Roman 2 Diamonds

(Courtesy of Bob Crosby)

I feel that partnerships should have two strong opening bids. The 2 opener is obvious but the 2 opener should also be a strong bid. I feel established partnerships should have the Roman 2 in their repertoire. Why? because strong 4-4-4-1 hands are horribly hard to bid. They usually up the range also because opening 2 with strong 4-4-4-1 are also very hard to handle. The 2 opener is a strong bid and I just treat it as a special 2 opener but with 4-4-4-1 hands. Having strong 4-4-4-1 hands removed from your system and tucked into one bid has advantages. Other bidding sequences are now clarified as you can not hold a strong 4-4-4-1. This virtually guarantees a 5 or longer minor when you rebid a major. This treatment removes the 4-4-4-1 hands from your two club structure which also clarifies those bids. Tom and I play a jump by the 2 opener as setting the suit and not a singleton.

A Roman 2 opening bid shows any 4-4-4-1 distribution with 17-24 HCP. Responder is expected to bid his best (longest) minor suit at the 3 level with some values under a 2NT response; with little preference, he bids 2. With a hand interested in playing a game (or slam) contract, responder can bid 2NT, artificial. This artificial 2NT response is also on in competition. The trick with this wide a range is describing the range variance. The following discusses ways of doing that.

After hearing a simple suit response, opener bids the next-highest suit with a minimum if responder happened to bid his short suit. Responder is then expected to correct, if necessary, to a better fit. Due to the wide HCP range of the 2, we need a way to force to game after a simple response (essentially 2 hands). If we do not wish to force to game, we of course, will just pass after we have found a fit. If we do not have a fit, we will just bid the next suit up if we do not wish to force to game. If we wish to game force, we will bid NT with no fit or show our singleton (as long as its not the next ranking suit).

Examples:

2	Pass	2	Pass
2NT

2NT is a game force with a singleton spade.

2	Pass	2	Pass
3

3 is just trying to find a better spot with a singleton spade.

2	Pass	2	Pass
3

17-24 has 2 ranges 17-20 and 21-24 so the responses to 2NT can take this range disparity into consideration. You can not hold a 5 card major but 5-4-4-0 with 5 card minors are permissible.

2 - 2NT.

2NT asks and partner responds up the line in rank order with minimum taking priority over maximum and major singletons taking priority over showing minor singletons:

• 3 is a min with a singleton major, 3 asks you to bid your long major
• 3 is a max with a singleton major, 3 asks, 3 is a heart singleton, 3NT is a spade singleton
• 3 is a min with a singleton minor, 3 asks you to bid your long minor
• 3 is a max with a singleton minor, 4 asks, 4 is club singleton 4 is diamond singleton
• With a void jump to 4 of the 5 card minor to show the 4450 4405 min and 4 of a major to show the maximum 4450 4405.
  • 4 is a max with 5 clubs
  • 4 is a max with 5 diamonds.

Over these bids since there is a void involved, 4NT asks about controls (A=2 K=1)

• 5 = 5
• 5 = 6
• 5 = 7
• 5 = 8
• 5NT = 9 (only 3 suits to worry about). To have 21 HCP the minimum is 5 controls and the max is 9 AKAKAK)

Tom Gandolfo was in 4th seat with AKJx AK109 x AKxx. Opening a club in 4th seat is dangerous as if partner with a scattering of points in a major passes you may even miss a slam. Qxxxxx xx xxx xx or Q10xx Qxxx xxx xx and partner might play this in 1 instead of +1430 in spades. Anyway Tom is in 4th seat and opens 2 and I hold xxx Qxx AJxxx xx. Since I have some values I should not bid a minimum 2. I am not strong enough to bid 2NT but I am strong enough to bid 3. Tom just bids 3NT which is a good a contract as any. Take away my Ace and I have a 2 response instead.