Tag: 2nt

Lebensohl

On 29 August 2020

In short Lebensohl is the use of the 2NT bid as an artificial bid to describe various hands after partner has opened 1NT (either weak or strong) or when partner has doubled a weak two. We will also look at other situations where you can use it as well.

Let’s look at how Lebensohl works after partner has opened a weak NT (12-14 points balanced).

So partner opens 1NT and RHO bids a suit naturally and now it’s your turn to bid!

So the 1NT bidder needs to know what your bids are….are they a:-

forcing response
non-forcing response
natural response
artificial response
invitational response
game-showing response

It is exactly these questions, which needed to be answered in order to structure a proper defense method for the No Trump bidder and partner. Without any guidelines the partnership would be lost as to how to continue. You’d be guessing and that is something we try and avoid in bridge if at all possible.

Responses to Lebensohl

Following is an outline of the responses available to the responder after a natural overcall in a suit.

North	East	South	Meaning
1NT	2♣	2♦/♥/♠ / X	To Play / Values
1NT	2♦	2♥/♠ / X	To Play / Values
1NT	2♥	2♠ / X	To Play / Values
1NT	2♠	X	Values
1NT	2♣	3♦	Natural Game Forcing
1NT	2♣	3♥	Natural Game Forcing
1NT	2♣	3♠	Natural Game Forcing
1NT	2♣	2NT	Puppet to 3♣

The 2NT forces opener to bid 3♣. The 2NT is a puppet bid forcing the 1NT opener to bid 3♣. We have the 1NT opener on strings…they are the puppet.

The rebids by the responder after 3 Clubs by his partner:

Pass with a weak hand and long Clubs.
Any bid suit below the rank of the overcall is a sign-off.
Any bid suit above the rank of the overcall is invitational.

Any immediate cuebid of the suit of the opponent is Staymanic (asking opener to bid 4 card majors) and promises a good 12 high card point count.

Any immediate cuebid promises a 4-card Major suit, but it is important to remember that the cuebid also denies having a stopper in the suit bid by the opponent. This cuebid by the responder is forcing to game unless the partnership cannot find a Major fit.

North	East	South	Meaning
1NT	2♣	3♣	Stayman (no club stop)
	2♦	3♦	Stayman (no diamond stop)
	2♥	3♥	Stayman (no heart stop)
	2♠	3♠	Stayman (no spade stop)

The options for the No Trump bidder, after a cuebid by his partner, are as follows:

to bid a 4-card Major, if he has a 4-card Major.
to bid 3 No Trump with a stopper in the suit of the opponent.
to seek a better contract, if neither condition is fulfilled.
3.1. With a minimum No Trump, bid 4 Clubs or 4 Diamonds.
3.2. If the 4-card Major suit of the responder is known, then the No Trump bidder can consider playing in a 4-3 Major fit.
3.3. Holding a maximum No Trump and no wasted strength in the suit bid by the opponent, a jump to five of long Minor suit is advisable.
3.4. Cuebidding the suit of the opponent at the four level is requesting the partner to choose his better Minor suit at the five level.
3 No Trump Response

1NT – 2X – 3NT

Any 3 No Trump response after any intervening overcall promises sufficient values and no 4-card Major suit, but it also denies having a stopper in the suit bid by the opponent. The No Trump bidder has then several options:

Pass with a stopper in the suit of the opponent.
Bids a 5-card Major suit, if he has one.
Explores for a better contract, generally in the Minor suits.

2NT Response

If the responder bids 2 No Trump after the immediate overcall, forcing his partner to rebid 3 Clubs, and then cuebids the suit of the opponent, then this cuebid is a Stayman bid, asking for a 4-card Major suit. The difference in this bidding sequence is the fact that the responder is showing a stopper in the suit of the opponent.

Using the Lebensohl convention, it is apparent that the partnership only loses the natural 2 No Trump bid.
The advantages are that each response can be recognized and determined as to whether they are:
2.1. Forcing.
2.2. Invitational.
2.3. Non-forcing.
2.4. Game-forcing.

Lebensohl After A Takeout Double of a Weak Two Bid

After the opponents have opened the auction with a Weak Two bid and your partner doubles, defensive guidelines are necessary to inform your partner whether or not you, who are forced to bid, have a weak holding, a moderate holding, or a strong holding. The Lebensohl convention can assist greatly with this dilemma. The following guidelines should clarify.

The 2 No Trump response by the responder forces the partner to rebid 3 Clubs. This gives the responder the opportunity to sign off in a long suit with a weak holding, and the partner must pass.
A non-jump suit bid by the responder at the three level is constructive and informs the partner that his holding contains useful values and/or suit length and/or distribution.

This situation arose after such bidding sequences and holdings were encountered, such as the following:

North	East	South	West
2♠	Double	Pass	?

Holding 1

♠ – 754 ♥ – 86 ♦ – 109743 ♣ – 985

S 754 S 865
H 86 H K7
D 109764 D KQJ86
C 985 C 1082

Holding 2

♠ – 754 ♥ – K7 ♦ – KQJ86 ♣ – 985

Now using Lebensohl we have a method to define a weak hand and a hand that might be interested in game. Before Lebensohl it would be your best guess as whether the doubler should continue or not.

Other Lebensohl Situations

In a competitive situation…

North	East	South	West
1♠	Double	2♠	? (Lebensohl)

West can now use 2NT to try and sign off in a 3 level suit contract or bid a 3 level suit as invitational. Bid 2NT followed by 3♠ to show a stopper and 4 hearts or just bid 3♠ directly to show 4 hearts with no stopper.

After a weak jump overcall…

North	East	South	West
1♣	2♠ (weak)	? (Lebensohl)

South can now use 2NT to try and sign off in a 3 level suit contract or bid a 3 level suit as invitational. Bid 2NT followed by 3♠ to show a stopper and 4 hearts or just bid 3♠ directly to show 4 hearts with no stopper.

After a strong reverse…

North	East	South	West
1♣	Pass	1♥	Pass
2♠	Pass	2NT*	Pass
3♣	Pass	Pass	Pass

South can now use 2NT to try and sign off in 3 clubs when you’ve responded with a 5 count for example and can now use a simple 3♣ bid for example to explore slam without taking up valuable bidding space.

Two Different ways of playing Lebensohl

Going through 2NT with a stopper is known as FASS (Fast Arrival Shows Stopper).

Alternatively you can play it as going through 2NT denies a stopper or FADS (Fast Arrival Denies Stop).

My preference is for FADS!

The important thing is you agree what you are playing with your partner.

Jacoby 2NT

By John Stell

On 10 June 2020

In Conventions

So partner opens 1M (so one of a major suit 5+)….and assuming no intervening bids you now bid 2NT which is Jacoby 2NT. This is a game forcing bid showing 4 card Major support and a good 12 points plus.

Here is a video of me bidding sample Jacoby 2NT hands.

Here is the Jacoby 2NT convention in video format

Just to let you know that some people play different versions of this (see below for nuances)

The responses are:-

3♣ – A hand with singleton/void in clubs – then a cue bid of 4♣ would show a void.
3♦ – A hand with singleton/void in diamonds – then a cue bid of 4♦ would show a void.
3♥ – A hand with singleton/void in hearts – then a cue bid of 4♥ would show a void OR 16+ points if 1♥ was the opening bid.
3♠ – A non-minimum hand with singleton/void in spades – then a cue bid of 4♠ would show a void OR 16+ points if 1♠ was the opening bid.
3NT – Better than minimum hand balanced (14-15 points)
4♣ – A good 5 card suit (2 out of 3 top keycards)
4♦ – A good 5 card suit (2 out of 3 top keycards)
4♥ – A good 5 card suit if 1♠ was the opening bid or a minimum hand if 1♥ was the opening bid
4♠ – A good 5 card suit if 1♥ was the opening bid or a minimum hand if 1♠ was the opening bid. This will show 65 shape in the majors.

One thing you should notice straight away is if you have two 5 card suit then you must have a singleton or void in one of the other two suits…so there must be a priority for these bids:

Priority of Openers Response

Bid a 5 card suit (as long as it has 2 out of top 3 honours)
Bid a singleton or void
Bid 3NT (shows a good 14-15 points)
Jump to 4 of a major to show weak (12-13 points)
Bid 3 of the major to show 16+

Obviously the last 3 are of equal priority…the point is shape showing bids are most important.

Alternative Versions

Some people use the suit bid to show extra length in the trump suit rather than 16+ points.
Bidding a second suit with only 4 cards in it rather than 5
Bidding a second suit without needing 2 of the top 3…but maybe decent suit such as AJ9xx
Playing Swedish Jacoby

Suppose partner gives a positive response then all bids after are considered cue bids or 4NT would be RKCB. It’s possible to play 3NT as ace asking or frivolous/serious 3NT…but when you’ve agreed a 8/9 card fit in a Major….it usually makes sense to play in 4 of the Major therefore you can use the 3NT as non-natural.

For a different version why not check out Swedish Jacoby.

Modified Swedish Jacoby 2NT

By John Stell

On 6 June 2020

In Conventions

So this is similar to a Jacoby 2NT bid…but different! It’s Swedish!

It’s also called other things: In Sweden it is called Stenberg 2NT, and in Denmark Bekkasin 2NT.

So partner opens 1M (so one of a major suit)….and assuming no intervening bids you now bid 2NT which is Swedish Jacoby. You can play it either game forcing or non-forcing to three of the major and shows possible interest in slam in that suit.

The responses are:-

3♣ – Any minimum hand
3♦ – A non-minimum with no singletons or voids
3♥ – singleton clubs
3♠ – singleton diamond
3NT – singleton in the other major
4♣ – void in clubs
4♦ – void in diamonds
4♥ – void in the other major

Suppose partner gives the negative 3♣ response…now 3♦ asks for singletons…

Again you bid step responses to keep the bidding as low as possible:

3♥ – No singleton/void OR a void in spades if you’ve agreed hearts.
3♠ – singleton club
3NT – singleton diamond
4♣ – singleton in the other major
4♦ – void in clubs
4♥ – void in diamonds
4♠ – void in hearts

Unfortunately there is no room to show a void in spades if you have it if you have agreed hearts, without going past 4♥.

Again there are different ways of playing this system….this is my modification of Swedish Jacoby.

Any other bids are cue-bids and 4NT would be RKCB (4130).

Lets look at some examples

a)	b)	c)
♠ KQ1086 ♥ 108 ♦ 72 ♣ AK73	♠ KQ1086 ♥ A872 ♦ K32 ♣ 2	♠ AJ8643 ♥ KJ5 ♦ K742 ♣ Void
♠ AJ54 ♥ 62 ♦ AQ854 ♣ Q2	♠ AJ543 ♥ 4 ♦ AQ ♣ A9873	♠ K1097 ♥ A2 ♦ AQJ ♣ 7654

a) 1♠ -2NT – 3♣ – 4♠. The 3♣ shows a minimum and therefore you are no longer interested in slam and just sign off in 4♠.

b) 1♠ -2NT – 3♣ – 3♦ – 3♠ – 3NT – 4♥ – 4NT – 5♠ – 5NT – 6♦-7♠.

The 3♦ bid asks for further description
3♠ now shows a singleton club
3NT would be serious 3NT asking partner to cue bid
4♥ would show the ace of hearts and deny the minor aces
4NT would be RKCB (1430)
5♠ would show 2 with the queen of trumps
5NT is a king ask
6♦ shows the King of diamonds
You eventually get to the good contract of 7♠

c) 1♠ -2NT – 3♣ – 3♦ – 4♦ – 4NT – 5♣ – 5♦ – 6♣ – 7♠.

3♦ bid asks for further description
4♦ now shows a void in clubs
4NT would be RKCB (1430)
5♣ shows 1 or 3….obviously 1.
4♦ asks for the trump….knowing the partnership has a 10 card fit you pretend you have it and cue bid your kings by bidding 6♣
You eventually get to the good contract of 7♠

If you find Swedish Jacoby a little tricky then you mind want to play the normal Jacoby 2NT bid.

Muppet Stayman

By John Stell

On 31 May 2020

In Videos

Yes this is a thing!

So Muppet Stayman is an upgrade on Puppet Stayman. The idea is to find your 4-4 and 5-3 fits after partner opens or rebids 2NT AND get the strong hand to play out the contract.

The thing to remember is if you are the weak hand is never bid a suit you might want to play in….so bidding a major denies that major!

There are 19 hands here with continuations on to slam in some cases with some added complexity…

Puppet Stayman

By John Stell

On 31 May 2020

In Videos

In this video I’ll show how you play puppet stayman over a 2NT opener or rebid. Puppet stayman is a way to find 5-3 or 4-4 fits in a major.