Upgrading 1NT opener
I play 15-17 NT. Often I will upgade a 14 count with, say,a five card suit,say AQT98.
Should my convention card reflect this, or is it OK that my card says 15 to 17?
Should my convention card reflect this, or is it OK that my card says 15 to 17?
Comments
Nope - it should show something like (14)(15-17) - As long as it is clear it could be 14 points.
I would like to define my (weak) 1NT as something like "I think this hand has between 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 tricks in it" - which is how I grade my 1NT openers (in effect it means a good 12 (extra intermediates) to a lousy 15 (Aces and Spaces) - but in EBU events you must define the hand in terms of HCPs. (In non EBU events e.g. in the club you comply with the rules set out by the regulating authority of the event.)
You should include "14" in the announcement - for example, "good 14 to 17" or "some 14s, 15 to 17".
The slogan is 'tell them what you play'
I do think this is a bit more controversial than the previous answers would suggest. Although I would trust Robin to give the official line, in my opinion this advice does not reflect how the game is really played. If an experienced pair describes their opening as 15-17, I would absolutely expect that they might occasionally upgrade very good 14s. The given example with AQT98 certainly falls within that expectation. If that's as far as you take it, it's a completely standard agreement for a "15-17" opener. Frankly, failing to upgrade hands like this will have people questioning whether you are actually a bridge player. I dislike the phrase "general bridge knowledge", but if there's anything that belongs in that category, this is it.
So, fine, include "14" in your description somehow, if you want to be on the safe side, or if you take it much further than the AQT98 example. But you shouldn't expect other people to. Personally I do in fact describe my 1NT opening as "good 14 to 17", but for me it actually means something: we upgrade many more hands (5-card suits without such great intermediates, or occasional 4432s). If standard 15-17s are described in a similar way then it's not really very helpful.
I think this is based on how frequently the upgrades happen. My main partnership's "12 to 14" opening in first and second seat very rarely has an 11-count – but it's almost always in the range (I can remember around three total exceptions in the last two years), and including 11 would be misleading (and we bid assuming partner has at least 12, e.g. by immediately bidding 7NT with a 25-count despite the theoretical possibility of an upgraded 11 and a missing Ace). It seems wrong to include a point count as part of your range if you open it only about as often as you psyche (and we hardly ever psyche, again around three times over two years).
In third and fourth seat, we play "11 to bad 14", and 14s are not at all surprising or unexpected even though there are still many 14s that have to be opened with some other bid – it probably includes about half the 14-counts.
There presumably is some borderline between "this is too rare to mention" and "this is common enough to be mentioned" that falls somewhere between "three times in two years" and "about half the time we have the appropriate hand", but it isn't immediately clear exactly where it should be drawn.