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Quiz: Barrier-Reversing

Quiz: Deal # Thursday
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Basic
strategy
0000). How to use 0001). Bidding Objectives = "8 and 25" 0002). 28 for minor 0003). 33 for NT slam 0004). Suit slam 0005). Importance of length 0006). Convention card 0007). ACOL and American Standard, differences 0008). A-Z Glossary 0690). A-Z Glossary
Hand
evaluation
0010). Balanced-Unbalanced 0011). How strong is your hand, HCP 0012). Distribution points 0013). Losing trick count 0014). Barrier-Reversing 0015). Selection of opening suit 0016). Showing shape 0017). 4441 distribution 0018). The skip over principle 0019). Rule of 20 Opening 1 of a suit 0019a). Rule of 25 Opening 2 of a suit 0019b). Rule of 500 Max penalty risk on preempt if doubled 0019c). Law of total tricks 0019d). Rule of Protective bidding
Opening
bids
0020). Plan of attack 0021). Bal, 12 to 19 HCPs, weak NT 0022). Bal, 20+ points 0023). Bal, 15 to 17 HCPs, strong NT 0025). Unbal, 12 to 19 HCPs, 1 suit 0026). Unbal, Strong 2s 0027). Unbal, Pre-emptive 0028). Unbal, Gambling 3NT 0029). Benji Strong 2s
Responder
1st bids
0030). After 1NT, General principles 0031). After 1NT, Weak 0032). After 1NT, Getting out of trouble 0033). After 1NT, 11+ balanced 0034). After 1NT, 11+ 4-card major 0035). After 1NT, 11+ unbalanced 0036). After 1NT, 19+ 0037). After 2NT 0038). After 1NT, and Enemy has interfered 0039). 1 NT responses 0040). After 1 Suit, With fit 0041). After 1 Suit, No fit, but alternative suit 0042). After 1 Suit, No fit, no new suit, probably balanced 0043). After 1 Suit, 6 points, nothing to bid 0044). After 1 Suit, Very strong 0045). After 1 Suit, Weak freak 0047). After 2 Suit, Strong 2s 0048). After 2 Suit, Weak 2s 0049). After 3 Suit, Responding to preempt
Openers
rebid
0050). Unbalanced, The general idea 0051). Unbalanced, You are weak 0052). Unbalanced, You are strong 0053). Unbalanced, Partner replied with 1NT 0054). Unbalanced, Delayed support 0055). Balanced
Responder
rebids
0060). Responder rebids, The general idea 0061). Choice of two suits 0062). Responders reverse 0063). After 1NT rebid
Basic
Convention
0080). Stayman 0081). Transfer 0082). Transfer after 2NT 0161). Minor suit transfer
Slam
bidding
0090). Slam, Spotting the chance 0091). Blackwood 0092). No-trump slam 0093). Gerber 0094). Extra slam techniques
Interfering
bids
0100). Overcalls, the basic idea 0101). Overcalls, in a suit, over a suit 0102). Overcalls, in a suit, over 1NT 0103). Overcalls, in NT, over a suit 0104). Overcalls, Jump overcall 0105). Overcalls, Double then bid a suit 0106). Overcalls, Bidding opponents suit 0107). Overcalls, Balancing (protective) 0108). Overcalls, Overcall a preempt 0109). Overcalls, Preemptive double jump 0110). Overcalls, To overcall, or to double 0111). Overcalls, Response to 1NT after suit overcall (Lebensohl) 0115). Defence after 1NT 0116). Competitive bidding 0117). Be cautious sometimes 0118). Sacrificing Be bold when non-vulnerable 0119). Sacrificing 0120). Doubles, Double a 1NT 0121). Doubles, Double for takeout 0122). Doubles, Doubling after opponent overcall 0126). Doubles, Protective double
Doubles

0120). Doubles, Double a 1NT 0121). Doubles, Double for takeout 0122). Doubles, Doubling after opponent overcall 0123). Doubles, Negative double 0124). Doubles, Double a 1NT overcall 0125). Doubles, Double a suit over 1NT 0126). Doubles, Protective double 0127). Doubles, Responsive double 0128). Doubles, Double then bid a suit 0129). Doubles, Penalty 0130). Doubles, Support double 0131). Doubles, Lead directing double 0132). Doubles, Maximal double 0133). Doubles, Redoubling - coded meanings 0134). Doubles, Forcing Pass 0135). Doubles, Re-opening double 0139). Doubles, Index of doubles
Advanced
Convention
0150). Majors Jacoby 2NT 0151). Majors Splinters 0152). Majors Weak 2s 0153). Majors Weak 2 defence 0154). Trial bid 0160). NT and minors 4th suit forcing 0161). Minor suit transfer 0162). DONT Bidding When Opponents open 1NT 0163). Game tries 0166). Grand Slam Force 0167). Roman Keycard Blackwood 0168). Cue bidding for controls 0170). 2-suited Overcall Unusual 2NT 0171). 2-suited Overcall Michaels cue bid 0172). 2-suited Overcall Landy over 1NT 0173). Overcall Unassuming cue bid 0179). Very advanced

Quiz How much do you know about this page? Quiz

<= find/hide more deals exploiting this aspect

Quick summary

The suit first bid will always be the longest.

The 'barrier' is the same suit as the opening bid, but one level higher.

The opener can re-bid above barrier with

16+ points
but must not jump-shift without 19

but below barrier if

12-15 points

Barrier thoughts: opener's jump-shift should be kept in mind

Forcing? Yes. If, without a jump-bid, opener re-bids in a new suit & breaks the 'barrier'

with a 2-level bid: forcing for one round
at the 3-level: forcing to game

Responder's reverse is at 12 points, not 16.

Print cribsheet

Bridge Venue

+	West
	A J 10 8 3
	A 10 3
	K Q 5 4
	6

+	North
	K 2
	K Q 4
	J 9 7 3
	9 7 3 2

	East
	9 6 4
	J 8 6
	8 6
	A Q 10 8 4

+	South
	Q 7 5
	9 7 5 2
	A 10 2
	K J 5

Example Deal

You: East
Dealer: North
Vuln: N-S

# 126015

Opening 1 of a suit with limit responses in NT
..
Go to quiz (& full page) of deal # 126015
***

Click the + buttons to peep

Click on "q1" below to see question 1, and on "A1" to see the answer.

Question 1

Your partner West opens 1S, but you don't like them. (Spades, not your partner). Your Clubs are good. Do you pass, or bid your Clubs ?

Question 1

Your partner West opens 1S, but you don't like them. (Spades, not your partner). Your Clubs are good. Do you pass, or bid your Clubs ?

Answer

Neither. You (East) can't change suit at the 2 level with only 7 HCP. You could risk weak Spade support, 2S, but that promises 4 of them which you don't have.

That said, bidding Spades is still an option: support with only 3-cards is often acceptable, since on 95% of occasions an opening bid of a Spade can be assumed to be from a 5-card suit, the second bid will clarify if it isn't, and (crucially) in this case you have an outside shortage that you exploit by ruffing with your short suit of Spades.

Anyway, you certainly don't want to pass, because you have 7 HCP and partner might have enough for game. 1NT denies 4 Spades, which is accurate, and ideally should be balanced, which is also technically accurate. Perhaps that's your best bid, but it's not clear cut given the diamond shortage.

Question 2

Your partner West now tries diamonds, bidding 2 of them. They are even worse than Spades in your hand. Are you allowed to pass ?

Question 2

Your partner West now tries diamonds, bidding 2 of them. They are even worse than Spades in your hand. Are you allowed to pass ?

Answer

Not on your life. On two counts. First, your partner has asked you to make a choice, and second, in his second bid, he also told you 2 more things: that he has 5-4 in Spades and diamonds, and that he has 12-15 points, not 12-19. If you pass, you are choosing diamonds, which would be a really bad choice, because you probably only have 6 of them between you.

Question 3

So what should you do ?

Question 3

So what should you do ?

Answer

Bid 2 Spades. You have an 8-card Major fit, so Spades is the right suit. No point going any higher, because the best you could have is 23 points, including your distribution point for the doubleton (which you can now include, because you have an 8-card trump suit fit). Even though 3 Spades might make, you're well short of 25 needed for game. Looking at LTC, you have 9 losers, and you should assume your partner has 7 losers, because he is an opener who has not gone through his barrier. Total 16. Subtract from 18 = 2. Another reason for not bidding higher than 2.

. . . .

Some subjects to follow up on
Barrier-Reversing
Losing trick count
Selection of opening suit
Bidding Objectives = "8 and 25"
Unbal, 12 to 19 HCPs, 1 suit

#1	+	<-- click the + to show/hide one possible Bidding Sequence
West			North	East	South
-			p	p	p
1S			p	???
				1NT	p
2D			p	2S	p
p			p
-			System: Acol (Benji)
suggest a different Bidding Sequence

bid	explained at....
#2	+	<-- click the + for explanation of relevant Bidding Techniques
1S	Unbal, 12 to 19 HCPs, 1 suit
1NT	After 1 Suit, 6 points, nothing to bid
2D	Unbalanced, You are weak
2S	Unbalanced, Delayed support


			Hand evaluation

#3	+	<-- click the + for ideas on the Opening Lead
Opening Lead: North , 7 Reasons, when playing in Either suit or NT contract: 1. unbid suit 2. top of rubbish

« 0014 »

Hand Evaluation: Reversing, or crossing your barrier

Fundamental - Plan your rebid, before you open your big mouth on the opening bid

The barrier plays a big part in exchanging information with your partner about your hand's shape and strength, and it's also involved in forcing eachother to rebid.

It's something that beginners don't usually learn for a while, and it's something that even quite good players often forget to consider, at their peril!

Your first suit bid is imprecise regarding the strength of your hand. The range is wide: if you're the opener it's from 12-19 HCP, even 20 sometimes; for responder it can be 6-15, sometimes more.

On your rebid (when you bid the second time) you can show more precisely how many points you have, as well as giving strong clues regarding the length of your various suits and explaining any second suit preference.

This allows your partner to assess your chances of getting to game, or even going higher. It's imperative to master this technique ! It's not hard, in fact perhaps the hardest thing is simply to remember to do it. So, you must consider your second bid before making your first.

Opener's rebid - 'reversing', or 'going through the barrier'

Definition of the barrier If his re-bid exceeds the 'barrier', opener has a stronger hand.The 'barrier' is in the same suit as the opening bid, but one higher.

E.g. an opening bid of 1 would set a barrier of 2. The precise definition of 'weaker' hand and 'stronger' hand varies a little, depending on the bidding level so far of responder, but most commonly 'weaker' means 12-15 HCP, and 'stronger' means 16-19 HCP.

Definition of the reverse A bidding sequence in which a player, on consecutive bids, bids two different suits, and bids the two suits in the reverse order to that expected by the bidding system, see below "SHAPE".

The reverse is designed to show additional strength without the need to make a jump bid.

SHAPE

The technique of going through your barrier is also known as "reversing". Why such a funny name? It's because with two equal length 5-card suits (e.g. and ) you would normally open the bidding first with the higher-ranking suit ( in this example) before re-bidding the lower-ranking suit (), so that if your partner prefers your first suit she can go back to it without raising the level.

You can open the bidding this 'normal' way round EITHER with 2 suits of equal length, OR when the higher-ranking suit is longer.

But if you bid the other way around, starting with the lower-ranking suit ( in this example), it's known, guess what, as a 'reverse'. And you would ONLY do this when the higher-ranking suit is shorter and thus has to be bid second.

STANDARD, OR HIGH-LEVEL ? FORCING ?

Three situations:

A 'standard reverse' is when opener's second bid is in a new higher-ranking suit at the two level (it's gone through the barrier), and is forcing, though only for one round. Eg. 1H-2D-2S
A 'low level reverse' is when opener's second bid is in a higher-ranking suit at the the one level: a) it's NOT gone through the barrier, and b) it's not forcing at all.
A so-called 'high level reverse', relates to three-level non-jumped re-bids of a new suit. The suits are actually bid in the 'normal' order, not 'reversed', and not 'jumped' - so not a 'jump-shift', but the response from partner has obliged the opener to re-bid in his new suit at the 3 level and to break his barrier. It's forcing to game.
- (A related and forcing bid is an opener's 'jump-shift' 'jump-shift' , where there is a jump, and used to show a particular extra strength).

STRENGTH

The 'reverse' is designed to show extra strength without the need to make a jump bid. The section on strong re-bids gives some useful examples. Here, let's look at 4 different cases, using the example of a 1 opening, and a resulting barrier of 2:

Case 1. After your partner replies 1 (guaranteeing only 6 HCP), then a rebid from you of 1 (reversing, but at the one level and so within the barrier) informs your partner of your shape of 5 and one fewer , AND that you can only be relied upon to have 12 HCP. Note that, in spite of the guarantee of only 12, you might have as many as 18 HCP points after the 'only 1-level' reply from your partner, but not 19 as in case 2.

Case 2. If, after your partner again replies 1, you choose to go HIGHER than the available 1 rebid and decide to rebid 2 (reversing, and OUTSIDE the barrier AND a 'jump-shift'), this tells your partner that you have 19 points, informs her of your 5-4 shape, AND forces her to bid again.

Case 3. But unlike cases 1 and 2, your partner replies differently with 2 (now promising 10 HCP for a 2-level response), then a rebid from you of 1 is no longer possible. It's illegal! But a rebid of 2 (reversing, and BREAKING THROUGH THE BARRIER - although not a 'jump-shift') would tell your partner you have 16-17 HCP points, AND forces her to bid again. So you MUST BE SURE to have a hand of this strength if you plan to tell your partner about a 5-4 or 6-4 hand where the longer suit is lower-ranking.

But, Case 4, if after your partner replies 2 (and 10 HCP for a 2-level bid), you choose an even higher reverse rebid of 3 (again through the barrier, PLUS a jump shift) this tells your partner you have even more strength, 18-19 HCP points, and forces to game.

What about 'non-reversing'? Let's suppose you have the same 2 suits of & in a 5-4 shape, but this time s is the longer suit.

So this time you open the bidding with 1 first, setting a barrier of 2. The point to note is that you are bidding the suits in the conventional 'normal' order of descending ranking - no longer 'reversing', so your partner will interpret you as having EITHER a 5-4 shape OR a 5-5 shape (and possibly of course longer shapes such as 6-4). Note also, given your 1 opening, that your partner has to be stronger to reply in a suit since it will have to be at the 2-level to be legal, although of course she still has the 1NT dustbin reply for any hand with only 6-9 HCP.

Your rebid options to show your 5-4 / 6-4 / 5-5 hand are 2 (showing weaker HCP, non-forcing) and 3 (needs stronger HCP and forcing to game).

So you open 1 (setting your barrier at 2):

Case 5. Your partner replies 2 (promising 10 points for a 2-level response, and forcing a rebid from you by virtue of the suit change). A rebid from you of 2 is possible, with any number of points, and is not forcing on your partner. But, key point: being a non-reversing bid, it allows her to choose one of your suits WITHOUT raising the level. She can either choose (by passing) or select s by bidding 2, so she's able to choose her preferred suit while keeping the level the same if she needs to. Of course she could also raise to 3 indicating more strength than the 10 HCP that her original 2 level response suggested.

Case 6. Your partner replies 2 (again promising 10 points for a 2-level response, and again forcing a rebid from you by virtue of the suit change). This time, a re-bid from you of 2 is NOT possible. To re-bid your diamonds will require a 3-level response in the new suit, which your partner will take as game forcing (note that your bid has gone through your barrier of 2), so you will need the necessary strength - typically 16+, having allowed for your partner's minimum of 9 points. If you don't have enough strength, then instead of bidding s you'll have to re-bid your first suit s, since you can't pass after your partner's forcing response - remember she changed suit. Your partner will interpret a repeat of the suit as promising 6 , which you might have, but she'll forgive you if it's only 5 (but nice ones).

FORCES, AND PROMISES OF SHAPE

In case 1-4, you have promised your partner 5 s and 4 s. In case 5-6 you have promised the opposite, 5 s and 4 s.

In all cases other than cases 1 and 5, the re-bid is forcing.

In case 6, where the new lower ranking suit has had to be bid at the 3 level, it's forcing to game.

Case 4 is also game-forcing, since the new suit was introduced at the 3-level, even though the option existed to introduce it as the 2 level.

Examples of reverse bidding sequences:

1 (by opener) 1 (by responder) 2(by opener - this bid is the "reverse")
1 1 2
1 - 1NT - 2
1 - 2 - 3 (known as a "High level reverse", since it's bid at the three level. Acol definition only)
1 - 2 - 3 ("High level reverse")

Don't jump-shift by mistake!

Let's say you open with 1, therefore setting your barrier at 2. If, after your partner replies 1, you then rebid 2 in order to go through your barrier - then you will have also jumped, since a lower 1 was an available bid. An opener who jumps as well as shifts suit is actually promising 19 points if it's after a 1-level response!

Forcing

A standard reverse (sometimes called a "low level reverse"), when opener's second bid is in a new higher ranked suit at the two level, is forcing for one round only, if it follows a one level bid by responder.

A "high level reverse", when opener's second bid is in a new and lower-ranked suit at the three level, is forcing to game. (A related bid is an opener's jump-shift, also often made at the three level and used to show a particular strength).

Responder's reverse

Responder can break his barrier too - but it shows a different level of strength

Now try the quiz

Can you put all this into action ? Try the quiz for this subject by clicking on the link at the top left of the page, just below the main menu.
(You can try quizzes for any other subjects too while you're there. Look out for the thin red line).

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Quiz: Barrier-Reversing

Quiz: Deal # Thursday