June 2009 - 39

play bridge
A section designed with the newer player in mind.

In March, I discussed four conventions that new players need and asked
for input for a fifth. Thanks to everyone who wrote to me.
One area that doesn't get a lot of
discussion is the third- and fourthseat tactical opening bid. You might
open a major suit with shaded values
hoping to get a small partscore, push
the opponents around or direct the
defense by getting a favorable lead.
The downfall of the light opening is
when partner has a good passed hand
and jumps to show his enthusiasm.
Suddenly, your plus turns into a
minus.
Reverse Drury is my fifth convention. It is a method of showing
partner a good major-suit raise without getting past the two level. It is
used only by passed hands.
Reverse Drury is used after you
open 1/1 in third or fourth seat.
Assume the opponents are passing.
The responder's 2 bid is artificial,
showing a limit raise with three or
more trumps. If you have shaded values, or would not bid game opposite
a limit raise, you rebid two of your
suit. This is the reverse part because
Drury originally designated 2 as
the minimum response.
If you have a hand that would
always accept a limit raise, bid game.
There is no need to give information
to the opponents if you know where
you are going.
There are some hands where you,
as opener, have full values but lots of
losers:
A K 6 5 4 A 8 7 Q 5 4 10 3.
The more balanced your hand, the
more losers you have. With this hand

you can rebid 2 to say, "Partner,
I have a full opener but cannot bid
game on my own." This is the only
artificial response to Drury.
A bid of any other suit is natural,
looking for help. If responder has a
scattered 10 high-card points and a
balanced hand, he should return to
the trump suit at the minimum level.
If responder has extra, he should bid
where his values are.
One other rebid for the opener
might be 2NT or 3NT. Both are
natural, offering choices between
the major suit and notrump. Usually
opener is 5-3-3-2, a hand that might
play better in notrump when partner
has no ruffing value.
When responder is a passed hand,
he has no forcing bids except Drury.
So you cannot plan on bidding a new
suit and then supporting partner later.
Partner may pass and "later" will
never come.
As with most conventions, you
give up something. Here you have
no natural 2 response as a passed
hand. With a club suit, bid 1NT
or 2NT. You might also have the
discussion with partner about using
a 3 response as a natural bid with
11 or so points. You may hear about
two-way Drury, showing both threeand four-card raises. This means
giving up one more natural bid (2),
so my suggestion is to simply use 2
for any limit raise.
If you are playing Drury, raising
partner to the three level is preemptive with four or more trumps and
extra distribution.
Let's try a few practice hands. You
open 1 in third seat, left-hand opponent passes and partner bids 2,

Notes from ACBL Accredited Teachers
June 2009

Val Covalciuc
ACBL Accredited Teacher
www.thebridgeplace.com

which is Alertable. What is your
rebid?
1. A K 7 6 4 3 10 K Q J 7 8 4.
2. A K Q 7 5 Q 6 5 8 6 3 9 4.
3. A Q 9 8 4 K 5 Q 10 9 A Q 6.
Answers:
1. 4. When you want to be in
game, bid it.
2. Bid 2. You opened to interfere,
get the lead or make a small plus
score. Warn partner about bidding
too much.
3. With this balanced hand, you want
to be in game, but it may play better in notrump. Bid 3NT to give
partner the choice.
Most partnerships play that Drury
is off if the opponents interfere in
the auction. There are other ways to
play, so this is something you need to
discuss. Consider adding this convention. It comes up more often than
Blackwood, which is on everyone's
list.
r
39
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2009
