Opener Rebid

Playing matchpoints. You are not vulnerable and the Opponents are vulnerable.

Here is your hand:
♠J
♥KQJ8532
♦
♣AKQT8

You are Dealer and decide to open the bidding 1♥. Yes, you have a strong hand but with distributional hands you want to open the bidding naturally rather than opening the bidding 2♣ to show some sort of unknown strong hand.

After all the bidding probably won't go 1♥ Pass Pass Pass. If someone else bids (even if it is not Partner) you can show your hand later on.

So you bid 1♥ and Partner responds 1♠. The Opponents are not bidding. What is your call over 1♠?

Show Answer

Here is where you show the strength of your hand. Bid 3♣. This is called a JUMP SHIFT and puts a game force on the auction and tells Partner you have both of the rounded suits.

You CANNOT rebid that ♥ suit. Any rebids of that ♥ suit are NON-FORCING and weaker than what you have. You only need either the Ace of ♠ or the Ace of ♥ to make a small slam.