which you regret greatly.

The Sandwich No Trump

There are many variations in the detail, but typically a bid of 1NT will be played to show 5-5 in the two unbid suits in a weakish hand - say five to ten points.

Frequently this will be played alongside an ‘unusual’ 2NT promising the same shape in either a stronger or a shapelier hand.

With no further refinement double will then be restricted to hands with 4-4 or 5-4 shape.

System specific methods

This section is really no more than a concept.

The idea centres around the idea that there will be some opposing bids which you will be happy to cue-bid in a natural sense, and others which you will not.

For example, if your opponents open one of a minor (could be two) you might well be happy to bid that minor naturally, but if their opening bid promised a five-card holding then a natural bid in that suit would be a most unlikely action.

Following on from this you might choose to vary your allocations according to how many ‘natural’ cue-bids are available, or you might choose, for example, to base you method on two (say) artificial cue-bids, and simply apply the same method to other situations ignoring some of the other available bids in the process.

One artificial cue-bid

In the following I am going to consider just the situation in which you have one natural cue-bid and one artificial cue-bid available.

Typically LHO will have opened one of a minor (short) and RHO will have responded one of a major (at least four).

Let me take the specific sequence (1♣), - (1♥), ?

1♠ and 2♦ will of course be natural - so will 2♣.

There are three possible two-suited holdings, diamonds and spades, diamonds and clubs, and spades and clubs.

To cater for these you have double, 1NT, 2♥ and 2NT available.

One possible allocation, along the lines suggested by Mikestar on the bridgebase discussion forum, might be as follows:-

double  4-4 in diamonds and spades - good values;

1NT      4 spades and 5 diamonds - good values;

2♥        5-5 in diamonds and spades - poor defence;

2NT      4 spades and 6 diamonds - poor defence.

You will note that this does not cover the two-suited holdings with clubs, but it gives excellent shape description in the two unbid suits.

Feel free to reallocate one or more of these bids, or to include 2♣ as a second two-suited cue-bid.

I have no clear recommendation as to what works best.

This is an area which a serious partnership might like to work on until they come up with something which they are happy with.

In this specific scenario in which the opponents have bid both clubs and diamonds naturally at the one level there is little need for any further two-suited bids.

1NT is most easily played as natural and strong (seventeen to nineteen say), but it will be a rare occurrence that you prefer such a bid to a pass.  Vulnerable against not with hopes of a better score in 3NT is by far the most likely scenario for it to make an appearance.

Other suit combinations

If the opponents’ bidding has been natural and is still below the level of 1NT then simplest is to play the ‘sandwich’ no trump and the unusual 2NT as above.

An alternative (but not particularly common to the best of my knowledge) option would be to play two of a bid minor (if any) in a sort of Michaels’ manner to show the two unbid suits either in a stronger hand or with more shape (as agreed).

A possible variation plays 1NT to promise 5-4 shape and 2NT to show 5-5 shape in weak holdings, and to use double to show at least 5-4 shape in a stronger holding (say eleven points or stronger).  All sorts of other variations are possible.

Variations on the Michael’s cue-bid

An alternative approach is to play something which resembles the Michaels’ cue-bid as played in the immediate overcall position.

The following paragraphs draw heavily on David Gold’s article in the June 2017 edition of English bridge.

Both majors

If the particular cases when the opponents’ bidding was one of:-

1♣ - 1♦

1♣ - 1NT

1♦ - 1NT

and their minor suit bids were, in essence, natural, then you are quite likely to hold both majors.

At its simplest use 2♣ to promise 5-5 in the majors -

double will then be used on hands with less ‘shape’.

But

recommended is that you should define the shape with even greater precision.

use the 2♣ bid to promise 5-4 or 6-4 shape

and 2♦ to promise at least 5-5 shape.

Either of these bids could be played as wide-ranging in respect of the strength of the hand, but are commonly made on something like ten to fifteen points (you might like to stretch this downwards in various specific circumstances) starting with a double on stronger holdings.

In response to the 2♣ overcall partner can bid 2♦ to ask for your five-card major.

An extended sequence also distinguishes between the 5-4 and 6-4 shapes.

This page last revised 4th Jul 2020

Bidding has reached 1NT or higher

By all means come up with something clever based around 2NT and the available cue-bids for when this situation arises, but as you are in the dangerous sandwich seat and the level of bidding is getting higher it will be relatively rare that you choose to join in the auction.

Simplest is to play just double for take-out on a good hand, usually 5-5 or better, and to pass the rest of the time.

Bear in mind that you might prefer to use a cue-bid in one of the opponents’ suits as you search for a stop with hopes of making 3NT on a running minor.

Opponents have bid in a short suit

For most of us a system based around either the sandwich no trump or a variation on the Michaels’ cue-bid, as above, will be more than sufficient both for our needs and for our memories.

But, if you really want to add further complications……….

Context - overcaller - opponents opened one of a suit - overcalling in the sandwich seat.