[mlhampton]

Does anyone have any references to articles, or can you give me your approach to deal with the sequence where your partner (opener) opens one of a minor, you respond with a suit at the one level, and opener rebids his minor at the two level (opponents are passing)? How do you define the responder's second bid? For example, how do you play a 3rd suit, a jump shift and a reverse by respond? Are they all real suits? Are they forcing, invitational or constructive?

[akwoo]

mlhampton, on 2025-December-03, 09:48, said:

Does anyone have any references to articles, or can you give me your approach to deal with the sequence where your partner (opener) opens one of a minor, you respond with a suit at the one level, and opener rebids his minor at the two level (opponents are passing)? How do you define the responder's second bid? For example, how do you play a 3rd suit, a jump shift and a reverse by respond? Are they all real suits? Are they forcing, invitational or constructive?

Different people play different things.

Before I give you suggestions, it helps to know how much artificiality you and your partner are up for - there's no point in suggesting conventions your partner won't remember or won't play (because they don't want to try to remember). The meanings of the natural bids will depend on what your artificial bids (if any) mean.

[mike777]

 mlhampton, on 2025-December-03, 09:48, said:

Does anyone have any references to articles, or can you give me your approach to deal with the sequence where your partner (opener) opens one of a minor, you respond with a suit at the one level, and opener rebids his minor at the two level (opponents are passing)? How do you define the responder's second bid? For example, how do you play a 3rd suit, a jump shift and a reverse by respond? Are they all real suits? Are they forcing, invitational or constructive?

Hope this helps:
1Minor=1Spade
2same minor=2Hearts =one round force, 2h may be artificial ..

Really important
1 Club= 1 Major
2 clubs= 2D=artificial and game force

reverse by responding hand is game force



Good luck

[mlhampton]

akwoo, on 2025-December-03, 10:04, said:

Different people play different things.

Before I give you suggestions, it helps to know how much artificiality you and your partner are up for - there's no point in suggesting conventions your partner won't remember or won't play (because they don't want to try to remember). The meanings of the natural bids will depend on what your artificial bids (if any) mean.

[mlhampton]

Thank you akwoo. We have no issue with artificial responses.

[mlhampton]

mike777, on 2025-December-03, 11:57, said:

Hope this helps:
1Minor=1Spade
2same minor=2Hearts =one round force, 2h may be artificial ..

Really important
1 Club= 1 Major
2 clubs= 2D=artificial and game force

reverse by responding hand is game force



Good luck

[mlhampton]

Thank you mike777. Is there a book or an article that explains your approach in more deatil?

[DavidKok]

I don't have a book or article for you, but here are some general thoughts:

• I play 'third suit game forcing'. The way I play it, this means that on the auction 1X-1Y; 2X the cheapest unbid suit is artificial, forcing to game and neither promises nor denies the suit bid. The most awkward sequence is 1♥-1♠; 2♥-3♣, all the other 'third suit game forcing' bids are at the 2-level. It does not matter whether this bid is higher or lower than responder's first suit.
  
• I play that all non-jumps other than this 3SGF are not forcing and are invitational. This is a bit unconventional, especially on 1♣-1♠; 2♣-2♥ which has a lot of value as a forcing bid. But it's easy to remember and quite effective.
  
• This is combined with 1X-2Y (jump response) as weak, approximately 4-8, and 6(+) cards. I find that splitting out weak and invitational single-suiters on the 1X-1Y; 2X auctions is really challenging, so instead I split them out on the previous round. Note that, in general, on the 1X-1Y auction if opener was about to rebid at the 1-level or rebid 1NT, standard systems will handle the large majority of possible problems. It's the misfitting rebids at the 2-level where you need help, and therefore I strongly feel that 1X-2Y (jump response) should cater to the hands that would be stuck if opener was planning on rebidding in 2-of-any-suit over a 1-level response. In a sense, this means that if you find that your system is weak on a 2X rebid by opener, possibly you should have changed your response structure on the previous round.
  
• Personally I am a big fan of unbalanced 3-card simple raises on 1X-1M (so not 1♣-1♦, but that's for other reasons. In standard they make sense there too). This means that, on these auctions, opener's rebid denies 3-card support for our major (e.g. on 1♣-1♠; 2♣). This significantly reduces the problems of finding the right partscore and sometimes even game, and lets responder take more informed decisions.
  
• I'm more reluctant than most to rebid 1NT with a semibalanced hand type (e.g. 2=4=2=5 on 1♣-1♠). I feel that my agreements after a 2♣ rebid are more than fine, and that my results are better rebidding 2♣ with such a hand than rebidding 1NT. Other people feel differently, and you should take this into consideration when evaluating what to do as responder if opener rebids their suit.

[mlhampton]

mike777, on 2025-December-03, 11:57, said:

Hope this helps:
1Minor=1Spade
2same minor=2Hearts =one round force, 2h may be artificial ..

Really important
1 Club= 1 Major
2 clubs= 2D=artificial and game force

reverse by responding hand is game force



Good luck

[mlhampton]

mike777, on 2025-December-03, 11:57, said:

Hope this helps:
1Minor=1Spade
2same minor=2Hearts =one round force, 2h may be artificial ..

Really important
1 Club= 1 Major
2 clubs= 2D=artificial and game force

reverse by responding hand is game force



Good luck

[mlhampton]

Thank you davidkok - this is also helpful, and very thorough! It sounds like it incorporates the items mike777 wrote.

[P_Marlowe]

The following side, deals with Responders 2nd bid
https://www.kwbridge...T%20or%202NT%29

The main underlying principle is the so called "Barriere Principle", although it gets seldom spelled out explicitly.
https://www.bridgewe...-%2019%20points

Please dont put to much weight on spelled out HCP ranges, those are shifting over time, the principle does not.

A common idea, that is also seldom explictly stated, is due to the fact, that new suits on the 3 level are forcing to game,
which followes from the "Barriere Principle":
It was considered ok to invent a suit on the 3 level (if it was a minor).
This idea was further developed and formalized as convention: NMF was born, ..., seed Davidkoks (1), there are other as well,
and if you go further down this road, you may end up weakening that new suits on the 3 level are forcing to game, except
when NOT.
An example, if you agree to play NMF, then a jump into a new 3rd suit after openers NT rebid is usually played as 55 and inv.
But before you learn the exceptions, you should know the basic rule.


You did ask about a book, basically any introductionary bidding book would work, although you may find, that the information
is scattered across various chapters and situations. What base system do you play?

[mlhampton]

Thank you p_marlowe. We play 2 over 1, with a lot of stuff from Gavin. I like the idea that a new suit is artificial and forcing after 1m-1M-2m. It’s like NMF. What about 1d-1s-2d-2h? Is 2h (even though it’s a major) also potentially artificial? And is the new suit forcing to the four level/game, or is it simply invitational strength or better? I am guessing it could be the latter.

[P_Marlowe]

mlhampton, on 2025-December-03, 19:37, said:

Thank you p_marlowe. We play 2 over 1, with a lot of stuff from Gavin. I like the idea that a new suit is artificial and forcing after 1m-1M-2m. It’s like NMF. What about 1d-1s-2d-2h? Is 2h (even though it’s a major) also potentially artificial? And is the new suit forcing to the four level/game, or is it simply invitational strength or better? I am guessing it could be the latter.

The seq. you mentioned is played both ways, take your pick.
In General try to avoid exceptions.

The barrier principle also applies to responder and hence I would play it as nonforcing,
given that major suits are important, I would not want to play 2H as artificial, this is basically Davids (2),
although I would not req. inv. strength.

As for bools: Audrey Grant and Erik Rodwell have written a book about 2/1.
https://www.amazon.d...e/dp/093946084X