[gurgistan]

Scoring: IMP

In an uncontested auction the bidding has gone me 1♣ as East, partner as West bid 2♣ and I am to make my rebid. I rebid 2♠. I thought it best to show my four card major. Should I have rebid 2♦?

This is the first time partner and I have played together and this was the first hand. Both our profiles said we played inverted minors.

General Question: with inverted minors we are headed to either 3N or 5 of the minor, yes?

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[aguahombre]

Yes, unless you and partner are of the school which bids 2C with a major; then you still have to worry about a major suit fit, and the normal stopper search is disrupted. There are exceptions for the rest of us: when we want to pattern out after the raise with unbalanced slammish opening bids.

[blackshoe]

Some people who play inverted minors (me, for instance) play that the 2m raise denies a four card major. We would respond 1♠ with that hand.

[655321]

gurgistan, on Aug 30 2010, 05:13 PM, said:

General Question: with inverted minors we are headed to either 3N or 5 of the minor, yes?

Usual is for an inverted minor raise to be invitational or better. When opener is minimum and responder is invitational you can stop in 3m. Otherwise you will normally end in 3NT or five or more of the minor.

[aguahombre]

blackshoe, on Aug 30 2010, 05:06 PM, said:

Some people who play inverted minors (me, for instance) play that the 2m raise denies a four card major. We would respond 1♠ with that hand.

that is the opening bidder's hand.

[blackshoe]

Then I misread it.

Okay. 1♣-2♣-2♠ seems a normal auction, showing a spade stopper (not necessarily 4 spades) and denying (for me, anyway) a heart stopper.

[aguahombre]

diamond stoppers are for wimps.

[gurgistan]

It did seem to me that I should bid my stoppers up the line but then a new problem presents itself.

As bid his 3♥ sends me to 3N. It is all clear cut.

However, if the auction had gone 1♣ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ would I just jump to 3N or would I take it as invitational and just go to 3♣ as I am weakish?

[aguahombre]

gurgistan, on Aug 30 2010, 11:36 PM, said:

It did seem to me that I should bid my stoppers up the line but then a new problem presents itself.

As bid his 3♥ sends me to 3N. It is all clear cut.

However, if the auction had gone 1♣ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ would I just jump to 3N or would I take it as invitational and just go to 3♣ as I am weakish?

2C showed invite values. You are not weak within your expected 11-14 pt minimum opening range. Just bid 2S/2H, and bid 3NT if responder bids 2NT. For us, a jump to 3NT, breaking the stopper-showing sequence (by opener) would show 18-19 in addition to the spade stop.

[P_Marlowe]

gurgistan, on Aug 31 2010, 12:36 AM, said:

It did seem to me that I should bid my stoppers up the line but then a new problem presents itself.

As bid his 3♥ sends me to 3N. It is all clear cut.

However, if the auction had gone 1♣ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ would I just jump to 3N or would I take it as invitational and just go to 3♣ as I am weakish?

The alternative to 3NT is 2S.

Given that your diamond stopper is Ax, you are in no hurry to bid
3NT fast, maybe p can bid it with Qxx in diamond.

In general - all bids below 3m dont promis add. strength, and one should
be wary to bid 3m too fast, similar, bidding 3NT very fast quite often also
kills the auction.

With kind regards
Marlowe

PS: Bidding 2S instead of 2D is also reasonable.

[gurgistan]

P_Marlowe, on Aug 31 2010, 08:10 AM, said:

gurgistan, on Aug 31 2010, 12:36 AM, said:

It did seem to me that I should bid my stoppers up the line but then a new problem presents itself.

As bid his 3♥ sends me to 3N. It is all clear cut.

However, if the auction had gone 1♣ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ would I just jump to 3N or would I take it as invitational and just go to 3♣ as I am weakish?

The alternative to 3NT is 2S.

Given that your diamond stopper is Ax, you are in no hurry to bid
3NT fast, maybe p can bid it with Qxx in diamond.

In general - all bids below 3m dont promis add. strength, and one should
be wary to bid 3m too fast, similar, bidding 3NT very fast quite often also
kills the auction.

With kind regards
Marlowe

PS: Bidding 2S instead of 2D is also reasonable.

Hello, Marlowe

Right now, I am thinking of my 2♠ rebid as clearly wrong.

2N over 1m is 10-12 hcp.
3N over 1m is 13-15 hcp.

They are bids responder could have made but did not. This should tell me that game is unlikely.

So, the bidding should have gone: 1♣ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ - 2♠ - ?????

I let responder place. He knows we have stops in all the suits. If he thinks 3N clearly makes he bids it; if he thinks it is a possibility he bids 2N, if he thinks 3m is the place to be then he bids that.

[BudH]

gurgistan, on Aug 31 2010, 09:43 PM, said:

Hello, Marlowe

Right now, I am thinking of my 2♠ rebid as clearly wrong.

2N over 1m is 10-12 hcp.
3N over 1m is 13-15 hcp.

They are bids responder could have made but did not. This should tell me that game is unlikely.

So, the bidding should have gone: 1♣ - 2♣ - 2♦ - 2♥ - 2♠ - ?????

I let responder place. He knows we have stops in all the suits. If he thinks 3N clearly makes he bids it; if he thinks it is a possibility he bids 2N, if he thinks 3m is the place to be then he bids that.

I think 2♠ is clearly correct. I don't believe you should be bidding stoppers "up the line". You should be bidding your solid, possible double stoppers in a 3-card or 4-card suit WELL before bidding an ♦Ax stopper!

Realize your partner as responder might have a semi-balanced hand that is game forcing with stoppers in all side suits EXCEPT spades. He doesn't want to bid 2NT or 3NT directly over 1♣ when he holds xx in spades. That would look silly if the ♠Q was led and you were holding ♠Kxx that you had to put down in dummy. In that case you need to be playing notrump to keep your spade protected.

♠ xx
♥ AQx
♦ QJx
♣ AJxxx

This is a hand which would bid 2♣ inverted, and after you bid 2♠ would probably bid 3NT. Note that this hand would rather not be declaring notrump if you had a flimsy ♠Kxx stopper in spades (best if YOU declared in that case). Partner should expect you to have better than a single spade stopper for the 2♠ bid, especially since you bypassed 2♦ and 2♥ to bid 2♠. The more suits you skipped, the more likely you have a double stopper.

[aguahombre]

gurgistan, on Aug 31 2010, 08:43 PM, said:

2N over 1m is 10-12 hcp.

Forget ten.

[BudH]

aguahombre, on Aug 31 2010, 11:34 PM, said:

gurgistan, on Aug 31 2010, 08:43 PM, said:

2N over 1m is 10-12 hcp.

Forget ten.

He mentions this since, assuming you are playing a strong 1NT opening 15-17 HCPs so that your minimum balanced opening hand is limited to 14 HCPs, you can't hold more than a combined 24 HCPs, so there is no need to make an invitational 2NT bid with an average 10 HCP hand. Responder's 2NT invitation should show a VERY good looking 10 HCPs up to an average 12 HCPs, assuming you play about average strength minimum opening bids in a Standard American/ 2 over 1 / SAYC type system.

[gurgistan]

BudH, on Aug 31 2010, 11:46 PM, said:

aguahombre, on Aug 31 2010, 11:34 PM, said:

gurgistan, on Aug 31 2010, 08:43 PM, said:

2N over 1m is 10-12 hcp.

Forget ten.

He mentions this since, assuming you are playing a strong 1NT opening 15-17 HCPs so that your minimum balanced opening hand is limited to 14 HCPs, you can't hold more than a combined 24 HCPs, so there is no need to make an invitational 2NT bid with an average 10 HCP hand. Responder's 2NT invitation should show a VERY good looking 10 HCPs up to an average 12 HCPs, assuming you play about average strength minimum opening bids in a Standard American/ 2 over 1 / SAYC type system.

Thanks for this clarification.

Forget ten, seemed gnomic.

But why cannot I be 15-21 unbalanced with a lot of clubs?

[aguahombre]

You can be 11-21 with a lot of clubs. But Responder jumping to 2NT with ten does nothing to affect that, and you might not have 15+ unbalanced.

The big hands can handle a minimum response of 1NT with ten. Slam is out of the picture, and opener has room to maneuver for the right strain and level.

[bucky]

gurgistan, on Sep 1 2010, 12:10 AM, said:

Thanks for this clarification.

Forget ten, seemed gnomic.

But why cannot I be 15-21 unbalanced with a lot of clubs?

Because with 15+ and lots of clubs, you will make a strength-showing bid after 1♣ 1NT, for example you can bid 3♣ or reverse or 3NT. So it is not going to hurt you if partner responds 1NT with 10 count. On the other hand, if you have a balanced 12-14 hand, you won't want partner to bid 2NT with average 10 hcp.

[blackshoe]

I played weak NT years ago, and 2NT in response to 1NT was 11-12. That's how I remember the range.