Strong, Artificial 2 Clubs Opening Bid

As in all Bridge Systems, there are no rules, only guidelines. Please keep this in mind when you remember that there are over 640,000,000,000 different card combinations, which can be dealt in the game of bridge. So the bridge player deals with guidelines for handling the shape and point-count of a hand. There are holdings that are sufficiently biddable with the Basic Guidelines, but along comes a hand with freak distribution and 30 high card points. Conventions have been developed to deal with these hands. This is one of them.

The Strong, Artificial Two Clubs Opening was devised and introduced by Mr. David Bruce, who was also known as Mr. David Burnstine during his bridge career. He was one of the great pioneers of the game of bridge and his name is associated with many of the other bridge pioneers. This concept of a strong, artificial opening bid was employed by Mr. Pierre Albarran and Mr. Baron de Nexon from France as early as 1935.

Many bridge conventions disclose the amount of values held by certain bidding sequences. The general guidelines of Five Card American Standard have illustrated the effectiveness of describing a certain holding within a particular range. Below is a chart showing certain ranges.

The 1 No Trump point range is different according to both the partnership agreement and based somewhat on the bidding system employed.

The Two Clubs Strong Artificial Opening is an artificial opening bid. It is quite possible that the bridge player has no Clubs at all in the holding.

It is important to remember that the opener's hand is practically a Stand-Alone Hand with enough strength to warrant game, although there are certain conditions where game is absolutely not feasible. This is the reason why the statement is not true that a 2 Clubs opening is absolutely forcing to game.

The Strong, Artificial Two Clubs Opening shows a certain point range not covered by a 2 No Trump or 3 No Trump range.

Let us begin with showing the No Trump hands with a range that does not fall in the No Trump range listed above. In this instance, not only balanced but also semi-balanced hands are acceptable, such as 5-4-2-2 distribution. With the Strong, Artificial Two Clubs Opening the bridge player can show partner an exact point range which does fall in that possible grey area not covered by No Trump Openings.

Example 1:

Opener
	KJ98
	AK74
	AKQ
	K4

Analysis:

1. The hand contains 23 high card points.

2. 2 NT is not an option, but No Trump seems a likely contract.

3. Opening 1 is not an option. Partner could pass.

4. Open with 2, which is a forcing bid.

Continuances:

1. The partner is forced to bid.

2.The opener then rebids, showing distribution, shape, and values.

The rebids showing balanced distribution and values are below:
	2 No Trump to show 23-24 HCPs (semi-balanced to balanced)
	3 No Trump to show 27-28 HCPs (semi-balanced to balanced)
	4 No Trump to show 29-30 HCPs (semi-balanced to balanced)
	5 No Trump to show 31-32 HCPs (semi-balanced to balanced)

In the case that the rebid of the opener is 2 No Trump, the responder may pass this rebid if the partner has absolutely no values and absolutely no distributional values. Under these circumstances, it must be said that a 2 Clubs strong, artificial opening is not always forcing to game.

When the rebid of the opener is 2 No Trump or 3 No Trump, the following Conventions and Treatments can and should be used. This is by Partnership Agreement only.

1.	Blackwood - asking for Aces
2.	Logic - Visualization - Reasoning
3.	Stayman - asking for a 4-card Major
4.	Jacoby Transfer - transferring to a 5-6 plus card Major
5.	Gerber - asking for Aces - sometimes ill-advised - ambiguous

 

The Two Clubs Strong Artificial Opening suggests strongly 4 or fewer Losing Tricks.

And the Two Clubs Strong, Artificial Opening suggests at least 20 plus, or by partnership agreement, 22 plus high card points with unbalanced distribution and shape. The amount of high card points becomes, however, irrelevant if the holding consists of four or fewer Losing Tricks. It is the shape and quality of the holding which decides whether a holding should be opened with an artificial strong 2 Clubs.

It is important to remember this distinction, that the hand does not necessarily have to contain a pre-determined amount of high card points, but rather has 4 or fewer Losing Tricks:

Example One:

Opener
	AK8
	AKQJ97
	6
	AK6

This holding contains at least 8 playing tricks and only 3 Losing Tricks, 24 high card points, and should be opened with 2 Clubs. The singleton Diamond does not fit the requirements for a No Trump bid.

Example Two:

Opener
	AKQ9865
	K2
	7
	AQ5

Although this holding has only 18 high card points, the general agreement is that any similar holding should be opened with 2 Clubs. Considering that the worst scenario would be that the partner has a void in Spades, the chance that the opponents each hold 3 cards in Spades is a probability, which brings the number of playing tricks to at least 8 playing tricks. The number of Losing Tricks equals only three, which meets the requirement of opening this hand with 2 Clubs.

Response Methods

There are several bidding sequences for the partner to respond to a 2 Clubs strong, artificial opening to show values and location of values. However, the partners must agree first upon the requirements for a 2 Clubs strong, artificial opening. Using the guidelines set out above should reinforce the decision to include this method as part of the partnership agreement.

Note: For those partnerships, which seek an alternative method for distinguishing between holdings with exactly four Losing Tricks and those holdings with exactly three Losing Tricks, the following suggestion is made as a possible guideline. The following two examples should illustrate this recommendation:

Opener		Opener
AKQ9865 K2 7 AJ5		AKQ9865 K2 7 AQ5
2		3

The student of the concept will realize that the player holding exactly four Losing Tricks bids at the cheapest level, whereas the player with the holding containing exactly three Losing Tricks employs the jump of one level to show exactly three Losing Tricks.

In this manner the player holding three Losing Tricks is able to communicate to partner a holding, which is practically a game hand without assistance from partner. In the second example the player can securely force partner to bid a game contract by jumping, since either the King of Hearts is a winning trick or the finesse works in Clubs. No guarantees.

In opposition to this the first example contains four Losing Tricks and the player has four definite Losing Tricks. Without assistance from partner, a game contract is, as a stand-along holding, not feasible.

Stipulations and Regulations

Not all holdings are created equal or treated as equal. The ACBL has defined a 2 Clubs opening bid in the following manner and we quote both the ACBL and also Mr. Rick Beye, Chief Tournament Director for the ACBL.

ACBL regulations and the General Convention Chart do not permit players to employ the 2 Clubs opening bid with holdings that contain long strong suits, but which also have very little outside strength.

In the June 2005 issue of The Bridge Bulletin, page 38, you will find an explanation of Mr. Rick Beye, Chief Tournament Director of ACBL. It is a direct response to this condition as set forth by the ACBL, and is quoted below.

"The most common example we give of a 2 Clubs opening that is not allowed is a hand such as:

KQJxxxxxxx
J
J
K

This clearly is not a 2 Clubs opening bid. We do allow something like:

AKxxxxxxxx
x
A
x

While both of these hands contain 11 HCPs, any bridge player can see the true playing strength in the second hand. Similarly, bridge players should be able to realize that the first hand is one that would cause concern to a tournament director.

Hands that fall in between the two examples constitute a gray area, in which a tournament director must try to make a judgment as to the bidder's intent. If, as in the first case, it is clear that the intent has been to fool the opponents, some penalty would usually be levied."

Note: The bridge player must be aware of the fact that these regulations do not apply at the local bridge club level. At the local bridge club level the bridge player may open any holding per partnership agreement, which may or may not comply with the regulations of the ACBL, although the local bridge club is sanctioned by the ACBL. All bids, approaches, and bidding systems are allowed or disallowed at the discretion or decision of the Board of Directors of Bridge Club owner.

If you wish to include this feature, or any other feature, of the game of bridge in your partnership agreement, then please make certain that the concept is understood by both partners. Be aware whether or not the feature is alertable or not and whether an announcement should or must be made. Check with the governing body and/or the bridge district and/or the bridge unit prior to the game to establish the guidelines applied. Please include the particular feature on your convention card in order that your opponents are also aware of this feature during the bidding process, since this information must be made known to them according to the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge. We do not always include the procedure regarding Alerts and/or Announcements, since these regulations are changed and revised during time by the governing body. It is our intention only to present the information as concisely and as accurately as possible.

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