I want to explain proper weak two bids, because it is not complicated to understand for ambitious players of all levels.
What a weak two shows
A weak two traditionally showed 6-10 points and 6 cards. Modern expert weak 2's are not as rigid as this, the requirement is lower especially when not vulnerable.
There are a lot of elements to a weak 2, I'll try to list everything.
Non Vulnerable preempts
The idea at non vulnerable is to preempt more aggressively. We relax both our high card point requirements and our length of suit - it is common these days to bid a weak 2 on a 5 card suit.
For example
I would certainly open 2♠ on this, yet it only has 3 points and a 5 card suit. It seems extreme but this opening would be just about standard amongst modern experts. I will look at more reasons over the course of this article for why.
Rule: Non vulnerable weak 2's are often 5 card suits, and about 0-8 points.
Think about it like this - "don't talk yourself out of non vul preempts" most of the time you want to preempt more when you are not vul, particularly when the opponents are vulnerable.
Why is the point requirement so low when NV and particularly when the opponents are vul?
The idea is - very weak hands are actually better candidates for preempting because there is more likelihood that your opponents have a game or even slam on. When you are not vulnerable and your opponents are vulnerable, getting in the way of their +500 game bonus or +1250 slam bonus is potentially very rewarding. The risk is mostly very low when we aren't vulnerable for a couple reasons
- Its somewhat rare to get doubled, doubles are takeout and the large majority of the time players bid on rather than pass for penalty.
- Even if you do get doubled, you can sometimes go several off and still get a good score, especially when you aren't vulnerable and the opponents are vulnerable.
Vulnerable preempts
This is very much a matter of style, but naturally they should be a bit more conservative.
Key requirements: Good texture is a must, you don't want to get stuck playing a vulnerable contract with a poor suit.
This hand is quite okay for vulnerable preempt. The key to the texture is in the 10, 9, and even 8.
A lesser known point - vul v vul is a good time to preempt
If you have a very weak hand the key point is that the opponents have a vulnerable game or slam bonus on. Whether you are NV or Vul, it is still very nice to try to get in their way and prevent them from finding their best contract. The only issue is that when you are vul you have bigger downside if you get doubled - but provided you can evade that, your upside is big.
The worst time to preempt
The worst time to preempt is Vul against NV - their game/slam bonus is not very high, and your downside is big if they double you - and good players will double you more at this vulnerable since 2 off will be a good score for them, or at least more than their game bonus.
Texture
Texture is a very big consideration with preempting, particularly vulnerable preempting where it is essential to have good texture. The most important cards for texture are, QJ109. Those are the critical cards. The Ace and King are nice as well, but for example
That is a very poor suit, whereas even with less points, this is a very respectable suit
In that suit we may very likely take 4 tricks in the suit, even opposite say a singleton. Whereas in the first example we may take far fewer tricks if the suit breaks badly, or if we get over ruffed, etc.
Shape
6322 shape is very bad, it makes a huge difference. As is 5332 shape, if you are thinking of preempting on a 5 card suit, which should be somewhat common not vulnerable and non-existent when vulnerable (always have 6 for a vulnerable preempt). 6331 shape is a jump better than 6322, 6421 is another big jump again.
Seat
1st seat is the most attractive time to preempt, because the opponents have not had a chance to do anything at all yet, and they are unlimited. In contrast, second seat is very different since you already know one of your opponents has a passed hand, and the likelihood of the opponents having slam on is negligible, and also its less likely they have game. Its more common that your partner has a strong hand after one of the opponents have passed.
Third seat is also quite attractive to preempt since we know partner has a passed hand. So, for example, suppose you are in this situation
Partner is a passed hand, and you have 3 points - do the math, the opponents will have a combined total of about 27+ points and therefore enough for game, if you get in the way you may be hurting their chances of finding the right game or even slam.
Hands that would not be suitable
Lets look at hands that would not be suitable to bid a weak two with, and reasons why.
I said I would preempt on 0 points yet I would not preempt with this hand - why?
- Firstly it looks like it may take several tricks in defence - it might on a good day take 2 queens and an Ace. With lots of defence there is lower reason to preempt - the opponents may be going down in game. This is probably the biggest reason.
- Secondly, our suit quality is very poor - intermediate cards are extremely important, 10's, 9's and even 8's, and other than that QJ are excellent cards. This suit, with the Jack alone, is very poor, contrast with say Q109842 which I would regard as excellent texture.
- Thirdly - 6322 shape, this shape is poor. 6331 is a lot better, and 6421 is a lot better again, it makes a very big difference. However, especially at favourable vulnerability, I would not hesitate to open a weak two with 6322 shape, especially if the hand is very weak (the weaker the better! as mentioned).
Never preempt on 11 points
As I've mentioned preempts are best when you are weak, especially very weak, because its more likely that your opponents have a contract on, so more upside that you can get in the way. When you have 11+ points, there is no reason to expect that it is "their hand". In other words, your side will typically have more than the majority of the points when you are 11+ points, so preempting is not called for.
Responses to a weak two
My recommendation for responding is as follows
- Vulnerable all changes of suit are forcing for 1 round, so for example if you open 2♥ and partner bids 2♠, it is forcing.
- Not vulnerable all changes of suit are not forcing.
Raising the preempt
Raising the preempt is simply furthering the preempt - it is not invitational. If you open 2♠, and partner raises it to 3♠, you should never raise that to 4 - partner has already got a good idea what your hand is, it is not an invite.
2NT bid as 100% artificial and forcing - invitational + inquiry
I like to play a very simple structure, after 2NT
- a) rebid of the preempt suit shows a total minimum.
- b) Otherwise, bid shortage if you have it somewhere, so for example
Here partner has asked about your hand and you have shown a sound hand with shortage in hearts.
In this structure, you can play 3NT as no shortage with a good hand.
Note, as mentioned if you aren't vulnerable changes of suit are not forcing by partner - so they have to first start off with 2NT if they want to force, and then change suit.
Overall
As a general approach, it is a good idea to open a weak two and it is bad to be too cautious or picky - we need to get in the bidding more overall. However, there are genuine reasons where we should think twice, the main reasons are balanced hands, bad suits, and hands that have too much defense (sidesuit points) are not great candidates.
Read next: Favourable Vulnerability: When to Bid Aggressively · Multi 2D opening: How to play and defend it · Lebensohl Convention Explained