A pundit is a learned man, but pundits often disagree.  In the matter of what to do with a weak hand containing a five-card major when partner opens 1NT, a number of learned men have advised us.  Back in 1985 Goren advised us to pass partner’s 1NT holding this hand:

 
ªx x x x x   ©x x x x   ¨J x x   §J
 

Granted this hand is nearly worthless, but it might possibly bring in a trick or two if spades were trump.
 

In 1986 William Root, the most famous bridge teacher of his era, advised to bid two spades following partner’s 1NT opener with these two hands:
 

ª9 7 5 4 3 2   ©3   ¨7 6 4   §8 6 2
ªQ J 10 9 7   ©4 3  ¨Q 7 4  §8 3 2
 

As you notice, Root’s first example is like Goren’s except it has a six-card spade suit (a difference of some considerable significance), so apparently he was unwilling to take a position on a shorter suit.  His second example has an attractive suit - most of us wouldn’t mind playing two spades with this trump opposite a 1NT opening hand.
 

Recently in the Bridge Bulletin a modern-day pundit suggested going on to two spades holding:
 

ª9 7 6 5 4   ©6  ¨10 8 4 3   §9 4 2
 

But to pass and let partner play 1NT with:
 

ªQ 9 7 6 5   ©Q J 6   ¨J 8  §Q 9 2
 

I admit to some confusion here - why is it better to play this last hand in notrump?  Most importantly I was concerned about the validity of Standard American 21 where I wrote: “The major suit is marginally better than notrump.”  Could I have been wrong!!!
 

This problem cost me days of tedious research, playing and analyzing random deals to determine just what characteristics in the responding hand made 1 NT a better contract than two of a major.  I found that no matter what responder’s hand looks like, if it has a five-card major and is too weak to pursue a possible game, the odds favor playing in the suit contract.  It doesn’t matter whether you have a void or singleton, minimum or maximum honors, a good or a pathetic trump suit.  Sure the differences are mostly small (10, 20, 40 points) but they are of great importance in match-point duplicate.