2C & 2 Suiters

Courtesy of Bob Crosby)

One of the dumbest practices I see in Bridge is opening a one bid with a monster two suiter where you need virtually nothing from partner to make game. The rule for opening 2C's is will game be missed if partner does not have a response ? if the answer is yes then open 2C. The practitioners of this awful practice say they could get pre-empted out of their two suits or there will not be enough room to get them in. Nonsense. People pre-empt when you open these hands at the one level so if you bid later does it show the demand two bid that you have ? If you open 2C and get pre-empted , at least partner knows that you have a huge hand.

Subash Gupta introduced me to a very cleaver use of relays to get your two suits described at the lowest possible level in order to find your fit and investigate slam . These relays only occur after a 2C-2D auction and they involve the concept of an “anchor suit” . The relays put responder in a “straight jacket” until opener describes his two suits. The relay rule is whenever open bids a major you must relay to the next level. Relay to S's if H's bid by the opener and relay to NT if S's bid by opener. Pretty simple !!

The first relay involves H's as the anchor suit . 2C-p-2D-p 2H-p-2S-p 3S/D/C/ . 2H's demand responder to bid 2S and then any bid by opener shows a two suiter with H's as the anchor suit and the other suit bid. If H's are rebid then opener has a one suiter. The two suiter with H's is fully described by the 3 level !! H's is the longer of the two suits or equal length.

The next relay involves NT to describe C's as the anchor suit . 2C-p-2D-p 2H-p-2S-p 2NT-p-3C-p . Now any suit bid 3D/H/S shows a C two suiter . if opener bid 3NT over the forced 3C bid by responder then it's a one suiter in clubs. The trick here is the 2NT bid forces a 2nd relay by responder to 3C . Again all ? two suiters and a single ? hand shown by the 3 level !! C's is the longer of the two suits or equal length.

The last relay uses S's as the anchor suit and forces a NT bid to complete the relay.. 2C-p-2D-p 2?S-p-2NT-P 3C/D/H shows the two suits. If opener rebids ?'s then the one suiter is shown. Again all by the 3 level with S's most likely the longer suit.

With the permutations of the two suits and three relays to choose from you select the relay that shows the longer suit in case of 6-5's . A 6-5 in the majors can be shown by choosing the correct relay to start with . It does not guarantee a 6-5 in all cases & all suit combinations but it is more likely as opener deliberately chose to use that relay method. With the Hsuit you can guarantee the 6-5 . A 5-5 in H's & S's would be shown by the H relay. Choosing the Srelay shows 6 S's & 5 H's. Choosing the C relay with H's would show a 6-5 as you would use the H relay with equal length in those two suits. Choosing the Crelay with S's guarantees the 6-5 or otherwise choose the S relay with the blacks.

Diamonds are the missing link. No relay for diamonds. Just 2C-P-2D-P 3D exists for diamonds.

Anyway , this treatment is an effort to keep one bids as one bids and not miss games and slams. Depending on the opponents to balance you to your slam is risky at best. These indiscretions really hurt in IMPS.