Bidding and conventions
Michaels and the unusual notrump
Two-suited hands are awkward to bid over an opponent's opening: you have two things to say and one turn to say them. These two conventions each show both suits in a single call.
The problem
An opponent opens 1♥ and you hold five spades, five clubs and 10 points.
Overcall 1♠ and partner never hears about the clubs. Overcall 2♣ and they never hear about the spades. Pass, and you have given up on a hand that will make something.
A single bid that shows both suits solves it, and it does more than save a round: it lets partner judge immediately how high to compete, because they know your shape rather than one suit of it.
Michaels cue bids
Over 1♣ or 1♦ — both majors
2♣ over 1♣, or 2♦ over 1♦, shows at least five hearts and five spades.
This is the most useful of the four, because partner can simply choose their longer major and the partnership lands in an eight-card fit or better.
10 points, 5-5 in the majors. One bid describes the whole hand.
Over 1♥ or 1♠ — the other major and a minor
2♥ over 1♥ shows five spades and five of an unspecified minor. 2♠ over 1♠ shows five hearts and five of a minor.
The minor is unspecified because there is no room to name it. Partner with support for the major simply bids it; partner without can bid 2NT to ask which minor it is.
| West | North | East | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♥ | |||
| 2♥ | Pass | 2NT | Pass |
| 3♣ | Pass | Pass | Pass |
The unusual notrump
A jump to 2NT over an opponent's opening is not natural — nobody wants to play 2NT on a two-suiter, so it shows the two lowest unbid suits.
Over 1♥ or 1♠ that means both minors; over 1♣ it means diamonds and hearts.
11 points, 5-5 in the minors. 2NT shows both at once; either minor alone shows half the hand.
Between Michaels and the unusual notrump, every 5-5 two-suiter has a bid, which is the real reason to play them as a pair rather than one at a time.
Weak or strong, and nothing in between
Both conventions are played with a deliberate hole in the middle of the range: about 6–11 points, or 16+, and not the values between.
The reason is that partner has to act at once, and cannot act sensibly against three possibilities.
With a known weak two-suiter they compete to the level their fit justifies and never expect game. With a known strong one they bid game with a little. A middling hand makes both judgements wrong.
It is also the hand that can afford to wait: overcall the better suit and bid the other one later.
Answering one
You are the advancer, and the useful principle is the Law of Total Tricks: bid to the level of your combined fit and let the opponents guess.
- With three-card support for a known suit — bid it, at the level your fit justifies. With nine trumps between you, three of the suit; with ten, four.
- With no fit for either — bid the cheapest of partner's suits anyway, or pass if the opponents' contract suits you. Do not bid notrump: partner has a two-suited hand and no help for you elsewhere.
- With a good hand — cue-bid the opponent's suit to ask partner which range they hold.
- After Michaels over a major — 2NT asks which minor.
What it costs
A natural cue bid of the opponent's suit, which showed a huge hand and which nobody misses — a strong hand can start with a takeout double and bid again.
And a natural 2NT overcall, which nobody wanted: with 20 balanced points over their opening, double first.
The genuine cost is the one every descriptive bid carries. You have told declarer your exact shape before the opening lead, and on hands where the opponents buy the contract they will play it better for knowing.
Two-suited hands are worth it, because the alternative is not competing at all.