January 2025 - 54

Intermediate Players
Mike's Bridge Lesson
A Drury hand
O
ne of my favorite bidding
tools is Drury. Here's a deal
showing one of the benefits
of Drury, a passed-hand limit raise
of 1h or 1s using a conventional
2c (Alertable) response. I'll start by
showing you dummy's cards as well,
something you normally don't get to
see until the auction is over:
Dlr: North s Q 10 8 3
Vul: E-W h A Q 9
d K 6 2
c 9 5 4
s A K J 9
h K 10
d 8 5 3
c 7 6 3 2
Assuming North passes, the auction
starts thusly:
West North East
Pass
Pass
South
?
What, if anything, should you bid
as South?
1c: You have an opening bid of
sorts, but you certainly don't want a
club lead if West plays the hand.
1s: This is a sane tactic that many
would use. 1s does many good things
for your side. It gets you a spade lead
if West plays the hand, and it makes
life harder for West if he wants to
compete, which 1c doesn't do.
Further, partner has already
passed, so he can't have a strong
hand. Partner shouldn't get you in
trouble if you open 1s. This is one of
the benefits of Drury. If partner raises
you to 2s, that's fine. Your side is
done with the bidding. If partner has
a good hand with spade support, he
will do one of two things. Partner will
54 | Bridge Bulletin | January 2025
use Drury with the majority of the
hands that have three or more spades
and 10 or more points. Or if he jumps
to 3s, he will have four or five spades
and shape as well.
Here's the auction so far:
West North East
Pass
Pass 2c(1)
Pass
Pass
South
1s
?
(1) Drury
Let's assume we're using the method
called " reverse Drury. " That's
where opener's rebid of the major
shows a (sub-)minimum hand, while
2d (or other calls) show full opening
values. It's the most popular version
in play. (Better is Lawrence Drury,
but fewer players know of it.)
What should you bid now?
As South, it's hard to imagine
North having a hand that would
make 4s worthwhile. Rebid 2s. This
is a powerful message that you aren't
interested in going higher. North
should pass with most of his Drury
hands.
West North East
Pass
Pass 2c(1)
?
Pass
If you were North and bid Drury
with your hand, you should respect
partner's 2s signoff. Partner knows
you have 10 or more points, but he
has said he isn't interested in going
higher.
If you never bid again on this
sequence, you will be doing a good
thing. If you can stop in 2s, you have
a chance. 2s isn't cold: If East has
the dA, 2s may go down.
Postmortem: What kind of hand
sorrypartner.com
Pass
Pass
South
1s
2s
BY MIKE LAWRENCE
michaelslawrence.com
does responder need to continue to
3s after opener signs off? If you have
a hand with five spades and good values,
you can go to 3s. It's a rare bid.
This hand is worth a Drury response
and later a raise to 3s:
sQ 10 7 6 3 h7 6 dA K J 7 c10 4.
Note that North has nice but not
extreme shape. If responder has a
similar hand with a singleton or void,
he bids something else.
You might wonder why this hand
can't be described using 3s instead
of Drury. The reason is that it is
a super-maximum: A jump to 3s
shows fewer high-card points and
more shape.
Be aware that even with a fine hand
like this one, you might be in danger
at the three level. Use this hand as
dummy with the South hand in the
original example to see what I mean.
Drury and the rest of your tools
will help your passed-hand bidding
with hands like this one and many
more. 2
http://www.michaelslawrence.com http://www.sorrypartner.com
January 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2025
