A bit of theory today.
Last Wednesday, I attended a training session by Dutch top player Frank Bakkeren at ‘t Onstein. For those of you living in the Netherlands, this club frequently organizes training sessions on Wednesday afternoon: a short lecture by one of the top players, 4 practice hands and discussion afterwards. The events are open, non players pay €5 entry fee. For the schedule, click here.
Enough free advertizing. Back to our regular program. The topic of Frank’s seminar was Drury, which reminded me of a Drury improvement I thought about a long time ago and never wrote down. So, here we go.
Drury, for those of you not familiar with the convention, is a convention to control the auction after a potentially light 3rd seat 1♥ or 1♠ opening bid. Now a 2♣ asks for the range of the opening bid, with 2♥/♠ showing a sub-minimum opening bid.
A textbook example is shown here. South opens a tactical 3rd seat 1♥, north uses a Drury 2♣, south bids 2♥ showing a minimum and the partnership plays a comfortable 2♥. A standard raise of 3♥ would get the partnership too high. Nice, right?
Well, yes, but now you pick up this hand in first seat. In pretty much any system, this is a pass.
The auction continues pass, 1♥ or 1♠ from partner, pass and it is your turn again? Drury makes it impossible to bid 2♣ so you are forced to bid 1NT. Partner has a decent but not spectacular hand, but you still wrap up 9 tricks in a few seconds. Not a good result. Now switch the minors and you can open a weak 2♦ (or whatever bid that shows this hand). A few seconds later, you are in 3NT.
If you think about this a bit longer, you will realize that (assuming you have a weak 2_ bid or its equivalent in your system), it is impossible to have 6♦ and about 8-11 after a third seat opener, but it is quite possible to have 6♣ and the same range. That means that you will almost never want to bid 2♦ natural over 1♥/♠, but you frequently want to bid 2♣. Thus, 2♣ should not be conventional but 2♦ can be conventional.
So, here is Drury improvement #1: After 1♥/♠, 2♦ is the Drury raise, not 2♣.
Does this have consequences? Yes, in standard Drury P-1♥;2♣-2♦ shows a hand better than a minimum asking partner to reevaluate. After P-1♥,2♦ the intermediate bid does not exist, so
instead we use 2♠ (and 2NT after P-1♠;2♦) to show a decent opening bid. Decent is defined here as “opposite a 10 count with 3 trumps, 3♥ should have a play”. If you have less, then you should bid 2♥.
But there is more. Playing regular Drury, a new suit (2♠/3♣/3♦) after P-1♥/♠; 2♣-2♦ shows some sort of game try with values in the suit bid. Regardless of whether partner accepts, the player on lead knows which suit he should not lead and both defenders know declarer’s second suit. Ages ago, Eric Kokish published a solution for regular game-try’s and there is no reason not to use that here as well: P-1♥; 2_-2♠ not only shows a decent opening bid, it also asks partner to show side suit values (with 2NT showing spades). 3♥ denies any decent side suit. Now opener can decide to bid 3♥ or 4♥ without disclosing his hand.
Drury improvement #2: After 1♥/♠; 2♦ and a non-minimum rebid, use Kokish Trials.
Final question: if one plays Drury, what do the other bids show? There is no standard approach to this, but I find the following quite playable.
P-1♥
- 1♠/1N/2♣: Natural
- 2♥: 6-9, 3♥
- 2♠: 9-11, 4♥, singleton somewhere (2N asks), 4441, 5431 with a bad 2nd suit, etc.
- 2N: 5♠-4♥, 8-11, decent suits
- 3♣/♦: 5X-4♥, 8-11, decent suits
- 3♥: weak, 4/5♥.
P-1♠
- 1N/2♣/♥: Natural
- 2♠: 6-9, 3♠
- 2N: 9-11, 4_, singleton somewhere (2N asks), 4441, 5431 with a bad 2nd suit, etc.
- 3♣/♦/♥: 5X-4♠, 8-11, decent suits
- 3♠: weak, 4/5♠.
Note that 1♥-2♠ and 1♠-2N takes some hands out of 2♦, making it easier for opener to evaluate as partner cannot have 4 trumps and a singleton when he bids 2 ♦. Likewise for the jumps, responder can never have a good 5-4.
Confused? As my professor said when I took my first course in quantum-mechanics, you should be, if you aren’t then you probably haven’t understood it. To wrap up, here is an overview, though it is probably better if you get a sheet of paper and write out the bids yourself.
P-1♥; 2♦: Drury raise (9-11, 3+♥)
- 2♥: Minimum opening bid:
- Pass
- 2♠/3♣/3♦: Natural, values in suit bid
- 2♠: Non minimum opening bid:
- 2NT/3♣/3 ♦: Values in suit bid (2NT=♠), accepts game-try
- 3♥: No side suit values
- 2NT: 6♥, running suit, suitable for NT (6332 or similar)
- 3♣/♦: 2nd suit, slam try
- 3♥: 6♥, non running suit
- 3♠/4♣/♦: Splinter
- 3NT: Proposal to play
- 4♥: to play
P-1♠; 2♦: Drury raise (9-11, 3+)
- 2♥: 4♥, F1
- 2♠: Minimum opening bid:
- Pass
- 3♣/♦/♥: Natural, values in suit bid
- 2NT: Non minimum opening bid
- 3♣/3 ♦/♥: Values in suit bid (2NT=♠), accepts game-try
- 3♠: No side suit values
- Rest as over 1♥.