Reverse: the Curse
Presented by Joyce Pearson at the Watertown Sectional on February 23th, 2008

As I hope we all know, a new suit by responder is 100% forcing.  But a new suit by the opener is not always forcing.  For Opener to make a forcing bid, s/he must either jump shift, or reverse the bidding. 

A jump-shift is easy to spot:  opener has skipped a level of bidding and changed suits.  A jump shift is 100% game forcing.  This means that the partnership may not stop bidding until a game contact has been reached.  A jump-shift shows more length in the first-bid suit than in the jump-shift suit and shows a maximum-strength opening hand  (usually 19+ points). 

A reverse is harder to spot, as it can be subtle in the bidding.  A reverse is bidding a suit that is higher-ranking than the one you opened.  To make a reverse bid you should be longer in your first suit than your second suit, and have 17 or more points. You need these extra values because you are making responder who may only have 6 points bid again, often at the three level.  

A reverse is forcing for one round on the responder.  

The three hallmarks of a reverse bid are:

· Opener bids a higher ranking suit than the one they opened,

· Responder had a chance to bid the suit and went by it,

· Responder must show preference to Opener’s first suit at the three level.   

If you open one club, and responder bids 1NT, any new suit by opener is a reverse.  Why?  Because Responder had a chance to bid diamonds, hearts, or spades; and denied a four card or longer holding in those suits.  Every other suit is higher ranking than clubs. If Responder, who must bid again, wants to go back to Opener’s first bid suit (clubs) the bid  would be at the three level.  If you open one spade, and partner bids 1NT, no reverse bid is available, there is no suit higher ranking than spades.  There is no reverse bid possible if you are still at the one level because Responder has not yet had the chance to go past the suit. In essence, Responder must have had an opportunity to bid the suit that opener reversed into, and did not bid it.  Responder must have gone by the suit in the bidding for it to be a reverse by opener.  So if responder has denied a four card or longer holding in the suit why would opener ever want to reverse into this suit?  Well, as mentioned above, opener is showing extra values, forcing responder to bid again, and showing extra length in the first bid suit.  

 Another little caveat regarding a reverse is that it forces Responder to take a preference to Opener’s first suit at the three-level.  Responder may still have a dead minimum (6 points), and a reverse bid forces the auction to the three-level.  This is why Opener must have at least 17+ points to make a reverse bid as s/he is forcing their partner (who may only have 6 points) to the three-level. 

 To respond to a Reverse (and you must!), just add your points to Opener’s known minimum of 17. If, as responder, your points added to opener’s 17 do not equal 25(+), then bid as cheaply as possible.  Cheap or discouraging-sounding bids are returning to partner’s first-bid suit, or repeating your own suit to show extra length.   If your points, plus opener’s 17, equal 25(+), you should bid game, or make forcing bids (e.g. new suit by responder) until the partnership gets to game.  Bidding notrump tends to show solid values and stoppers in the unbid suits.  Remember if you want to bid NT, that opener is showing an unbalanced hand: at least 5 (in first-bid suit) / 4 (in second-bid suit) distribution.  Lastly, if when you add opener’s 17 to your hand, and 33+ points is the total, you should bid slam.  If your hand, added to opener’s is close to 33 points, explore for slam You can do this by bidding one level beyond game (e.g. 5©); asking for aces (Blackwood- 4N); or bidding a new suit to explore for best contract. 

Remember: if together your hands add up to 25(+), bid game; if you have 33+ points, bid a small slam; if you have 37 bid Grand Slam.

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