RULE: Balanced hands open or rebid no trump
With a balanced 12-14 points, open 1NT (one no trump). Do not worry about unguarded suits.
With a balanced 15-17 points, open your longest suit and rebid 1NT (unless you have 4-card support for partner)
With a balanced 18-19 points, open your longest suit and rebid 2NT (unless you have 4-card support for partner)
With a balanced 20-22 points, open 2NT
With a balanced 23-24 points, open 2C (two clubs, strong) and rebid 2NT
With a balanced 25-26 points, open 2C (two clubs, strong) and rebid 3NT
A hand with a five-card suit is balanced if the other suits are two or three cards: known as (5332) distribution. So you should open 1NT with a five-card major if you are in range. If you do not, then you can have a rebid problem.
S xx
H AQxxx
D Kxx
C Kxx
If you open 1H, what do you rebid over a 1S response? You would like to rebid one no trump, but this shows 15-17 points so you cannot do that. The only alternative is to rebid 2H, but this breaks the rule (RULE: Balanced hands open or rebid no trump). Open 1NT and your troubles are over.
The corollary to this, as you will discover from later lessons, is that the sequence 1H-1S-2H and 1H-1NT-2H both show a six-card heart suit.
What do you open:
S QJx H QJxx D QJx C QJx | S QJx H AKx |
S Axxx | S Kxx |