I get asked about “reverses” a lot. Here’s a basic definition: a reverse is a re-bid by opener in a higher ranking suit than that originally opened. 1C - 1S: 2H! In this case the heart suit is higher ranking than the original club suit first opened and is therefore a reverse.
Included in the idea is that a reverse will take you above the repeat level of the first suit bid. So, e.g., in the sequence 1C - 1H - 1S, the 1S bid may be in a higher suit but it’s not a reverse – partner can easily go back to the first suit cheaply by bidding 2C. On the other hand, where the bidding goes, say, 1S - 2H - 3C, the club suit is indeed lower ranking than the first bid spades, but to get back to spades partner will have to bid THREE spades. So this IS a reverse.
The reverse is so named because it is a bidding sequence that is the reverse of that which is expected. Normally you open one of a suit and then bid another, lower ranking suit, as a re-bid. 1H - 1S: 2C. Partner can then “give preference” without raising the level. But after you make a reverse partner will be forced to give preference to your first suit at the three level.
Because of this raise in level you shouldn’t make a reverse unless you have a minimum of 16 high card points. When you make a reverse you show 16+ points and the two suits bid will be at least 5 - 4. And it is FORCING. Responder cannot pass.
It follows (doth it not?) that with less than 16 points you cannot make a reverse. So with this hand, after the bids 1C - 1S, all you can do is bid 2C:
Kx
AJxx
xx
Kxxxx
You must resist the temptation – go on, fight that temptation! – to re-bid 2H. If you do bid 2H you will be fibbing to partner about how strong your hand is. Partner will assume you have a hand like this:
Ax
AQxx
xx
AQxxx
and bid confidently to a slam that will never make because you didn’t have the hand in reality that you claimed you had during the bidding.
This is why I so frequently ask you to consider your natural re-bid BEFORE you make your opening bid.
Responder can also make a reverse, and as above it shows a better than minimum hand (ie 10+ hcp) Here’s a sequence where responder is reversing and showing a 5 - 4 hand as well:
1D - 1H
2D - 2S!
This is also forcing.
The second bid is always the one that attempts to define more accurately the shape AND the strength of your hand.
Good luck!
Kit
Showing posts with label Rebids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rebids. Show all posts
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Sunday, 26 December 2010
Basic Bidding Refresher – 14 October 2010
New players are showing up so here’s a quick summary of how we aim to bid. Commit this to memory!
“BALANCED” Hands (4333, 4432, 5332 shapes) :
- 12 - 14: open 1NT. 15 - 16: open 1 of a suit, rebid 1NT.
- 17 - 18: open 1 of a suit, rebid 2NT.
- 19 - 20: open 1 of a suit, rebid 3NT. 20 -22: open 2NT. 23+: open 2C, rebid 2NT.
WEAK Hands:
- 6 - 10, 6 card suit: open 2D, 2H, or 2S. You CANNOT make a weak 2 bid in Clubs!
- 6 - 10, 7 card suit: open a pre-empt at the 3 level.
BIG Hands:
- Open 2NT (balanced 20 -22) or 2C (Unbalanced 21+ OR balanced 23+)
EVERYTHING ELSE…
Will open 1 of a suit. But here the key is the REBID. Sherlock is very keen on the idea that before you make your opening bid you decide what your rebid is going to be. This will depend on your
assessment of your hand. Your hand will normally fall into one of two distinct ranges: 12 - 15 and 16 - 19. With the first you can only make a minimum rebid, but with the second point range you must make some kind of forcing or jump rebid.
Here are some examples of how different rebids tell different stories. Assume partner makes a 1-level response of some kind:
- OPEN: 1H, REBID: 2H. You show 5+ H's and 12 - 15
- OPEN: 1H, REBID: 3H. You show 6+ H's and 16 - 19
- OPEN: 1H, REBID: 2D. You show 5+ H's, 4+ D's and 12 - 15
- OPEN: 1H, REBID: 3D. You show 5+ H's, 4+ D's and 16 - 19
Don’t be shy – bid your hand. I know the opposition (sometimes, even your partner) will contrive to make it difficult for you to bid exactly what you want when you want. Nevertheless, Sherlock says you should have a very good idea of – IDEALLY – what your rebid will be.
The point is that by doing this you are forced to assess the value of your hand at the beginning of the auction, not two-thirds of the way through when you might by then have forgotten why you opened in the first place!
The other key factor is to listen carefully to the bids made by partner and the opposition to see if you can gather information about where certain key cards might be and how that affects the value of your hand. Remember the value of your hand may go down as well as up – just like your investments (hollow laugh…)
Have fun
Kit
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Bidding Sequences – How Your Bids Build A Picture – 2 June 2010
Hello you lot! Yes, I’m back again so no more shirking… Great to see so many new faces – Hiya! – and thanks to everyone for helping out, as five tables is a bit of a novelty. Actually I'll be away next week too as I’m forced to go to New York to see my daughter’s gig. However I shall return thereafter refreshed, eager and edgy. And so to bridge …
There are a few times when you can make a bid and that bid says it all about your hand in one go – but very few. This is because there are 52 trillion possible hands and 35 bids. The most simple descriptive bids are 1N, 2N, weak 2’s and weak 3’s, where your hand is quite defined as to points and shape. You have any hand outside these parameters –and there's quite a few trillion of them – then you’re going to have to find other ways to describe all those hands. You do this by means of …
A Sequence
Because you just can’t have one bid to describe all the hands you might have, you have to make use of a sequence of bids that tell a simple story rather like pre-historic pictograms. People ask “what does that bid mean?” Too often the answer is “it doesn't mean anything. Yet.” Just as a Pharaonic name is a cartouche comprised of different pictograms, so a bid in isolation can be meaningless until it is accompanied with a further, more explanatory bid.
When partner opens 1S (playing a natural Acol based system) all we know is that they have at least 4 Spades and somewhere between about 10 - 20 HCP. This is by and large fairly useless information. We cannot assess the joint values of our two hands until we know more exactly about the HCP and the shape opposite and so make a judgement of how our two hands fit together. Depending on our bid in response, partner may rebid 2C,2D, 2H, 2S, 2N, 3C, 3D, 3H, 3S, 3N etc etc etc. But the point is that each of these separate rebids re-defines the hand opposite more narrowly in terms of its HCP as well as its shape. The cartouche has been given extra meaning.
When partner opens (a) 1S, then rebids 2S, this is different from (b) 1S followed by a 3S rebid.
(a) Shows about 10 - 15 HCP and a 5+ card suit (the weaker the hand the longer the suit – theoretically). (b) Shows about 15 - 18 HCP and a 6+ card suit
Neither of these bids in unconditionally forcing, but the cartouche is now clearer than after the first pictogram (bid).
Similarly, 1S followed by (a) 2H or (b) 3H paint different pictures (a) shows 10 -15 with at least 5 Spades and 4 Hearts while (b) shows 16 - 20 HCP again 5 - 4 at least. Could be 5 -5, 6 - 5, 6 - 6. Hopefully this information will gleaned from the third Pictogram (bid). Note that (b) here is unconditionally forcing.
The same is true of the NT rebids after an opening bid of one of a suit:
1NT = 15 - 16
2NT = 17 - 18
3NT = 19 - 20
It follows that when you start to chisel your pictograms in the cartouche on the sandstone block you need to be aware of just what message you intend to convey before you lift the hammer. You are the dealer. What are you going to bid and rebid with the following hand? Decide before you mark the stone…
x
AQxx
AKxxx
Qxx
The first bid is clearly 1D. But haste ye not so fast yet to bid! What is the rebid? What is the hand value? Where are you going? Remember this is a partnership game. OK, you can carve all the cartouches you like but the true meaning of the ancient inscription can only be fully deciphered when your partner’s pictogram has also been included in the cartouche.
Consider: 2N (Game forcing) and 3D (10 - 12, 4 card support) are outside bets from partner but not impossible: with either you make sure of game and maybe sniff slam. (Ditto with 2H or 2S) However partner may most likely bid 1H, 1S, 1NT, 2C or 2D and each of these alters the value of your hand and therefore what your rebid is:
There are a few times when you can make a bid and that bid says it all about your hand in one go – but very few. This is because there are 52 trillion possible hands and 35 bids. The most simple descriptive bids are 1N, 2N, weak 2’s and weak 3’s, where your hand is quite defined as to points and shape. You have any hand outside these parameters –and there's quite a few trillion of them – then you’re going to have to find other ways to describe all those hands. You do this by means of …
A Sequence
Because you just can’t have one bid to describe all the hands you might have, you have to make use of a sequence of bids that tell a simple story rather like pre-historic pictograms. People ask “what does that bid mean?” Too often the answer is “it doesn't mean anything. Yet.” Just as a Pharaonic name is a cartouche comprised of different pictograms, so a bid in isolation can be meaningless until it is accompanied with a further, more explanatory bid.
When partner opens 1S (playing a natural Acol based system) all we know is that they have at least 4 Spades and somewhere between about 10 - 20 HCP. This is by and large fairly useless information. We cannot assess the joint values of our two hands until we know more exactly about the HCP and the shape opposite and so make a judgement of how our two hands fit together. Depending on our bid in response, partner may rebid 2C,2D, 2H, 2S, 2N, 3C, 3D, 3H, 3S, 3N etc etc etc. But the point is that each of these separate rebids re-defines the hand opposite more narrowly in terms of its HCP as well as its shape. The cartouche has been given extra meaning.
When partner opens (a) 1S, then rebids 2S, this is different from (b) 1S followed by a 3S rebid.
(a) Shows about 10 - 15 HCP and a 5+ card suit (the weaker the hand the longer the suit – theoretically). (b) Shows about 15 - 18 HCP and a 6+ card suit
Neither of these bids in unconditionally forcing, but the cartouche is now clearer than after the first pictogram (bid).
Similarly, 1S followed by (a) 2H or (b) 3H paint different pictures (a) shows 10 -15 with at least 5 Spades and 4 Hearts while (b) shows 16 - 20 HCP again 5 - 4 at least. Could be 5 -5, 6 - 5, 6 - 6. Hopefully this information will gleaned from the third Pictogram (bid). Note that (b) here is unconditionally forcing.
The same is true of the NT rebids after an opening bid of one of a suit:
1NT = 15 - 16
2NT = 17 - 18
3NT = 19 - 20
It follows that when you start to chisel your pictograms in the cartouche on the sandstone block you need to be aware of just what message you intend to convey before you lift the hammer. You are the dealer. What are you going to bid and rebid with the following hand? Decide before you mark the stone…
x
AQxx
AKxxx
Qxx
The first bid is clearly 1D. But haste ye not so fast yet to bid! What is the rebid? What is the hand value? Where are you going? Remember this is a partnership game. OK, you can carve all the cartouches you like but the true meaning of the ancient inscription can only be fully deciphered when your partner’s pictogram has also been included in the cartouche.
Consider: 2N (Game forcing) and 3D (10 - 12, 4 card support) are outside bets from partner but not impossible: with either you make sure of game and maybe sniff slam. (Ditto with 2H or 2S) However partner may most likely bid 1H, 1S, 1NT, 2C or 2D and each of these alters the value of your hand and therefore what your rebid is:
- 1D - 1H - ? Bid 3H. VG support 15 HCP + 2/3 for the singleton
- 1D - 1S - ? Bid 1NT. 15 - 16 HCP (Not classic, I know...)
- 1D - 1NT - ? PASS. 2D not impossible, nor, oddly, even 2C (partner must have at least 4)
- 1D - 2C - ? Bid 2H. After a 2 level response (10+ HCP) you just about have enough for the game forcing reverse, especially with the Qxx of clubs.
- 1D - 2D - ? Bid 2H. 2H here shows the stopper in the suit and is a gentle nudge towards 3N or 5D if partner is max.
OK. Now you can bid. Now you have the picture in your head. Now you are prepared. Although you might like also to think about what happens if the bidding goes:
1D - (2S!) - PASS - (PASS)
??
(Answer: you’ll double and pray partner can pass for penalties!!!)
See you soon, now.
Kit
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