Sunday, November 20, 2005 12:17 AM

Hand Evaluation - Phony Reverses

PITBULLS:

Reverses are a natural bid showing at least an Ace above an opener with the first suit longer than the 2^nd suit. Reversing is painting a picture of your distribution as well as your strength .Reversing to a 3 card suit is an ugly practice & causes confusion. Experts do it because of the shortcomings of a non club system with big hands too strong for jump rebids in their suit. You open 1♦ on ♠x ♥AKx ♦AKQJ10xx ♣Jx , partner responds 1♠. You are too strong for a nonforcing 3♦ bid & leaping to 3NT may pre-empt you from slam , so you temporize with a heart reverse. This is an ideal hand for an ACOL 2♦.  We detest phony reverses so hopefully we have rid our system of these bids. If you do not play the ACOL toy , we have a multi-tasking 3♣ bid which is a relay to 3♦. With this hand , I jump shift to 3♣ & I pull the 3♦ relay to 3NT. This shows this kind of diamond hand in our system. With less values but the solid suit , we leap to 3NT directly after the 1♠ response.

♠AKx ♥AKQJ10x ♦Q10x ♣x again another hand for a phony reverse to 2♠ after a 1NT response. Instead ,we use the club jump shift & pull the relay to 3♥ to describe this hand. After a club opener , partner responds 1♦ , a 3♦ jump raise is a game force. ♠x ♥AKx ♦AJxx ♣AK10xx so we do not need a phony reverse to 2♥.

With strong raises in partners major with semi-balanced hands, we do not need a phony reverse. ♠AKxx ♥AJ ♦AQ10xx xx You open 1♦ , partner responds 1♠ some people would reverse to 2♥ & support spades as this hand is too strong for a jump raise. This is a 2NT rebid to show the HCP & balanced hand in our system. Support spades later. No need for phony reverses with these hand types either.

OK after a club opener . there might be a phony reverse as you do not have the 3♣ jump shift available. No ! We feel that if you have a hand too strong for a 3♣ rebid , open 2♣ & back pedal. ♠x ♥AJ10 ♥Kx ♣AKQJ10xx . This understanding leaves no hand types that you need to resort to a phony reverse. If after a club opener , you have a hand too strong for a jump raise of partners major , bid 2NT ! ♠AKxx ♥AQx ♦xx ♣AJxx 1♣-P-1♠-p 2NT .

A Tormentee held this hand today. ♠AQ10 ♥KQx ♦x ♣AKQ109x & opened 1♣. Partner responded a heart so she bid 1♠! . This landed her in 4♠ down one & 3NT is cold. You do not have a rebid in standard bidding so make the best lie of opening 2♣. Partner bids 2♦ so you bid 3♣ followed by 3NT from partner. +600 was trivial in 3NT. With the club suit , you do not have the luxury of the 3♣ SJS so anticipate your rebid problem & open 2♣.

All reverses with these above understandings are natural . You do not need to go thru hoops or worry whether partner is reversing into a 3 card suit or a two card suit for that matter. Take partners reverses to the bank. If partner opens , reverses & bids a 3^rd suit , she has a singleton in the remaining suit. Natural bidding at its finest ! There are no hand types in our system where we need to make a phony reverse. As an aside , we use Lebensohl after reverses except reversing into a minor where the unbid major serves as Lebensohl to right side the NT.