[gdawg01]

Hi all!

A couple of basic 2/1 questions from what happened last night at the club.

I dealt and picked up

---

and opened the bidding 1H

Pard responded 1N (forcing). I am relatively new to 2/1 so I rebid 2H. Is this correct? If not - what is my best rebid here? After 2H, pard responded 3C. Is this forcing or passable? I took it as forcing and pushed him into 3N, which went down easily after neither of us had any spade stoppers.

Thanks!

Girish

[helene_t]

The normal rebid with this shape is 2♦. Some bid 2♣. 2♥ is understandable with this honor location but it does show a 6-card unambiguously.

3♣ shows long clubs and obviously a hand too weak for an immediate 2♣ response. So it can't be forcing. Not sure if you are allowed to bid on with a maximum and/or to correct to 3♥ if you have seven of them (maybe some of the experts here can tell you). Anyway, with this hand I would pass.

[hrothgar]

Hi There

Let's start with the easy question:

Responder's 3♣ rebi shows a hand with long clubs that was too weak for an immediate GF 2♣ response.

You have a minimum opening hand without a big club fit.
Pass is by far the best option.

Lets turn to the "correct" response to partner's forcing NT. Different players have different rebid styles after a forcing NT response.

For example, many players in Poland use a treatment in which a 2♣ rebid only promises two clubs while a 2♦ response promises at least four diamonds. This is a perfectly reasonable style, but one that you need to discuss with partner.

I suspect that a bidding poll would include votes for both 2♦ and 2♥

I prefer 2♦ - despite the egregious difference in suit quality - simply because I expect my AKQ of Hearts to take tricks regardless of whether we play in Hearts or Diamonds. A 2♥ rebid would normally promise 6 Hearts, and this doesn't look like the right hand to make an exception.

[gdawg01]

Thanks for the explanations, helene_t and hrothgar!

Reading hrothgar's explanation, I realize I did not draw the "obvious" conclusion that pard's hand was too weak for an immediate GF 2C response.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

instead of 2H, bid 2D (or 2C), rebidding the major
suit should usually promise 6 cards.
Some play, that 2D promises a 4 carder and have
agreed, hat it is allowed to bid 2C with only 2 cards.

3C from your partner is nonforcing, hand with clubs
and with forcing values would have bid 2C instead of
1NT.
Depending on agreement 3C showes either a weak
or an inv. hand with long clubs.
Oppossite both hands you have an fairly easy pass.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[jmcw]

Over 1NT, 2♥shows 6+ so thats out. With equal length in the minors rebid 2♣ so thats out. With longer ♦ than ♣ bid rebid 2♦

3♣ is totally non forcing showing 9/11 points and at least 6♣....you should pass. Some also play the 3♣ a bit weaker the range is up to you.

[Stephen Tu]

2♦ usually works out fine since partner will rarely pass w/ only 4 unless single/void heart.

2♣ by agreement is mainly so 2♦ can promise 4, allowing responder to pass more readily with weak hands 2 hearts + 4 diamonds (should still tend to false preference if 8+ pts since opener can still be quite strong). It also makes raising with 4 diamonds less risky. But it does occasionally lead to lousy contracts like if responder is weak 3-1-5-4, you play the 4-2 club fit instead of the 3-5 diamond fit.

As for responder's 3c bid, it's really bad if it has to cover the entire range below a GF 2/1 call. A popular solution is to use invitational jump shifts, so that 1M-3♣ shows an invitational hand, so that this sequence starting with 1nt is strictly weak and non-invitational.

Another way to go is to play that 2/1 followed by a rebid of the 2/1 suit after opener rebids 2 of his suit or lower is invitational only. Thus a 2/1 is only GF like 95% of the time rather than all the time. This means that with a real GF you have to probe with a different call instead. It does free up the jump shift for other uses though.

[fromageGB]

I agree with previous posts - definitely rebid a minor and definitely pass 3♣.
With my regular partners I like 2♦ to be weakish with 4 cards, so bid 2♣, but I think you need an agreement before you try this.

[Tola18]

fromageGB, on Jul 22 2009, 03:17 PM, said:

I agree with previous posts - definitely rebid a minor and definitely pass 3♣.
With my regular partners I like 2♦ to be weakish with 4 cards, so bid 2♣, but I think you need an agreement before you try this.

The beginner manuals on 2/1 says the rebid is the best minor; ie may be on 3 cards. OR 6 cards major.

So unless discussed otherwise, 2d or possibly 2h on these strong hearts.