Better Bridge in Barry County March 14 2013

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  A 10 4 ♥  10 9 7 ♦  K 6 3 ♣  A Q J 4
West ♠  Q 8 7 5 ♥  2 ♦  Q 8 2 ♣  K 9 6 5 3		East ♠  K J 9 2 ♥  8 6 5 4 ♦  A J 10 ♣  8 2
	South ♠  6 3 ♥  A K Q J 3 ♦  9 7 5 4   ♣  10 7

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

East North/South 2♦

 

North   1♣ 1NT 3♥	East Pass Pass Pass Pass	South Pass 1♥ 2♦(1) Pass	West Pass Pass Pass Pass
(1)   Alert: New Minor Force

 

In today’s column, let us look at the eighth and final convention in our eight-week series The Eight Bridge Conventions You Should Know. Called New Minor Forcing, it is a modern convention that originated in two earlier conventions, Checkback Stayman, popular in the United States, and Crowhurst, developed by Eric Crowhurst, a popular convention used in the United Kingdom. What is New Minor Forcing? How do you use it in your bridge arsenal? Let’s take a look at today’s hand and the bidding that will shed some clues on New Minor Forcing.

With three passes around the table, North opted to open the bidding with 1♣, promising as we have seen numerous times, an opening hand of at least 13 points and at least three clubs. With South looking at a solid heart suit, it is easy to see that South had an easy bid of 1♥. Playing Standard American as most modern players now do, all North could be sure of was that South had at least four hearts and at least six points. That hardly tells the story here, however.

North’s hand is a minimum hand with no four-card major in spades. The only open bid for North, then, is 1NT, informing South that his hand is minimum. South, however, has two things to tell North at this next bid: “Partner, I have a five-card heart major, and I have at least 10-11 points in my hand. Support my hearts if you have three of them.” How will South convey that important message to her partner North?

Enter the New Minor Forcing Convention. It works like this: With at least 10-11 points in the Responder’s hand, and a five-card major, the Responder (South) bids the unbid minor. In this case, the unbid minor is diamonds, and it has become known as New Minor Forcing Convention. South bids 2♦. This tells Partner North that instead of four hearts and six points, she actually has at least five hearts and 10-11 points. What a difference in meaning!

Because this is a convention that not everyone plays and is familiar with, as it is a partnership agreement, North must announce to the East/West team that this bid is unusual. North does this by either announcing the word “Alert” as soon as South bid the 2♦, or, if using bidding boxes, to pull the Alert card out of the box, place it on the table, and verbally announce “Alert” to the opponents. The opponents have the right to ask what the 2♦ bid means. It has nothing to do with diamonds and has its own special meaning. North must explain the bid to the East/West opponents so that they have an understanding of the bid.

Once the opponents have passed, North’s responsibility is to bid the hearts if he has three of them. In today’s hand, North/South have found a Golden Fit in the heart suit, and that seems to be the best place to put the contract. With 14 high-card points, North readily bids the heart suit. Perhaps North was a bit too enthusiastic by bidding 3♥, but South is able to put the brakes on the bidding by passing and playing the contract at 3♥. Without the New Minor Forcing Convention, it is unlikely that the North/South team would have found the heart fit together. The NMF helps find a fit when the Responder has the five-card major and wants to find out if partner has at least three cards of trump support. In addition, there needs to be enough points, usually 10-11 or more, before New Minor Forcing is utilized.

What if North does not have three-heart support to go with the five hearts in the South hand? It could and does happen all the time. In that case, a retreat to 2NT handles the artificial bid of 2♦. Since the New Minor Forcing is a forcing bid, do not pass your partner when she bids 2♦. You will be looking for a new partner if you do so. Instead accept the fact that your partner has informed you of at least a five-card heart suit and at least 10-11 points in her hand.

In the play of the hand, with a diamond lead, it is easy to see that while North was enthusiastic and wanted to go on to game in hearts, it was the prudent South who had the requisite number of points but they are all in hearts and not much else to add to the partnership nor to the contract. As it turns out, 3♥ is just right, not too hot and not too cold, but just right. The Three Bears would like the New Minor Forcing Convention.

 

Gerald Stein

March 3, 2013

Number of words: 975

 

Local Bridge Class News: Beginning on April 9^th, 2013, the second in a series of American Contract Bridge Classes, “The Play of the Hand in the 21^st Century” will begin at the Kellogg Community College Technology Building on Hill Brady Road. This class will run from 6-8 PM. on Tuesday nights for eight weeks, finishing at the end of May. Call the Life Long Learning Program at KCC for further details and enrollment.