Introducing Smolen for minors
Bidding 5-5 minor suit hands after partner's 1NT.
5-5 and weak
With 5-5 and 0-7 HCP, we'd like to act, find an 8-card minor fit, and play at the 3-level instead of passing 1NT. This is especially true when your minimal hand lacks probable entries to set up either minor in NT.
At this point, if you really dislike 1NT, we suggest transferring to your better minor and playing there.
When playing against the field, remember that pairs that don't play 3
as Puppet Stayman often bid 3♣ to show a weak 2-suited minor for opener to pass or correct. This generally makes it worth transferring to the minor rather than passing 1NT. The majority of the field may be in 3 of a minor.
5-5 and game values (27-31 combined points)
With 11-14 HCP, you can insist on a minor-suit game if you dislike 1NT. How should we tell our partner to bid 5 of a minor?
Bid 2 (stayman), yes, trust me.
The 2 bid is forcing; partner will tell you something about their hand. They'll respond 2
(no 4-card major) or 2 Major to show 4 (or 5) cards in that suit. A quick reminder: after the auction 1NT-2-2, we play Smolen. So, after 2 bidding, Spades or Hearts shows 4 cards in that suit and promises
5 in the other. What would bidding 3 or 3 mean in that auction?
Smolen for minors to show 5-5 in the minors. When an auction starts 1NT-2-2x, bidding 3 or 3 should promise a 5-5 shape hand. The 'standard' meaning would be a hand with a 4-card major (which partner didn't hit with their bid) and a 5-card minor. It would also promise game values. However, if we have game values and a 5-card minor, we'd use our Puppet Stayman bid to first ask/check for a 5-3 major-suit fit. In the unusual case of doubletons in both majors and a 5-card minor (5422 shape), we'll probably bid 3NT instead. So, we haven't lost any ground in taking away this 'standard' approach.
Bidding 3 of a minor after using Invitational Stayman shows a hand worth a minor game and warns partner that 3NT is likely only if they have double stoppers in the majors.
Backtrack to Invitational hands 8-10 HCP
These are the awkward ones. We may be in trouble in 3NT with a wide-open major suit; we may also lack enough HCP to play reasonably in a minor-suit game.
In that case, we said that 3 or 3, after starting with Stayman, promises a 5-5 minor-suit hand. We don't need two bids to describe the shape. So we'll pick the lower suit to show the lower-point range. 3 is 8-11 HCP and 5-5; 3 is 11-14HCP
5-5 in minor bids, by HCP
| HCP | Bid Sequence |
|---|---|
| 0-7 | Pass or transfer to the better minor |
| 8-10 | Minor Smolen, bid 2♣ and then 3♣ after partner's response |
| 11-14 | Minor Smolen, bid 2♣ and then 3♦ after partner's response |
| With a 3-card major, can choose Puppet response instead | |
| Can bid 3NT with some HCP in the short majors | |
| 15+ | Minor Smolen and then bid 3. Follow up rebid with cue bidding |
Sequences and meaning after 1NT-2♣-2X
| Sequence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 3♣ | Invitational hand with 5-5 in the minors. Opener can pass, correct to 3♦ (to play), or bid game. |
| 3♦ | Game force or better hand, Opener should show which minor they prefer: 4♣ or 4♦. Responder can now choose to explore for slam with a bid other than game in minor |
| 3♥ or 3♠ | Remember this is regular Smolen. A 5-4 hand in the majors and has nothing to do with our 5-5 minor discussion, but here for completeness |
We believe this Smolen treatment is superior to assigning the jump bid of 3 over 1NT to show a 5-5 minor suit hand. First, that 'standard' definition isn't enough to let the opener decide whether 3NT or 5 of a minor is best, and it still makes finding a minor-suit slam difficult.