September 2024 - 59

Better Bridge with Bergen
Intermediate Players
BY MARTY BERGEN
martybergen.com
Responding 2c to 1d
First things first. Because discussing
opener's rebid after the gameforcing
2c response, I must discuss
an often-asked question. That is: If
responder has a four-card major and
is strong enough to force to game,
should he first show the major?
I know that I'm naive, but I hope
that after partner opened 1d, everyone
would respond 2c with a hand
such as:
sJ 5 4 2 h2 dA 3 cA K Q J 9 7.
So hopefully, we can all agree that
a 2c response does not deny a fourcard
major.
What about less-obvious hands?
After partner's 1d opener, here
are the guidelines I believe in for
responder's hands that are strong
enough to force to game and contain
a major.
A Do not respond 2c with a fivecard
major. The only exception is a
very rare hand type: A hand which
also has six or more clubs. As is normal
with a nice 6-5 hand, you start
with the six-card suit, and then plan
to bid and rebid the five-card suit.
B Do not respond 2c with two fourcard
majors. With this, prefer to respond
1h.
C For hands with one four-card
major and five or more clubs:
1. With 6+ clubs: Always respond 2c.
2. With five clubs: Almost always
respond 2c. The rare exception
would be a hand with a terrific
major and rotten clubs such as:
sA 2 hA K Q 9 d9 8 c7 5 4 3 2.
September 2024 | Bridge Bulletin |
59
Improve your bidding judgment - part 40
For all levels of players, I feel very
comfortable with the above guidelines
A-C.
As for the following guidelines, I
do prefer them. But I do not feel as
strongly about them as I do with the
ones above.
D With an unbalanced hand consisting
of a four-card major, 4+ diamonds
and four clubs, respond 2c.
E With a four-card major, 5+ diamonds
and fewer than four clubs,
respond with your major. Reminder:
Most players love inverted minors,
and it may seem illogical to respond
to 1d with 1s with a hand such as:
sJ 5 4 2 h9 2 dA K 10 8 7 cA 2,
but an inverted minor raise should
deny a major suit.
F The remaining hand-types are
hands with balanced distribution
consisting of one four-card major and
fewer than five cards in either minor.
Some of them contain four clubs; others
do not.
1. With a totally flat hand with a
four-card major (4-3-3-3), bid
the major.
2. With a four-card major and four
diamonds, respond with your
major.
3. In general, don't respond 2c with
fewer than 4 clubs. Why show a
suit when you are not interested in
playing in it and don't need to bid
it. Of course, as always, the quality
of your suit(s) does matter. So, with
unusual hands such as:
s8 6 4 3 hA Q 10 dQ J 9 cA K J
sA Q h7 5 4 2 dJ 8 6 3 cA K Q,
I would override my general advice
in guidelines F1 and F2 and respond
2c. As these examples indicate, unless
there is no reasonable alternative,
I definitely am not a fan of bidding
a worthless four-card major.
FYI: Some pairs believe that it is
correct to occasionally respond 2c
with a two-card suit. That is legal,
but the ACBL requires that if a partnership
might make a natural bid
with fewer than three cards in the
suit, that bid must be Alerted.
So much for the lengthy presentation
of my recommendations on the
2c vs. one of a major response issue
with game-forcing hands.
I'm now ready to turn my attention
to opener's rebid after a 2c gameforcing
response to 1d. This is NOT
a trivial topic. I certainly hope that
you and your favorite partner have
discussed this topic and have " rules. "
Unfortunately, I suspect that too
many pairs are content to " wing it. "
Some hands are obvious; others are
not. For example, after 1d-2c, what
would you rebid with a hand such as:
sQ 9 6 5 hK 2 dA Q 7 5 4 cJ 3 ?
Next month, I will present a logical,
uncomplicated structure for opener's
rebids after 1d-2c. 2
http://www.martybergen.com
September 2024

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