[Creeksider]

Hand poses dilemma

In GIB's system, a 1NT opening bid denies a 5-card major, so I opened 1H. I doubt that many human players would respond 1♠ with north's hand, but GIB saw 4 cards in a major and 6 total points and that was the result. After this exchange, unremarkable except when you see north's hand, I found myself with no truthful bid. 1NT limits my holdings to no more than 14 HCP, while 2♥ promises a 6-card suit, at least according to the descriptions that pop up when playing GIB. I have no gripe with the result (I chose to bid 2♥ and made an overtrick for a good score), but it struck me as odd that such a basic auction could lead to this dilemma, and it makes me wonder whether a 2♥ rebid should be considered a promise of 6 cards in that suit.

I checked to see how others playing the same hand had handled it, and found that some had settled for a rebid of 1NT. GIB responded with something I hadn't seen before: it bid 3♦ and described it as a "bar bid" showing 6+♦, 4+♠, and 6 total points. That's highly specific and very helpful in this situation if you follow GIB's instruction to pass, but the bid appears to have confused those who encountered it, as they all bid on to an unmakeable 3NT rather than accept the reasonable 3♦ contract. My question here is this: without GIB's description, how would one know this is a bar bid? Is this a standard feature of the 2/1 system GIB plays? Or just something GIB's designers decided to build in?

[barmar]

I think I've heard of this before.

It's easier to see why jumping to 3 of a minor is needed as a weak bid when the minor is clubs. 2♣ would be New Minor Forcing, so you have to jump to show it.

[Yogeshdg]

It is acceptable to rebid 2♣ over 1♠ in this situation.

ALso I wouldn't have responded with GIb's cards

Over 2♣ he should bid 2♥ which would be the final contract.

Over 2♥ I dont see any reason to bid 3♦

[Creeksider]

Yogeshdg, on 2011-January-23, 22:07, said:

It is acceptable to rebid 2♣ over 1♠ in this situation.

Thanks, sounds reasonable, but according to GIB's pop-up that bid would promise 4 clubs.

My earlier statement that 2♥ would promise six cards in that suit was based on the pop-up descriptions, but GIB's CC (the informal version) specifically states the opposite: "Opening major rebid does not promise 6 cards in the suit." Unclear which is the correct description of GIB's behavior.

[diana_eva]

Creeksider, on 2011-January-25, 09:13, said:

Thanks, sounds reasonable, but according to GIB's pop-up that bid would promise 4 clubs.

My earlier statement that 2♥ would promise six cards in that suit was based on the pop-up descriptions, but GIB's CC (the informal version) specifically states the opposite: "Opening major rebid does not promise 6 cards in the suit." Unclear which is the correct description of GIB's behavior.

GIB does rebid 5 carder major. So you can do it too if no other choice available. Not sure how GIB will react to that though