Offshape notrumps

A friend of mine who is inclined to flights of fancy at the table once opened 1NT with a six-card major suit and then denied a four-card major in response to Stayman!

Personally, I dislike offshape notrumps. I can accept opening 1NT with A Q, K 4, A J 7 6, Q 10 7 6 3, a hand hard to describe otherwise, but opening 1NT with a six-card minor goes against my convictions.

I would like to report that today’s South fell on his face, but against 3NT, West led the deuce of spades: four, seven from East, king. South then tried a smokescreen by leading a diamond. West played low smoothly, and dummy’s nine lost to the ten.

ENCOURAGING I suppose it’s hard to blame East for having a wrong picture of the deal. He shifted to the jack of clubs, and South played the four, concealing his three and deuce. When West followed with the six, that looked like an encouraging card, so East continued with the ten.

South then ran the clubs and took the ace of hearts and two more spades to make game. (An overtrick was possible.)

DAILY QUESTION You hold: A Q 9 4 Q732 J93 9 5. Your partner opens one club, you respond one heart and he bids one spade. What do you say?

ANSWER You have four-card spade support, and partner may have as many as 18 points, hence you owe him a raise. Since your minor redsuit honors may not be worth much, a chance-giving raise to two spades is enough. You could raise to three spades, inviting game, with a hand such as A Q 9 4, A 7 3 2, 9 8 3, J 5. South dealer Both sides vulnerable

Opening lead –

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