As we have mentioned many times, effective bidding is based upon drawing correct inferences from what your partner bids, as well as what he doesn’t bid.
A concept we want to discuss came up at a recent Supervised Play session. We always say that you do not introduce a new suit at the 2-level unless you have at least 10 points. For example, if your partner opens the bidding, and you have 6-9 points, DO NOT bid at the two level. You will only confuse your partner by misrepresenting your hand.
We also say that there are exceptions to the rules. (John is fond of saying that the secret of great bridge is knowing when to break the rules, but that’s the subject of another article.) An exception to this rule occurs in the following situation.
Let’s suppose your partner opens the bidding with 1 heart, and your right hand opponent (RHO) doubles. How do you respond?
We strongly recommend that you add the Redouble bid to your arsenal. This gives you the opportunity to more effectively describe your hand. So, what are your choices?
With 10 or more points, Redouble. You may or may not have heart support, and you will describe your hand further with successive bids, so that your partner will know where the hand should be played. The beauty of the Redouble is that your partner immediately knows that this hand is yours, even if where to play the hand, and how high to go, are not evident at the moment. The optimal contract will become clear as the bidding proceeds.
Here is an example.Partner bids 1 club; RHO doubles; you redouble with the following hand:
♠ K J x x x
♥ x
♦ J x x
♣ A Q 10 2
Adopting the Redouble gives you another option. In this example, similar to the hand in our Supervised Play session, your partner opens 1 spade, and you hold the following hand:
♠ 2
♥ 3 2
♦ A 5 2
♣ K J 10 9 8 7 6
Your bid is 2 ♣. Yes, you have fewer than 10 points. However, if you had more than 10 points, you would have redoubled. Using inferences, your partner knows you don’t have 10 points because you didn’t redouble, and that you have a good club suit, probably 6 cards in length.
Bidding at the two level in this situation is possible because you have the Redouble bid in your arsenal.
Note: There are numerous variations on the use of the Redouble bid. Some play that the Redouble bid implies no support for partner’s suit. However, we think it’s best to start with the treatment we describe above, and adapt a more nuanced approach as you become more experienced. For example, the 2NT Jordan bid by responder shows a limit raise or better for opener’s suit; then the partnership agreement has room for the Redouble implying no fit.