[a_user]

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This was board 5 of a real (humans vs humans) tournament.
We play together regularly using 2/1 with very few gadgets.
I was East.
What is the appropriate bid for West to indicate a high level of excitement?
It's just a regular club tournament, nobody reached the best (or even second best) DD contract.

[DavidKok]

2♠, natural and forcing.

[bluenikki]

DavidKok, on 2026-June-25, 03:20, said:

2♠, natural and forcing.

In which round of bidding do you plan to show your high level of excitement?

If, say, North's next bid is 5♥?

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

you have a game force, but no known fit at the moment, as far as you know, they can
take the first 2 tricks, making 12+ tricks after this start gets tough.

If you can bid 2S as natural and forcing, I would assume standard agreement in North America,
go for it, see, how the auction develops, I cannot make this bid, I start with X.

A 5H by North does not scare me, we are green vs red.
At red. vs green, 5H would scare me more, but I cannot change my agreements, so I have to
see, if it comes to pass.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[P_Marlowe]

a_user, on 2026-June-25, 02:54, said:

<snip>
It's just a regular club tournament, nobody reached the best (or even second best) DD contract.

Not reaching the best / second best DD happens, you only see your hand, and partners reactions.
Change the unknown hand, and the best / second best DD contract may change as well

[strong 1c]

Partner and I play transfer Lebensohl in this situation where 2S would be to play, 3d would be a fast cue bid showing 4 spades and values to go 3nt or 4S without a heart stop and 3h would be game forcing transfer to spades showing 5 plus. Not sure if lying to partner with a 3d bid is better or if 3h is better for us because I don’t know that we have a spade fit

[mike777]

Perhaps t-Leb only played if
1. Partner opens 1NT



Where do you see it used after you open 1C?
I play transfers over one club(2+), however not after 2H overcall.

[strong 1c]

 mike777, on 2026-June-25, 05:32, said:

Perhaps t-Leb only played if
1. Partner opens 1NT



Where do you see it used after you open 1C?
I play transfers over one club(2+), however not after 2H overcall.

Putting our strong 1C aside, we play transfer lebensohl whenever the opponents make an immediate 2 level bid over my partner. For example 1H -(2C) - Transfer lebensohl is on. We also use it if we are already at the 2 level. 1H -(1S)-2H- (double) - TL is on.

With our strong club bid, there are some adjustments...for example, if after 1C we've given a positive response, we wouldn't use it. but if bidding went 1C-1D -(2H) it would be on for the 1C bidder. or 1C -(1H) -double -(2H) - it would be on for opener. I guess in last example we could end up wrong side.

Good question if it went 1C -(2H). For us, pass and double are weak bids, so any other bid is positive. I don't think we would use lebensohl but I need to discuss this with Peter. (We wouldn't need it to invite but I could see it as useful to show or deny a stop. )

[mikeh]

Easy 2S for now. I had to laugh at the idea that we should prepare for north to bid 5H.

As for a high degree of excitement, colour me feeling unexcited. I have a 16 count and partner’s most common hand types are a weak notrump or a minimum opener with club length…last time I looked, that was my short suit while I have that powerful and exciting heart holding, lol.

Now, I may become excited as the auction developed but for now I just bid a normal 2S and await developments.

[jillybean]

I'm excited to see the full hand. North has passed, East has shown his hand to be weak.
2♠ is ok.

[WasWinM]

I'm not sure why this question is raised unless the poster usually plays non-forcing free bids, in which case the answer is easy: stop playing non-forcing free bids. 2S is all that is required to show your long suit and force partner to continue bidding. What else is needed?

[bluenikki]

mikeh, on 2026-June-25, 08:27, said:

Easy 2S for now. I had to laugh at the idea that we should prepare for north to bid 5H.

As for a high degree of excitement, colour me feeling unexcited. I have a 16 count and partner’s most common hand types are a weak notrump or a minimum opener with club length…last time I looked, that was my short suit while I have that powerful and exciting heart holding, lol.

Now, I may become excited as the auction developed but for now I just bid a normal 2S and await developments.

My point was not that you shouldn't bid 2♠. Of course you should. But you should plan the rest of the auction: _when_ and how will you clue partner in?

[pescetom]

Some of our old-timers play that only X shows the balance of points and 2♠ would be non-forcing.
Dismissing that, 2♠ looks automatic.

[mikeh]

bluenikki, on 2026-June-25, 14:43, said:

My point was not that you shouldn't bid 2♠. Of course you should. But you should plan the rest of the auction: _when_ and how will you clue partner in?

If 2S is clearly correct and, in the absence of non-standard agreements, it is…then I don’t understand what you are saying. There is NO foreseeable auction that makes bidding 2S incorrect, therefore one bids 2S and awaits developments. Only an ***** would pretend to know precisely what happens next.

This is far from the occasional situation in which one has a choice of calls and can reasonably choose the one that will likely make later actions easier. 2S it is. Get back to me when the auction comes around and I am confident that I won’t regret having bid 2S. End of discussion on what to bid over 2H.

[a_user]

jillybean, on 2026-June-25, 12:06, said:

I'm excited to see the full hand. ...

I stuffed it up (according to the experts here). And my partner did get an SP.
To be fair (why not) lots of other pairs did as well.

So the question is, what should I have bid, and what should we end up in - assuming N and S keep quiet - which they did.

---

[P_Marlowe]

The first thing to agree on, is the answer to the question, if 2S forcing or not.
I play it as nonforcing, but standard in North America is forcing, I am not going to argue,
which is better, both approaches work, sometimes you wish, you played the other.

Nonforcing is pretty popular in Europe, I am not sure if the popularity is raising or falling.

Assuming 2S is forcing, East has to bid, he has a stopper, a semibal. hand, he should be 2NT,
if he cannot stand it, raising 2S to 3S is also ok, Ax in partners suit should be similar ok than xxx,
rebidding clubs is a very distant 3rd option, the bid he should not make is Pass.

Over a 2NT by East, West has the option to show his 2nd suit or bid 3NT, I would go with 3NT.
If East bids 3S, ..., West can make a mild slam try via cue bidding 4C, but he should not bypass 4S,
and East wont do as well.

If West decides to introduce diamonds over 2NT, you will have a shot at 6D, as it is, East is not particularly
thrilled to play NT, so ..., but I would end up in either 3NT or 4S, both are equally likely.

There is also an argument to open 1D instead of 1C, you could treat JTxxx as 4 carder, but I prefer going with
my longer suit, and raising the argument now is ... you happen to know partners hand.
The argument would be stronger, if opener had a spade single and 3 hearts, because you would have rebid issues.

[P_Marlowe]

Playing Nonforcing, I would bid 2S with the hand, without the Ace of clubs,
I would be heavy for the bid, but you should try to bid your suits, if at all possible ...
nonfocing does not mean garbage, it still showes a constructive hand ... towards inv. strength.

[pescetom]

Playing forcing, as East I would rebid 3♦, why bid NT when I am two-suited with good support for partner's major too? If I wasn't prepared to (over)bid 3♦ now then I would have opened 1♦ in the first place.

Now West can hardly fail to seek 6♦.

[mike777]

Hmm
West bids their longest suit, then rebids their second longest suit, eventually getting to 6D.

If your problem is you can't bid a natural 2S then change that.


We intermediate level players need this slam to be easy to bid
If your problem is 2S is non forcing then change that to F1.

[P_Marlowe]

pescetom, on 2026-June-26, 06:18, said:

Playing forcing, as East I would rebid 3♦, why bid NT when I am two-suited with good support for partner's major too? If I wasn't prepared to (over)bid 3♦ now then I would have opened 1♦ in the first place.

Now West can hardly fail to seek 6♦.

I would argue, that a forcing 2S bid showes only inv.+ value and is not GF, but that a 3D bid by opener generates a GF.
In other words that a 3D bid by opener would show a better than min opener, we both certainly agree, that East has a min opener.
Now that is my take, ..., someone who does not regular play 2S in the given seq. as forcing, but I am not arguing, my comment
is only suggesting, that this would also need to be clarified.

There was a discussion on BBF, if a new suit on the 2-level after a major suit opening and after intervention, was game or round forcing,
or promising a 2nd rebid. Opinions, as always were divided, ..., the majority was round forcing, but my memory may be clouded.

Anyway, I would treat the forcing the nature of 2S similar as the forcing nature of 2C in the seq.
1H - (1S) - 2C