Antispades Twos (also known as Antispades Weak Twos) is the name of a bidding convention in the card game
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
. It is a two-level pre-emptive opening based on either a 6-card suit or a two-suiter with at least nine cards distributed across any two suits.
* The 2 opening promises 5-10 HCP and either a 6-card club suit, or clubs and diamonds, or clubs and spades.
* The 2 opening promises 5-10 HCP and either a 6-card diamond suit, or diamonds and hearts, or diamonds and spades.
* The 2 opening promises 5-10 HCP and either a 6-card heart suit, or hearts and spades, or hearts and clubs.
* The 2 opening is artificial and very strong, promising either 23+ HCP balanced, or a hand of 16+ HCP and four losers or better.
A drawback is that there is no way to make a standard weak two opening in spades with a 6 card suit. Responder also does not know whether opener is one- or two-suited and whether it is safe to look for a better fit.
Responses
The partner of the Antispades Weak Two opener has the following options available:
* Pass (with eight or more losers and 2+ cards in the suit opened)
* Raise opener's suit with 3+ card support and 7 losers or fewer.
* A
pass-or-correct bid In the card game bridge a pass-or-correct bid (or convertible bid), is a non-forcing bid that asks partner to pass or bid differently based on her/his holding. Pass-or-correct bids are generally used as responses to multiway bids.
A typical example ...
which is one step up from the opening — that is 2:2, 2:2, or 2:2.
* With a 15+ HCP hand, responder either bids the forcing 2NT Enquiry or, with 4+ spades after a 2 or 2 opening, the forcing 2 response.
Defending against Antispades Twos
Bidding against an Antispades Two opener is difficult because the defender will probably not know what opener's second suit is, if he has one, and the defender may have more cards in the suit opened than the opener has. However a sensible defence would be:
* Double shows 11+ points. The criteria for tolerance for the unbid suits become less stringent, the more points the doubler has.
* A Suit Overcall shows a good 6+ card suit and seven losers or better.
* The 2NT Overcall shows a two-suited hand — in any of the three unbid suits — with six losers or better.
Alternatives
One- and two- suited hands may be distinguished by methods such as
Muiderberg/Lucas Twos combined with
Multi 2 diamonds
Multi-coloured 2 diamonds, is a contract bridge bridge convention, convention whereby the opening bid of 2D shows a defined range of hand types. These always include a Weak two bid, weak-two bid in a major suit, and the second option, that must be ...
, but the latter bid is restricted on which events it may be used in.
An alternative is to retain the 2 bid as strong and use 2, 2 and 2 as one- or two-suited hands. Again, responder does not know which hand type opener holds, and it will be risky to explore for a possible second suit with a misfit in opener's suit.
See also
*
Muiderberg convention Muiderberg is a bidding convention in the card game bridge. It is a two-level preemptive opening based on a two-suiter with precisely a five-card major and a minor suit (four-card or longer). In Muiderberg the 2 opening denotes five hearts and an un ...
References
'Two-suited Openings' on pages 10 to 14 of Surrey County Bridge Association newsletter 25Antispades Weak TwosTwo-level Openings
Bibliography
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{{WPCBIndex
Bridge conventions