Sunday, November 20, 2005 12:17 AM

Hand Evaluation – Reverses ( Phony )

 

PITBULLS:

 

            Reverses are a natural bid showing at least an Ace above an opener with the first suit longer  than the 2nd suit. Reversing is painting a picture of your distribution as well as your strength .Reversing to a 3 card suit is an ugly practice & causes confusion. Experts do it because of the shortcomings of a non club system with big hands too strong for jump rebids in their suit. You open 1 on ♠x AKx AKQJ10xx ♣Jx , partner responds 1. You are too strong for a nonforcing 3 bid & leaping to 3NT may pre-empt you from slam , so you temporize with a heart reverse. This is an ideal hand for an ACOL 2♦.  We detest phony reverses so hopefully we have rid our system of these bids. If you do not play the ACOL toy ,  we have a multi-tasking 3♣ bid which is a relay to 3. With this hand , I jump shift to 3♣ & I pull the 3 relay to 3NT. This shows this kind of diamond hand in our system. With less values but the solid suit , we leap to 3NT directly after the 1♠ response.

 

            AKx AKQJ10x Q10x ♣x  again another hand for a phony reverse to 2after a 1NT response. Instead ,we use the club jump shift & pull the relay to 3 to describe this hand. After a club opener , partner responds 1 , a 3 jump raise is a game force. ♠x AKx AJxx ♣AK10xx so we do not need a phony reverse to 2.

 

            With strong raises in partners major with semi-balanced hands, we do not need a phony reverse. ♠AKxx AJ AQ10xx xx  You open 1 , partner responds 1 some people would reverse to 2 & support spades as this hand is too strong for a jump raise. This is a 2NT rebid to show the HCP & balanced hand in our system. Support spades later. No need for phony reverses with these hand types either.

 

            OK after a club opener . there might be a phony reverse as you do not have the 3♣ jump shift available. No !  We feel that if you have a hand too strong for a 3♣ rebid , open 2♣ & back pedal. ♠x AJ10 KxAKQJ10xx . This understanding leaves no hand types that you need to resort to a phony reverse. If after a club opener , you have a hand too strong for a jump raise of partners major , bid 2NT !  AKxx AQx xx  AJxx   1♣-P-1-p 2NT .

 

            A Tormentee held this hand today. ♠AQ10 KQx x ♣AKQ109x  & opened 1♣. Partner responded a heart so she bid 1♠! . This landed her in 4 down one & 3NT is cold. You do not have a rebid in standard bidding so make the best lie of opening 2♣. Partner bids 2 so you bid 3♣ followed by 3NT from partner. +600 was trivial in 3NT. With the club suit , you do not have the luxury of the 3♣ SJS so anticipate your rebid problem & open 2♣.

 

            All reverses with these above understandings are natural . You do not need to go thru hoops or worry whether partner is reversing into a 3 card suit or a two card suit for that matter. Take partners reverses to the bank. If partner opens , reverses & bids a 3rd suit , she has a singleton in the remaining suit. Natural bidding at its finest !  There are no hand types in our system where we need to make a phony reverse. As an aside , we use Lebensohl after reverses except reversing into a minor where the unbid major serves as Lebensohl to right side the NT.