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.