If you’ve been playing for at least a few years, you’ve probably changed your bidding methods multiple times. Most players build on the simple system they learned as beginners and eventually add more sophisticated ways to describe their hands. Many of these are clear improvements. Others are adopted to accommodate partners’ preferences or because “everyone plays it this way now".
Notrump opening bids have undergone some of the biggest changes. I was taught that a 1NT opener was 16-18 points and I played it that way for years. When 15-17 became popular, I made the transition, although that range seemed quite daring at the time. Eventually, after experiments with 10-12 and 12-14 ranges, I settled on “14+ to 17- “.
Adopting a new notrump range involves more than just adjusting the arithmetic for responder’s actions. Some changes require opener to look past high-card points and carefully evaluate other features of his hand. Here are some modern trends in notrump bidding that you may want to consider:
What is 14+ to 17- ? This range has become a popular choice for experienced pairs. The translation is a “good” 14 points to an “average” 17 points.
Your success with this range will depend on how you define “good” and “average”. Some players base their decision on the presence of high spot cards. Although tens and nines are under-valued in the point-count system, they don’t always make a hand worth an upgrade, especially if they're in your shorter suits.
A better measure of extra trick-taking power is a good 5-card suit. A 14-point hand such as ♠K6 ♥A73 ♦KQ1065 ♣Q95 has as at least as much playing strength as most 15-counts and qualifies for an upgrade to 1NT. Change it to ♠K106 ♥A743 ♦KQ10 ♣Q109, though, and it's better to open 1C and treat it as a balanced minimum, even with all those big spot cards.
That evaluation works in reverse when deciding if a 17-point hand is right for 1NT. ♠AJ10 ♥K6 ♦1076 ♣AKQ104 looks more like 18 points than 17, so open 1C, planning to rebid 2NT. The spot cards are a plus, but the deciding factor is the strong 5-card suit.
2NT openers. If you were taught Goren-style bridge, you probably played a 2NT opener as 21-23 points. When the 15-17 1NT became widely accepted, the 2NT range was adjusted down to 20-21 or 20-22. Now, many pairs find it advantageous to play it as 19+ to 21.
You use the same criteria as above to decide if a 19-point hand is worth the "+". You’ll usually want to have a long suit – a decent 5-carder or a 6-card minor ( ♠AQ ♥AJ9 ♦KQ9865 ♣K7 ).
One of the benefits of this agreement is that it can help you avoid being propelled into poor game contracts when you don't open 2NT. If you open a one-bid and jump to 2NT, your range will be a good 17 to an average 19. With a bare 5-6 points, responder can judge to pass because he knows you can't have a rock-solid 19 points.
Should you downgrade? The better your hand-evaluation skills, the greater the temptation will be to over-think routine decisions. That’s what you’re doing if you decide not to open 1NT with a hand such as ♠AKQ ♥J65 ♦QJ4 ♣Q753.
It’s true that this a poor 15 points with only one weak 4-card suit, no heart stopper and no spot cards. Demoting it and opening 1C, though, doesn’t rate to be a successful strategy.
If there’s a “field” contract on this deal, you don’t want to miss it. Other pairs will get there by opening 1NT and taking advantage of their notrump response system. Even if your “anti-field” 1C opening eventually lands you in the same spot, you may get a worse score by giving the opponents more information, allowing them to overcall or making the wrong hand declarer.
Notrump opening bids offer so many advantages that you should be looking for excuses to make them, not avoid them. That’s why expert players will freely upgrade their 14-point and 19-point hands, but rarely, if ever, downgrade a balanced hand that fits their range.
© 2021 Karen Walker