The Rule of 14. Make a two-over-one response only if your high-card points added to the number of cards in your suit reaches 14.
Deal 19
The Rule of 14 tells the responder to a one-of-a-suit opener whether he has enough to make a two-over-one response (e.g. 1
). The crux is this: only respond in a new suit at the two-level if the number of high-card points in your hand added to the number of cards in your suit reaches 14. Otherwise, assuming you have no higher-ranking four-card suit which can be bid at the one-level, a responding hand that fails the Rule of 14 bids 1NT (or a single raise with three-card support). The 1NT response is not a genuine notrump bid – the hand may easily be unbalanced; rather it is an expression of weakness, a slowing-down manoeuvre. In practice, you will have six, seven, eight or occasionally nine points.
