Checkback by Opener

You open the bidding with 1, and partner responds 1.  What do you rebid with the following hands?

(a)   A Q 10 x x x   A K x x   —    A 10 x

(b)   A K J x x   Q 10 x   K J x   A x

(c)   K Q J 10 x   x   A Q 10 x x   A x

Didn't like your choices?  Standard methods let you down?  It might have made no difference whether partner's 1 was forcing.

1. too good for 2, not good enough for a game-forcing 3, and 3 is doubly flawed.
2. looks like a 2 rebid, but is partner supposed to bid hearts now with a mediocre 5-card suit?  He might even pass 2 when 4 is on.
3. plenty good enough for a game invitation, but a jump to 3 would be game-forcing.

The answer is to use Ted's Checkback by Opener.*  Just as some responders use a 2 rebid as an artificial force, there is no reason why opener cannot do the same thing.  Of course, as is the case with all conventions invoking a phony 2 bid, one does give up the option of playing in two clubs.

The structure is fairly simple:  After 1/1 and a 1 response:

2 is an artificial game try or better.  A new suit by opener thereafter is a 1-round force.

      Responder's rebids (in order or priority):

• 2 (after 1) = 5-card suit (or longer).
• 2 of opener's major = doubleton support, weak hand, no 4-card heart suit after 1.
• 3/3 shows a good suit and is forward-going.
• Other hands bid 2 (forcing), allowing opener to complete a description.  Opener's rebid of his suit or 2 may be passed.

2, and 2 after 1, are natural and nonforcing.

2 (after 1) = precisely 5-2-3-3; otherwise, opener checks for a 5-3 heart fit.

2 (after 1) is 5-6, 1-round force.

3-level jump-shifts are 5-5, invitational.

Some of these sequences can be further developed to suit your taste.  Most players are averse to giving up a forcing notrump by an unpassed hand, but this method could be employed when responder is a passed hand.

* The concept of a forcing 2-Club reopening bid hardly is new, but I believe this structure to be original.