20
October 2016
SECTION One
Larchmont Chronicle
Partners' options in responding to strong two-Club opening bid Here’s a hand that came up recently. Dealer (East) opened 2C and her partner (West) held:
Bridge Matters by
Grand Slam
♠ T86532 ♥3 ♦ JT73 ♣ 74
Here was the bidding: West North East South 2C P 2D P 2H P ? Responder, West, has a sixcard spade call. What should be her bid? There are several ways that players use to respond when partner makes a strong two club opening bid. One is to use a bid of two hearts to show a weak hand with no aces or kings and no more than
four points. In my judgment, using a major suit (hearts and spades), which will be trump at least 20 percent of the time, to show a woefully weak hand, is ill-advised. In accordance with my belief that standard bidding is the best, I use the “cheaper minor” (clubs or diamonds) to show a weak hand, with the automatic response of two diamonds as a waiting bid. If opener responds with two hearts or two spades, a rebid by responder of three clubs shows an extraordinarily weak hand. Any other call
by responder shows five High Card Points (HCP) or more. In this hand, the responder, an experienced player, bid 2S. Here was opener’s hand:
♠ AK ♥ AKQT72 ♦A ♣ KJ82
With 24 HCP, she got excited, appropriately thinking that her partner had much more than 4 HCP, and they ended up in 6S, which was down 2. The answer to the bidding question is that responder’s first obligation is to describe the strength of her hand. With one point, she should respond 3C, cheaper minor, showing 4 HCP or less. That raises the question as to how long responder must keep the bidding open. While
a 2C open is generally forcing to game, opener’s rebid of 2N after partner’s 2D response may be passed because opener has limited her hand. If responder has less than 4 HCP, she may pass. But some people also play that, after a cheaper minor response by responder, opener’s rebid of 3 of her major that she bid at the two level may be passed. It’s up to opener to force game by bidding a new suit at that point or just jumping to game in her major. I favor this treatment. However, please note that if opener bids 2N, responder’s response of 3C is not cheaper minor; it is Stayman. (“Stayman” is a bidding convention that is used by a partnership to find a 4-4 or 5-3 trump fit in a major suit after making a one no-trump [1N] opening bid, and it has been adapted for use after a 2N opening, a 1N overcall, and many other natural no-trump bids.) Here’s how the bidding would progress from the opening bid under the treatment just mentioned: West North 2D P 3C P P P
East South 2C P 2H P 3H P
But if you play that 2C is unconditionally forcing to game for any rebid other than 2N, here’s how the above bidding should proceed: West North 2D P 3C P 3S P
East South 2C P 2H P 3H P 4S All Pass
With two cards in opener’s suit, she should bid 4H. But with the singleton, responder may also take this opportunity to inform opener that she has a weak six-card spade suit (with a 5 card spade suit and 2 of the top 3 honors, she would respond 2S to the 2C opener). But with a singleton and a weak six-card spade suit, it’s (Please turn to page 21) CORRECTION A typographical error occurred in the September bridge column by Grand Slam, “Invitational v. Competitive Bids.” The auction that read 1S-2C-2N-3C-? should have read 1S-2C-2S-3C-?. If partner bids 2N instead of 2S, it’s a different auction and renders the rest of the column meaningless. The correct solution is at: http://larchmontchronicle. com/bridge-matters-invitational-or-competitive-bids/.
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