A phrase I sometimes hear: "The hand was too strong to open 2
and two weak to open 1
so I passed." I try to avoid that situation.
With either of Jack's suggested hands,
♠ AKJxxx, ♥ xxx, ♦ QJx, ♣ x or ♠ QJ10xxx, ♥AKJ, ♦ x, ♣ xxx
I open 1
.
Weaken them a bit, not much, and 2
is looking better with the first one. The second is a problem if the weakening is in the spades, eg ♠ Q10xxxx, ♥AKJ, ♦ x, ♣ xxx. Opening 2
with a suit headed by the QT while I have AKJ on the side doesn't appeal to me, so I probably pass. If I open it, I open 1
. Yes, maybe 1
. A decent hand.
Note that if I pass, I would not say that the hand is too strong for 2
, I would say that too few of the values are in spades.
My choices are only partly on the basis of point count. When vul, I like to have a pretty decent suit. This is not so much because I worry about going down too many, although that can happen. My concern is that partner, seeing an opportunity for a vulnerable game, should be able to make his try w/o worrying that I have opened 2
on, well, on QTxxxx. Or worse.