As stated elsewhere too, in MAF we do "Majors Always First". Having still no opening bid through which we can inform our partner about holding an exact 5,5 distribution in the major suits, it seems a good idea to consider to use the 2NT opening for this purpose.
Being in circumstances that nothing yet is known about the responder's hand, a the 2NT opener needs considerable strength in addition to his beautiful distribution to do the opening bid. It is clear that he will have to play at least 3© or 3ª. He cannot afford to go more then 2 or 3 down, which among other things depends on the partnership's vulnerability. In MAF it is appointed that the a 2NT opener needs 8-14 hcp's. With 8-9 hcp's the opener should seriously consider also a 2© opening bid, enabling the responder to pass or show a 4-card spades. With stronger hands (>=15) the opener must choose between the 1© opening and the 3¨ opening.
As said before the bidding room is small after a 2NT opening. Consequently you can only discriminate between 5 types of responding hands, as is illustrated by the next table. I gave up the 3NT bid fully consciously, because I cannot imagine the matching hand.
2NT
two 5-cards: © and ª
a:
8-10 HCP's
type
frequency of 2NT
absolute
relative
a:
0.191
48.28
b:
0.0.205
51.72
total:
0.397
100.00
b:
10-14 HCP's
responses are discussed in the next diagram.
return to : LINKS GENERAL OVERVIEWS
WEST
EAST
2NT
5,5 in ©/ª
10-14*
pass
no doubleton major suit
0-10
WEST
EAST
2NT
5,5 in ©/ª
10-14
3§
fit in ©, control asking
>=15
??
control, etc
WEST
EAST
2NT
5,5 in ©/ª
10-14
3¨
fit in ª, control asking
>=15
??
control, etc
WEST
EAST
2NT
5,5 in ©/ª
10-14
3©/ª
the best fit
0-10
pass
a little preemptive
WEST
EAST
2NT
5,5 in ©/ª
10-14
4©/ª
the best fit
10-14
pass
to play and make
*
There is a risk that this too preemptive. Your partner will have an average of 9 hcp's, and so many times less. Anyway the opponents will have problems to find their suit.
If you arrived here because you wanted to read about the "sohl principle" then we give you the opportunity to link to various other paragraphs where remarks are made about "sohl":
1§-Sohl
1¨-Sohl
1©-Sohl
1ª-Sohl
2©/ª-Sohl
2NT-Sohl
3NT-Sohl
the SOHL overview
Both conventions share some comparable advantages:
In the bidding sequences you may observe another important advantage of the opening which is emphasized here:
After the 2NT opening it is possible with a 3 level bid in a minor suit, accordingly at a very low level:
1. to establish the trump suit
2. make the bidding game forcing, unless refused
3. to start by the same action the exchange of controls, unless refused
4. to enable the holder of the two 5-suiters to refuse the invitation for a slam try
In fact the 3-level responses in one the minor suits may be considered as sohl-responses because they meet most conditions for that kind of responses. Only the various possible meanings are not defined in advance.
It's recommended to have a look too at the WHIMS convention. This similar (shifted in phase) convention is described there in a different way.
remark:
An overcall of 2NT on a 1-level-opening bid can never have similar meaning as the opening bid of 2NT.
Such an overcall is always conventional, Ghestem. It points to a 2-suited hand with at least 10 hcp's, the relevant suits being the two lowest ranking suits of the three non-opening-suits.
If you want to see examples of bridgames in which the matter, treated in this section, is practiced you should click on examples and choose for the appropriate convention or for any typical opening bid.