Conventions in depth
A style in which Michaels and the Unusual 2NT are bid only with a weak or a strong hand, never a medium one.
The Michaels cue-bid and the Unusual 2NT are two-suited overcalls: a single call that shows two five-card suits. They have a weakness: they commit you to the three level and to both suits, with no room left to say how good your hand is. With a middling hand you can get too high.
Minimax removes the problem: make the two-suited overcall only when your hand is clearly weak or clearly strong, never in the awkward middle.
| RHO | You |
|---|---|
| 1♥ | 1♠ |
You hold five spades and five clubs with 13 points: too good to pre-empt, not good enough to force to the three level. Rather than a Michaels 2♥ cue-bid, overcall 1♠ naturally and introduce clubs on the next round.
Minimax is a style, not a separate convention. It changes only when you are allowed to bid Michaels or the Unusual 2NT; it does not change what those bids mean. With the style switched off, both overcalls are available across their full range, about 8 or more points (10 when vulnerable). See the Michaels cue-bid and Unusual 2NT pages for the bids themselves.
In BidMaestro the suppressed band is 12–15 points: a hand of 11 or fewer is treated as a minimum and still makes the two-suiter, and 16 or more is a maximum that makes it too. Only the 12–15 medium hand is held back to a natural overcall.
