Balanced Hand

In the game of bridge a balanced hand (or balanced distribution) denotes a hand containing no singleton or void and at most one doubleton. As a bridgehand contains thirteen cards, only three [[[Bridge probabilities#Hand pattern probabilities|hand patterns]]] can be classified as balanced: 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2 and 5-3-3-2. The hand patterns 5-4-2-2 and 6-3-2-2 that are generally classified as a two suiter and a single suiter respectively, are often also referred to as ''semi-balanced''.

In natural bidding systems, balanced hands are either opened with a notrump bid, or rebid in notrump.

In the Netherlands a bidding system called ''Saaie klaver'' ("''Boring club''") that reserves the 1 opening for all balanced hands (''boring hands''), has gained some popularity.

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