Rebids Without a Fit for Responders Major Suit
NT First. With a five card minor, a minimum hand and no fit for responders major, rebid the minor only if there is good reason to believe 1 NT shouldn't be the contract. Usually this will occur in hands with 9+ cards in the minors and a singleton major:
All such bidding depends on the distribution among the minor suits, and, to a lesser degree, stoppers in the majors. Except for a reverse (1 § followed by 2¨'s), this limits openers hand, and responder should choose the contract.
Rebid Table
ª
© ¨ § 2
1 5 5 3
1 5 4 These two hands should rebid in the minors
2
2 4 5 1NT with major suit stoppers, otherwise 2§'s 3
3 5 2 1NT with major suit stoppers, otherwise 2¨'s 2
4 5 2 1
3 5 4 These two should rebid 1 NT over 1 Spade Subsequent Bidding. Any further bid by responder over 1 NT or a (non-reverse) minor suit rebid indicates a strong hand by responder because opener has limited his hand. Opener will stretch to bid 1NT in preference to 2 of a minor, even with poor 'stoppers', so responder should be careful about carrying on depending on major suit stoppers from opener.
(c) Robert D. McConnell, 1998 All Rights Reserved