Wednesday, August 25, 2004 7:21 AM

Hand Evaluation - Lebensohl vrs Rubensohl

PITBULLS:

Lebensohl over a strong NT was invented so that you can compete better & show game forcing hands immediately. The bad part of Lebensohl is that you must go thru a relay to find out partners real suit so if RHO competes you might never know that you have a fantastic fit. In today’s game , the opponents always seem to use their toy to disturb your NT . In addition , RHO is getting into the act more & more to re-preempt the auction. Jeff Reubens from the Bridge World thought it was a better idea for partner to announce the suit directly , your strength later with a D.S.I.P. double or a Q bid or by bidding again.

1NT-2♠-3♦-4♠ ? ♠xxx ♥AQxx ♦AKxx ♣Kx it might be a good idea to bid 5♥ . Partners hand is ♠x ♥Kxxxxx ♦xx ♣Q10xx so playing Lebensohl he would have bid 2NT but with the same 4♠ bid by RHO , the partnership is poorly placed. Neither side is aware of the huge heart fit !!

Competing for a partial is important as double partial swings are expensive. You hold ♠xxx ♥Ax ♦Axxx ♣AKxx , they overcall 2♠ after your 1NT bid. Partner bids 2NT Lebensohl , they bid 3♠ . You guess that partner was competing in hearts so you pass. Wrong , partner had diamonds . ♠x ♥xxx ♦QJ10xxx ♣so you are on a hook for 5♦ but you sell out for 3♠ unaware of your huge diamond fit.

The device Rubens suggests to prevent RHO from jamming you is to replace the Lebensohl structure with a transfer structure. This allows the NT opener to know the suit immediately so by the simple act of accepting the transfer , he can be dropped by partner if his intention was just to compete. If partner’s intention was to force , he can bid game or Q bid or bid Blackwood or whatever. The brilliant part of this structure is that you can define meanings to transferring into their suit. Also very handy is you conserve room & can super accept by buying into the transfer structure.

Lets assume a 2♠ overcall first . He uses 2NT as the first transfer which signifies clubs , clubs shows diamonds & diamonds show hearts. Pretty simple ! Bidding 3♥ ( transferring into their suit) is Stayman without a stopper. A direct 3♠ bid is a transfer to 3NT without a stopper & a direct 3NT shows a stopper. Next lets discuss a 2♥ overcall over your strong NT. A 2♠ bid is natural & non forcing . A 2NT bid is a transfer to clubs , a 3♣ bid a transfer to diamonds . 3♦ ( transferring into their suit ) is available for something you want to invent so Rubens suggests Stayman without a stopper in their suit. If the NT opener does not have a 4 card spade suit or a heart stopper he just accepts the transfer otherwise he bids 3NT. A 3♥ or 3♠ both shows spades and forcing so you can define one of them to show a stopper in their suit. A jump to 3NT directly would show no stopper but a pretty rare bid.

If the opponents overcall a natural minor , this treatment is as per usual Lebensohl. Two level bids are natural & non forcing. If they overcall 2♦ jumps in the majors are just natural & forcing. 3♣ over 2♦ is strong & forcing & 2NT is Lebensohl. If they bid 2♣ artificial , a dbl is Stayman. Otherwise just standard stuff. Reubensohl only applies to major suit overcalls.

The above is a very very basic overview of Rubensohl . There are many versions of Rubensohl around. Tom Gandolfo & I play the Kantar version but even that gets modified.