Unusual 2 No Trump bridge convention

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The unusual 2 No-Trump bid is a defensive bid and an attempt to steal the bid away from opponents who probably have the majority of the high-card points – or at least they’ve opened the auction with a bid.

The unusual 2 No Trump bid is really in essence a variation of the Michaels overcall convention. Under Michaels, a direct overcall in the opening bidder’s minor suit means “I have both majors” and a direct overcall in a major means “I have the other major and a minor.” The unusual 2 NT bid covers the other possibility, which is “I have both minors.”

If the first opponent to bid after a 1 opening in a major by the opposing side (1 Spade or 1 Heart) bids 2 No Trump, this means: “I have both minors.” He/she is supposed to have at least five Clubs and five Diamonds. Point count is not that important since this bid is used only for distributional hands that derive their value from extreme shortness in the opponents” suit(s), but an unusual 2 NT bidder is expected to have at least 7-8 high-card points. He/she may count distributional points from voids and/or singletons toward that total.

The bid asks the partner of the unusual 2 No Trump bidder to pick the best of his/her minor suits at the 3 level. If they are equal, pick the lower one (Clubs) to give partner a chance to correct to Diamonds if that’s what he/she really wants.

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