Opener’s Rebid when Balanced (Acol)
Opener’s Rebid – Balanced hands (Acol)
As an opening bid, you can show the following balanced hands in one go:
- 12-14 = 1NT
- 20-22 = 2NT
So that leaves a very wide range that we need to find a way to show: balanced hands with 15-19 HCP.
The basic principle is simple: we open 1 of a suit first and then rebid NT to show a balanced hand, unless we have 4-card support for Partner’s major.
Your opening bid
When you open a suit at the 1-level, you are saying that:
- That suit is your longest suit or
- That suit is one of two or three equal-length suits.
Length should always take priority over strength in Bridge.
If you are 4333 or 5332, you can just open your longest suit. However, if you have two four-card suits (4432), you have a choice of which to open. Which should you choose?
People do different things but the easiest way is to open the lower of two 4-card suits. There are several reasons for this but the one you will notice immediately is that it gives you more space in the bidding to describe your hand.
So:
- Major and minor = open the minor
- Both minors = open 1♣
- Both majors = open 1♥
Your rebid with support
Remember that the first priority of strain is to find out whether you have an 8-card major fit with your partner. So if you have 4-card support for your partner’s major, you must show it.
Now think back to the schema you learned in the lesson on rebidding with unbalanced hands:
- 12-15 = minimum, so raise to 2M
- 16-18 = maximum, so raise to 3M
- 19 = you have game opposite Partner’s 6, so raise to 4M
If you have a balanced hand, you will be in the 15-19 range. So raise accordingly:
- 15 bal with 4-card support = minimum, so raise to 2M
- 16-18 bal with 4-card support = maximum, so raise to 3M
- 19 bal with 4-card support = game-going, so raise to 4M
Your rebid without support
Now let’s learn something new!
Just like with an opening of 1NT, we want our NT HCP ranges to be very small, so that it is easier for our partner to know whether we should be in game or not. We will break our balanced range into two: 15-17 and 18-19. It is better to have the wider range as the lower one so that Partner has space to invite if he needs to know where we are in our range.
If your partner has responded 1 of a suit, you have two NT rebids available below game for describing your hand: 1NT and 2NT. Therefore, rebidding 1NT shows 15-17 HCP and 2NT shows 18-19 HCP.
If your partner has responded 2 of a suit instead, you have to show the two different ranges with 2NT and 3NT: 2NT shows 15-17 and 3NT shows 18-19.
If your partner has responded 1NT (6-9 HCP), your options change slightly; this is because he has made a non-forcing bid.
- With 15-16 HCP, you are very unlikely to make a game opposite Partner’s HCP-count; in fact, you will frequently go down in 2NT when you so often have 21-23 HCP between you. So you should pass with these hands.
- With 17-18 HCP, you will make game if responder has a maximum: you should bid 2NT with these hands to allow your partner to make the decision.
- With 19 HCP, you will almost always make game (you have at least 25 HCP between you), so you should simply bid 3NT.
Here is a summary for you:
| Bid / P’s response | 1♦ to 1♠ | 2♣ to 2♥ | 1NT |
| Pass | | | 15-16 |
| 1NT | 15-17 | | |
| 2NT | 18-19 | 15-17 | 17-18 |
| 3NT | | 18-19 | 19 |
Two important points for when you are the Opener:
1. Always have an idea of the rebid you would like to make before you choose your opening bid. This will speed up the auction if you get to make that rebid and help you to make your decision if you are forced to modify it.
2. Your second bid should tell your partner whether or not you are balanced, unless you have support for your partner’s major.