Wednesday, October 23, 2002 8:33 AM

Minors - Jump rebid

PITBULLS:

Jump rebids in the minors have been in “the news” lately . According to the books , the jump rebid in the minors shows at least a 6 card suit and 16-18 pts counting distribution . A hand from the CNTC’s that cost my team 10 IMPS when a vulnerable game was missed :

Ax Qxx AKJxxx xx You open a diamond and partner responds a heart . Jim Gayland chose a 2♦ rebid and played it there . At my table Dan Jacob bid 3♦ based on the heart fit and they were plus 650 in hearts. The hand is worth 16 distributional points in support of hearts .

Should the fact that the opponents are in the auction change the meaning of your jump bid ? I do not think so . It still is a descriptive bid and conveys a message to partner . Pitbull Pat held this hand at the sectional :

KJ10x void AQJ1098x Kx She opened 1♦ nv and vul opponent doubled , partner passed and RHO bid your void . With no interference you were planning on rebiding 3♦ . Do you have any sensible bid now ? Bidding 1♠ is silly , double is silly and downright dangerous . Your hand has gone up with them bidding your void so why not bid 3♦ ? If you wanted to be preemptive say with a hand like xx void AQJ1098x KJxx bid 4♦ rather than 3 . I can not see using the jump rebid to show a distributional jam bid . Putting partner in the picture that you have 16-18 distributional points might come in handy for doubling 4H purposes or taking a sacrifice. If anything , it is more important to be more accurate with hand evaluation in a competitive auction.

O.K. Putbull Pat & Peter Jones had a disaster with a hand that Peter was too strong to make a jump rebid in the minor . He chose to open it 1♦ and make a phony jump shift in clubs . This is a standard expert work around for those kind of hand if they are distributional . However Peter held a flat 19 with a 6 card diamond suit . My approach is to add a point for the 6^th diamond and call it a 2NT opener . I seem to get in less trouble that way . With 18 HCP and a 6 card diamond suit , I call it 19 and rebid 2NT . With minors all roads seem to lead to 3NT anyway .

Lorna and I had a similar hand in the sectional . She held a “moose” too strong to rebid 3♣

Ax A AKx AJ10xxxx She opened 1♣ and I bid a heart and she manufactured a 2♦ reverse . I bid 2NT Lebensohl and she bid 3♠ . We ended up in 5♣ making exactly 5 which won a game swing as Paul Princes partner passed a forcing bid and they played it in a partial . My choice with Lorna’s hand is to open 2♣ and then “back pedal” . Many experts open 1♣ though and bid it like Lorna did.

These type of hands have always been Standard American fix hands . Every partnership should have understandings how they handle them . The Bartons have choose to make their jump rebids forcing instead of invitational . This method is not very good in my opinion as it causes too many stretches after a simple rebid of a minor with hands in the 16-18 pt range. Polish club is a good fix for these hands . A system of hesitations by beginners over a two of a minor rebid also work well to show the bigger range J .