| |
You are here: Experts > Games > Card Games > Bridge & other card games > Bridge Bidding Question- reverse
Expert: Unhunk - 11/4/2009
Question
Opening bidder is 4-4-4-1, singleton club. 12 points.
Opens 1 diamond. (we use that rule of 20)
Responder has 16 points, 6 clubs, 4 hearts. Responds
2 clubs- (shows 6 card suit first).
Opening bidder now bids 2 hearts. Responder interprets this
as a reverse and gets excited. With a heart fit and lots of points, and all but one ace, we get to 6 hearts. Down 2. Question is was the 2 heart bid by opener a reverse? If so, since opener didn't have the points for a reverse, what would be a good bid- without using any more obscure conventions! (we use basic bidding and don't play a lot of duplicate. 5 card majors, transfers, negative doubles, limit raises, weak 2's etc.
Answer
Hi,
Frequently in bridge there are tradeoffs. For example, the more you restrict the meaning of a certain bidding auction, the more likely it is that you will encounter hands that do not "fit" and will therefore confront you with an impossible bidding problem. In your case, requiring the 2H "reverse" bid to show extra values results in creating a difficult bidding problem if the opener has a minimum...2D shows extra length, 2H shows extra strength and 2NT tends not to show a singleton...in other words everything is a lie.
My preferred solution, one which is advocated by a fair number of experts, is for the opener to be able to bid out his shape in this specific auction, 1D-2C-2H by rebidding 2H even with a minimum opening bid. Partner will then be less inclined to get carried away and you will probably stop in game. Note that the auction 1H-2C-2S could still be played to show extra values since opener could always just rebid 2H with a minimum.
If this is not to your liking, another possibility is to rebid 2NT with your hand. This is a lie but a relatively small one. Hopefully then partner will bid 3H and you can bid 4H.
A final possibility, although one which I do not recommend but mention just for the sake of completeness, is to lie and open 1H on your four card major. This will certainly afford you a convenient 2D rebid but could certainly lead to other problems later on.
Add to this Answer Ask a Question
|
|
