My friend Bob was teaching his student about reverse rebids and asked for advice about what he should cover next. My reply was to teach her how to avoid using the bid she had just learned.
Beginners often over-use reverses, typically with the wrong strength – opening a 13-point hand with a minor and then bidding 2H over a 1S response, for example. Once they learn this promises more high cards, there’s a tendency to use reverses to "show my points" with strong hands that have the wrong distribution.
Reverse rebids can create difficult auctions even when you have the right strength and suit lengths, so it’s important to find other ways to describe hands that don’t. Here are some common solutions:
Bidding notrump. Many of us were taught that a hand with two doubletons is too unbalanced for an opening notrump bid. You might have also been told you should have stoppers in every suit.
These restrictions make it almost impossible to describe a hand such as ♠AQ ♥Q632 ♦AQ653 ♣Q8 . The problem with opening 1D is that a 16-point hand with this suit quality isn’t strong enough for a reverse to 2H. This auction also suggests unbalanced, suit-oriented values. With honors in your doubletons and no singleton, this looks more like a 1NT opener.
Add two more points and you can open 1D and rebid 2NT. Make it 19 points by changing the diamonds to ♦AKQ53 and it’s worth an upgrade to a 2NT opener.
Opening 1D with 4-5 in the minors. This is a popular reverse-avoidance strategy with a hand such as ♠J ♥A95 ♦K642 ♣KQ1043 . To show both suits without over-stating your high-card strength, you open a “prepared” 1D and rebid 2C. The alternative is to hide the diamonds by opening 1C and making a slightly off-shape, non-diamond rebid over the expected 1H or 1S response.
Both approaches have drawbacks. If you open 1C, every rebid will mislead partner about one card – you’re a club short for 2C and a spade short for 1NT. If he responds 1H, you’re technically one trump short for a 2H raise.
A 1D opener leads to two distortions. When you rebid 2C, partner sees five diamonds and four clubs, so you’re off by a club and a diamond. With equal length in your suits, partner will take a preference to 2D and you may land in a 4-2 fit.
I was taught to open 1D with this pattern, but I declared enough of those 4-2 fits to rethink that advice. I’ve had better results opening 1C. With 2-2 and some honor strength in the majors, it's treated as balanced. With a singleton – ♠QJ7 ♥10 ♦Q1043 ♣AKJ64 – the values look right for a 1NT rebid after partner responds 1H. Over a 1S response, this is a good dummy for a 4-3 fit, so it’s a raise to 2S.
There’s no expert consensus about the best way to bid these hands. Whatever your choice, it’s a good idea to discuss it with partner. If you prefer opening 1D with four diamonds and five clubs, partner should think twice about retreating to 2D with a doubleton. If you’ll open 1C and rebid 1NT with a singleton in his suit, he’ll want to avoid rebidding a 5-card major.
Opening a 5-card major instead of a 6-card minor. This is a similar problem, but there’s more incentive to open the shorter suit because it's a long major. With ♠64 ♥AJ653 ♦KQJ1063 ♣Void, the simplest plan is to start with 1H and bid diamonds twice if possible. This shows both suits and keeps the auction low, but gives partner a picture of a 5-5 hand.
The other option, preferred by many, is to open a “more natural” 1D with this hand. After a 1S or 1NT response, you have to settle for rebidding 2D, which risks losing a heart fit. If partner has game-going values, though, you may have room to show your 5-6 pattern by bidding hearts twice.
Which is the better strategy? And should it change if your major is spades? More about this and other “When is a reverse not a reverse?” auctions in the next issue.
© 2021 Karen Walker