Responding to 1NT after intervention

Responding to 1NT after your Opponents Double

The trouble with opponents is that they often get in the way of our nice, straightforward systems by bidding before we get the chance to describe our hands. You’ll need to know what to do when this happens after partner’s 1NT opening, just as you do for suit openings.

Try some hands

Hand 1

After your opponents double partner’s 1NT, you need to decide whether to run away or not. In the play, you can consider which opponent has shown a lot of points to figure out where the honours might be.

Hand 2

When partner gets doubled, you once again need to decide the right bid, this time only with a five-card suit. You will have to pick which way to finesse clubs: are there any clues in the bidding?

Hand 3

After the predictable double, you want to find the best bid to punish the opponents now that you have a strong hand this time. When choosing how to finesse diamonds, remember that the hands will have switched round so you declare!

Hand 4

This time, the opponents find their escape. How should you bid from here?

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Responding to 1NT after Opponents Double

Question 1/5

Penelope has opened 1NT and Boris has shown a strong hand (16+ points) by doubling. What should Walter bid?

Walter's hand is weak, which isn't great news, but he has no five card suit of his own to run to, so he just has to pass and hope that his partner can cobble together 7 tricks.

Same start to the auction. What should Walter bid this time?

When partner has been doubled for penalty in 1NT you know things are going to be bad for them if your hand is very weak. If you have a suit of 5 or more cards then you should bid it, as the hand will play better in a trump suit, even if opener has only two cards in the suit. They will be able to take some tricks in the weak hand, and that will enable them to take finesses, rather than always leading out of their own hand. Because Walter didn't start with redouble, Penelope knows he can't have enough for them to be in game so she will pass this weak rescue bid.

Not much variety in the start of the auction in this quiz. What should Walter bid here?

Penelope has shown a minimum of 15 points, so Walter knows that he and his partner have the majority of the points, and Ophelia has nothing. He shows this by starting with a redouble. If everyone passes, and Penelope plays in 1NT redoubled and makes just seven tricks, she will get a very nice score. If Boris or Ophelia try to escape this outcome by bidding another contract, then Penelope and Walter can choose to double them for penalty, or bid to their own contract.

Going a little further with that same auction, Boris is nervous at the prospect of his opponents making a redoubled contract, and has decided to try to play in 2♣ instead. What should Walter bid?

With such a balanced hand, there is no clear way forward to a good contract for his side from Walter’s perspective. He should double to tell Penelope that he thinks they will defeat Boris’s 2♣ contract and she can then decide whether to take the penalty score or bid on.

With the same start to the auction, and Boris again attempting to escape to a 2♣ contract, what should Walter bid here?

Walter has a very nice 9 points here. With only a singleton club, he's not interested in doubling 2♣ for penalty. He knows that Penelope must have at least two hearts, so they have heart fit and with 15 points in his partner's hand, game looks like a pretty good bet. If he were to bid 2♥ it would look to Penelope like he had a slightly weaker hand - something like five hearts and six points.

The links will take you to the Bridge Training website, where you can have a go at responding. You will then be able to play the hands and see if you can make your contract. Have as many goes as you like if you don’t succeed the first time.