opening bid.
Kleinman's article is quite long, so I will summarise it here.
Opener has shown a game-forcing (or almost game-forcing) hand. If opener has a balanced hand, he will rebid 2NT (non-forcing) and his hand will have 23-24 hcp. A strong balanced hand of a different strength would have been opened with 1♣.
Opener will not (if playing the full Double Club System) have a hand with a long club suit, since that hand would be opened with a forcing 1♣ or, if he has a minor two-suiter, with 2NT (showing both minors, weak or strong). If he is single-suited or two-suited, opener's longest suit will be diamonds, hearts or spades.
If your partnership is new to the Double Club System then you can quite easily play what you normally play after a game-forcing 2♣ opening bid. The full Double Club System, however, as described here, gives you superior methods for dealing with minor-suit oriented hands and three-suited hands.
The Double Club System follows
Danny Kleinman's recommendations
on how to respond to a 2 opening bid.
Kleinman's article is quite long, so I will summarise it here.
A positive response needs only a moderate 5-card suit, such as K 10 x x x or better, and an ace or king, or a couple of queens, on the side. There is no risk in bidding such a moderate suit: if opener supports the suit then clearly he will not have a poor holding such as Q x x, since he would hardly open 2♣ and then not rebid his own suit if he had that holding.
But responder should avoid making any bid that might pre-empt opener's intended rebid, since opener needs space to describe his strong hand, and we are already at the two level. If responder can make a positive response of 2♥ then he should do so immediately. A 2♥ response will never inconvenience opener. With any other hand, whether having positive or negative values, responder should initially bid 2♦, a waiting bid, and then later, with his second bid, indicate whether he has positive or negative values.
After 2♣, 2♦, opener makes his intended rebid, which will usually be 2♥, 2♠ or 2NT. If opener rebids 2NT then responder's continuations are well defined (following our 2NT response system). If opener rebids 2♥ or 2♠, responder now shows whether he has negative values (by bidding 2NT) or positive values (by bidding a suit). Responder may bid 2♠ over 2♥ with only a 4-card suit (follow the links below for details).
Responses of 2♠ and higher
are not needed, and are not defined as part of the Double Club System.
However, I advise partnerships interested in taking things further to follow
Danny Kleinman's recommendations
on how to respond to a 2 opening bid.
But do not risk using one of Kleinman's higher responses unless you know that your partner will understand it!
Author: Chris Burton
Gravesend Bridge Club