Ted's Bridge World Checkback by Opener

You open the bidding with 1, and partner responds 1NT.  What do you rebid with the following hands?

(a)   AQTxxx  AKxx    ATx

(b)   AKJxx  QT  KJx  Axx

(c)   KQJTx  x  AQTxx  Ax

Didn't like your choices?  Standard methods let you down?  It might have made no difference whether partner's 1NT was forcing.

  1. too good for 2, not good enough for a game-forcing 3, and 3 is doubly flawed.
  2. looks like a 2NT rebid, but is partner supposed to bid hearts now with a mediocre 5-card suit?  He might even pass 2NT when 4 is on.
  3. plenty good enough for a game invitation, but a jump to 3 would be game-forcing.

The answer is to use Ted's Checkback by Opener.*  Just as some responders use a 2 rebid as an artificial force, there is no reason why opener cannot do the same thing.  Of course, as is the case with all conventions invoking a phony 2 bid, one does give up the option of playing in two clubs.

The structure is fairly simple:  After 1/1 and a 1NT response:

2 is an artificial game-try or better.  A new suit by opener thereafter is a 1-round force.

      Responder's rebids (in order or priority):

2, and 2 after 1, are natural and non-forcing.

2NT (after 1) = precisely 5-2-3-3; otherwise, opener checks for a 5-3 heart fit.

2 (after 1) is 5-6, 1-round force.

3-level jump-shifts are 5-5, invitational.

Some of these sequences can be further developed to suit your taste.  Most players are averse to giving up a Forcing Notrump by an unpassed hand, but this method could be employed when responder is a passed hand.


* The concept of a forcing 2 reopening bid hardly is new, but I believe this suggested structure to be original.

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