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How Weak is your Weak Two?

Weak 2 Opening bids are very common (apart from 2C, of course!). Therefore, those who play them should have a clear idea of how to proceed when one’s partnership has or may have game on, maybe even slam! On the board below, West achieved the worst of all worlds with their response. Let’s see if you would have done better:

 

2 is a Weak 2 in diamonds. Potentially, West has a very nice hand. As to how nice, West needs to investigate. What would your first bid be and what does it mean?

After partner’s Weak 2 opening, we like a simple raise (3 here) to be pre-emptive, making it harder for our opponents to find their best contract. So, that is not the case here and not what we should bid. 

That leaves the bid of 2NT as being the best way to investigate. (A change of suit should be natural and forcing, promising a long suit.)There are two main ways and in both cases, 2NT is 100% forcing, even if opener’s 2 bid is from a very weak hand.

One way is called OGUST which has 5 responses at the 3-level, indicating whether in the context of a Weak 2, opener has a good hand or not. OGUST differentiates a good and bad trump suit and whether the hand is minimum (6-7 hcp) or maximum (9-10 hcp). If it is an 8-count, you must choose.

The other method is easier to learn. If your hand is minimum, you just rebid your suit at the 3-level. If it is maximum, you bid “a feature in a side suit, “feature” being an ace, king, or a queen (not a shortage).

Let’s see how the two methods would have worked here.

 

The above bids use OGUST with 3 showing a poor Weak 2 in hcps with a poor suit. Since East is minimum, West signs off in a safe part-score.

Using the other method, the bidding is even more straightforward:

3 shows a minimum hand. If East had a better suit (KQJxxx) along with K, they would have bid 3 and the almost cold 3NT contract would have been reached.

3NT should not be a making contract though the defence does have to be accurate. We will see below. Meanwhile, in 3, East should lose just two spades, a club and K, making 9 tricks. At the table, our West bid an invitational 4. East passed but that was one level too high.

If West chances 3NT, North should choose their 4-card major, hearts, even if leading from Jxxx is often a poor choice. This time, it is the best lead for the defence. West must keep K as the entry to dummy’s diamond suit. So, they win A in hand to play A and a second diamond. North soon wins K and exits a heart.

4 more rounds of diamonds might see North discard a heart and a club while South discards 3 spades and 2 clubs in total. After 6 rounds of  diamonds and 2 rounds of hearts, this may be the position:

Declarer plays a club to the ace and exits a club, with South discarding a heart. The defence should take the last 4 tricks to beat this contract by 1 trick. (Note that although South could discard a spade, they should preserve their 2 spades just in case their partner plays A. If West held that card, they would have played it to ensure 9 tricks. That is careful thoughtful defence.)

While West would score well if a natural 2NT could be passed (+120), this bid is much more useful if it is forcing, getting opener to define their strength and whether they have a good or poor suit.

Either method above works well. The 5 steps to OGUST 2NT are described below and are the same whether the opening bid was 2, 2 or 2.

3                   Poor suit                               Poor hcp

3                   Good suit (e.g. KQJxxx)          Poor hcp

3                   Poor suit                               Good hcp   (9/10..maybe 8)

3                   Good suit                              Good hcp   (6/7… maybe 8)

3NT                suit headed by AKQ 

So, make sure you know not just that you play Weak 2s but how you develop the bidding after one has been opened.

Richard Solomon

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