[kereru67]

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Nice hand, but how to bid it? East is dealer, both vul. This hand is obviously too strong for a pre-empt, but it contains 5 losers, meaning it's a trick short of a 2♣ opening. On the other hand a 1♠ opening risks partner passing when 4♠ is making.

This hand would be a perfect Acol strong 2 opening, but even most Acol players don't use those anymore. Assuming this bid is not part of your system, how do you bid a hand like this?

[akwoo]

kereru67, on 2026-April-09, 11:15, said:

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Nice hand, but how to bid it? East is dealer, both vul. This hand is obviously too strong for a pre-empt, but it contains 5 losers, meaning it's a trick short of a 2♣ opening. On the other hand a 1♠ opening risks partner passing when 4♠ is making.

This hand would be a perfect Acol strong 2 opening, but even most Acol players don't use those anymore. Assuming this bid is not part of your system, how do you bid a hand like this?

These days, everyone (possibly except those who play a strong 1♣ system, and maybe even them) open this 1♠.

What hands could partner have that would pass when 4♠ is making? How specific (and hence unlikely) does it have to be? And if partner has that hand, will opponents both pass with 24 hcp between them?

(I do play a system where, after a 2♣ opening, it is possible to stop in 3♠. But I don't think this is worth a 2♣ opening even playing that.)

[apollo1201]

Some systems have 2 strong openings, one for almost GF hands and one for GF. They lose some possibilities to preempt and have become less popular.

Some use a 2C strong that does not necessarily (depending on some rebids) drive to game.

In all cases here with only 14 HCP the risk of 1S all pass is virtually nil. So 1S is plenty enough (for now). I guess you will follow with 3S then.

This 22 HCP hand (with a sg honor to discount a little) could be trickier at 1S, though as I guess it does not meet your 2C criteria.

AKJxx
AQx
Q
KQJx

[HardVector]

With just 14 hcp, don't worry about it going 1s-p-p-p, it won't happen. Just open 1s planning to rebid 4s when it comes back to you.

[pescetom]

Seems a fairly obvious 1♠ opening with almost any agreements.
Here in Italy people accept a "strong" 2♣ with anything that is willing to force to game, but I don't see how you might gain from that, in particular if partner can find a 2/1 in hearts you are off to the races.

[mikeh]

Imo what those who like to open 2C on strong playing hands with low hcp forget, or simply don’t understand, is that partner should be allowed to think and play a role in the auction.

I suspect everyone who plays this method plays with partners who are as weak as they are…that their partners generally don’t think or make decisions.

Most good players require at least a lot of hcp for 2C because they expect partner to base his or her bidding on the notion that 2C shows more than just a lot of tricks laying in ‘my suit’.

When partner is passive (ie non thinking) you can get away with opening 2C on playing strength but if your partner is truly your partner and not just your dummy then you will get too high when he has a strong hand with no good mesh or you’ll stay too low when he decides that you don’t really hold a 2C bid but, this time, you do hold 22 hcp and a 6 card suit

Meanwhile, as everyone has said…though more politely than I’m being….wtf are you talking about when you say opening 1S could lead to playing in 1S? Do you have anyone with a pulse sitting at the table?

Many bad players fixate on their hand to the exclusion of actually thinking about how the game is played.

We have 14 hcp and a seven card suit. In what universe is 1S getting passed out?

[johnu]

Partner will have to provide 2 winners to make 4♠. How often will partner pass 1♠ (and both opponents pass) with a hand that can provide 2 tricks to you?

On the other hand, if you open a strong 2♣, partner may raise you to 4♠ on a hand that will provide 0 or 1 trick to you in 4♠ based on some random honor cards. Or worse, partner will make a slam try and get too high with a smattering of honor cards in the minors and maybe ♥Q and/or J.

It looks to me that 2♣ has a lot more downsides than opening 1♠.

[kereru67]

OK I'm convinced, 1♠ is not going to get passed out, if partner doesn't bid the opponents will. It's unlikely that partner will raise ♠ or bid a 2/1, so if partner is bidding at all it's probably 1NT, and a direct 4♠ is justified if partner has 6 points. I suppose the more marginal cases are hands with more hcp, say 18-19, but still a trick short of a 2♣ opening.