Posted 2019-May-29, 16:47
I play in ACBLand, where the weak 1N opening is a minority approach. However, locally two of our Grand Life Masters (Doug and Sandra Fraser) play the 11-14 1N in 1st and 2nd, and for a few years I was in a serious partnership with one of them, and both have had an influence on other players locally so perhaps it is more common where I live than most places in the Pacific NW.
In any event, informed both by my experiences playing weak 1N (10-12, 11-13, 11-14, in different expert partnerships over the past 25 years), and in playing against the weak 1N, mostly at imps, I would never give up on the penalty double in direct seat, by an unpassed hand. I have seen a lot of numbers obtained by the penalty double, although one needs to have a good agreement about follow-ups when they run, as they often do (I generally play that they cannot declare 2H or below undoubled, and that our side's first double after the penalty double is take-out oriented....if advancer has no stomach for defending, he runs from the initial double).
My advice, further, is not to stretch with the penalty double. When I played weak notrumps, I always smiled internally when I heard, as I often did, opponents saying, when finding out our range......'ok, double shows top of their range or better', especially when playing 10-12. While occasionally we'd go for a number, the light doubles often caused advancer to run when he should have passed, and even more often backfired when responder had at least half of the remaining values.
The reality is that when the values are roughly equal between the pairs, the side that gets to 1N first is usually the winner when the hands are balanced. Thus if they open 1N on 12-14 and you have 13, the odds are pretty good that you are in a bad position. Maybe at mps that is an argument for acting...if you're already getting a bad board, being wrong to act only costs you a little. But at imps, this is when disaster threatens, sometimes going for a number against a part-score or (even worse) going for a number when they would be down is a normal game.
So my advice is that, especially at imps, have a penalty double in your arsenal, and have it start 'above' their range...against 12-14 I suggest 15, but obviously some 14's are worth it: Axx KQJ9x Ax xxx is a double for sure.
I have tried various defences: the one I have used for some years now has double as penalty, 2C majors, 2D/H transfers, 2S minors, and 2N a good hand with a long minor, suggesting a source of tricks and some values in case partner can take a shot at 3N. When we have a 14 count or so with a 6 card minor, the odds are that we don't want to defend 2M, doubled or undoubled, very often so we avoid that via the 2N bid, which of course partner often pulls to a p/c 3C. Note that 3N often makes our way on fewer than 'normal' hcp, because one can often play nearly double-dummy on these auctions.
by a passed hand, in the unlikely event one wants to get into the auction, or in balancing seat, the only change is that double shows a good, in context, long minor, and 2N shows a 2N opening hand.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari
Help
-- Double = 4=M + 5+m
-- 2♣ = ♥ + ♠
-- 2♦ = 6+M
-- 2♥ = 5=♥ + 4+m
-- 2♠ = 5=♠ + 4+m
-- 2N = ♣ + ♦
-- 3m = 6+ natural'
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IMO, Pescetom's agreements are fine. Paradoxically: Double showing 4M & 5+ m should result in more successful doubles of 1N than a strong penalty double (which is less frequent). Apollo1201 seems right that it's not much of a stretch to double on this hand, treating ♥s as 4-card. With an enormous balanced hand (much stronger than this one), I think you also have to double, anyway -- and then improvise with 2N or whatever. So double is always a bit ambiguous.