This Week in Bridge
(426) Special 2-Major & 2NT Rebids in 2/1 GF Auctions
© AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 10 of 10 (6 of 6) robert@advinbridge.com
General
When we are in a regular partnership, we often develop sophisticated 2/1 GF auction agreements – like “2-Major Waiting” and “3-level rebids show extra values”. This “2-Major Waiting” agreement allows Opener to rebid 2-Major more often than “natural” bidding (and preserves bidding space). We can actually take these agreements further, creating a structure where our rebids give more shape and strength information to our partner. To do this we will define “rebidding our Major” as showing exactly a 5-card suit with a minimum hand and use a rebid of 2NT to show a 6+card Major. Let’s look at these agreements in detail and see how they help us better describe our hand.
2NT Rebid Showing a 6+card Major Suit
In a 2/1 GF auction we can introduce a conventional agreement that a rebid of 2NT by the opening bidder shows a 6th card in our Major suit.
Example 1
♠ AQ9542
♥ 9
♦ Q93
♣ A43
1♠ 2♥
__?
A 2NT* rebid shows a 6+card ♠ suit. It also usually denies 3-card ♥ support. This 2NT* rebid is a conventional agreement we make with partner.
2NT* is our rebid with this hand but could also be used with a stronger hand.
Example 2
♠ KQ9542
♥ A
♦ K93
♣ AQ3
1♠ 2♥
__?
Here we rebid 2NT* to show our 6th ♠ and later make a strong bid to show our extra values.
Note: A jump to 3-Major still shows a very strong suit and thus rebidding 2NT denies a self-sufficient suit.
2-Major Rebid – Showing a 5-card Suit and a Minimum
We combine using 2NT* to show an extra card in our long suit with using 2-Major to deny having a 6-card suit and show a minimum valued hand.
Example 3
♠ AQ954
♥ A9
♦ Q93
♣ 843
1♠ 2♥
__?
Here we rebid 2♠, which denies 3+card ♥ support and shows exactly 5-card ♠ with a minimum hand. This can be a balanced hand or a hand with a 4+card minor.
Example 4
♠ AQ954
♥ A
♦ 932
♣ Q843
1♠ 2♥
__?
Here we rebid 2♠ as well. We do not have enough values to show our ♣ suit.
Other Shapes and Strengths
We can use these new 2NT* and 2-Major rebid agreements to effectively describe many hands – shapes and strengths.
Example 5
♠ KQ954
♥ A
♦ KJ32
♣ K43
1♠ 2♥
__?
Here we rebid 3♦, showing 4+card ♦ and at least 14 points – extra values. This bidding usually denies having a 6-card ♠ suit as we would rebid 2NT with that hand.
Example 6
♠ K9
♥ AQ8732
♦ 2
♣ K432
1♥ 2♦
__?
Here we rebid 2NT to show our 6+card ♥ suit. This does not limit our hand in values, but it shows our extra ♥ and keep the auction at a relatively low level.
Conclusion
If you have a partnership that likes to add a lot of structure to your constructive bidding agreements, then these 2/1 GF methods are an expert modern approach. They take a little practice getting used to, but once you do you are able to describe your hand well, in terms of strength and shape, in your 2/1 GF auctions. Give it a try if you and your partner are up for it!