I asked my expert panel. You’re playing two-over-one, five-card majors with 2
as your strong bid. The opponents are not in any of these auctions. You open 1
and partner bids 2. What do you think of a rebid of 2 promising six spades? What about after 1 – 2
?
There are some experts who think two-of-a-major rebid should show six. Suppose you play a rebid of 2 shows six spades. I strongly believe that raising spades should show three spades. In slam auctions there is a big difference between a 6-2 fit and a 6-3 fit. K65432 and Q65432 are bad holdings opposite a two-card raise but reasonable holding opposite a three-card raise. How do I get to my 6-2 spade fit if I can’t raise spades directly with a doubleton? Suppose I hold Axxx
KQxxKJxxx. I know for sure that I want to play in 4 if partner rebids 2 showing six. I bid 2NT first and then support spades at my next turn. I can see the following auction 1 – 2 – 2 – 2NT – 3NT – 4. 4 shows two spades and a minimum two-over-one. If I held AxAxKQxxKJxxx, I would cuebid 4 over 3NT to show a slammish two-card spade raise. Since I bid 2NT, I can’t want to try to set clubs as trump.
The following experts think that two-of-a-major-rebid should show six even over 2. It makes sense in a forcing club system where opener is limited. After 1 – 2, they’ll rebid 2NT with AJxxxAK432432. They’ll rebid 3 with AKJxxxKxxxxxx. Most other experts need extras to bid 3 so they have to rebid 2NT on some strange hands if 2 promises six spades. Over 1 – 2, 3 and 3 is called a high reverse by most experts and shows at least 14 highs. Some play, however, that you can bid three-of-a-minor with five.
Kit Woolsey—I totally think that the 2 rebid should show...Click Here to continue reading