September 2021 - 24

Tips to Improve
Your 2/1 Auctions
A. Tips for responder after
partner opens in a major
1. Never make a 2/1 response with
four-card support for opener's
major.
2. When unsure whether your hand
is strong enough to force to game
with a 2/1 response:
* With 0-1 card in opener's major,
be conservative.
* If your partner often opens
light, be conservative.
* With length in one or both
minors, be conservative.
* With five-plus hearts after
partner opened 1, be aggressive
(but sensible).
3. 2/1 auctions are better than oneover-one
auctions. So, unless
partner opened 1k and responder
has a game-forcing hand with fiveplus
spades, he should respond in
a minor at the two level.
4. After partner opens 1k, with
a game-forcing hand with four
spades, prefer to respond at the
two level in a minor. If opener
also has four spades, you will
easily find your fit.
5. As is true with most constructive
auctions, 2/1 auctions are more
efficient when both players make
economical bids.
6. When in doubt as to which unbid
minor to respond in, prefer the
more economical 2'.
7. Respond 2l only with five-plus
diamonds or a very strong fourcard
suit.
8. Based on Tips 5-7, a 2' response
might be a three-card suit. This
is not Alertable. But if your
24 | Bridge Bulletin | September 2021
partnership might sensibly
respond 2' to 1 with fewer
than three clubs, such as:
A Q 10 kK 8 5 4 l7 5 4 2 'A K,
that is Alertable.
B. Tips for responder after
partner opens 1l
9. A jumpshift to 3' should be
invitational with a strong sixcard
suit or longer. Otherwise,
responder would be forced to
overbid or underbid.
When responder has a gameforcing
hand with a major, should he
respond 2' or bid his major at the
one level?
10. With a five-card major suit,
respond in the major unless sixplus
clubs.
11. With two four-card majors,
respond 1k.
12. With one four-card major and
five-plus clubs, respond 2'.
13. With one four-card major and a
minimum game force with fewer
than five clubs, bid the major.
14. With one four-card major and 16+
HCP, respond 2'.
C. Opener's rebid after
opening in a major
15. The only rebid that promises
extra values is 3NT.
16. The only rebid that promises a
minimum is a jump raise to 4k
(1-2k; 4k).
17. Consistent with Tip 5, try to avoid
uneconomical rebids.
18. If opener lacks a better rebid,
it is definitely OK to rebid his
BY MARTY BERGEN
martybergen.com
major with a quality five-card
suit (three or more honors). After
1-2k, rebid 2 with:
A Q J 8 7 kA J l6 4 3 '8 5 3.
19. If opener has an unbid fourcard
minor that would need to
be shown at the three level, he
should strongly consider a more
economical rebid.
20. A 2NT rebid:
* Does not promise stoppers in
both unbid suits.
* Might be a balanced minimum.
However, 2NT promises a
balanced hand only after a
response of 2'.
So after a different response,
opener can easily have a four-card
minor he couldn't show at the two
level, and might have a singleton
in responder's suit. And if opener
has an unbalanced hand, any
strength opening bid is possible!
21. With three-card support for
responder's minor and a minimum
balanced hand, it is usually wrong
to immediately raise.
22. With 6-4 distribution, if your
four-card suit can be shown at the
two level, show your second suit
unless it's very weak ( " 6-4-6 " ).
23. After a 2' response, if opener
lacks a good rebid, he can bid 2l
with fewer than four diamonds.
I describe this Alertable,
nonstandard Bergen agreement
as " 2l waiting. "
A J 5 4 3 k6 4 3 l5 3 2 'A K.
With hands like this, it would be
very wrong to " grab the notrump "
by rebidding 2NT.
http://www.martybergen.com
September 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2021
