Great Bidding Discussion

Janet Anderson recently sent a message out on our EBC Google Group asking about bidding of a hand in a recent club game. The topic was when would you open a five-card major holding a 15-17 balanced hand (vs a 1NT opening). The responses by our members were excellent and provide some valuable nuances to this situation.

Here is the hand and how it was bid at our club:

Here is the feedback:

From Josh Rosenbluth:

I prefer 1NT whenever I can with 15-17, but I don’t have a problem with 1S either.

From Ginny Stark:

Steve opened 1NT. I bid 2C, Stayman. He bid 2S. I bid 3NT.
Like Josh, we prefer 1NT with 15-17, unless the 5 card major is “chunky” & you’re wide open in 2 other suits.

From Don:

1NT.

From Laurie Rowe:

I would open 1nt also. If I have a good 17 count I will open 1 major because then I can rebid 2nt.  Also holding 3 of other major makes it easy as you don’t feel bad when transferred to other major.  In this hand after 1 s 1 nt , 2 c need to rebid 2 nt.

From Carole Schmitz:

I learned a long time ago that you only have one chance to show a balanced hand with a point count of 15-17.  I looked at bd 25 and the spade suit is not strong and you had 15 points so I agree the bid should be 1NT.  If I had a hand with a strong spade suit (AKJxx for instance) and maybe two unprotected suits with 15 points, I’d open 1S.

From John Cissel:

IMO, the key is to think ahead to your second bid. With 5332 shape and 15 HCP east does not have a good second bid consistent with their values after opening 1S. That is almost always true with 5332 shape, unless you have a good 17 HCP sufficient to bid 2NT over 1NT as Laurie suggests. With a 5422 shape and 15-17 HCP then it depends on where your values are. If you can rebid a lower ranking suit with 4-card length and your values are in those suits, then opening the major and rebidding the 4-card suit is probably best; that is where you live, and rebidding a new suit does not deny extra values. If your two long suits are weak and your two short suits are where your values are then 1NT may be best.; e.g., AQ and Kx in your short suits.

Thanks to all who took the time to respond!