Weak Two Opener
Same Hand - Different Situation. Weak Two Opener, Weak Jump Overcall and Weak Jump Shifts -- we treat these three similarly as they are bid with the same hands, depending on your position at the table -- dealer, overcaller or responder.
Weak Two Opener situation: You deal and pick up:ª AKJxxx
© x
¨ xxx
§ xxx
Question What should you do ? A good Spade suit, but with few points and too short to preempt with the normal 3 Spades.
Answer: Preempt with Two Spades - Weak.
A Good Call. It's a complete description of your hand for your partner - a good suit and nothing else - and it takes away 8 bids from the opponents. (1§ thru 2© ). Your partner, if he has a good hand, can still bid intelligently, knowing you have one good suit and you won't bid again unless forced. Game is unlikely except in Spades, or Notrump if he needs Spade help. He can pass with a decent hand and may be able to penalize the opponents if they get overly ambitious. Not Weak Clubs. Weak Twos can be used with any suit except Clubs, although the preemptive value declines with the lower ranking suits. No one is afraid to bid against a weak Two Diamond bid, but it still preempts the entire one level where most opening level bidding takes place. They are especially useful in third seat, when partner has passed and it appears fourth hand may have the big hand at the table.If your partner has a good hand and wants to explore, he can bid 2 NT (artificial), which asks the Weak Two bidder to bid any "feature" which could be used for an entry at No Trump - an outside Ace or King. Lacking one, the Weak Two bidder rebids his weak suit and partner passes.
Responses to Weak Twos
Strength: 6 card suit, 6 - 10 HCP; to 12 HCP if partner has passed. Some play it guarantees two of the top three honors -- we don't.For example, with the above hand:
ª P 2NT* West wants to continue.N E S W
P 2
P 3
ª P P "No feature, West - let's play 3ª".
Usage: Very common, especially with Spades. Less so with Hearts and Diamonds, which are often used for other conventional bids, as we do.
Example Weak Two Opening Sequences
N
E
S
W P
2©
P
P West is happy to play 2©
2ª
Dbl
3ª
. . . South advances North's preempt.
P P 2
¨ . . . South is trying to hamper West who has the big hand. North will know what to lead, too.
P 2
ª 3§ . . . South shows a Club hand and some points.
P 2
© 2NT P3NT . . . South shows Heart stoppers North tries game.
2
ª Dbl P 3ª West uses the Western Cue, which means: "Bid 3NT with a Spade stopper, East" but . . .P 3NT 4
ª Dbl South decides to sacrifice and West penalizes N/S.