Weak 2 System

Ken Allan Bridge Table

The Weak 2 System

This system is natural to a fault (some would put the emphasis on the latter). Not one of the opening suit bids is artificial. Other than high level NT bids, there is no strong opening bid. Some bridge players adopt most of this system but make the 2 opening bid strong and artificial. That is a cop out. Anyone playing this system is going out on a shaky limb. If going out on a limb makes you uncomfortable, play some other system.

How much of a liability is the lack of a strong forcing opening bid? Not much. For starters, you can play many 26 board sessions of bridge in a row without a single hand that qualifies for a strong artificial 2 opener. The odds of being dealt 22 HCP or more is 0.4237 %. That works out to 10 such hands in 100 sessions. Three of those hands will be 22-23 balanced, which is covered by an opening bid of 2 NT in the weak 2 system. That leaves seven. However there will be a few hands of 21 HCP or less with good distribution which qualify for an artificial 2 opener.

So lets assume 10 big hands in every 100 sessions (2600 hands) of bridge. Another 10 for partner makes 20 that your partnership will have to bid. For ten of them, a natural 1-level bid will work as well as or better than an artificial 2. For two to four of them, blasting to the final contract will be okay or even superior. That leaves six to eight big hands out of every 2600 hands where you will get an inferior result because of this gap in the system. In other words, if you play bridge twice a week, expect an inferior result once every two months. In the meantime there will have been compensating good results from having a natural 2 bid.

Of course, opening a 10 HCP hand at the 2-level in a 5-card suit (where there is no honour requirement in the suit) does not guarantee of a good result. Sometimes it won't matter. For those hands where there is an effect on bidding or defense, expect two or three good results for every disaster. Both types will come in bunches. For several games you may get only good results. Then a game where all the chickens come home to roost and you score a new low. If you are a good player in a weak field and you want to win all the time, play some other system. The Weak 2 System is for terrorizing your equals (or your betters, if there are any).

Though this system gives the appearance of swinging from the rafters, the clearly defined minimum HCP count (for opening 1-level and 2-level opening bids) yields more opportunities for penalty doubles than you get with other systems. Furthermore, a pass in first or second seat promises less than 10 HCP — this information may be useful to partner, both in the auction and on defense.

Part of the attraction of the Weak 2 System is that it is so simple in concept that everything you need to know can be written on a single typed page. The single page below assumes proficiency in Standard bidding. If you have that, the system fits on one leisurely page. It takes about 15 minutes to teach a Standard partner how to play the Weak 2 System.

If you have never played a very weak NT, you should discuss with partner what to do when doubled — see "Systems On" and "Brozel Escapes" in the Mini No Trump article.

The Weak 2 System is an action system. The basic philosophy is that all average hands should be opened in first and second seats. To accomplish this, 1NT is 10-12 HCP and all opening 2-bids are natural constructive bids in the weak to intermediate range.

1-level opening bids in a suit show 13+ HCP (just a little stronger than Standard) and bidding proceeds the same as in Standard except that requirements for responses are 1 point less than Standard. For example, you should respond with all 5 HCP hands (and many 4 point hands), a constructive raise will show 7-9 support points and a limit raise 9-11 support points. Hands that clearly qualify for a 1-bid in Standard are not necessarily good enough to be opened at the 1-level here. You can open with less than 13 HCP at the 1-level only if your hand is so good that you intend to bid game if partner makes a limit raise. Since the opening 1-bids are at least as strong as those recommended by 2/1 Game Force, that system can be played after a 1-level opener. On the other hand, there is no need to play 2/1 just because partner has a good opening hand and since I'm not a fan of that system, I don't recommend it.

All 2-level opening bids are natural and show 8 to 12 HCP with 5+ length in the suit (and don't deny length in a second suit, major or minor). There is no honour requirement for the bid suit, but if the suit is bad there is no need to open with 8-9 HCP. With 10-12 HCP you should bid no matter how bad the suit. While an opening 2-bid is a relatively weak bid, it is constructive and the auction should proceed normally: new suits by responder are forcing (responder's suit will be 4+ but opener should support with 3); a raise to the three level is invitational to game (after a standard weak two, a raise is often used as a bar bid but we need all of our other bids for other purposes so must use the raise as invitational); a 2NT bid by responder is natural and invitational to 3NT.

What about opening with a good suit, say KQJ975, and no points in any other suit? This is a perfectly good weak two in any system except the Weak 2 System. Either pass or make a 3-level preempt. The reason for not making a 2-bid is that partner may make a close penalty double on the assumption that you have 8 HCP. That Queen in their hand rather than your hand can make all the difference.

If the opponents interfere over a 2-level opening bid, use the same bidding methods that you would use after interference over a one level opening bid: redouble shows values, new suits are forcing and negative doubles are still on. After a 2-level opening bid and two passes to a reopening double, opener can now show a maximum by rebidding the suit or by redoubling: rebidding at the three level shows a good suit; redouble shows 11-12 HCP with a weak suit; opener can also bid a second suit.

The system provides no bid for a 4-4-4-1 hand with 10-12 HCP, so choose your lie (tending to make your lie a bid rather than a pass).

With the opening 1NT being so weak and there being no forcing opening, some scrambling is necessary to provide bids for all ranges of balanced hands. With 13 to 16 HCP and a balanced hand, open one of a suit and then rebid 1NT (alertable). With 17 to 18 HCP balanced, open one of a suit and then rebid 2NT. With 19 to 21 HCP balanced, open one of a suit and then rebid 3NT. With 22 to 23 HCP balanced, open 2NT. With 24+ HCP balanced, open 3NT. An opening 4NT is Blackwood.

In third and fourth seat (after 2 or 3 passes) the situation is much different than in Standard. There is no need to protect partner who is known to hold less than 10 HCP. 1 and 2-level bids still have much the same meaning but 10-12 point hands do not have to be opened and should not be opened unless the suit is good. An opening bid of 1NT in 3rd or 4th seat shows 16-18 HCP (so a 1-level suit opener followed by a 1NT rebid is 13-15 HCP).