Strong two bid
Encyclopedia
In contract bridge
, a strong two-bid (also known as a forcing two-bid ) is an opening bid of two in a suit. i.e. 2, 2, 2 or 2 . It is a natural bid, used to show a hand that is too strong to open at the one level – more than about 21 points
. Charles Goren
advocated that a strong two-bid should indicate a five-card suit with 25 high card points (HCP), a six-card suit with 23 HCP, or a seven-card suit with 21 HCP and is to game.
This was commonly used in the early days of bridge, but after World War II, nearly all expert players converted to the now more common weak two bid
, retaining only 2
as a strong opening suit-bid and changing its meaning to artificial and forcing holding any suit. This was done on the basis that the weak two-bid would occur much more frequently.
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
, a strong two-bid (also known as a forcing two-bid ) is an opening bid of two in a suit. i.e. 2, 2, 2 or 2 . It is a natural bid, used to show a hand that is too strong to open at the one level – more than about 21 points
Hand evaluation
In contract bridge, various bidding systems have been devised to enable partners to describe their hands to each other so that they may reach the optimum contract. Key to this process is that players evaluate and re-evaluate the trick-taking potential of their hands as the auction proceeds and...
. Charles Goren
Charles Goren
Charles Henry Goren was a world champion American bridge player and bestselling author who contributed significantly to the development and popularization of the game following upon the heels of Ely Culbertson in the 1940s and rising to prominence in the 1950s to the early 1960s.-Early years:Goren...
advocated that a strong two-bid should indicate a five-card suit with 25 high card points (HCP), a six-card suit with 23 HCP, or a seven-card suit with 21 HCP and is to game.
This was commonly used in the early days of bridge, but after World War II, nearly all expert players converted to the now more common weak two bid
Weak two bid
The Weak two bid is a common treatment used in the game of contract bridge, where a jump bid of two of a suit signifies a weak hand with a long suit. It is a form of preemptive bid...
, retaining only 2
Strong two clubs
In most natural bridge bidding systems, the opening bid of 2 is used exclusively for hands too strong for an opening bid at the one-level. Systems that incorporate a strong 2-club opening bid include modern Standard American, standard Acol, 2/1 game forcing and many others...
as a strong opening suit-bid and changing its meaning to artificial and forcing holding any suit. This was done on the basis that the weak two-bid would occur much more frequently.
Responses
A strong two bid is forcing for at least one round. Possible responses are:- A 2NT response is negative, showing a weak hand (six points or fewer).
- Raise partner's suit with 3-card support.
- Bid a new suit with some values and 5+ cards in the new suit
- Bid 3NT with good values and a balanced hand.