New minor forcing

This question was asked to: Julian Pottage

Question

Hi Julian, I came across an article on New Minor Forcing that was informative and, I thought, very useful, especially as my partner and I often get stuck in a poor contract after opener’s NT rebid. However, this article, the only one I found on this, was from a US site generally addressing 5cM, strong NT systems, so I do not know whether it is still in use or of value in ACOL 4cM, weak NT. Is it? If so, apart from the different value of the 1NT rebid, is there any modification over its use in the 5cM system? To be clear – the article was based upon 1x (P) 1M (P) / 1NT (P) 2 of new minor. This did not mean anything relating to the new minor and was just asking opener for more information and particularly for 3 card support of the major. If responder holds a 5 card major in ACOL, a rebid of the major is possible, but NMF would still seem to be a useful device to ask for 3 card support. It takes up less bidding space and allows for other replies from opener.

Answer

Yes having some sort of enquiry after opener’s 1NT rebid is indeed useful. Perhaps there is a case for modification in a 4-card major system (opener is unlikely to have 4 spades after 1C-P-1H-P-1NT) but most people play it the same anyway.

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