Excercises: Two Club Openings

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Source: www.wednesdaygame.com 

These hands cover various aspects of Two Club auctions … when to open 2 … when to give a positive response … follow-up sequences … what to do when the opponents interfere. Click here to Read 2C Opening articles

None Vul

AKQT432

KT72

K

A

East South West North

Pass Pass

2 Pass 2 Pass

??

After opening 2, and hearing a 2 “waiting” bid from West, what would be your rebid as East? The three obvious possibilities are:

2: This keeps the bidding low and is a reasonable choice.

3: This sets Spades as the trump suit and asks Partner to start cue-bidding. But East does not really have the kind of hand where controls are all-important … there is also the small matter of those slow Heart losers to consider.

4: Shows a self-sustaining suit and a minimum 2 opening, which is pretty much what East has. But it’s hardly an informative bid and consumes a huge amount of space.

So, our suggestion is a simple 2.


E-W Vul

4

A8

AJ98

AKQJ85

North East South West

??

 

Is the North hand good enough for a 2 opening? We don’t think so. Our own rule of thumb for major suit hands is to open 2 if we have at least as many “very quick” tricks (Ace is one, AK is two, KQ is none) as losers (so this hand has 4 of each and therefore qualifies). But, for a minor suit hand such as this, we like more “very quick” tricks than losers, so here, as North in minor-oriented, we’d open 1.

If you are wondering why we make the distinction between minor- and major-oriented hands it’s because:

-Minor suit auctions tend to work badly after a 2; opening, hands up those who feel comfortable after: 2, 2, 3? And hands up those who feel comfortable after 2, 2, 2?

-More tricks are required for minor suit games, hence more strength is needed to force to game.


Both Vul

A5

AKQJ4

AT986

J

West North East South

??

 

Is West good enough for a 2 opening? We don’t see anything wrong with opening 1 and rebidding 3, and that might well be the majority choice. But opening 2 is fine, also, in our opinion. Our own rule of thumb for major suit hands is to open 2; if we have at least as many “very quick” tricks (Ace is one, AK is two, KQ is none) as losers. But, for a minor-oriented hand, we like more “very quick” tricks than losers.

Of course, this is actually a two-suiter, but as West will be bidding the Hearts first it qualifies as a major suit hand. Some like to avoid opening 2 with a two-suiter, but that’s really only an issue when the longest suit is a minor (2; 2, 3 is a very crowded and inefficient auction) or when the second suit is Clubs (it will be awkward for Opener to show his second suit if Responder bids a “second negative” as in 2 2, 2 3).


Both Vul

KJ9842

9532

42

8

East South West North

2 Pass

2 Pass 2 Pass

??

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