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Lebensohl after partner has reversed |
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| West |
North |
East |
South |
Partner has shown a strong hand by reversing. |
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Let's suppose that you play this reverse as a one round force, how can you differentiate between a hand that is very weak, one that is reasonable and one that forces to game? Let's consider a number of situations: - |
| 1♦ |
pass |
1♠ |
pass |
| 2♥ |
pass |
? |
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| 1. |
We prefer partner's first bid suit. |
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| Hand A |
Hand B |
Hand C |
With Hand A we bid 4♦; forcing, and since we have gone past 3NT it shows slam interest and/or shortage in the unbid suit. |
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| ♠ |
K7632 |
♠ |
Q632 |
♠ |
Q632 |
With Hand B we bid 3♦, forcing. |
| ♥ |
KJ |
♥ |
K42 |
♥ |
K2 |
With Hand C we bid 2NT, Lebensohl and then over partner's ‘forced' 3♣ reply – weak. |
| ♦ |
KJ752 |
♦ |
Q532 |
♦ |
J632 |
| ♣ |
8 |
♣ |
985 |
♣ |
862 |
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| 2. |
We prefer partner's first bid suit. |
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With a very weak responding hand we could pass (?) but most players play that a reverse is forcing for one bid or one round. So we again use Lebensohl when we have a very weak hand with support for partner's 2nd suit, same bidding sequence as above, 1♦ - 1♠ - 2♥ - ? : - |
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| Hand D |
Hand E |
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With Hand D we bid 3♥; forcing. |
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With Hand E we bid 2NT, Lebensohl and then bid 3♥ over partner's 'forced' 3♣ reply – weak. |
| ♠ |
K7632 |
♠ |
Q632 |
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| ♥ |
KJ73 |
♥ |
K72 |
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| ♦ |
KJ |
♦ |
86 |
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| ♣ |
KJ |
♣ |
J632 |
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Let's have an example of Lebensohl after a reverse at the club. It's from news-sheet 16. |
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| West, Terry |
East, Chuck |
West |
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East |
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(1) |
a reverse. |
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(2) |
Lebensohl, West ‘must' bid 3♣ and await developments. |
| ♠ |
A |
♠ |
109762 |
1♦ |
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1♠ |
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| ♥ |
AQ74 |
♥ |
8532 |
2♥ |
(1) |
2NT |
(2) |
(3) |
'forced' |
| ♦ |
AKQJ64 |
♦ |
8 |
3♣ |
(3) |
3♥ |
(4) |
(4) |
a very weak hand with ♥ 's |
| ♣ |
105 |
♣ |
A84 |
4♥ |
(5) |
pass |
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(5) |
a very strong hand with ♥ 's |
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I would not argue if you said that this West hand could open 2♣, but if you play a reverse as forcing (obviously Chuck and I do) then this is quite an efficient way to bid the hand. Now I personally do not like to open two suiters with 2♣ if I can avoid it, and with a ♠ singleton it is unlikely that 1♦ will be passed out. If you play 2♥ as negative over 2♣ (we do) then it presumably goes 2♣ - 2♥ - 3♦ - 3♠ - ? and the ♥ fit may get lost. |
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| 3. |
We would prefer to play in our suit. |
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| Hand F |
Hand G |
Hand H |
With Hand F we bid 3♠ , game forcing and showing a |
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good suit. |
| ♠ |
KQJ642 |
♠ |
KQ862 |
♠ |
QJ10862 |
With Hand G we bid 2♠ , forcing. See note 1. |
| ♥ |
63 |
♥ |
Q3 |
♥ |
Q3 |
With Hand H we bid 2NT; followed by 3♠ over partner's ‘forced' 3♣ reply – weak. |
| ♦ |
AJ |
♦ |
J53 |
♦ |
93 |
| ♣ |
K85 |
♣ |
985 |
♣ |
862 |
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Note 1. Some players play Lebensohl here slightly differently. They play a sequence such as 1♦ - 1♠ - 2♥ - 2♠ as weak and with a stronger hand responder uses 2NT, Lebensohl, followed by 3♠ . This is not standard when playing Lebensohl in this situation and would have to be agreed. |
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| 4. |
We want to play in NT. |
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Partner's reverse is usually around 16-17 points (but could well be a lot more), and if we have a good holding in the unbid suit then we bid NT. Now playing Lebensohl there are options here, as we can bid 3NT directly or else a forcing 2NT. Note that this is different from ‘standard' where 2NT would not be forcing but offering 2NT as a final contract. Playing Lebensohl we can never end up in 2NT – it's either a suit contract or 3NT (or more). |
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Same bidding as before, 1♦ - 1♠ - 2♥ - ? : - |
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| Hand J |
Hand K |
Hand L |
With Hand J we bid 3NT, to play. |
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With Hand K we have slam ambitions (6NT?) if partner has more than a minimal reverse.One way to show a hand like this is to bid 2NT and then 3NT over partner's 3♣ reply – slam interest. |
| ♠ |
KJ64 |
♠ |
KJ64 |
♠ |
AQ64 |
| ♥ |
94 |
♥ |
A4 |
♥ |
A4 |
| ♦ |
K93 |
♦ |
K93 |
♦ |
K93 |
| ♣ |
KJ85 |
♣ |
AQ85 |
♣ |
AQ84 |
Hand L definitely wants to go slamming. There are various possibilities; you could agree that 2NT followed by 4♣ over partner's forced 3♣ response is Gerber (a direct 4♣ after 1♦ - 1♠ - 2♥ – would be a splinter agreeing ♥ 's). |
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| 5. |
We want to play in NT only if partner has a stop in the 4 th suit. |
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Same bidding sequence, 1♦ - 1♠ - 2♥ - ? |
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| Hand M |
Hand N |
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With Hand M we would like to play in 3NT if partner has a ♣ stop. And so we bid 3♣ , 4th suit forcing and then pass if partner shows a stop with 3NT. |
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| ♠ |
KJ64 |
♠ |
KJ64 |
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| ♥ |
K64 |
♥ |
AK4 |
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With Hand N it's similar but this hand is worth a slam effort and you could try 3♣, 4th suit forcing and then a quantitative 4NT if partner shows a ♣ stop with 3NT. |
| ♦ |
K63 |
♦ |
KJ3 |
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| ♣ |
Q65 |
♣ |
K85 |
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| 6. |
2NT when opener has reversed over a two level response. |
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| North |
East |
South |
West |
2NT by South here would not be Lebensohl – even if you do not play 2/1, a reverse after a two level response is best played as game forcing and so 2NT here is natural and game forcing. It's up to you if you would play 3NT as fast arrival. |
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| 1♥ |
pass |
2♣ |
pass |
| 2♠ |
pass |
? |
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| 7. |
When opener does not complete the 3♣ puppet. |
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Now Lebensohl ‘forces' the reverser to bid 3♣ . But there are situations where the partner of the 2NT Lebensohl bidder knows that game is on and so does not bid 3♣ . This is covered fully in ‘breaking the Lebensohl puppet' and here is an example where it may occur having reversed. It is the example from news-sheet 16 with the minor suits reversed: - |
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| West |
East |
West |
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East |
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(1) |
a reverse. |
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(2) |
Lebensohl, West ‘must' bid 3♣ and await developments. |
| ♠ |
A |
♠ |
109762 |
1♣ |
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1♠ |
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| ♥ |
AQ74 |
♥ |
8532 |
2♥ |
(1) |
2NT |
(2) |
(3) |
I am not going to risk 3♣ being passed |
| ♦ |
105 |
♦ |
A84 |
3♦ |
(3) |
3♥ |
(4) |
(4) |
a very weak hand with ♥ 's |
| ♣ |
AKQJ64 |
♣ |
8 |
4♥ |
(5) |
pass |
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(5) |
a very strong hand with ♥ 's |
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West has a game-forcing hand after partner has responded and at (2) East has advertised a weak hand. It would be a mistake for West to ‘automatically' bid 3♣ at (3) as it is quite possible that East could pass that. So West has to bid something else and a ‘meaningless but forcing' 3♦ is surely best at (3) as 3♥ would imply 5 ♥'s (and 6 ♣ 's). |
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Pattaya Bridge Club - |
www.pattayabridge.com |
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