1NT Forcing and Bart

If you play 5-card majors, it is best to play the response of 1NT as forcing for one round. While this prevents you from playing in that most admirable contract, it provides an extra round of bidding to find an accurate part-score. While most people manage without too much further elaboration, there is a case for an additional layer of artificiality. For one thing, opener’s “natural” rebids of 2C and 2D can only promise a 3-card suit at best. And after 1H – 1NT opener may be forced to bid 2C on a doubleton in a 4=5=2=2 hand that isn’t strong enough to reverse. Also, responder’s hand may be balanced and weak to invitational in strength, or it may be unbalanced, and range from weak to just under the strength needed for a 2 over 1 response (and if you play 2/1 GF, “just under” is really not a bad hand). After 1S – 1NT or 1H – 1NT, opener will make a jump rebid with a maximum opening, generally 18+hcp. There is therefore a potential problem when opener is 15-17hcp and/or responder is near his maximum, say 9-11hcp - game needs to be considered in these cases. And yet another situation arises after 1S – 1NT when responder has a 5-card heart suit and a doubleton spade – it can be difficult or impossible to identify the best part-score (two hearts or two spades).

There is more than one way to address some of these issues. Perhaps one of the simpler ideas is a convention called Bart that addresses sequences after 1S – 1NT; 2C. (The situation after 1H – 1NT isn’t quite so bad, but while a similar treatment can be applied, there are differences, and I’ll stick with the spade opening for this description). There’s more than one version of Bart floating around as well, but this version seems fairly straightforward to me.

First, the agreement can be made that opener’s 2H and 2D rebids promise at least 4 cards. The 2C rebid is then redefined as not meeting the requirements for any other bid, making it alertable as not really natural any more. Second, bidding following opener’s 2C rebid is elaborated by making responder’s 2D at this point an artificial relay (also alertable).

We need to consider how opener will bid, and also what hands responder is trying to show. First, opener’s first rebid:

1S – 1NT;

• 2S shows 6+cards, 11-16hcp
• 3S shows 6+cards, 17-18hcp
• 4S shows 6+cards, 19-20hcp
• 2NT shows 18-19hcp
• 3C/3D/3H are natural, 4+cards, 18+hcp, forcing
• 2D/2H are natural, 4+cards, 11-17hcp
• 2C catches everything else, generally either clubs or a balanced hand in the 11-17hcp range

Now consider responder’s hand. Generally, the 1NT response is made on hands that are balanced, or that are unbalanced but not strong enough for an immediate 2 over 1 response. The 2D relay will be used for:

• Balanced 10-12hcp including 4-card club support
• Strong (9-11hcp) with clubs
• Strong (9-11hcp) with diamonds
• 3-card limit raise that includes 4-card club support
• hands with 5 hearts and 2 spades

Direct bids (not using the relay) will then show

• Balanced 10-12hcp without 4-card club support
• Weak (5-8hcp) with clubs
• Weak (5-8hcp) with diamonds
• 3-card limit raise without 4-card club support 

(The exclamation is used to indicate a bid that should be alerted).

After 1S – 1NT; 2C! responder bids

• Pass – obviously weak, should be 5+clubs and at most 1 spade
• 2D! – artificial and forcing, generally 9+hcp but can be weak with 5 hearts and 2 spades
• 2H – natural, weak, 6+cards, opener should not return to spades
• 2S – natural, weak, usually a doubleton
• 2NT – natural, invitational 10-12hcp, denies 4 clubs or 3 spades
• 3C – natural, 5-8hcp, 5+cards, principally a courtesy raise to shut out the opponents
• 3D – natural, 5-8hcp, to play. Weak diamond hands have to play in 3D rather than 2D, the only serious drawback to the convention.
• 3S – limit raise with 3-card spade support, denies 4 clubs
• 3NT – natural, 13-15hcp, denies 4 clubs or 3 spades

After 1S – 1NT; 2C! – 2D! opener defines his hand a little more:

• 3H – 3-card hearts, 15-17hcp
• 2NT – natural, 15-17hcp, less than 3 hearts
• 2S – 11-15hcp, less than 3 hearts
• 2H – 11-15hcp, 3-card hearts

If opener has bid 2NT or 3H, responder should be able to place the contract. Otherwise, responder completes his description:

After 1S – 1NT; 2C! – 2D!; 2H

• Pass – natural, 5-card hearts
• 2S – usually a doubleton honor with 8-10hcp
• 2NT – natural 10-12hcp, but with 4-card club support
• 3C – good club raise, 9-11hcp
• 3D – invitational with good diamonds, 9-11hcp, 6+cards
• 3H – invitational, 8-11hcp, 5+cards
• 3S – limit raise with 3-card spades and 4-card clubs
• 3NT – natural, 13-15hcp, includes 4-card club support
• 4H – natural, distributional

and after that, opener should know where to go.

Laid out like this, it all looks rather intimidating. But actually, it’s quite straightforward and pretty natural, just difficult to describe concisely.