2-Over-1 Forcing
Contents:
Introduction
To really get a good understanding of 2/1, see Marty Bergen's articles in ACBL's Bridge Bulletin,
- August 2021, page 22: Jump Bids After a 2/1 Response
- September 2021, page 24, Tips to Improve Your 2/1 Auctions.
The magazines can be read on the ACBL web site.
In our web pages,
 means a Heart or a Spade bid.
 means a Diamond or a Club bid.
2-Over-1 Forcing ("2/1") is a convention with the following specifications:
- Opener bids 1
 or 1 or optionally, 1 .
- Opponent passes.
- Responder makes a non-jump bid of a new suit on the 2 level.
- Responder is an unpassed hand.
Since a 2/1 bid forces a partnership to game, responder should have a hand which could make game opposite partner's opening bid. This would ideally be a responding hand with 13+ HCP, although a highly distributional hand could have fewer HCP.
For example, in the March 2021 Bridge Bulletin, p. 63, 1 is opened and we are told to respond 2 with
 J  KJ7532  KQJT8  4.
In the Aug.2022 Bulletin, p.57, Bergen says to bid 2 over 1 with T3 62 T97 AKQJT4 (only 10 HCP) and says "Force to game and hope for the best."
Conforming 2/1 auctions include 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2.
If using 1 in 2/1, then also include 1-2.
The only other essential part of 2/1 is the Forcing 1NT over 1 (but not over 1). Forcing 1NT is a separate convention used with 2/1. In fact, some people play 2/1 using Semi-Forcing 1NT.
That is the extent of the 2/1 Forcing convention.
To the bids shown in this document are also available additional (and separate) conventions such as limit raises, Inverted Minors, Jacoby 2NT, 4th Suit Forcing, etc.
For a discussion of why 2/1 is not a "system," click here
Why 2/1 is just a convention, not a "system":
2/1 Forcing consists of the 5 bids shown above which are literally 2/1 bids, and even they are not part of the 2/1 Convention/System if an intervening bid is made or if responder is a passed hand, in which case the 2/1 Convention is not used and bidding is entirely SAYC with whatever conventions are agreed upon.
The only convention which could be considered an essential part of 2/1 Forcing is 1NT Forcing, and even that is played as semi-forcing by some people.
Limit Raises, Jacoby 2NT, and Splinter Bids are all conventions which are often added to SAYC upon which 2/1 Forcing is built. In fact, in the case of an intervening call or responder being a passed hand, these conventions, which are considered by some to be part of the 2/1 "System", are still used even though 2/1 Forcing is no longer in play.
The only convention which is actually an integral part of 2/1 is the Forcing 1NT, and even that can vary. Some people play it as just semi-forcing. The other conventions are optional and subsequent bidding after the 2/1 bid are based on standard, common sense bidding, such as choosing a trump suit and exploring for slam.
So while 2/1 Forcing is typically called a "system", the above specifications make it seem more like a convention than a system.
Finally, when playing 2/1 Forcing, you may find that not very often does all the bidding align to make 2/1 "on". The rest of the time, you are playing the Standard American (SAYC) system. So if you say you are playing the "2/1 Forcing System", what do you call the SAYC System, which is what you would be bidding roughly 90% of the time? It makes more sense to say that you are playing SAYC with the 2/1 (and other) conventions.
UPDATE: After writing this, I came across a thread on BridgeWinners.com where the big dogs hang out. Here are a couple of comments there:
Close
Although 2-Over-1 Forcing is usually just called 2/1, it should not be confused with a SAYC 2/1 bid which can be made with 10-12 points. If, for example, you are a passed hand and respond 2 to partner's 1, you have bid 2/1, but you are not playing the 2/1 Convention. You are promising as few as 10 HCP.
In the rest of this document, a reference to 2/1 is meant to be 2/1 Forcing and not the 10-12 point 2/1.
Although sometimes called Game Forcing, 2/1 is often played as forcing only as far as the 4 level, meaning that 4 can be passed out. It also can optionally be played that if a player makes a weak response such as a simple rebid of his suit, responder can pass.
This should not be confused with a simple raise of partner's suit once the 2/1 GF has been established. For example, after 1-2, 2-3, opener cannot pass, no matter how bad his hand, because there is no limit on what responder may have. The whole point of 2/1 is to establish a game force at a low level, so a simple raise is actually a stronger response than a jump to game. When this bidding took place in a tournament and opener passed, he ended up in 3 making 7.
Playing 2/1 Game Forcing clarifies the bidding early for game-strength hands without having to worry about opener passing out one of your bids short of game, but it means that you cannot make a 2-level response with just an invitational hand.
For this reason, Forcing Notrump is usually played with 2-Over-1. This requires opener to bid again so that responder can clarify his hand when weak. Some play Semi-Forcing Notrump, where opener can pass with a balanced minimum hand.
Raising Opener's Major
With 3 trumps, not 4-3-3-3 shape, opener rebidding on the 2 level and...
- 5-9 points (not just HCP), raise to 2. (See https://kwbridge.com/2over1.htm#raises.)
- 10-12 points, start with 1NT then raise opener's suit..
- 13-14 points, bid 2 of a side suit then game in opener's major.
- 15+ points, bid 2 of a side suit then rebid opener's major at the lowest level
(1-2
 , 2 -2 )
or if opener rebids his suit, make a jump bid to splinter (e.g.:
1-2, 2-4)
With 4+ trumps and...
- 6-10 points, raise to 2
- 11-12, make a limit raise (to 3)
- 13+ and a singleton or void, splinter.
- 13+ and no short suit, bid a Jacoby 2NT
 Never make a 2/1 response with 4-card support for opener's major.
In Wolff's 03-31-2022 Aces column, he shows the hand KJ65-2-AJ6543-T4
and confirms the above by not even mentioning a possible 2/1 bid
of 2D or 1N.
But he also says that a 4H splinter is too much and a jump to 4S is not enough.
He suggests using 3N as a good raise to four spades or 3S to raise to 4H.
Or use the 3N or 3S jumps as an unspecified splinter with 9-12 points, and
opener can bid 4C over 3N or 3N over 3S to ask for the short suit if interested.
Non 2/1 Responses to Partner's Opening Bid
If opener bids 1 and responder bids 1, 2/1 is off since the 1 bid can be made with anything from 6 points up and thus there is no game force. For this reason, Larry Cohen recommends that if responder has 4 Spades and 4+ Clubs or Diamonds and 13+ points, he should bid the minor to establish a 2/1 game force; otherwise, just bid 1.
However, in the Sept. 2018 Bridge Bulletin, p. 39, #7, with the hand KT87 QJ86 K A742, in response to an opening bid of 1, everyone bid 1, not 2. No explanation was given.
In the April 2022 Bridge Bulletin, p. 43, #3, has the hand T983 Q83 K AJT75 and 7 of the 15 experts bid 1N over 1 rather than 1 with the 10 high spade suit. Also, they all had in mind making a 3-card limit raise by jumping to 3 next even though the KD is stiff and not really worth 3 HCP.
In the July, 2022, Bridge Bulletin, p.57, the hand J642 5 AJT976 53, is too weak to bid 2, and if 1 is bid and opener bids 2, then a bid of 2 would be Fourth Suit Forcing. The only alternative appears to be a bid of 1N, then a 2 bid over 2 would not be FSF.
However, with only 6 HCP, the usual alternative after opener has bid 2 suits is to either pass the 2nd suit or correct to the 1st one. However, in the article, Marty Bergen says that bidding 2 over 2 is a weak bid showing long diamonds. He goes on to say that if opener rebids hearts, it will mean he has 6 of them, so responder can then pass.
Other experts say that in this sequence, opener may sometimes rebid his opening major with just five cards and a minimum, meaning that you could end up in a 5-1 fit. Still this risk seems no worse than the alternatives and often opener will have the six-card suit.
3 Artificial Game Force:
In the Feb.2017 Bridge Bulletin, p.37, The Bidding Box, both pairs playing 2/1 had KT643 A8 KQ7 AT9 and bid them the same: 1-1, 2-3 .
Some people play that 2/1 is only on over 1 of a major, but if you play that it is on over 1 too, then the 3 artificial game force could also be used over 1-1, 2 and over 1-1, 2/.
The 3 bid above was made with a 5-card spade suit, but at the 2016 Reisinger, Bramley-Hamman had bidding that went like this 1-1, 1-3 which was noted as "game force, 4 spades".
The Marty Bergen article referenced at the start of the document, says:
- 1-3 should be invitational with a strong 6+ card suit
- Responder should make a forcing bid of a 5-card major unless holding 6 clubs but
bid 2 with one 4-card major and 5+ clubs, and
bid 1 of a 4-card with fewer than 5 clubs and less than 16 HCP
but 2 with 16+ HCP with one 4-card major.
- Bid 1 over 1 with 4-4 majors.
Invitational Jump-Shifts:
In the April 2024 Bridge Bulletin, p. 56, Robert Todd discusses 3/1 Invitational Responses:
Over 1, 1, or 1 bidding 3 of a lower suit shows 6+ in the suit (and in BidBase, we specify 2 of the to 3 honors), 9-12 HCP, and tends to deny 4 of the other major. It also denies 2+ of opener's major.
Todd uses 9-11 HCP, but this implies that a 2/1 bid would be made with 12 HCP. BidBase requires 13 HCP to bid 2/1 because these days experts are opening with 10-12 HCP and forcing to game with a combined 22-24 HCP in matchpoints seems risky.
Todd's recommended rebids by opener (using 1-3 as an example) are
3 = Diamond stopper trying for 3N.
3 = 5-5 or more in the majors.
3 = Good 6+ card suit.
3N = To play.
4 = Slam try in clubs.
Of course the above would have to be adjusted for responses other than 3 and opening bids of 1 and its responses.
Because this requires partnership agreement, this sub-convention must be activated in Bidbase to be used.
Using XYZ After 1:
If opener starts with 1, the XYZ convention can be used. XYZ is on only after opener has made his 2nd bid on the 1 level, such as 1-(P)-1-(P)-1 or 1NT. See the link above for more about XYZ.
Forcing 1NT, continuations
Opener's responses to 1N:
(Minimum HCP are shown. )
18+ HCP:
- Bid 3N with 5-3-3-2 or 5-4-2-2
- Bid 4 of an opening major with a strong 6+ card suit.
17+ HCP:
- After opening 1 opening, bid 2 with 4
spades (a Reverse). Forcing. KWBridge
Although responder has denied
having 4 spades, he may choose to agree the 4-3 fit by passing with a weak hand or
inviting with 3 or just bidding game. Without 3, he can return
to 3 or bid 3 of a minor.
- Many experts just bid 2 even with 17+HCP. it's not clear if
they consider this forcing. If not, 3 showing 17+ seems safer
although it does use up more bidding space.
15+ HCP: (non-forcing bids)
- 3 of the opening suit with a strong 6+ card suit
- 3 of a second (4+ card) suit (e.g.: 1-1N, 3.
or 1-1N, 3
<15 HCP:
- With a much stronger 4 hearts than 6 spades or with a decent 5 hearts, bid
2.
- 2 of the opening 6+ card suit
- 2 of a lower suit
- If no other good bid, most experts bid 2 with just 3 cards
- Rebid the opening suit with just 5 cards as a last resort.
Not jumping with 15-16 HCPs:
In the Sept. 2023 Bridge Bulletin Bidding Box, p.40, #1...
In Bobby Wolff's newspaper column...
Wolff presented the hand AKQJ3 Q6532 A5 2 (with partners bidding 1-1N) and said:
The question is whether to bid 2H, running the risk of missing game facing a moderate hand, or to force to game by jumping to 3H. I make the simple rebid of 2H. My plan is to advance with 3H over a 2S preference, getting my extras across nicely.
This is the first I've seen that a jump to 3 is game forcing. Other top experts make such a bid to show 17+ HCP, but not forcing to game.
Wolff intends to bid 3 over 2 anyway, so he must be making the distinction that an immediate jump to 3 would be forcing to game while a delayed 3 would not be.
But if an immediate 3 is not game forcing, then it makes more sense to bid it immediately to avoid the risk of partner's passing 2H with a hand which could make game.
At this point (Sept.2023), BB is still jumping with 15-16 HCP and treating it as non-forcing.
Karen Walker's 1NT Forcing page
Walker's specs just refer to "points". This normally means HCP plus distribution points, but she
doesn't clarify that and most of BB's specs, which are in HCP, would be about what she
has in most cases, but not all, if distribution were added.
One of KW's specs is to bid 2N (over 1N) with 17-18 "points" with a (semi-)balanced
hand since distribution is not counted in NT bids, this would seem to be 17-18 HCP
.
BB has an entry as just described even though at first
it seemed that 16-17 HCP (semi-)balanced hands would have been opened 1N in the first place,
but on further reflection, not all of such 1 hands are
opened 1N. For example, some experts say not to open 1N with hands with an "xx" major
because partner with a 3-4 HCP hand and 5 cards in the major may transfer to it and pass.
Bids by responder after opener has made a second bid below 2N (usually a bid of 2)
- 5-9 points:
- 2 of new suit with 5-card suit or poor-to-good 6+ card suit.
- Jump in a new suit with a strong 6+ card suit.
- 2 of opener's first suit with 2+ cards in that suit.
In Bobby Wolff's 12-23-2023 "Aces" column, he says to bid 1N and then 2S
with T54-63-K87643-43 to "slow partner down".
- Pass
- 10-12 points:
- 4 of opener's 2nd major with 4+ card support 4+ HCPs in suit
- 3 of opener's first suit with 3 card support
- Jump to 3 of new suit with strong 6+ card suit
- 3 of new suit (non-jump) with good 6+ card suit
- 2N with no fit and with stoppers in unbid suits
- With 5+ support and <3 of the major...
"Impossible" 2 with good support when pard opened
1 or 1
3 of opener's minor when pard opened 1
or with weaker 5+ support.
2/1, continuation [after 1 -(P)-2//-(P)]
By opener after responder's 2nd bid:
- over an **asking bid:
- 4 of your suit with 7+ cards
- 3 of responder's minor with 3-card support.
- 3NT over 2N with a balanced minimum
- NT over responder's new suit with a stopper in the unbid suit.
- bid 4th suit with 4+ cards and can't bid NT.
- over a minimum raise by responder (3+ support, interest in slam)
- minimum - bid game.
- cue bid an ace with interest in slam
- raise responder's suit with 3-card support and 1+ honor or with 4+ support
- bid 3N, asking, with interest in slam and inability to bid any of the above.
Another Idea...
The following is from Simon Stocken on BridgeWinners.com
As mentioned early in this file, 1N is not forcing over 1. This can make responding to a 1 opening very difficult with a hand like KT Q84 Q95 AJ873.
The 12 HCP hand is not strong enough to force to game with 2 when opener may have as few as 11 HCP, but a non-forcing 1N may get passed out by the same 11 HCP opener.
One solution is make 1N forcing even over a 1 opening, but this may result in having to bid clubs on the 3 level, if at all. Alternatively, BidBase normally requires 13 HCP for responder to force to game, but we could play that 2 could be bid with 12 HCP and a good 5-card suit.
Finally, we can bite the bullet and just bid a non-forcing 1N and trust partner not to pass it out with a minimum if there is any reasonable alternative.
This difficulty is not just limited to opening 1. Take this hand:
K8 K5 T743 KQ654 with opener's hand being A952 AQJT62 62 3 and bidding going 1-1N, 2-P.
Responder has 11 HCP and opener could have as many as 14-15, so responder can't pass. He could make an invitational bid of 3, but an invitational 3 is usually recommended. Since in this case opener has a bare minimum, he should sign off in 3. With more HCP, he should bid 4.
Double Dummy Analysis for this deal shows that 3 makes and all is well with good partnership understanding.
|
with a long, 
) with 4 spades.