Wednesday, May 14, 2003
3:21 AM
Hand Evaluation - 2/1 Non Forcing to
Game ( Suit rebid )
PITBULLS:
I
noticed that in Bridge World Standard 2001 , the
experts polled recommended that 2/1 should not be forcing to game
when the suit is rebid . In the era of making 4th suit noises
to force to game, it is easy to make
sure the game force is flashed when you have a strong forcing to game 2/1 suit
. There is no reason to be so rigid
with 2/1 when you have a good rebidable 6 card suit . This concept only applies after a major opener because we must
contend with the dreaded forcing NT
response. The purpose of this 2/1 treatment is to rescue nice
6 card suits from the clutches of the forcing NT .
The Standard American
fix hands i.e. 10-12 HCP with a minor
when partner opens a major are
almost impossible to describe playing forcing
NT . With a heart opener , we have the idle spade bid to get
the message across that we have a minor hand
in that HCP range . After a spade opener, it is impossible to show these hands
so confusing auctions result . When I played with Subash ,
I asked him how he handled these problems hands. He replied he has given up , so plays 2/1 non forcing to game when the minor suit is
rebid . You note that standard convention cards have a tick mark for
partnerships who play it that way .
When
2/1 was just in its growing pain stage multi decades ago , Vish
and I decided that 2 ♥ , 2♣ and 2♦ over a spade opener
and 2 diamonds/clubs over a heart opener was not forcing to game if the suit was rebid. This worked well so we
could go to the two level with just a good 6 card heart suit and rebid it . This meant that the forcing 1NT did not have to go into
contortions to jump in hearts . Vish
and I assigned splinters to the bids instead. Same with strong 6 card minor hands under a game force
. Since we would have bid 2/1 anyway , rebid
our suit non forcing , jumps in the
minor were splinters instead of suits so clarified a lot of forcing auctions .
Bridge
is a game of suits. Hiding a good
6 card suit within the forcing NT structure
is just plain bad Bridge.
By pulling these hands outside of the forcing NT , it
frees jumps to mean splinters or fit showing jumps depending on the partnership
preference. The forcing NT is a bad bid, so allowing good 6 card suits to escape its clutches is a good idea. Less 3NT contracts get wrong
sided that way & tight games in the other major are reached.
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Partner
opens a spade , you bid 1NT . Partner rebids 2♦ so now what ? A 3♥ splinter would be a nice bid to
make . Playing 2/1 in hearts as non forcing to game ,
the bid can not
show hearts.
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Partner
opens 1♠ , you bid 1NT .
Partner rebids 2♣ so would you not like
to splinter to 3♦ ? Playing 3♦ as strong , natural is impossible or else you would have gone the non forcing 2/1 route.
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Scott and I
had a disaster against the Cabays last night. Scott
opened 1♠ , I bid a forcing NT . Stan bid 2♣ & Scott
bid 2♥ . Lisa bid 3♦ which I doubled &
turned on forcing passes for one round. Lisa then bailed to 4♣ so Scott and I had
a forcing pass misunderstanding so they played
it there . Meanwhile we are cold for 7♦ as Scott held ♠Axxxx ♥AKQx ♦Jxxx ♣void .
Now play 2/1 non forcing to game if suit rebid. 1♠ 2♦ and then a 5♣ exclusion
bid or some sort of club splinter 6 or 7 diamonds is reached . No forcing 1NT contortions .
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O.K. now
you do want to force to game . 1♠ 2♦
2♥ 3♣
What’s so
difficult to come up with a 3♣ bid to force to game ?
Partner will give
preference to diamonds if she has 3 so its
almost like rebiding 3♦ anyway . You are not
giving up much and you solve an unsolvable forcing 1NT bidding fix.
The coach likes it !!!!