The title of your post says it all. It's "an in between hand."
I agree with your assessment about this not being worthy of a reverse. And I do not think it to be close. This time the "reverser" got lucky; his partner had a big hand, so it all worked out. But reversing on a hand such as this, in my opinion, loses in the long run.
I probably lean slightly toward opening 1
and rebidding the
, but I could live with the 1NT rebid.
[Added] I used to open hands with four
and five
that were not strong enough for a reverse with 1
. That is what I learned. The logic behind it made sense--at the time. But I have since gone to opening 1
with these hands--usually. But not always. The decision comes down to the honor placement and suit texture. With, for example, the following hand:
A
Qxx
AKJT
Txxxx, I would choose to open 1
.
Also, on this hand, opening 1
should not be so readily dismissed. The reason being that by opening 1
and rebidding 2
you don't pigeonhole your range quite as much as:
- a 1m open followed by 1NT rebid, or
- a 2 rebid when opening 1 .
Because the range for a 1
open followed by 2
rebid is quite large--up to 17 or even an ugly 18--it can sometimes entice a weakish responder to bid one more time to keep the bidding open. With 15, like with this hand, that is not a bad thing.
You could also consider opening this hand 1NT. I can count on one hand the number of times I've done so with a singleton (with fingers left over). I really hate doing it, but this may be another time to do so.
Actually, after further consideration, that is the route I take.
OPEN 1NT.
Good hand.