Glenfield Technical Library

Crowhurst

Last Updated on 17^th August 2008

Introduction

The Crowhurst convention facilitates development of the auction after a rebid of one no trump by opener, allowing the rebid to be made on a wider range of points than traditionally was the case. The original convention was used in conjunction with a one no trump rebid showing 12-16 points but the variation most commonly played in Leicestershire is that the one no trump rebid promises 15-18 points.

The Convention

The Crowhurst convention is introduced by a response of two clubs to the one no trump rebid. Partner continues as follows:

Bid	Meaning
Two diamonds	Lower point count range. No three card support for partner’s major or previously unbid major suit of four cards. An example of this bid occurred in the match between Blaby B and Glenfield A on 18^th December 2002.
Two Hearts	Lower point count range. If partner has previously bid hearts, the bid shows three hearts; if hearts have not yet been bid, the bid shows four hearts.
Two Spades	Lower point count range. If partner has previously bid spades, the bid shows three spades, if spades have not yet been bid, the bid shows four spades. Hands that meet the criteria for both two hearts and two spades should bid two spades.
Two No Trumps	Upper point count range. No three card support for partner’s major or previously unbid major suit of four cards. An example of this sequence occurred in the 2002 final of the Gimson.
Three Hearts	Upper point count range. If partner has previously bid hearts, the bid shows three hearts; if hearts have not yet been bid, the bid shows four hearts.
Three Spades	Upper point count range. If partner has previously bid spades, the bid shows three spades, if spades have not yet been bid, the bid shows four spades. Hands that meet the criteria for both two hearts and two spades should bid two spades.

One advantage of using the 15-18 point rebid is that it enables a jump rebid of two no trumps by opener to promise 19-20 points. This avoids having to open two no trumps with less than 6 playing tricks and facilitated bidding a slam in the LCBA division 3 match between Glenfield A and Loughborough B. The advantage of the 12-16 point rebid is that it allows hands with 12-14 points and 4-4-3-2 distribution to open one of a suit rather than one no trump. This was, indeed, the original purpose of the convention.

As always, you need to discuss the subsequent development of the auction. For example, after the sequence one diamond, one spade, one no trump, two clubs (Crowhurst), three spades what does a bid of four diamonds mean? Is it a cue bid confirming spades as the suit or is it natural showing four spades, four or more diamonds and asking partner to choose between four spades and five diamonds as final contracts? What would you make of a continuation of four no trumps? Would that be natural or Blackwood? The sequence occurred in the NICKO match between Glenfield A and Coventry B on 16^th January 2003 and actually gained imps for the home side when Peter Neville and Tim Glover differed in their interpretation.

Tim’s Statistics MPs	Top	Partner	Crowhurst For	MPs	%	Crowhurst Against	MPs	%
Gimson Final	20	Peter Neville	1	13	65.00	0	0	0
Total			1	13	65.00	0	0	0

Statistics at IMPs – We use Crowhurst	Partner	Hands	IMPs	Imps/Bd
Stanley Trophy 2005/6 - Heat 7	Peter Neville	1	-9	-9.00
Porter – Leicestershire 20 Staffs & Shrops 0	Peter Neville	2 (3)	-8 (-17)	-4.00 (-5.67)
Total for 2006		3	-17	-5.67
Glenfield A 6 Phoenix A 6	Peter Neville	1 (4)	-3 (-20)	-3.00 (-5.00)
Porter – Leicestershire 5 Oxfordshire 15	Peter Neville	1 (5)	10 (-10)	10.00 (-2.00)
Total for 2007		2	7	3.50
Total		5	-10	-2.00

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6. Technical Library
6.1 Bidding	Strategy	Acol	Psychic Bidding	Precision	Blue Club
6.1.1 Hand Evaluation	Defensive Tricks	Losing Trick Count	Playing Tricks	Point Count	Total Number of Tricks	Passing
6.1.2 Opening Bids	One Club	One Diamond	One Heart	One Spade	One No Trump	Pre-empts
	Two Clubs	Two Diamonds	Two Hearts	Two Spades	Two No Trumps
6.1.3 Responding to an Opening Bid	Simple change of suit	Opener’s Rebid	Responder’s Rebid	Preference	Opener’s Second Rebid	Jump in a new suit	Responding in no trumps
	Limit Raise	Inverted Minors
6.1.3.1 Responding to 1NT	Transfers
6.1.3.2 Responding to 2NT	Transfers	Baron
6.1.4 Conventions	Stayman	Fourth Suit Forcing	Reverse	Crowhurst
6.1.4.1 Conventional Opening Bids	Lucas Twos	Multi Two Diamonds	Weak Twos
6.1.4.2 Competitive Conventions	Jump Overcall	Lebensohl	Unassuming Cue Bid	Unusual No Trump	Continuing after opponent’s take out double	Take out Double	Cue Bid
	Fishbein	Defence to 1NT	Halmic	1NT Overcall	Redouble	Simple Overcall
6.1.4.3 Slam Conventions	Blackwood	Gerber	Roman Key Card Blackwood	Splinter	Jump to 5 of a suit	Grand Slam Force	Acol Four No Trump Opening
	Asking Bids	DOPI and ROPI
6.1.5 Doubles	Optional	Penalty	Lead Directional
6.1.6 The Protective Position
6.2 Declarer Play
6.2.1 General Technique	End Play	Squeeze	Finesse	Lose tricks early	Pin	Avoidance	Restricted Choice
6.2.2 Trump Management	Ruffing	Ruffing Losers before drawing trumps	Trump Coup	Ruffing Finesse	Loser on Loser	Coping with bad splits	Cross Ruff
	Dummy Reversal
6.3 Defence	Second Player	Signals	Third Player	Play the cards you are known to have
6.3.1 Defensive Tactics	Forcing Defence	Passive Defence	Merrimac Coup
6.3.2 Opening Leads	Fourth Highest	Third and Fifth	MUD	Top of Nothing
6.3.3 Plays in Third Hand	Finesse Against Dummy	Finesse Against Partner
6.3.4 Entry Management	Unblocking
6.4 Probability
6.5 Glossary of Terms
7 Through the Pack