Wednesday, February 18, 2004 5:41 AM
2♣ & 2 Suiters
PITBULLS:
One
of the dumbest practices I see in Bridge is opening a one bid with a monster
two suiter where you need virtually nothing from partner to make game. The rule
for opening 2♣’s is will game be missed if
partner does not have a response
? if the answer is yes then open 2♣. The practitioners of this awful practice say they could get
pre-empted out of their two suits or there will not be enough room to get them
in. Nonsense. People pre-empt when you open these hands at the one level so if you bid later does it show
the demand two bid that you have ? If you open 2♣ and get pre-empted , at least
partner knows that you have a huge hand.
Subash
Gupta introduced me to a very clever use of
relays to get your two suits described at the lowest possible level in order to find
your fit and investigate slam . These relays only
occur after a 2♣-P-2♦ auction
and they involve the concept of an “anchor suit” . The relays put responder in a
“straight jacket” until opener describes his
two suits. The relay rule is whenever opener bids a major you must relay to the next level. Relay to ♠’s if ♥’s bid by
the opener and relay to NT if ♠’s
bid by opener. Pretty simple !!
The 2♣
structure has a disadvantage over the forcing 1♣ because of lack of bidding
room. I do not like responderer giving controls because that even robs you of further bidding room to find
your fit or describe the 2♣ opener. Relays conserve
bidding room because responder can not get in the way of the 2♣ opener
describing her hand. There are other ways to show controls later on in the
auction so what is the hurry ?
The
first relay involves ♥’s as the anchor suit . 2♣-p-2♦-p 2♥-p-2♠-p 3♠/♦/♣/ . Two ♥’s demand responder
to bid 2♠ and then any bid by opener shows a two suiter with ♥’s as the anchor
suit and the other suit bid. If ♥’s are rebid then opener has a one suiter. The two suiter with ♥’s is fully described by the 3 level !! ♥’s are the longer of the two suits or equal length.
The
next relay involves NT a la Kokish to describe the 25-27 balanced hands at the two level. 2♣-p-2♦-p 2♥-p-2♠-p 2NT. Now we do not have to rebid 3NT
and get the bidding to a rarified atmosphere. A direct 2NT rebid without the
relay is obviously 22-24 HCP. 2♣-p-2♦-p 2nt shows
22-24. The relay allows another
understanding. One route can not
have a 5 or 4 card major !
2♣-p-2♦-p 3NT shows
25-27 (with no 4/5 card major)
2♣-p-2♦-p 2♥-p-2♠-p 2NT shows 25-27 with
a 4/5 card major.
2♣-p-2♦-p 2♥-p-2♠-p 3NT shows 28-29 4
clubs is puppet Stayman
2♣-p-2♦-p 2♥-p-2♠-p 4NT shows 30-31 play Baron
over this or higher
2♣-p-2♦-p 2♥-p-2♠-p 5NT shows 32-33
The
last relay uses ♠’s as the anchor suit and forces a NT bid to complete the relay.. 2♣-p-2♦-p
2♠-p-2NT-P 3♥/♦/♣ shows
the two suits. If opener rebids ♠’s
then the one suiter is shown.
Again all by the 3 level with ♠’s
most likely the longer suit.
With
the permutations of the two suits and two relays to choose from you select the
relay that shows the longer suit in case of 6-5’s . A 6-5 in the majors can be
shown by choosing the correct relay to start with . It does not guarantee a 6-5
in all cases & all suit combinations but it is more likely as opener
deliberately chose to use that relay method. With the ♥ suit you can guarantee the 6-5 . A 5-5 in ♥’s & ♠’s would be shown by the ♥ relay. Choosing the ♠ relay shows 6 ♠’s &
5 ♥’s
Two suiters are not just 5-5 , 6-5 or
higher. 6-4’s can be two suits.
5-4-3-1 is semi-balanced as I call them and not two suits. When I have a
5-4-3-1- rock I normally cheat and rebid 2NT especially with a stiff honour. Have
written a couple of articles on that distribution.
x AKJxxx Ax AKQJ This would be bid 2♣-P-2♦-P
2♥-P-2♠-P 3♣ since hearts are the anchor suit they must be longer. You
got your suits in under 3NT.
Contrast with
standard where responder “pre-empts you” . 2♣-P-2♦-P 2♥-P-3♦-P
4♣ ? you are passed 3NT
opposite J10xx x KJxxxx xx .
Partner “pre-empts” you with many suit combinations and you can not get your
suits in under 3NT. Say partner has xxxx xx Kx xxxxx we could get to 6♣ with the relay auction.
AKQxxx x AKQx xx 2♣-P-2♦-P 2♠-P-2NT-P 3♦ Got your
suits in by the 3 level. Contrast with a standard auction where
partner could “interfere” by bidding his silly 5 card heart suit. 2♣-P-2♦-P
2♠-P-3♥-P 4♦ ? again passed your best spot of 3NT x QJxxxx xx KJ10x . With relay sequence getting to 3NT is childs play. Getting
to 6♦ is also easy. There is a tactical advantage in the big hand getting
in both his suits by the 3 level.
Anyway
, this treatment is an effort to keep one bids as one bids and not miss games
and slams. Depending on the opponents to
balance you to your slam is risky at best. These indiscretions really hurt in IMPS where getting to
slam or game is the goal . Match point players seem to be the ones who open
rock two suiters at the one level. I just
cringe.