Tom & Kiz . Would not mind if all 4 of us give this a try.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006 4:00 AM

Strong 2♦

PITBULLS:

BJ , Chris & myself have bought into the strong 2♦ opener. This bid gets diamonds out of the 2♣ structure and also has the dual use of covering the strong Roman 2♦ hands. I have written an article on this bid before but this is a progress report as BJ & I have had some hands to try it out.

The key to the bid is that responder must make a 2♥ “waiting bid” . After the waiting bid , opener can show a diamond two suiter , one suiter or balanced NT hand with diamonds. With a specialized bid , it also handles the Roman 2♦ hands. 2♠ by the opener is a relay to 2NT and the Roman 2♦ hands are shown by bidding the stiff.

Here are two strong 2♦ hands that came up tonight and they made the auction very simple to get to the optimum spot. I held ♠ AKQx ♥ x ♦AKQ1098 ♣ Qx and opened 2♦ . BJ held ♠Jxxx ♥Jxxxxx ♦ void ♣ xxx and bid 2♥ waiting . I bid 3♦ and BJ bid 3♥ natural. I bid 3♠ and 4♠ by BJ ended the auction. This was an easy +620.

A few hands later I held ♠x ♥K ♦AQJ1098 ♣AKQJx and opened 2♦. BJ bid 2♥ and I bid 3♣ and BJ bid 3NT and made +660 for a lot of matchpoints. Simple natural bidding and I do not have to open these rocks at the one level which keeps me happy.

Here is a sample Roman 2♦ auction . ♠AKxx ♥AKxx ♦x ♣AKxx and I open 2♦ and partner bids 2♥ as ordered. I bid 2♠ which is a command to bid 2NT so I now show my stiff by bidding 3♦. Simple stuff ! Partner holds Q10xxxx xx Axx xx and eventually makes her way to 7♠ though KCB.