[goobers]

1♣ - 1♠
2♣ - 2♥

Is responder's 2H rebid forcing?

One of the tenets is that new suits by an unpassed responder are forcing. There is an exception, where opener rebids 1N and responder bids 2 of a lower ranking suit (and assuming you're not playing new minor force. If you are, well, 1x - 1S - 1N - 2H still serves as an example showing a minimal response)

What about this sequence? Is 2H showing a decent hand, or a minimum with 5-4 majors? My instinct is that this should be forcing, as responder could easily pass 2♣ with a bad hand despite having 5-4 majors, but I want to hear some opinions from some better players than myself.

[Echognome]

Forcing. Obviously it helps to be playing reverse flannery. But one of the basic tenets I apply is that we won't keep the auction alive to improve the partial. Thus, if responder is weak with 5-4 majors (and even 5-5), he will pass 2♣]. Having to jump to 3♥ to force is very space consuming and also makes constructive bidding much more difficult.

That being said, some people play an artificial 2♦ in this sequence to force and then 2♥ might be non-forcing. Then you have to ask if 1♦ - 1♠ - 2♦ - 2♥ is forcing or not and artificial or not. Best bet is to simply play it as natural forcing without further agreement.

[sdoty]

Without any special agreements, 2♥ is forcing in the given sequence: invitational or better, at least 5-4 in the majors. If you have to choose one or the other, 2♥ is more valuable as a natural and forcing than as a pass/correct bid ... the hands that still have game interest take priority over the ones that just want to play a different partscore.

Some players adopt the following sequences (or something similar) to try to gain flexibility/accuracy:

1♣ : 1♠
2♣ : 2♥ = Weak with both majors (pass/correct)

1♣ : 1♠
2♣ : 2♦! = artificial and F1 (functioning very much like NMF)

This enables responder to show the weak ♥+♠ hands and have a way to bid stronger hands effectively as well.

Susan

[BebopKid]

I believe if you're playing Standard American it is forcing unless another partner agreement is in place.

[pclayton]

The bandaid that 1C - 1S - 2C - 2H can be non-forcing only works in that particular sequence. There are still problems with 1D - 1S - 2C and 1D - 1S - 2D. Responder cant make a cheap temporizing bid.

For new players, just accept that its forcing. Its really an unsolveable problem unless you play reverse flannery.

[Gerben42]

I recommend responding 1♥ on hands like:

Qxxxx
KJxx
x
xxx

In principle one should then also play 1♣ - 1♥ - 1NT - 2♠ as this hand type, but since most play N-way NMF anyway this is no problem.

[xx1943]

This is an easy to remember rule: (Guess it was invented yet by E. Culbertson)

Responders new suit is 100% forcing except opener's rebid is 1NT.
After 1NT you should play NMF or CBS.

If your partner insists, you can make other agreements. But I wouldn't accept.

Al

[jikl]

100% forcing.

Sean

[han]

Gerben42, on Feb 9 2007, 02:04 AM, said:

I recommend responding 1♥ on hands like:

Qxxxx
KJxx
x
xxx

In principle one should then also play 1♣ - 1♥ - 1NT - 2♠ as this hand type, but since most play N-way NMF anyway this is no problem.

I think this is a very poor idea, especially for beginning players who want to learn standard bidding.

Bidding your best suits first may be boring and old-fashioned, it has a lot going for it.

[david_c]

Agree with Han. On that particular hand you're quite happy passing a 2♣ rebid anyway. A hand like

Qxxxx
KJxxx
xx
x

would be more interesting: I think it's still normal to bid 1♠, but there is a good argument for 1♥.