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The 1 NT Opening bid
Even though this Bidding System is advertised as a Strong Club system, with the starring role given to the 1C opening bid, arguably the most important opening bid is 1NT. Probably 35%-40% of the biddable hands will be opened with 1NT.
And the response structure to the opening 1NT bid occurs in several different contexts, so it is appropriate to discuss the response structure in some detail before visiting the other bids.
1NT – 11-15 HCP, balanced, no 5 card major
A balanced hand in this Bidding System is any hand that does not contain a void, singleton, or more that one doubleton.
The opening 1NT hand may contain a 5 card minor suit but not a 5 card major suit. This is one of the contexts that show a different treatment of major suits. Hands with a 5 card major suit are opened with 1 of the major suit. There are some hands with a 5 card Diamond suit that one might legitimately argue could be opened 1D, but the preference and expectation is that if the hand can be opened 1NT then it should be opened 1NT. This preference arises from the increased preemptive value of the 1NT bid vs a 1D bid. A 1NT opening bid makes it more difficult for the opponents to enter the bidding safely.
Talking about safety, opening 1NT with 11 HCP is inherently risky. If your Left Hand Opponent (LHO) has a balanced hand with, say 14 HCP, the opponent will usually double your opening bid. If it turns out that his partner has 12 or so HCP, you are in serious trouble. Your partner can have at most 3 HCP. If you are vulnerable you could easily lose 800 points or more. This is guaranteed to be a disaster. So we don’t let that happen, we use “Escape Bids” or “Runout Bids” to find a safer suit contract at the 2 level.
There is an exception to the above. If your partner has 10+ HCP then you would like to play the 1NT doubled. But to make it even more exciting, your partner should Redouble. This converts the 1NTx contract into a game level 1NTxx. If you make it you score a game. This puts tremendous pressure on the opponents. They face losing big if you make the contract. So they will seldom leave the 1NTxx in place but rather they will bid at the 2 level. At this point you can ignore the double and treat the new bid as a direct overcall (which will be discussed in a later section).
1 NT Escape Bids
However, if your partner has <10 HCP, it is time for evasive action! The evasive action is defined by partnership agreement and generally has to be alerted, and explained upon request, to the opponents.
The simplest escape bid is for partner to bid their longest and strongest suit. Opener is expected to pass. The problem is that you may end up with just 6 trumps between you. Partner’s longest suit is a 4 card Diamond suit, and you happen to have a doubleton in Diamonds. Life is not good in this case.
A more sophisticated, and more complex, agreement that we can use is the Meckwell Escapes, named after the well know national partnership called Meckwell. That agreement is as follows:
Opener: 1NT LHO: Double :Responder (partner): ??
Escape bids: Pass Responder has a 5 card minor or 2 4 card majors, request opener bid 2C 2C Responder has 4C and a higher 4 card suit 2D Responder has 4D and a higher 4 card suit 2H Responder has 5H 2S Responder has 5S
If Responder passed, and there is no intervening bid by opponents, opener bids 2C. If that is the minor suit held by Responder, Responder will pass. If Responder holds a 5 card Diamond sit, the Responder will bid 2D. If Responder has 2 4 card majors, Responder will bid 2H and opener can pass or correct to 2S.
If Responder bids 2C or 2D, if opener is happy with it opener passes. Otherwise opener bids the next higher suit and Responder either passes or corrects to the actual other suit.
If Responder bids 2H or 2S, opener passes. This agreement is guaranteed to find a 7 card trump fit at the 2 level, and often an 8 card fit. Of course if the opponents intervene with a bid, then the opener and Responder shut up! The partnership is now out of trouble and has escaped!
Occasionally it will be the RHO of the opener who will double after opener’s partner has passed. In this case opener passes, and if LHO passes, Responder executes the same agreement except that a pass is replaced by a redouble. In this case the redouble cannot mean partner has 10+ HCP because it that were so partner would have bid the first time rather than pass.
OK, now that the risky part has been handled, let’s talk about normal constructive bidding in response to an opening 1NT.
