BERGEN DRURY
The undisputed bridge expert Mr. Marty Bergen
came to the conlusion that surrendering the 2
bid as being a natural bid would
be a small sacrifice to pay, then surrendering the 2
bid also would be a small sacrifice in order to allow the
responder to describe his hand more accurately.Mr. Marty Bergen
concluded that a 2 response by his partner, who is
already a passed hand, could show a 3-card support for the opening Major suit
with 10-12 points, and that a 2 response by his partner, who is already a passed hand, could
show a 4-card support for the opening Major suit with 10-12 points. Although
this seems immaterial at first, let us take two examples to show the difference
and importance of this form of auction.
- You hold
74 
AQ9 854 KJ875
and Partner opens 1 in 3rd/4th seat
- You hold 74 AQ95 85 KJ875
and Partner opens 1 in 3rd/4th seat
With the first holding, Mr. Marty Bergen suggests bidding 2 to indicate 3-card support after the bid of 1 Heart by his
partner. With the second holding, Mr. Marty Bergen suggests bidding 2 to indicate 4-card support after the bid of 1
by the opener. Upon examining the two hands, one concludes that Hand 1 has one more loser than Hand 2, which could
mean the difference between a part-score and game. With this additional information, the opener has a better chance
to reach game, knowing that there is a 9-card trump suit instead of an 8-card trump suit.