What's Standard? The 2 Opening and Responses ... - Better Bridge

B BWhat’s Standard?by David LindopThis series is based on GrantStandard, a set of conventions andagreements that are in popular usetoday, such a 15-17 1NT openings,five-card majors, and weak twobids.A summary chart of GrantStandard and the correspondingconvention card can be found atwww.AudreyGrant.com. The sitealso has Grant Basic, a simpler setof agreements.Earlier articles in this seriesappeared in the Bridge Bulletin andcan also be found under ‘Articles’ atwww.AudreyGrant.com.In Grant Standard, strong handsare opened with an artificial,forcing 2♣ bid. The guideline is:2♣ OPENING• 22+ if balanced;• 9+ tricks if unbalanced.In the previous article we focused onbalanced hands. In this issue we’llconsider unbalanced hands.Strong Unbalanced HandsThe guideline for opening 2♣ with abalanced hand is straightforward ...22 or more points. With unbalancedhands, it’s more of a judgment call.With a hand that is so strong theremight be game even if partner doesn’thave enough to respond to a onelevelopening—fewer than 6 points—we can open 2♣. This typicallymeans we expect to take at least ninetricks with no help from partner.♠ A K Q 7 3♥ AKJ 9 5♦ 3♣ AK2♣. With 24 highcardpoints plus 2length points, weexpect to make gameeven if partner has nopoints at all. If partner has three lowcards in either major suit, we’ll havea fit and should take at least tentricks and might even make a slam.♠ A K Q 9 8 7 3♥ A K 10 4♦ 5 3♣ —2♣. There areonly 16 highcardpoints plus3 length points,The 2♣ Openingand Responses– Part IIbut we expect to take at least ninetricks with spades as the trump suit.Some might prefer to open 1♠,since the playing strength is basedmore on distribution than high cards(see Hand #3 in Point of View forfurther discussion on this type ofhand), but we’d certainly be upset ifwe opened 1♠ and everyone passed!We should have some defensivestrength when we open 2♣. Partneris entitled to expect we can takethree of four tricks if the opponentscompete and choose the trump suit.So, we shouldn’t open 2♣ with ahand like this:♠4 ♥K Q J 10 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 ♦3 ♣—We can certainly take ten tricks withhearts as the trump suit, but we can’tcontribute a single trick on defenseif the opponents were to bid a grandslam in spades, diamonds, clubs, oreven notrump! We should treat this asa preemptive hand, perhaps opening4♥ and continuing to bid hearts ifthe opponents compete.The opening 2♣ bid is useful, butit does take up a lot of biddingroom. We can’t show our real suituntil the next round and we mayhave to bid it for the first time at thethree level. So, even when we havea lot of high-card points, it may bebetter to open at the one level ratherthan with 2♣.1♦. There are 22♠ KQ 5♥ 3♦ AQJ 6 4♣ AKQ JBETTERVOL. 9, NO. 6high-card points, butopening 2♣ withthis hand is likely tolead to an awkwardcontinuation. If partner makes thewaiting response of 2♦, we will haveto bid 3♦ to show our suit and we maystruggle to find a suitable restingplace. Better to conserve room byopening 1♦. If partner passes, we maynot be able to make game anyway.14BRIDGEJULY/AUGUST 2005Opener’s RebidMost of the time, responder willmake the waiting response of 2♦(see previous article), leaving themaximum room for opener todescribe the hand. With an unbalancedhand, opener bids naturally: longestsuit first, or higher-ranking of twofive-card or six-card suits.Since the 2♣ bid and 2♦ responsehave taken up a lot of bidding room,there’s no need for opener to jumpon the rebid. Opener’s rebid in a suitis forcing. It’s as though opener hadopened an old-fashioned strongtwo-bid in the suit.WESTEAST♠ A K Q 7 2 ♠ 3♥ A K Q 7 2 ♥ 9 8 5 3♦ KQ ♦ 7 5 2♣ 3 ♣ 9 7 6 5 2WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass2♠ Pass 3♣ Pass3♥ Pass 4♥ All PassAfter West opens 2♣ and Eastmakes the waiting response of 2♦,West doesn’t have to guess whichgame contract to bid—a jump to 4♠would land the partnership in thewrong spot. Instead, West rebids 2♠,the higher-ranking of the two fivecardsuits. This is forcing since West’sstrength is unlimited. After East’s nextbid (we’ll discuss that in a moment),West shows the second suit and thepartnership reaches the best contract.If responder makes an initialpositive response, the partnership iscommitted to at least the game leveland will usually be interested in aslam if a suitable fit can be found.WESTEAST♠ A K Q 9 7 3 ♠ J 8 5♥ K4 ♥ AQJ 5 2♦ AK5 ♦ 7 6 2♣ KQ ♣ 8 3WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH2♣ Pass 2♥ Pass2♠ Pass 3♠ Pass4NT Pass 5♦ Pass6♠ Pass Pass Pass

With 8 high-card points and agood five-card suit, East makes apositive response of 2♥ over the 2♣bid. West shows the spade suit andEast raises. East doesn’t need tojump since the partnership is committedto at least game.Having found a fit, opener usesthe Blackwood convention to checkfor aces and then bids the slam.West knows partner will have agood heart suit for the positiveresponse, so there should be a wayto dispose of the diamond loser.Even if East didn’t hold the ♥Q,West could likely establish an extrawinner in the heart suit.Responder’s RebidMost of the time, the initialresponse to 2♣ is 2♦, an artificialwaiting bid. That leaves plenty ofroom for opener to bid a suit withan unbalanced hand, but nowresponder must bid again sinceopener’s rebid is forcing.At this point, responder needs away to show a very weak hand. Thisused to be done by bidding notrumpat the cheapest available level. Theproblem with that approach is thatresponder would then be declarer ifthe partnership played in a notrumpcontract and the strong hand wouldbe exposed as the dummy.To avoid this, it’s become popularto agree responder’s cheapest bid in aminor suit at the three level shows aweak hand—no ace, no king, andfewer than two queens. This issometimes referred to as “cheaperminor second negative.” That’s a bitof a misnomer since the initial 2♦response is waiting, not negative.There is no “cheapest minor”available at the three level whenopener rebids 3♦, so 3NT has to beused as the weak bid. That avoidsgetting the partnership beyond 3NT incase that’s the last makeable contract.It’s a slight flaw in this approach,but something that most players arewilling to go along with to avoidmore complex methods. The chartat the top of the next column showsall the negative rebids.BETTERVOL. 9, NO. 6B BRESPONDER’S NEGATIVE REBIDAfter responder has made a 2♦waiting response, the underlinedrebid by responder is artificial,showing a very weak hand:WESTOPENER2♣2♥OPENER♠ K 2 ♠ 6 4 3♥ AK ♥ J 7 5 3♦ K 3 ♦ 8 7 4♣ A K Q 9 7 4 2 ♣ 10 6 5WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass3♣ Pass 3♦ Pass3NT Pass Pass PassAfter the artificial 2♣ opening bidand the artificial 2♦ waitingresponse, West’s 3♣ rebid is the firstnatural bid, showing clubs. It’sforcing, so East has to bid again.With a weak hand, East bids thecheapest available minor at the threelevel, 3♦, another artificial bid. Thatallows West to bid 3NT from thebest side since both the ♠K and ♦Kare protected. Whatever North leads,West has at least nine tricks.WEST2♣2♠OPENER2♣3♣OPENER2♣3♦WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass2♠ Pass 3♥ Pass4♥ Pass Pass PassWest opens 2♣ and East doesn’thave enough strength or a goodenough suit for a positive response.So East makes the waiting responseof 2♦. West now shows the spadesuit and East can show the heart suit.15RESPONDER2♦3♣RESPONDER2♦3♣RESPONDER2♦3♦RESPONDER2♦3NTEASTEAST♠ A K Q 9 8 2 ♠ 4♥ A 10 3 ♥ Q J 7 5 2♦ Q 2 ♦ 7 6 3♣ AK ♣ Q 9 5 2BRIDGEJULY/AUGUST 2005West knows East has at least a fivecardheart suit and some valuessince East didn’t make the negativerebid of 3♣. West can raise to game.West knows slam is unlikely sinceEast didn’t make an initial positiveresponse in hearts. The partnershiplands in the best contract.Opener’s Third BidAfter opener’s rebid in a suit, thepartnership is committed to gameunless responder makes a negativerebid. Even if responder makes anegative rebid, any new suit byopener below game is forcing. Theonly time responder can pass belowgame after making a negative rebidis if opener rebids the same suit.WESTEAST♠ A K J 10 8 4 ♠ 9 3♥ A K Q 4 ♥ 8 2♦ 4 ♦ 8 7 6 3 2♣ AQ ♣ 9 6 5 2WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass2♠ Pass 3♣ Pass3♥ Pass 3♠ Pass4♠ Pass Pass PassAfter West shows the strong twobidin spades, East makes a negativerebid of 3♣. West’s 3♥ bid, a new suit,is forcing, so East gives preferenceto spades and West bids game. Evenopposite East’s terrible hand, 4♠ hasa good chance. West can trump aheart loser in dummy.WESTEAST♠ AKQ ♠ 9 6 4 2♥ A K 10 9 7 6 ♥ 5 2♦ KQ ♦ 9 7 4 3♣ 8 3 ♣ J 7 6WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH2♣ Pass 2♦ Pass2♥ Pass 3♣ Pass3♥ Pass Pass PassEast makes the waiting responseof 2♦ and West bids 2♥, forcing.East makes the artificial negativerebid of 3♣ and West, with a minimum2♣ opening, simply rebids themajor suit. With no semblance ofhelp, East settles for partscore.❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧In the next issue, we’ll look atanother option for responder andmore sample auctions after 2♣.