[Quantumcat]

At my club last night a pair got to a bad game when one decided to pass her 12 count, the other opened, then the one who passed regretted doing so and bid game. She said "I'm not supposed to open 12s" when she put dummy down, then at the end of the hand when 3NT was one off, she said, "It was SUCH a good 12! How could I not bid game?" the two statements contradict a little.

Here is a question to ask yourself if you are deciding whether to open or pass a balanced 11-12 count.

If my partner was dealer and opened, would I force to game with my hand? Or would I just invite, then if partner didn't accept the invitation, respect that and leave it there?

If you would just invite, then don't open. If you would force to game, then open.

This is so partner can safely open a little light in 3rd seat with his 10-count or whatever and not worry about ending up in a stupid game contract, when his partner had passed an opening hand. It is also so he can safely reject an invitation knowing that your "maximum passed hand" is not really worth an opening hand.

The sorts of balanced 11-12 counts that are worth forcing to game opposite an opening bid would be ones with very good five-card suits with some middle cards in it (jacks, tens, nines), every high card contributing (i.e. no queen doubletons, jack thirds), etc.

Ones that are only worth an invitation would be 4333s, hands with bad five card suits with few middle cards (JT987 is better than A6543), and hands with queens and jacks spread over the whole hand.

Also, once you make your decision that your hand is only worth an invitation opposite an opening bid, don't change your mind unless your hand improves very much (e.g. they open 1♥ and you have ♥Q97 which you originally thought was a bad holding. Now it's a good one).

All this advice only applies to balanced hands. Unbalanced ones have good prospects of a fit, and good prospects of improving beyond their HCP count. Balanced hands have less prospect of improving, so you can usually judge their worth right away.

[Siegmund]

I have to disagree with this advice:

Quote

If you would just invite, then don't open. If you would force to game, then open.

The question to ask yourself is "can I describe my hand better by opening it, or by passing and then responding after partner opens?" A lot of people have a serious shortage of invitational non-fit bids after partner opens -- no natural 2m bids, either forced to jump to 2NT with 11s opposite possibly-light 3rd seat openings, or no natural 2NT bid either.

There are a LOT of 11-point hands where I would rather see the auction go 1m-1M-1NT than pass-1M-2NT (or whatever.) The details depend on your choice of system toys.

If you play Drury and have 3-card support for the majors, or if you don't play Drury and don't have 3-card support for a major, or your hand is so weak you're willing to respond a nonforcing notrump to partner's opening, then yes, pass it.

[ggwhiz]

I do very well by passing all non-descript 11's and 4 triple 12's where 2nt (as opposed to 3nt) is often the right final contract.

If it's a 1st seat pass you can't go beyond 2nt though and a 2nt bid by a passed hand does show this.

[Hanoi5]

There's a lot of remorse bidding and playing in bridge, people should learn to trust their partners and their own decisions. If you decided not to open a 12-count and your hand has not improved, why get to a game on your own if partner can't help you?

[JLOGIC]

How about just never passing with 12? That is such an easy one and is totally fine.