Monday, July 25, 2005 6:52 AM

Hand Evaluation - 1 Club 2♦ Response

PITBULLS:

Bidding theorists realize that a 1♣-P-2♦-P is a rather lame bid as a WJS. The bid does not cut it as a pre-emptive action as it keeps nobody out of the auction. A 3♦ bid after partners opens 1♣ does the job much better if that is not defined as a splinter. Many partnerships have sought out different meanings for the 2♦ bid after a club opener. Weak major suit hands are sometimes shut out after partner opens 1♣ . The club opener has hearts but is too weak to reverse after a spade response so the heart fit is missed. Responder only has the values to bid once. The club opener rebids two clubs but has good 3 card support for partner’s major but responder passes the club rebid. Quite often partner opens a club with a strong hand with the majors but partner is too weak to respond so a game in the major is missed. This causes partner to respond without the required HCP’s . However , psyching responses leads to more trouble more often than not.

Opening 1♣ & rebidding 1NT with all balanced hands causes problems when responder is weak as you miss your 4-4 major suit fit. With 5♥ & 4♠ & a weak hand you are forced to pass 1NT or rebid your 5 card heart suit. You miss your 4-4 spade fit if partner suppressed that suit to rebid 1NT. Even with 5-5 in the majors , you can miss your 5-4 heart fit when partner rebids 2♣ since most play 2♥ as a one round force by responder. The 2♦ response showing the majors solves the problem & you describe your hand pretty well in one fell swoop. This is handy in competition.

One clever solution is to use the 2♦ bid to show al 5-4 major hands ( both ways ) & 5-5 in the majors with values less than a response up to a weak response. The reasoning is that invitational & strong hands in the majors can take care of themselves. The HCP range for the 2♦ response is 4-8 , if 5-4 in the majors & even less if you are 5-5 (3 –6 ) . The opening quite often can place the contract after the 2♦ response. This adds a little “forcing club” element to your system as you do not need the required HCP’s for a response (2♦) if you have the majors i.e. any chance for a major game.

Use 2NT after the 2♦ response as the only forcing bid & a game try . There are 4 steps you can use above 2NT at the 3 level : 3♣ , 3♦ , 3♥ & 3♠. So lets define some use for these bids to suit our purpose. 3♣ is used as a catch all bid showing all maximums. 3♦, 3♥ & 3♠ shows the minimums with their respective patterns. For a memory aid , diamonds transfers to hearts showing 5♥ & 4♠. 3♥ transfers to spades showing 5♠ & 4 hearts. Spades are what left at the 3 level to show the 5-5 in the majors.

With maximums , 3♦ asks by opener so you give Smolen responses ( bid 4 card suit) to show your distribution.

Here is a summary of this treatment that helps solve this problem after a 1♣ opening bid.

1♣ 2♦ weak hand < 9 HCP with at least 5-4 in the majors;

IF 5 ♠ AND 4 ♥, THEN 4 TO 8

IF 4 ♠ AND 5 ♥, THEN 4 TO 8

IF 5 ♠ AND 5 ♥, THEN 3 TO 6

1♣ 2♦

2♥/♠ to play

2NT F1 round

3♣ to play

3♥/3♠ invitational

3NT to play

1♣ 2♦

2NT 3♣ maximum hand

3♦ minimum, 4 ♠ AND 5 ♥

3♥ minimum, 5 ♠ AND 4 ♥ steps based on spades

3♠ minimum, 5 ♠ AND 5 ♥

1♣ 2♦

2NT 3♣ maximum so going to game 3♦ asks by opener

3♦ 3♥/3♠ 4 card suit, 5 in other major (Smolen)

3NT 5-5

If you are not “hung up” on maximums & minimums , you can play a simplified version after the 2NT query which leaves out minimum & maximums. Again as a memory aid , we use transfers to identify the 5 card major & need only 3 bids at the 3 level to cover our bases..

1♣ 2♦

2NT 3♣ 5-5 majors

3♦ 4♠ AND 5♥

3♥ 5♠ AND 4♥

I have used this toy for a while now & it is quite handy. I “borrowed” the idea from the Jacobs/Maksymetz system.