Drury and Reverse Drury bidding convention

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The purpose of the Drury bidding convention is to find out if someone who opened in 3rd or 4th position had a real opening or not. This dilemma often comes up when the partner of the opener has a pretty good support hand with around 10-11 points.

If the opening hand had real opening-points strength, then the responder should be very interested in shooting for Game. But if the opener had only 11 or points and opened light, then Game is probably out of reach. Drury is intended to smoke out the answer to that quandary.

Here’s how it goes:

The 3rd or 4th seat player opens with 1 of a major, Spades or Hearts. The responder bids 2 Clubs, which is an artificial bid. It promises at least 3 trumps in opener’s suit, and around 10 points, but asks if the opening was a real opening.

If the opening bid wasn’t real (11 points or less) the opener will now bid 2 Diamonds, which is also artificial. That bid invites the responder to close out the auction at the 2 level in the best possible suit.

If the opening bid was real and based on at least opening-point strength, then the opener rebids 2 Hearts or 2 Spades, inviting partner to go to Game.

A variation of this system is Reverse Drury, which is played the same way except that the responses are reversed.

After the artificial 2 Clubs response, the Opener’s rebids are reversed. So 2 Diamonds means a real opening and an invitation to Game, while a repeat of the major suit, 2 Hearts or 2 Spades, means a weak hand that wasn’t an opening and invites a pass on that bid.

Drury and Reverse Drury are often forgotten by partners and have given rise to lots of confusion. The Bridge Burglar recommends extreme caution with it – only very experienced players should try it.

Return to the Bridge Burglar’s Guide to Bridge Bidding Conventions

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