By Peter Rhead
Inverted minor response to a One Club or One Diamond opening
We continue our look at conventions with this thought in mind. A convention is an adaptation of a standard bid that gives more bang for the buck. We recently talked about the Weak-Two and Weak-Three bids as examples.
The players that invent these conventions are usually at the top of the food chain. These gurus gobble up us underlings with pride when they see how well their convention works. Their convention may be for offense or for defense or for both.
Today’s convention, the Inverted Minor, is used for both offense and defense. It is an adaptation of the following Standard American bids. Consider a Standard American opening bid of One Diamond. The opening of one of a minor followed by responder’s raise to two of that suit, in this case Two Diamonds, shows responder limiting his hand with 6-9 points and at least five-card support for the bid minor (a bid which might be only three cards).
Some gurus thought they had a more effective use of this bidding sequence. For offense, a One Diamond – Two Diamonds raise with five-card support is more effective as a 10-12 point raise instead of a raise containing only 6-9 points. For defense, One Diamond – Three Diamonds with five-card support and 6-9 points is more effective at damaging the opponent’s bidding because it forces their bidding to a level higher.
Finally, to cover all bases, consider a responder without one of the above two conditions, but he does have 6-30 points. Standard American bidding takes over. A One No-Trump response still shows 6-9 points. A new suit bid by responder is forcing for one round and standard bidding proceeds.
For more information, read “Inverted Minor Raises” in Barbara Seagram’s 25 Bridge More Conventions You Should Know P. 139
Next Week: Examples of Inverted Minor Raises
Remember, as we all fight COVID-19 with social isolation, if you want your Bridge fix, online competition is available for all skill levels. From the ACBL Bridge website, you can hook up either to play live people or to play robots. Either way you test or consolidate various Bridge skills. At ACBL.org just click on “Play Bridge” and follow the prompts for various choices.
If you wish to promote an activity in your Bridge group or ask a Bridge question, send the information to vrhead23@gmail.com and I will try to include it in this column.
Looking for more bridge tips? You’ll find them here.
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