This hand came up in a spurs team match. Non vul against vul partner South opened 2♠, assumed weak. I passed without any doubts. These were the 2 hands:
North ♠ J, ♥ AK864, ♦ QJ52, ♣ Q93
South ♠ AQ10832, ♥ J, ♦ 987, ♣ KJ10
The hand was unremarkable in that partner made 2♠ with an overtrick. What I did notice was that partner opened 2♠ with an 11 count, and moreover two 10’s and a singleton too boot. I have noticed that over on the American side of the pond the culture is to readily open 2♠ with 10 points and over on my side of the pond 10 points is usually considered too strong to open a weak 2. What is interesting to me is that with a combined 24 points, 3NT is a decent contract by virtue of both the singleton Jacks pulling their weight. Of course, even had I known that partner had max 11, I would still have passed 2♠.
This is what Kantar says about responding to a 2♠ opening bid:
• "With a singleton in partner's suit and no strong suit of your own, do not even think of bidding on unless you have 16+ HCP."
Yes, I agree entirely with that advice. However, all you have to do is to give me 1 point more, say, ♦ KQ102 and 3NT is a contract that definitely should not be missed.
At the lighter end of opening with a weak 2, Larry Cohen says:
“I'd gladly open 2♠ with ♠ KJ10986, ♥ 4, ♦ 10874, ♣ 32”
So, the range appears to be from a good 4 to a bad 11. This is an 8 point range and obviously too much for a 2NT response to sort out whether or not one should go to game. Contrast this with a 1NT opening bid which has a range of 3 points and an invite bid is still considered worthwhile in order to sort 15-17 into 15 to poor 16 and good 16 to 17.
The question that all players that open 2♠ with 10 or a bad 11 points should ask themselves is: “Do I want 2♠ to be a pre-empt, or to be a descriptive bid that is not a pre-empt?” If I open 2♠ with 10 points then it is odds on that we own the hand. So, unless the range of this opening bid is narrow, we are not pre-empting the opponents we are pre-empting poor partner. Incidentally, I recall that when the Dutch won the Bermuda Bowl a few years ago, at least one pair divided their weak major suit hands into 2 opening bids. 2♥/♠ very weak max 6 or 7, I believe, and 2♦ a multi bid with one of the options being a stronger hand with a 6 card major, maybe up to 10 points.
For me, along with I believe, the vast majority of players on my side of the pond, the range of a major suit weak 2, is 5-9 and if you have a 6 card suit and 10 points then open 1M. Then there is no gap. I hasten to add that all my arguments apply to opening in 1st and 2nd position. In 3rd, of course and in 4th for that matter a different set of rules will apply.
Back to the 2 hands in the match. If I were sitting South then the bidding would go:
2/1 1♠ - 2♥ - 2♠ - 3NT
SA 1♠-2♥-2♠ - ? This is a toss-up between 2N and 3N.
In 2/1 make responder 1 point lighter then: 1♠-1NT-2♠-2NT-p.
