Responding to a Strong 2 Club bid

Playing matchpoints. Both you and the Opponents are vulnerable.

Here is your hand:
♠743
♥96
♦8432
♣9542

Partner opens the bidding 2♣. You play a STRONG 2♣. This is an artificial bid saying "I am strong Partner!" The Opponents are silent throughout the auction. You bid 2♦ which is just a waiting bid. Shows zero or more points and just asks Partner to tell you just WHY they have such a strong hand.

Partner now bids 2♥. This says "I opened 2♣ because I have SUCH a strong ♥ suit I was sure we'd miss a game if I opened it 1♥ and you didn't have enough points to respond. So since I'd HATE it if you passed, I opened 2♣ to make sure you didn't!"

What is your call?

Show Answer

If you can make a second negative bid to show Partner you have absolutely NOTHING in your hand that's a good bid. But that's a little advanced for this blog so I'm going to ignore that bid. (Unless you know it and bid it -- good job!)

So for those who don't have that second negative bid in their bidding arsenal, this is a tough one but I'd suck it up and raise ♥.

But honestly I am good with almost ANY bid but PASS. You CANNOT PASS Partner's 2♥ bid! They opened 2♣ to make sure you WOULDN'T "Pass" them when they showed their ♥ suit! If they were okay with you passing when they bid their ♥ suit they would have opened 1♥.

Since you MUST take a call over 2♥ you have limited options. You can't bid another suit. You don't have another suit.

You hate to bid 2NT because if the hand should be played in NT then you want PARTNER to be the one playing it. Besides you have no tricks in any suit and Partner does not guarantee any either. Sure they have a strong hand but they don't have to have any values in the ♠ suit for example.

So since I can't bid another suit and I don't want to bid NT I'm going to raise Partner's suit even with only two. Maybe they have six in their suit. Who knows?

P.S. On this particular hand Partner has:
♠KQT
♥AKQT3
♦AKQ5
♣7

They take 11 tricks in ♥ (even on their 5-2 fit) but only 8 tricks in NT. (The Opponents take four ♣ and the A♠.)