This Week in Bridge
(637) Hand Type - Balanced and Unbalanced Hands
©AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 3 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
We define bridge hands into two general categories: Balanced and Unbalanced hands. This classification is called Hand Type. Early in the auction, one of the most important pieces of information we can communicate to partner is our hand type. It is easier for the Opener to communicate this information (as the bidding is designed more for this). Let’s look at how this is accomplished.
Balanced Hands
Balanced hands are “flat hands.” These hands have no singletons or voids. They also have no more than one doubleton. There are only three balanced hand distributions:
4333
4432
5332
Balanced hands are the easiest kind of hand to describe in the bidding. Opener usually describes this hand type by opening or rebidding an appropriate level of NT.
Example 1
Hand Strength Bidding Sequence with Balanced Hands
· 12-14 pts Open a suit at the 1-level and rebid 1NT (Ex. 1♣-1♠-1NT)
· 15-17 pts Open 1NT
· 18-19 pts Open a suit at the 1-level and rebid 2NT (Ex. 1♣-1♥-2NT)
· 20-21 pts Open 2NT
· 22-24 pts Open 2♣ and rebid 2NT
· 25-26 pts Open 2♣ and rebid 3NT
Some Balanced Hand Issues
1NT vs. 1-Major
With a balanced hand containing a 5-card Major and 15-17 points, we have a choice between opening 1M and 1NT. This used to be a difficult decision. There are many things that we may take into account in trying to decide whether to open 1NT or 1-Major – type of points, stoppers, strength of long suit, length of other Major, etc. We can try to take all of these things into account, but the modern approach is to open 1NT whenever possible. When we can describe our hand type and strength to partner completely in one bid, we should strive to do so. This will greatly simplify the rest of our auction!
2NT vs. 1-Major
With a 5-card Major and 20-21 points it is best to open 2NT. The rebids to describe this many points are just too difficult to do anything else. Also, if we open 1M with so many points, we will too often play there (when partner passes 1M) while we can often make 3NT!
Minimum Balanced Hands (12-14 pts) with a 5-card Major
Balanced minimum hands (12-14 pts) with a 5-card Major can be a bit more difficult to describe because partner will sometimes not allow us to rebid 1NT. When we open 1M, partner will often either bid 1NT himself or bid at the 2-level. In either of these situations, we tend to make the most descriptive rebid possible to describe our hand to partner. If we play 1NT Semi-Forcing, then we can often Pass Responder’s 1NT bid.
Hand Type vs. Shape Rebids
When an auction begins 1m-1♥ and we have a 4-card ♠ suit and a balanced 12-14 pts, we have a choice between bidding 1♠ or 1NT. Rebidding 1♠ tells partner that we have a 4-card ♠ suit and not much else about our hand, while rebidding 1NT tells partner that we have a balanced minimum opening hand (12-14 pts.) Deciding which piece of information to communicate to partner is often a difficult decision. There are many auctions where Opener faces these types of decisions – where he must choose between communicating hand type or specific shape information. Generally speaking, hand type is the more important piece of information to communicate to partner, especially when we are 4333.
Unbalanced Hands
Unbalanced hands are hands that have a singleton or a void. These hands either have one long suit or more frequently, two or three suits. Some common unbalanced hand distributions are below:
Single-Suited Hands Two-Suited Hands Three-Suited Hands
6331 5431 4441
7321 5521 5440
7330 6421
8221 5530
6430
The way that we bid these unbalanced hands is to bid our suits naturally. As a general rule, we open our longest suit and next we rebid our second-longest suit. We have a few rules that govern the way in which we bid suits, but we strive to bid naturally. See 5-card Majors, Reverses, Jump Shifts, Which Suit to Open.
With balanced hands, we can narrowly define the strength of the hand based on Opener’s initial bid or his rebid (12-14 pts, 15-17 pts, 18-19 pts, etc.) In contrast, with unbalanced hands we must communicate our shape (suits) and thus are often unable to give such detailed information about the strength of the hand. This often makes unbalanced hands far more difficult to bid than balanced ones.
Example 2
When we have a balanced hand with primary ♦, we have 4 bids that show our strength below a 2♣ opener:
· 1♦ then rebid 1NT 12-14 pts
· Open 1NT 15-17 pts
· 1♦ then rebid 2NT 18-19 pts
· Open 2NT 20-21 pts
Example 3
When we have an unbalanced hand with ♦ and ♣, we only have two bids to show all 4 of these different hand strengths:
· 1♦ then rebid 2♣ 11-17 pts (both 12-14 and 15-17 pt ranges above)
· 1♦ then rebid 3♣ 18+ pts (both 18-19 and 20-21 pt ranges above.)
Some Unbalanced Hand Issues
When Not to Open Our Longest Suit
Most of the time we strive to open our longest suit. But there are times, particularly with unbalanced hands, where opening our longest suit can lead to difficulties. The reason that we open “abnormally” with some hands is that we must plan ahead – make sure that we have a convenient rebid. Most frequently, we can’t bid our suits naturally because we do not have the strength to reverse.
Example 4
♠ 6
♥ A83
♦ AQ75
♣ QJ732
With this hand, if we open 1♣ and partner responds 1♠, we have no good rebid. 2♦ would be a reverse (showing extra strength – 16+ pts,) 1NT would show a balanced hand, and 2♣ would promise a 6-card suit. The way we deal with this problem is by not opening 1♣; with this hand, we open 1♦, leaving us a nice rebid of 2♣.
How to Show Extra Strength
When we have a non-minimum (15+ pts) unbalanced hand, we need to find a way to show our extra values. If we have a very strong hand, we can make a jump shift (or a reverse if appropriate.) But when our hand is not strong enough to make a jump shift (15-17 pts), we can’t show our extra values on our first rebid.
Example 5
♠ 4
♥ Q9
♦ AQJ74
♣ KQJ63
With this hand, we open 1♦ and when partner responds 1♠, we rebid 2♣ - showing 11-17 pts and usually at least 9 cards in the minors. If partner passes we hope that we are in a good contract (and we should be.) If partner corrects back to 2♦ after our 2♣ rebid, then we get a chance to bid again. We next bid 3♣, showing our additional shape and extra values (we would pass 2♦ with a minimum hand.)
Opener Responder
1♦ 1♠
2♣ 2♦
3♣ 15-17 pts with at least 5-5 in the minors
Note: When Responder rebids 2♦, he shows 6-9 pts. When we rebid 3♣, we show our extra shape and strength, inviting Responder to bid a game with 8-9 pts.
Semi-Balanced Hands
Some of the most difficult bridge hands are neither balanced nor unbalanced. These hands are called semi-balanced hands – they have no singleton or void, but have more than one doubleton. The distributions are:
· 5422
· 6322
· 7222 (more rare)
These hands may be treated as either balanced or unbalanced. We choose between bidding our suits (treating them as unbalanced) or bidding NT (treating them as a balanced hand.) We make this decision based on the “type of cards” we hold. See Hand Evaluation.
Example 6
♠ AK82
♥ 95
♦ 76
♣ AKQ92
We treat this 16 HCP, semi-balanced hand as a “two-suited” hand and open 1♣, planning to rebid 1♠. This looks much more like an unbalanced than a balanced hand.
Example 7
♠ KQ75
♥ Q6
♦ K4
♣ KQJ82
We treat this 16 HCP, semi-balanced hand as a balanced hand and just open 1NT. This hand looks more balanced with its values more spread out and we strongly wish to declare a notrump contract from our side.
Note: Many of the same problems related to balanced and unbalanced hands apply to semi-balanced hands.
Conclusion
By considering our hand type before choosing an opening bid we can make a “prepared rebid”. This allows us to think about partner’s most common responses and make sure that we can handle the auction that is likely to come. If you are considering an opening bid that will leave you a bidding problem, then it is worthwhile to consider a different opening bid that would avoid this difficult problem in the middle of the auction. Categorize your hand and make a plan before start the auction and you will avoid many difficult bidding problems.