Weak 2 Bids
A weak 2 bid contains the following characteristics
- 6-11 HCP 6 cards in the suit bid
- solid honors in the suit bid (2 of the top three, or three of the top five)
- No more than one outside ace or king
- Bid shows a one suited hand – both descriptive and preemptive
Partner should know 80-90% of your hand in one bid. Much like when you open 1NT your hand is very well defined when you open a weak 2. Compare that to a 1
opening which may have 3-8 clubs, and 11-20 HCP.
If it is their hand, you force them to start describing their hand at the two or three level which makes it far more difficult to arrive at the correct contract. You should not have a side 4 card major (side four card minor OK). You should want partner to lead your weak 2 suit on defense
A raise of the weak 2 is the only NON-Force
This explanation here uses Ogust responses to 2NT and 3 asking for an outside feature. There are many conventions to play when partner opens a weak 2 bid. This is only one of them.
WEAK 2
2
/2
natural, forcing for one round.
- 2NT shows no fit but a non minimum
- 3 shows a second suit (could be good hand and 3+ card suit)
- 3 is a weak hand
- 3/3 shows Hx or xxx
- 2 - 2 - 3/4/4 and 2 - 2 - 4/4/4 are splinters (often 4-card fit)
- 2 - 2 - 4 and 2 - 2 - 4 shows a good fit (no shortness or hand too bad to show shortness)
2NT asks Opener to rate his hand
- 3 is a bad suit and bad hand
- 3 is a bad suit, good hand
- 3 shows a 4 card suit in spades, HCP unspecified
- 3 shows a 4 card suit in hearts, HCP unspecified
- 3NT shows a good suit (usually AKQ, AKJ, AQJ)
3 asks for a NT stopper (any suit outside diamonds) (doesn't have to be A or K)
3 is preemptive (fit not necessarily good!)
3NT is to play
4 is an asking bid, Special RKCB. Responses are:
- 1st step - 0 keycards
- 2nd step - 1 without the Queen
- 3rd step - 1 with the Queen
- 4th step - 2 without the Queen
- 5th step - 2 with the Queen
4/4 is to play
WEAK 2
2 natural, forcing for one round
- 2NT is no fit, but a non-minimum
- 3/3 is a second suit (could be good hand and 3+ card suit)
- 3 is a weak hand
- 3 shows Hx or xxx
- 4/4 is a splinter (often 4-card fit)
- 4 good fit (no shortness or hand too bad to show shortness)
2NT asks Opener to rate his hand
- 3 is bad suit and bad hand OR good suit and good hand. 3 asks for further description.
- 3 is bad suit bad hand
- 3 shows 2 of top 3 honors, good hand
- 3NT is good suit good hand with 6 hearts and 4 spades
- 4/4 good suit good hand 6-4
- 3
- 3 - intermediate hand (7-8 HCP)
- 3 - good suit (2 of top 3 honors), bad hand
- 3 - bad suit, good hand
- 3NT - solid suit (AKQ)
- 4/4 shows 6-5 (rare)
- 4 - 7 card suit (rare)
3 asks for a NT stopper (any suit outside hearts) (doesn't have to be A or K)
3 - natural, Forcing for one round
3 - preemptive
3NT is to play
4 is an asking bid, Special RKCB. Responses are:
- 1st step - 0 keycards
- 2nd step - 1 without the Queen
- 3rd step - 1 with the Queen
- 4th step - 2 without the Queen
- 5th step - 2 with the Queen
4 to play
WEAK 2
2NT asks Opener to rate his hand
- 3 bad suit and bad hand OR good suit and good hand. 3 asks for further description
- 3 shows 2 of top 3 honors, good hand
- 3 is bad suit bad hand
- 3NT is good suit good hand with 6 spades and 4 hearts
- 4/4 is good suit good hand 6-4
- 3
- 3 intermediate hand (7-8 HCP)
- 3 is bad suit, good hand
- 3 is good suit (2 of top 3 honors), bad hand
- 3NT shows a solid suit (AKQ)
- 4/4 shows 6-5 (rare)
- 4 - 7 card suit (rare)
3 asks for a NT stopper (any suit outside spades) (doesn't have to be A or K)
3/ natural, Forcing for one round
3 preemptive
3NT is to play
4 is an asking bid, Special RKCB. Responses are:
- 1st step - 0 keycards
- 2nd step - 1 without the Queen
- 3rd step - 1 with the Queen
- 4th step - 2 without the Queen
- 5th step - 2 with the Queen
4 to play.
3-LEVEL INTERFERENCE OVER 2NT ASKING BID
2/2/2 - (Pass) - 2NT - (3X)
- Pass minimum
- DBL Hxx or better in overcaller's suit (could be Jxxx, but not Jxx)
Bid natural and non-minimum
2/2/2 - DBL or 2X) ??
- 2NT - invitational with a fit
- RDBL - good hand
Examples:
8 KQJ85 952 K104
This is a perfect weak 2 in my opinion. Open 2 in any seat and any vulnerability if there hasn’t been any bidding by the opposition. This hand has high suit quality, the right amount of defense, and one outside king. Unfortunately, you only get the perfect hand dealt to you once a year, so most weak 2 decisions aren’t as easy as this.
AQJ765 87 5 J1054
Open 2. Even though you have four clubs, it is better to open 2 and describe your hand immediately to partner. This hand has very nice spades and reasonable shape. It is a solid 2 opener.
J87643 KQ 87 1054
Pass. Even though you are within the 6-11 HCP range, your spades are anemic and you don’t necessarily want a spade lead. If partner opens, you plan to bid 1 followed by 2 which shows 6-9 points, six + spades and a hand that could not open a weak two for some reason (either poor suit quality, too much defense, or a side suit that way too good to potentially squelch).
AQJ854 K10 J2 432
Open 2 – this is about as good a hand as you want to have for a weak 2.
A105 AK10975 6 1093
Open 1. This hand has much too much defense and power for a weak 2. If you add your HCP (11) plus length points (2), you get enough to open at the one level. You should never open a hand with two aces with a weak 2.
KQ2 876432 KJ5 107
Pass. Don’t even think about opening 2. Your hearts are an embarrassment!
KQ76 KJ10954 75 9
Pass. Even though your hearts possess the proper suit quality for a weak 2, your spades are too good to preempt the auction. Holding ten cards in the majors, you are likely to win the auction without preempting, and so you shouldn’t give up on finding a spade fit with partner.
Partner opens 2 and right hand opponent passes: You hold:
AK1065 4 A65 9843
Pass. Partner has a one suited hand with hearts, and you hold a likely misfit. Pass and hope that partner makes 2.
AKQ754 105 A943 6
Bid 2. If partner raises to 3, you can bid 4 and expect to make it. If partner bids 3, bid 5. If partner bids 3, bid 4.
A103 J984 A10543 8
Bid 4. You expect to make this contract easily opposite a weak 2 from partner.
974 J984 106543 8
Bid 4 again. Even though it may not make, the opponents have at least a game and maybe a slam in a black suit with their 30+ points. Your 4 bid forces them to start describing their hand at a high level. If they double and you go down one or two, it figures to be a very good board versus their game or even slam.
A76 J6 AJ543 A87
Bid 2NT. If partner can show a feature outside of the heart suit, 4 figures to make. If partner can’t, you will have a reasonable dummy for 3 with your three entries and side suit.
K76 2 AQ AKQJ942
Bid 3NT. Partner won’t have the values to make 6 after opening 2 (expecting only one outside ace or king). Note that the preemptor (the one who bid 2) is not being asked to choose a game here, he or she should trust partner’s choice and pass 3NT regardless of his or her weak 2.
AKQJ6543 A7 J54
Bid 4, which assigns the final contract. A good partner will have something useful such as Q10x of clubs.