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In fourth
seat following a preemptive (weak 2) opening bid in first seat, what
is minimum point count to bid 2 Notrump?
While some
players mistakenly believe your strength requirements
are always 3 points less in balancing seat ("borrow a King"),
authoritative books and top players would disagree in your scenario.
Since you are
unilaterally contracting for 8 tricks when making a
2 Notrump bid in the above example, you should have the same strength that
you needed in the direct seat: around 15 - 18 points.
Some may ask:
"Why not lighten the strength requirement 3 points here since we do so when
making a double in the balancing seat?"
Good
question! Consider this - while the 2 Notrump overcaller has good
values, they are sitting in the wrong seat. Positionally,
the Notrump balancer should be over (behind) the preemptor, not under (in
front of) the preemptor. Holding tenaces (broken honor sequences), the
balancer is likely to become finessed if the RHO gets on lead, suffering a
similar fate when dummy is on lead and declarer tries to develop tricks in
the promised preemptive suit.
In summary, Mike Lawrence suggests 15 - 19 points in his
book "The
Complete Book on Balancing in Contract Bridge". Similarly, Ron
Andersen recommends 15 - 18 points in "Preempts From
A to Z".
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