Inverted Minors

(Courtesy of Bob Crosby)

PITBULLS:

I think BJ Trelford had it right all along. One of a minor - 2NT should be a game force 13-15 HCP. This understanding keeps the bidding below 3NT for alternative game & slam exploration , which is the goal. This understanding allows contracts to be right sided for 3NT purposes. A jump to 3NT which pre-empts partner should be a picture bid of a flat NT opener with soft values. We hate partner forcing the auction to the 4 level ( via a jump to 3NT ) just to force to game. Bidding 2NT to force to game is far more civilized and fits in with slow arrival showing strength.

What should we do with the balanced invitational hands in the 10-12 HCP range ? These are the hands that should be slotted into the inverted minor structure and identified via a relay. After partner takes the inverted minor relay , 2NT shows this hand type. Quite often with these kind of hands , you have a minor fit with partner anyway.

Kx QJx 1098x KQxx partner opens 1C so you bid 2C which partner must relay to 2D. You follow up with 2NT and you have bid 1C-P-2NT invitational but it just took longer

OK , lets review our inverted minor structure. Inverted minors show all minor fits limit raise or better and include invitational NT hands in the 10-12 HCP range. Inverted minors with clubs , force a relay to 2D and inverted minors in diamonds force a relay to 2H. The first job after the relay is to identify the invitational hands. 2NT after the relay , shows the 10-12 HCP range and a simple return to the minor suit should show the non forcing limit raise hands.

OK lets use artificial bids after the relay to show the strong minor hands. We will distinguish between game forcing hands with 5 card support or 4 card support. Lets use the spade suit to show the 5 card raises forcing to game.

1C-P-2C-P - 2D-P-2S-P

1D-P-2D-P - 2H-P-2S-P

With clubs agreed we can use hearts to show the 4 card raise and the other minor ( clubs) after diamonds agreed to show the 4 card raise.

1C-P-2C - 2D-P-2H

1D-P-2D -2H-P-3C

The only other thing on the menu is that we break the relay with the flat hands 18-19 and bid 2NT. This understanding unclutters the inverted minor structure. Inverted minors only deal with game forcing hands in partners minor or invitational hands in NT & partners minor.

Having 1NT-P-2NT as a game force , simplifies auctions as we know that all bids are forcing so they can be interpreted as showing distribution for alternative game contracts or as slam tries. You can find 4-4 major fits via this structure if you following the Kokish notion that only responder can try for the major fit. Bidding 2NT with soft values and a 4 card major should be allowed.

Inverted Minors II

The minors are a subject in Bridge often neglected by partnerships. This is a serious oversight though , as minor slams and getting to the right game 3NT vrs 4 of a major is a tremendous source of IMPS. The corner stone of your minor structure should be inverted minors so lets start there. In order to play jump raises in the minors pre-emptive at all times , I like inverted minors to include the limit raises as well as the game forcing hands. Therefore you have an understanding that you can bail out at 3 of a minor to show the limit raise hands otherwise different bids result in a game force.

Some people play inverted minors deny a 4 card major. This is wrong , very wrong. If you want to force to game and have 5 or more of partners suit , make an inverted minor rather than bid your 4 card major. No amount of arguments will ever convince me you can play catch up to describe hands like xx AKxx AKxxx xx when you respond a heart to a partners diamond opener. You must go into contortions with 4th suit forcing and partner never gets a clear picture of your hand. Result usually is 3NT instead of +1370. In competition , Q bid the opponents suit showing a limit raise or better rather than bid your 4 card major also. Even more difficult to describe those big fit hands in competition.

OK if you do suppress 4 card majors with inverted minors , you have to have understandings made popular by Eric Kokish with his 1D/2C understandings. With these understandings , Kokish says only one side of the table is allowed to explore for 4-4 major fits. Although not as strict , you must have similar understandings with inverted minors. When the inverted minor responder initially bids a major , it is natural and 4-4 major fits are found that way. This means that the opening minor bidder does suppress 4 card majors with balanced hand rebids & major fits are found only by the other side of the table ( Kokish treatment ) . If the opening bidder does bid a major , he must be distributional with 5 or more in the minor or else he finds a different bid. 4-4 major fits can rarely be found this way also. NT probes are sacrificed in favour of natural major suit bidding. You can get to 4H with the above hand nicely by this simple auction. 1D-P-2D-P 2NT-P-3H-P 4H-P-P-P

If you have an invitational hand instead of a game force , do not suppress your 4 card major in lieu of an inverted minor. You have xx AKxx Kxxxx xx so respond a heart to partners diamond opener and jump in diamonds later to show the invitational range diamond hands. These invitational hands are shown later with toys like 2 way NMF and Wolffe relays. For example this hand is shown after a 2NT rebid by partner with this Wollfe sequence. 1D-P-1H-P 2NT-P-3C*-P 3D-P-3NT-P . By making a relay before bidding 3NT , you are making a mild slam try with partners minor.

OK borrowing a page from Kokish , here are some inverted minor understandings. All balanced opening hands are described by rebidding some number of NT after the inverted minor. The 15-17 range hands are out as they would have been bid by an original 1NT . The 2NT rebid after an inverted minor can hold up to two 4 cards majors and HCP's under a 1NT opener. The major fit , if any , is found by the other side bidding their major. A 3NT rebid is 18-19 a la Kokish and you have some KCB understandings after that bid. As stated previously , the inverted minor can bid a natural major but only with 5 of a minor & can even pattern out later. Jumps are splinters and the other minor is natural. Jumps in the agreed suit are KCB and a simple minor raise is not forcing as partner may only have an inverted raise over there. If you have a fear of wrong siding the NT ( say with this hand AJxx xx AQJx xxx ) , bid a non forcing 3D after an inverted minor rather than 2NT.

If partner returns to your agreed minor after a 2NT rebid , it is to play with an original limit raise hand. All other bids after the 2NT rebid mean the game force is in effect. Combining the limit raise hands with the inverted minor , in order to free the jump raises to be pre-emptive is not that big a hassle. Just having a few escape hatches work nicely.

Inverted Minors III

In IMPS , games and slams are paramount. You devise a system to meet those objectives. Here is a hand that shows this objective well. S Void H KJxxx D AKJ109x C Kx . Partner surprises you by opening 1D ! I have seen matchpoint players afraid to suppress a 4 card major in lieu of an inverted minor but I would bypass a 5 card major and bid an inverted minor with this hand !!

With my partners , an inverted minor forces a relay. They would bid 2H in this sequence but they are allowed to break the relay with exceptional hands. A flat 18-19 hand is one of these hands so partner bids 2NT. S KQx HAQx DQxxx CAQx . Knowing that partner has 18-19 HCP my objective is to get to a grand slam if it is biddable. Looking at a big hand with a void , exclusion Blackwood comes to mind. I bid 4S and using the 0314 method , partner bids 5H showing 2 Aces & trump queen outside the spade suit.

Now one of the advantages of modern KCB in any form is a suit asking bid . Forcing this hand to 6NT , I now bid 6H as a suit ask. The death response when partner goes beyond your 6 level contract is 6NT. Partner bids 6S saying she has the heart queen and you bid 7D and put your hand in the box before they lead. You announce to the opponents that partner has the diamond queen , the AQ of hearts and the Ace of clubs so you have 13 tricks. Do not let partner play this one !!

There are many ways to respond to exclusion Blackwood . Kantar just goes up the line but I do not like that as you have to use extra bids to find the queen. Kiz Fung has her own system that has the queen built into the responses with a maximum of two controls allowed to be shown. This is a good way in my opinion . Tom , BJ & I just flip KCB from 1430 to 0341 so we can have zero as the first step.