Cascade, on 2010-October-20, 11:39, said:
Where exactly is that written in regulation?
As far as I can tell the ACBL has defined a "natural" 1NT. I have not seen 1NT with a singleton defined as a "convention". I don't believe that "convention" is the opposite of "natural".
There are a few "natural conventions" like Reverses, but in general methods which are not natural are considered to be conventional.
The
ACBL General Convention Chart is pretty unambiguous about defining what
methods are allowed and disallowed, and provides several answers to the issues raised here:
- Clubs have full authority to regulate conventions in games conducted solely at their clubs.
- A no trump opening or overcall is natural if not unbalanced (generally, no singleton or void and only one or two doubletons).
- Unless specifically allowed, methods are disallowed
You are always allowed to play methods that are natural. The only non-natural notrump openings that are
allowed (under the General Convention Chart) are:
- #2. FORCING 1NT OPENING BID (15+ HCPs) indicating a strong hand, balanced or unbalanced.
- #7. OPENING NOTRUMP BID AT THE TWO LEVEL OR HIGHER indicating at least 5-4 distribution in the minors.
- #8. OPENING THREE NOTRUMP BID indicating one of (1) a solid suit or (2) a minor one-suiter.
Note that the "forcing 1NT opening" is not a loophole that makes it legal to bid 1NT with 16-18 points and a singleton. You can't just decide that the 1NT opening is forcing and continue playing the standard "natural notrump" conventions like Stayman and Jacoby. You need a real bidding system where the opener is basically captain and the responder must bid with 0 points, such as the "dynamic 1NT" opening in the Romex system.
If a club tries to follow the same standards used in most other clubs and tournaments, consider the
ACBL's page about opening 1NT with a singleton