Those who play Precision and other forcing-club systems often claim that their systems were invented mainly to overcome the drawbacks of the strong 2C bid in Standard American. The 2C opener has its weaknesses, most notably that it starts the auction so high. It can work, though, if it’s used with the right hands.
Many of the problems with these auctions come from confusion about not just what hands qualify as strong two-bids, but which of those hands would be better described with one-bids. Here are some common misconceptions about strong opening bids:A 2C opening is forcing to game ?
It was virtually game-forcing back when everyone played natural strong two-bids. Goren recommended 25 high-card points with a good 5-card major, 23 points with a 6-carder, and 21 points with a 7-carder. In a minor suit, two points more were required.
The modern view is that 2C is very strong, but you don’t need "game-in-hand”. With balanced strength, you’ll have only 22 or 23 points to open 2C and rebid 2NT. A distributional hand may have even fewer points, but more tricks -- at least 8½ tricks if the long suit is a major, 9½ tricks if it's a minor.
To handle those hands, your agreements should include a way to stop in a partscore when partner is broke. He can pass opener’s 2NT rebid, but may need a "double-negative" bid in other auctions. Some play an immediate 2H response shows a bust (no kings, no more than one queen). Others use a rebid of the cheaper minor.
Whatever you choose, your 2C auction should be forcing to at least three of a major, no matter how weak responder’s hand.
Never open a one-bid with 20 points or more ?
This advice and the corollary – “Never open 2C with fewer than 20 points” – are too restrictive for unbalanced hands. High-card points are the main consideration only when you’re planning to rebid notrump. When you hold long suits, your opening-bid decision depends more on trick-taking strength, controls and rebid problems.
If there’s a maximum point limit for a one-bid, it's closer to 22 points. A minor two-suiter such as ♠Q ♥AK ♦KQ975 ♣AKJ65 is almost impossible to describe if you start with 2C. You’ll usually fare better if you open 1D, hope for a response and jump-shift to 3C.
Change one or both of your long suits to a major, though, and a 2C opening is fine. You’ll have room to show both suits without going past the 3-level.
A “heavy" one-bid may also work better when you have one or two 4-card majors. If you open 2C with ♠AKJ4 ♥KQJ5 ♦AK975 ♣Void , you may never find your fit.
There’s no specific minimum point requirement for 2C, but it can be considerably less than 20 points. A hand such as ♠Void ♥KQJ10874 ♦KQJ10 ♣A3 is only 16 points, but it has the necessary tricks and controls for a strong 2C opening.
Open 2C with any 9-trick hand ?
Some players take the “no-minimum" idea too literally. They'll open 2C with any hand that has nine playing tricks, even if it has nothing more than a solid 9-card suit. If your partnership opens 2C with this type of hand, I'll try to talk you out of it in the next issue..
© 2020 Karen Walker