February 2025 - 59

Better Bridge with Bergen
Intermediate Players
BY MARTY BERGEN
martybergen.com
Opener's rebids after a 1NT
response to 1h - part 3
As dealer with neither side vulnerable,
you pick up a nice hand.
sJ hA 7 6 5 4 2 dA 3 2 cA Q 7
You open 1h, and after your LHO
passes, your partner responds 1NT.
Your RHO also passes. Regardless of
whether partner's response is forcing
or semi-forcing, what is your rebid?
Please decide before reading on.
Here are my thoughts from a positive
point of view:
* The hand is definitely not a minimum
opening bid.
* As a lover of aces, I'm delighted
with my three aces. That occurs on
only one in 77 hands.
* I'm also delighted to have a sixcard
major. That occurs rarely (less
than 9% of the time).
* I definitely prefer 6-3-3-1 distribution
to 6-3-2-2.
But I do have some negative
thoughts:
* My long major suit is not nearly as
strong as I'd like it to be.
* I have zero intermediate cards.
* My spade honor is probably
worthless.
Of course, the biggest negative is
that I have a serious rebid problem.
With this distribution, I would usually
rebid my six-card major. But
because I'd rebid 2h if the dA were
the d4, that minimum rebid is not
ideal. Yet, jumping to 3h is probably
an overbid on hand strength, and
with this very weak suit, that inflexible
bid doesn't feel right. What is
the imperfect but correct rebid? FYI:
My guess is that most players would
rebid 2h.
Improve your bidding judgment - part 45
Here is a very relevant thought:
Although a 1NT response is the
most likely response to a major-suit
opening bid, with our hand, partner's
response was a mild surprise. Why
is that? With my singleton spade, I
was expecting him to respond 1s.
But now that he has almost certainly
denied four spades, I am 100% positive
we have a fit somewhere! Why is
that?
Suppose that partner has three
spades. In that case, our side would
have a total of four spades. Because
your side obviously has a total of 26
cards, we'd have a total of 22 cards in
the three remaining suits. And even
if those 22 were distributed fairly
evenly, we are guaranteed to have
at least one eight-card fit or better
in one of the three remaining suits!
And because two of those three suits
are minors, the location of that fit (or
fits) might very well be in a minor.
So I believe that the correct rebid
for opener is a flexible, economical
2c. As I tell my students, " When
unsure what to bid, strive to make
the most economical reasonable bid. "
Your partner now bids 2d. What
would you do now? As before, I suggest
choosing your action before
reading on. Here is a review of our
auction:
Opener
1h
2c
?
Responder
1NT
2d
When opener has opened in a
major and then shown a new suit,
he is assumed to have nine or more
cards in the two suits. Therefore,
he is usually short in the two unbid
suits. So, if the 1NT responder introduces
a new suit, even at the two level
he should have a six-card suit or a
very strong five. Experts know this;
many non-experts do not.
Opposite a long diamond suit, you
have a great hand for partner. The
bid that best expresses that is a 3s
splinter bid. Did you find that action?
After that, I will accept partner's
decision. Depending on his hand, his
realistic possibilities are 3NT, 4d,
4h and 5d. With this hand, I will be
content to pass any of those bids. Of
course, if partner had a hand like
s 8 6 5 h9 dK Q 10 7 6 5 cK J 9
and wants to bid 4NT, I will be delighted
to show my three keycards,
In fact, partner jumps to 5d. All
pass and your RHO leads the dQ.
I'd like you to now jump over to
partner's seat and declare 5d. Here
are the two hands for your side:
North
s J
h A 7 6 5 4 2
d A 3 2
c A Q 7
South (You)
s 10 7 6
h J
d K 9 8 6 5 4
c K 10 9
East will follow to trick one with
the d7. How will you declare? Good
luck. See you next month. 2
February 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
59
http://www.martybergen.com
February 2025

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