It goes 1 by you – 1 — negative double — pass to you. You hold a balanced hand with 12-14 HCP. What do you rebid if your highest spade is the four? Hand one 432?????Qxxxx? Hand two 432????????xx? Hand three 32??????Jxxxx? The ?’s are enough HCP to get to 12-14 What is the minimum club holding needed to rebid 2?
Most experts agree that there is no bid which accurately describes this hand. Therefore the object is to find the rebid that is least of all evils. 1NT implies a stopper and partner would raise to game with an opening bid also holding three small spades, xxxAKxxAKxxxx for example. Even if you don’t have a spade stopper, 3NT could make. For example, East overcalled on a four-card suit and you have nine tricks outside. East has AQ10xx of spades and leads some other suit hoping that his partner can get in and lead thru your implied Kx. Dummy has Jxx and West has KQ doubleton.
Marty Bergen— With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT unless I had great hearts. QJ109x is the minimum club holding needed to rebid 2. As you can see, having no spade stopper does not bother me. I’m also willing to bid 1NT as responder after 1 – 1 with a hand like 10xxJxxAKJxxxx.
I don’t think many experts would bid 1NT behind the spade bidder with 10xx.
Kit Woolsey—With xxx in spades, I would rebid any five-card club suit. With a four-card club suit I would rebid 1NT.
Chris Compton—I always rebid 1NT when 3-3-3-4. 2 Always shows six.
David Berkowitz—I would bid 1NT on all hands. My clubs would have to be KQ10xx or better to rebid.
Steve Bloom—To me, I’d bid 2 on any five-card suit. I prefer the stopper-less 1NT on 3=3=3=4 hands.
Chuck Berger—My general rule is any three as 1NT doesn’t promise a stopper. With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT which is an exception to my general rule. My clubs would have to be Q109xx or better to rebid.
Mel Colchamiro—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT. Just shows balanced minimum. Partner cue bids if interested in notrump game. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT. My clubs would have to be a good AKJxx or any six to rebid.
Eddie Kantar–With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT. Judging from my answers, I would need a club suit headed by at least two honor cards to rebid that suit. East didn’t raise so maybe partner has a spade stopper. If it will make you any happier I started by rebidding 2 with one and three, then couldn’t stomach it.
Ron Smith—I need a singleton if I only have five clubs. Otherwise 2 shows six. I rebid 1NT with no stopper.
Frank Stewart—I would rebid 2 with a six-card suit. With a five-card suit, I would tend to rebid 2 only with a suit that could play opposite a singleton, perhaps KQJ9x. With a hand such as xxxAxAQxKxxxx, I would rebid 2, which in my opinion does not show extra values. I could live with a 1NT rebid. It might work out if partner passed 1NT but not if he raised.
Adam Wildavsky–-I will rebid 1NT unless my clubs are quite strong, perhaps KQJ9x. I usually play weak notrump so my range for the rebid will be 15-17, so the issues are the same but the problem will occur less often.
Some experts rebid 1NT with 3=3=3=4 but bid something else when holding any doubleton.
John Carruthers–-With three spades and four or five clubs I’d rebid 1NT. With two spades, either 2 with poor clubs, hoping for five hearts from partner or 2 if the clubs are two of the top three with five-cards.
Drew Cason—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid my best three-card red suit. My clubs would have to be a good five-bagger or longer to rebid.
Mike Lawrence—1NT in all cases except where the clubs are AKJxx or better. If I have two small spades, I’d bid 2 if they are HHx.
Bobby Lipsitz—Any five-card club suit can be rebid in response to negative double. Rebid 1NT with any 3=3=3=4.
Mark Lair—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2. However I’d rebid 2 if I had two high honors. With 432????????xx I’d rebid my best red suit. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 2 assuming my hearts are good, 2 with good diamonds else 2. I’d rebid 2 with J10xxx. I’d rebid 1NT if I’m 3=3=3=4 unless I have three honors in one of the red suits.
Ralph Katz—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2 with Qxx or better otherwise 1NT. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT no matter where my high cards are. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 2 unless they were three small or I had some really good club holding.
Nick Nickell— With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2 with Qxx or better otherwise 1NT. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT no matter where my high cards are. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 2 with Qxx or better. You need KJ109x or better to bid 2 if hearts are bad. If I had bad hearts and poor clubs, then 1NT is ok. All this is based on experience rather than agreements with partner. Least of evils kind of decision.
Some experts promise a spade stopper when they rebid 1NT and go out of their way to bid something else without a stopper. If they bid a three-card heart suit, they show four hearts and partner raises to game with an opening bid holding four hearts and 4 could easily be a makeable game. Holding two little spades, there is more to be said for bidding 2 holding three. The problem occurs when partner has four hearts and an invitational hand, assumes that you have four hearts and jumps to 4. Playing in a 4-3 fit with 23 HCP between you doesn’t figure to be good. If this is a competitive hand, partner could get you in trouble when he expects that you have four hearts. Bidding 2 on three works out very badly on the rare occasion when partner makes a negative double holding only three hearts. Bidding 2 on three also works out badly when partner has a slammish hand. On the other hand if you hold xxAKxxxxAQxxx and bid 2, the opponents might not defend correctly when they assume that you have four hearts.
Jeff Rubens—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 2. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 2. I’d rebid 2 on any holding any holding that I’m willing to treat as a six-card suit. The trouble with rebidding one notrump is that on top of being potentially misdescriptive depending on partnership agreements it is anti-positional. Imagine partner with Qxx of spades, for example.
Danny Gerstman—I do not rebid 1NT like all the experts in the Master Solver’s club without a spade stopper. I think that 1NT shows a spade stopper. If I had two of the top three hearts and the hand with the doubleton diamond, I’d bid 2 and hope partner didn’t make a negative double holding only three hearts. The rest of the time I’d bid 2. Some great players say they bid those five-card majors, well I bid those five-card minors, even on 65432.
Billy Pollack—In a nutshell, I disagree with the principle that 1NT simply shows any balanced hand, with no regard for stoppers. Sometimes the auction gets competitive, and you can’t unwind the lack of stopper. And some of the “stoppers are for children” zealots seem to forget to alert 1NT. Of course, the flipside of this is the need to be a bit creative when holding no spade stopper or four hearts. With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 2 assuming my hearts are good. I’d rebid 2 holding Qxxxx if there is a gun to my head.
Mark Feldman—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT but would bid 2 with AQx. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 2 assuming my hearts are good but might rebid 2 with bad hearts. I would consider it unusual to have less than say Q10xxx, but as the questions indicate, there can be exceptions.
Henry Bethe—It is generally my feeling that when faced with a set of bad choices, you try to pick the least bad. Obviously bidding 1NT with no semblance of a stopper is bad. Bidding 2 with only three is perilous. Rebidding 2 with fewer than six is against my basic beliefs. With three hearts and a doubleton I would bid 2. With 3=3=3=4 or 3=2=3=5 with weak clubs I would lie about the spade stopper, probably, although not if my three hearts were very good. With a strong five card-club suit maybe KQ10xx or better, 2 would cross my mind, especially if my doubleton was hearts.
Freddie Hamilton—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 2. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 2. My clubs would have to be at least good two honors fifth.
Jill Meyers—I’d rebid 2 holding three hearts. If I had only five clubs they would have to be very good.
Barry Rigal—I can rebid 2 without a reverse when I open 1 so have no problem doing that with 4-4. That said with five clubs to two top honors and spade 3-2 I bid 2. With any three spades 1NT is fine and with 32AK4AJ4109432 I bid 2 but I’ll deny it if asked.
Bobby Wolff—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 2. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 2. My clubs would have to be at least 65432.
Kerri Sanborn—I don’t like this problem, but I wouldn’t rebid any suit headed by merely the Q or J five long. Possibly QT9xx with xx in spades.
Marinesa Letizia—With 432?????Qxxxx, I’d rebid 2. With 432????????xx I’d rebid 1NT. With 32??????Jxxxx, I’d rebid 1NT. My clubs would have to be at least queen fifth or better. On hands like these you have to tell a lie, so I try and guess the best lie to tell. I don’t like bidding 1NT with no spade stopper but what’s a girl to do.
If you decide to bid 1NT without a stopper or bid two-of-a-red-suit with only three, you must do so in the same tempo as if you had a real stopper or had four of the suit you bid. Personally I’d rather lie about my stoppers then lie about my suit length. However if I was 2=3=3=5 with two small spades and three good hearts, 2 could easily be the winning bid.