2007-10-05 22:53

Hand Evaluation – 2♣ ( Bidding Room )

PITBULLS:

The reason forcing club systems were born was due to the “useful space principle” . Standard bidding & the 2♣ structure especially took up too much bidding room along with jumping to game to show strength. All of a sudden , you are near game or in game & you have run out of room to describe your hand properly. We have two options , switch to a forcing club system or have some partnership understandings to help us conserve bidding room.

My partner held ♠AKxx ♥Kx ♦Ax ♣AKxxx & decided that it was too rich in controls with a 5 card suit to put this hand in the NT family. Most experts would agree with him. Partner opened 2♣ & I replied 2♦ so he bid 3♣ rather than 2NT. I bid 3♠ which is a natural bid. Partner can now bid 4♠ which at the game level shows a minimum 2♣ opener , but his hand has actually improved in support of spades. It is the 2♣ structure that is at fault , as a 4♠ game bid is so final & many slams could be missed with this action.

My partner proposes that with 2♣ openers when you have run out of room , a 5♠ bid ( bid at the 5 level ) should not have the traditional meaning of “how good are your trump” or any other systemic meaning. He feels that a 5♠ bid should just be a hand too strong to bid 4♠. This treatment has a lot of merit. In this auction , we have run out of room & an advanced Q bid would be interpreted as natural. My partner bids 5♠ & I hold ♠Qxxxxx ♥Axx ♦xxx ♣Q . Opposite this bidding , I have grand slam aspirations so how do I show my intent ?

With the boss suit , I have a number of options. I could bid 5NT as a grand slam try or simply bid 6♥. The rank of the spade suit gives me the luxury of bidding 6♥ so that is all partner needs to hear. Partner bids 7♠ & good hand evaluation gets rewarded.

Quite often when the 2♣ opener runs out of bidding room , he just assumes control with 4NT . 4NT must key off the last major bid , so all his well when the 2♣ opener has that hand type. The 5♠ bid in this instance just shows doubt that a small slam exists but opener feels that just bidding game does not do his hand justice.