[JLilly]

For those who play Standard American, 2/1, or some other similar natural 5-card major & strong 1NT system, do you use 2NT as a preemptive bid instead of 20-21 balanced? If so, why, and showing what? What bids show 20-21 balanced instead? If not, why not? And if you've tried and rejected it, what didn't you like about it? Thanks.

[keywords, since BBO's search won't accept "2NT": two no-trump, 2 no-trump, 20-21 hcp, 20-21 points]

[steve2005]

If your in ACBLand and your conventions are limited to GCC the most useful convention is a minor 2-suiter. You can use any strength that suits you.
If not limited you could use as a weak unnamed minor preempt.

[steve2005]

You can put 20+ balanced in with 2♣. you may have to use 3-pt range instead of 2-point.
2♣-2♦-2♥ Kokish is useful for showing more NT ranges, google Kokish.

[The_Badger]

JLilly, on 2017-August-22, 16:10, said:

For those who play Standard American, 2/1, or some other similar natural 5-card major & strong 1NT system, do you use 2NT as a preemptive bid instead of 20-21 balanced? If so, why, and showing what? What bids show 20-21 balanced instead? If not, why not? And if you've tried and rejected it, what didn't you like about it? Thanks.

[keywords, since BBO's search won't accept "2NT": two no-trump, 2 no-trump, 20-21 hcp, 20-21 points]

Google the search instead with something like "2NT opening minors BBO" or similar. It will provide a list of previous BBO posts on the subject.

[Tramticket]

I play 4-card majors and a weak NT, but I don't think that this is important to the discussion.

What is important is the other two-level bids. We cover balanced 21-22 in our multi 2D bid as well as the weak two in a major. We use 2H to show a 2-suited including hearts and our 2S bid to show a 2-suited including spades. 2NT is then used to show a weak 2-suited in the minors.

[Kungsgeten]

Putting more balanced hands into the 2♣ opening, and/or putting a balanced hand into the 2♦ opening (like a multi or a Mexican diamond) seems to be the way if you want to use 2NT as an artificial bid. Some who play a short club (where 1♣ is either natural or balanced) put a lot of NT ranges in there.

I do not play in America, and I know our 2NT opening isn't legal there, but here is what we do:

1. In first seat, when not vulnerable, we play it as a "bad preempt" in any suit. Our 3-level preempts are sound, so this allows us to open with some more hands while still maintaining the accuracy of the sound 3-level preempts. Ofcourse a 2NT preempt is easier to penalize and doesn't preempt as much as a direct 3-level bid would. I actually think it would be better to play it as a "bad preempt in a minor, or a good preempt in a major".

2. In third seat we play it as weak with at least 5-5 distribution in ANY two suits. When partner is a passed hand we (usually) do not need accuracy to find game, and this bid is hard to defend against. We can usually scramble into the right suit by pass/correct bids.

3. In other occasions (so first seat vulnerable, and second/fourth seat), we play it as weak with 5-5 in the majors or the minors. This is harder to defend against than when 2NT just show minors, but we can still bid with accuracy. The downside is that partner can't be sure which suits you have, so compared to 2NT as minors it isn't as easy to increase the preemptive effect.

[fromageGB]

JLilly, on 2017-August-22, 16:10, said:

[keywords, since BBO's search won't accept "2NT": two no-trump, 2 no-trump, 20-21 hcp, 20-21 points]

in your search engine, put
site:bridgebase.com 2NT
or you may limit it by
site:bridgebase.com 2NT open
if you want just the 2NT openings ("open" also gets "opening")

[gwnn]

2NT = ♥+m isn't bad.

[JLilly]

gwnn, on 2017-August-23, 05:37, said:

2NT = ♥+m isn't bad.

Hearts + minor is attractive, since it lets you have a structure like:

2♦ = diamonds (or some other use for 2♦)
2♥ = hearts and spades
2♠ = spades and a minor
2NT = hearts and a minor

Except for 2♠ over your 2♥, all of their cuebids eat up a lot of space for them. And in the case of your 2♥ being both majors, if partner has a fit you can still compete over their explorations at the three level post-2♠ cuebid. But unfortunately this 2NT isn't GCC-compliant

[JLilly]

Thanks, Fromage, for the search tip!

[gwnn]

Helene & I have played:

2C weak D or strong (C or H or S primary or some bal)
2D weak M or strong (D primary or some bal)
2H both majors, at least 4-4
2S both minors, at least 5-4 (2N asks allows for missing one card)
2N H+m, 55

I can't vouch for its efficiency but I guarantee it's fun. And yea not GCC compliant lol. Just bragging, mainly.

2N for minors, is that allowed? It's not great but it has its moments. And I seem to remember some American competitions allow 2N=really bad 3m opening, which is much more extreme than anything listed above (it's bona fide brown sticker).
Finally, since Gerben isn't here any more, I need to mention 2NT = 12-14 balanced. I can't recommend it with a straight face, but it's legal everywhere, and sometimes your opponents will be afraid of doubling you into game, or they might forget to double while they're busy ROFLing.

[blackshoe]

2NT for the minors is allowed. 2NT as a weak preempt in either minor is Mid-chart, 6+ board segments (I think).