[mike777]

Strong Disagreement on this one today

1S-1NT
2H-2NT
3H?

Three hearts gf or not?

[blackshoe]

Shape showing, not forcing, but given the shown shape, a responder who can bid 2NT should not pass.

[apollo1201]

55 NF

Partner said it all.

If 11 HCP is all you need chose 3NT or 4H. I fear there is not too much space to do things naturally here…

[mike777]

Hmm

I still think 3h needs to be gf

I don't have any other force.

Why play in 5-2 fit at three level.

Partner had his 12 count.

[mikeh]

There is a simple solution.

In standard, there are good arguments for both nf and forcing…do you have a 5=5 majors with 15 hcp…forcing is best…or a 5=5 with 11 hcp…nf is best

Play transfers.

Over 2N, bid 3D and pass his 3M when you have the weak hand and bid 3N (choice of games); orv4M with the stronger hand.

With 6=4 majors, bid 3H.

With 5=4=1=3 or 5=4=9=4, bid 3S. With 5=4=3=1 or 5=4=4=0 bid 3C.

We play transfers over all natural, invitational 2 bids. Last week I held 3=5=3=2 with 8 hcp and partner opened 1S and raised my 1N to 2N. I bid 3D, transfer, then 3N. He pulled to 4H. 3N fails, 4H was cold

[apollo1201]

 mikeh, on 2026-September-20, 08:22, said:

There is a simple solution.

Play transfers.

Thanks Mike for this very useful twist. I said hard to find sth natural, but indeed, xfers are not too complicated to handle.

[P_Marlowe]

mike777, on 2026-September-19, 18:15, said:

Strong Disagreement on this one today

1S-1NT
2H-2NT
3H?

Three hearts gf or not?

NF.

But there is a reason, why peoble play Gazilli or similar methods.

[mike777]

Ty all as it turns out

I played 3H in 5-2 fit
A bit of miss defense got us a good bd.

In practice partner had not bid his hand correctly but this discussion came up.

[P_Marlowe]

mike777, on 2026-September-20, 16:51, said:

Ty all as it turns out

I played 3H in 5-2 fit
A bit of miss defense got us a good bd.

In practice partner had not bid his hand correctly but this discussion came up.

The reason I think NF is, that in theory, 2NT showes a balanced hand, i.e. 5 cards
in the major, given that he only has 2S, this would mean 3 cards in hearts,
and if you have are sure, that you have a 5-3, it makes sense to say, that 3H is forcing.

But I think the 2NT can also be made on some semi bal. hands with 54 in the minors, i.e.
the 5-3 in heart is not a given.

But obv. you could also say, why raise the level, if you are unsure about a fit, i.e. treating
it as NF makes no sense.

Did this cover both view points?

[bluenikki]

P_Marlowe, on 2026-September-21, 00:40, said:

\
But obv. you could also say, why raise the level, if you are unsure about a fit, i.e. treating
it as NF makes no sense.

How about when you doubt 2NT is making?

[P_Marlowe]

bluenikki, on 2026-September-21, 05:20, said:

How about when you doubt 2NT is making?

Possible, but do the odds improve, if you raise the level and play a partial missfit,
and in the process also telling the opp., that it is a tight contract?

[bluenikki]

P_Marlowe, on 2026-September-21, 06:21, said:

Possible, but do the odds improve, if you raise the level and play a partial missfit,
and in the process also telling the opp., that it is a tight contract?

It was not known to be a partial misfit. The 2NT bidder could well have three hearts.