Tuesday, May 22, 2007 2:16 AM

Jacoby 2NT - Serious Rebid

PITBULLS:

BJ Trelford has come up with a new concept with Jacoby 2NT. As we play 3♣ to show all minimum or average type hands , all other bids are in effect “serious slam tries” . If you want to reverse the “master-slave” relationship & take control of the auction , you can rebid the trump suit with “any distribution” . Normally the rebid of the trump suit shows a balanced good hand but if you have a very serious slam try , you can break rules.

This frees the 3NT bid for other uses. The 3NT directly after partner’s 2NT response shows a stiff club with a good hand. The 3NT bid by responder after partner has shown a singleton indicates severe duplication of value ( similar to fast arrival ) . The advantage of this according to BJ is to conserve bidding room & indicate the duplication at the lowest possible level. This means the other hand can still investigate a slam under game even with duplication of value in partner’s hand. Another advantage , BJ says is that 3NT may be a possible contract with the bad duplication of value. Possibly 9 tricks will be easier than 10 with the ill fitting hand. The last advantage is that we now have a bid to show a strong club singleton immediately without forcing partner to ask & waste bidding room.

Here is the hand that I had with Perry now bid BJ’s way. Perry held this hand ♠AQ10xxx ♥x ♦x ♣AQ109x and he opened 1♠ . I responded with 2NT so the obvious bid by Perry is to bid 4♣ which shows a two suiter. This relinquishes control to my side as he is describing his hand to me. I hold ♠KJxx ♥AJ10xx ♦Ax ♣Kx and I indeed take control of the auction. However, if Perry is 5-5 with a doubleton heart , I can not bid 7 without a heart asking bid later in the auction. The solution is for Perry to take control by bidding 3♠ as he has the club suit & a 6-5 ). I must Q bid 4♣ after a serious slam try as that is my lowest ranking control. Armed with the information that I fill his club suit, Perry bids KCB & bidding 7♠ is a simple bid. The serious 3♠ keeps control of the auction to your side. If I deny a club control , Perry keeps a lid on the auction and only tries for a small slam.

We are in effect still playing “serious 3NT” theory but substituting 3 of the major for 3NT. This works , so when partner bids a singleton & you have serious slam interest just bid the trump suit & we off to the races. Courtesy Q bids still apply and the rest of the serious 3NT understandings , it’s just that we have the “serious trump rebid” to do the job instead.