2♦(Waiting) - Can be a poor hand (0-6) or a positive hand (7+) where responder saves bidding space by 'Waiting'.
2♠ - Shows a 5 or longer card ♠ suit in a positive hand.
2NT - Shows 8-10 balanced.
3NT - Shows 11-12 balanced.
My thought processes were as follows:
a) 2♦ saves space but it might be hard to catch up later in the auction. If you bid 2♦ partner bids 3♣.
b) 2♠ shows a 5 card ♠ suit but the suit is poor but it does have an honour, but the hand is balanced so partner might expect a better suit, and/or a more unbalanced hand. Again, if you bid 2♠, partner says 3♣ next.
c) 2NT - Downgrade the hand slightly due to the number of small cards.
d) 3NT - It's a balanced 11 count with an honour in each suit, so the bid is descriptive and meets our criteria.
What do you feel is the best bid given the circumstances? And as always, thank you for your replies in advance. Here is the hand:-
EDIT: We're playing basic 2/1 (three weak twos) with the 2♣ opening bid as a virtually unconditional Game Force, requiring responder to have very little to make game.
-- 2♦(Waiting) - Can be a poor hand (0-6) or a positive hand (7+) where responder saves bidding space by 'Waiting'.
-- 2♠ - Shows a 5 or longer card ♠ suit in a positive hand.
-- 2NT - Shows 8-10 balanced.
-- 3NT - Shows 11-12 balanced.'
I rank
1. 2♠ = NAT, descriptive, and economical.
2. 3NT = NAT and descriptive. Consumes more space but is fine if we can still find a 5-3 ♠ fit
3. 2NT = NAT but a master-minding underbid.
4. 2♦ = ART Waiting. But we seem to have no compelling reason to take control.