Lebensohl

Lebensohl is bridge convention used after an opponent's intervention over 1NT opening bid. It emerged "in wild" in 1960s. The article about it appeared in 1970 in The Bridge World, by George Boehm. The convention emerged out of need that the partner of 1NT opening bidder effectively competes over RHO's overcall without committing the partnership to the game.

Name origins

The Lebensohl convention was attributed to Kenneth Lebensold in the 1960s as a misspell, but he denied any contribution. Another possible origin is from the German or Yiddish languages. "Lebensohl" is the concatenation of the German words for "to live" and "foot", implying that the bid is way to get responder's "foot in the door" during the auction. This origin would explain why the convention is often written in lower-case ("lebensohl"), and is consistent with the adaptation of another Yiddish word, kibitzer, into common bridge parlance.

Basic structure (after 1NT opening by partner)

The basic outline after the sequence (1NT by partner-2x by RHO) is:
*2 in any suit – natural, non-forcing,
*3 in any suit except overcalled – natural, forcing to game,
*cuebid (3 in overcalled suit) – akin to Stayman convention, inquiring the partner about 4-card major and promising a stopper in the overcalled suit,
*3NT – to play, promising a stopper,
*2NT – a relay bid forcing the opener to bid 3♣; after that:
**3 in suit of lower rank than overcalled – natural, non-forcing,
**3 in suit of higher rank than overcalled – natural, invitational,
**cuebid – Stayman as above, but denying a stopper in the overcalled suit,
**3NT – to play, denying a stopper.In summary, the responder usually must decide whether he has a sign-off or a game-forcing hand (i.e. invitations are not possible except in the case where the responder's suit is above overcaller's suit). He may freely bid a sign-off on level 2 if there's room, or via 2NT otherwise. With game-forcing hand, he should bid directly on level 3 to promise a stopper, or via 2NT to deny it.

The above description describes so-called "slow denies" variant, where strong hands must bid 2NT first to deny a stopper. In the "slow shows" variant, direct bid of level 3 denies a stopper and 2NT promises it.

In other positions

Using 2NT as a puppet to 3Clubs is often used in other positions and is usually attributed the same name.

After a weak 2

After a weak 2 opening and a take out double Lebensohl is used to enable a better indication of the strength of the responder to the doubler.

For Example after (2Spades) X (p) ?:
*With 0-7 points 2NT is bid forcing a relay of 3Clubs. This is either passed or corrected to another suit.
*With 8-11 points suits are bid at the 3 level.
*With values for game it is just bid.

If there is space to bid a suit at the 2 level; e.g. after (2Hearts) X (p) ? and the suit held is spades:
*With 0-7 points bid 2S
*With 8-11 points 2NT is bid forcing a relay of 3Clubs. Then 3Spades is bid showing the invite.
*3Spades is now game forcing.

With a very strong hand the doubler can by-pass 3Clubs.

After a Major is raised to the two level

The same scheme can be played after the sequence:(1Y) p (2Y) X

After a non-game-forcing reverse

After the sequence 1Diams (p) 1Spades (p) 2Hearts (p) ?:
*2Spades shows a weak hand with spades
*2NT shows a minimum hand and forces 3Clubs. Preference is usually then given for openers suits.
*Any other bid is now game forcing.

This has the effect of saving space when responder wants to game force and show support.

ee also

*Rubensohl.

External links

* [http://www.bridgeguys.com/Conventions/Lebensohl.html BridgeGuys.com]