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Here, your .
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A reverse indicates that your first suit is longer than your second suit. With equal length like 5-5, don't make a reverse. Instead, open the bidding with your higher-ranking suit. Note that a few experts advocate reversing occasionally with 4-4 distribution in two suits. For example, 1-4-4-4 or even 3-4-2-4 shape.
Note that your choice of bids is limited in this scenario. 1NT would have shown a balanced hand.
You can make a reverse bid when ALL of the following criteria are met:
Whew! Let's see more examples....
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2 is a reverse. (You can check it against all the rules above.) It's a new suit at the 2-level that bypasses a simple rebid of
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Again, 2 is a reverse.
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What to do with a 6-card minor? Holding a 4-card major, it's worth investigating a major-suit fit rather than rebidding clubs.
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You can also reverse with 6-5 (or longer!) shape. Here the strict point count of 16+ can be relaxed a bit. As Grant Baze used to say, "6-5 come alive."
A reverse bid is forcing for one round. Don't pass a reverse! There are many different philosophies on response structures. You can get fancy by using 2NT response as Lebensohl, for instance. The following are loosely based on Bill Root's "Commonsense Bidding" which I feel are fairly intuitive... about as intuitive as reverses get.
With a weak hand (6-8 points), you choose from the following non-forcing bids.
Raising Partner's Second Suit
You can raise partner's second suit with 4-card support. Example:
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Your 3 shows 4+ card support and is non-forcing. Rebidding no-trumps is impractical with a singleton heart. Also, raising diamonds is also preferable to raising clubs. Assuming partner holds 5 clubs and 4 diamonds, the 4-4 fit will tend to play slightly better than the 5-3 fit. Partner is allowed to continue bidding with extra strength.
Bidding 3 of Partner's First Suit
Holding a weak hand and 3+ card support for partner's first suit, you can sign off at the 3-level. Example:
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Your 3 shows 3+ card support and is non-forcing. Note the lack of a spade stopper, which should discourage you from bidding 2NT. Partner is allowed to continue bidding with extra strength.
With a weak balanced hand and a stopper in the fourth suit, you can bid 2NT. Again, this is non-forcing.
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Similar hand as before but this time you have a stopper in the fourth suit, spades. Bid 2NT instead of
You can choose to rebid your 5+ card suit like so:
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You could bid 3 instead, but it may be worth showing your concentrated spade strength in case partner can muster a raise. Swap a club for a sixth spade and
With 9+ points, you want to reach game and possibly slam. Here are your common rebid options (excluding Blackwood, etc.).
Jump-Raising Partner's First Suit
With a strong hand and 3+ card support for partner's first suit, you can jump-raise to create a game force. Example:
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4 is forcing to game.
Jump-Raising Partner's Second Suit
You can jump-raise if you're lucky enough to hold 4-card support for partner's second suit plus game-forcing strength.
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4 is to play, showing about 9-12 points. Partner can bid again with slam interest.
Bidding 3NT
With a balanced 9-12 points and a stopper in the fourth suit, you can sign off in 3NT.
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3NT is to play, promising a club stopper. Again, partner can keep bidding with extra goodies.
Bidding the fourth suit is natural after opener reverses. If you play Fourth Suit Forcing, it is off after a reverse. This is because responder doesn't really need to show an invitational hand opposite a strong one.
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2 is natural. Partner is asked to support spades with 3-card support. Otherwise, she must find another useful bid, such as 2NT.
Reverses in competition are a matter of partnership agreement. Generally speaking, it's easier to remember if reverses are always "on." However, it may be more practical in competitive auctions to loosen the point count requirement. It's worth discussing with your partner when reverses are really off in competition.
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