Drury convention

The Drury convention is a bridge convention, used to show a game-invitational major suit raise by a passed hand. In its simplest form, a response of 2♣, by a passed hand, to a 1♥ or a 1♠ opening, is artificial and, assuming a system like Standard American where only 5-card majors are opened, shows 3 or 4 card support for opener's suit plus 10 or more support points. Because responder has already passed, this hand is limited to fewer than 12 high card points.

The convention was devised by Canadian player Douglas Drury (1914-1967). Drury lived in Canada most of his life, moving to the USA in the 1950s.

The value of the convention

The Drury convention is valuable because:

• Opening light (i.e., with marginally less than normal values) in the third seat is a valuable tactic, because the player in the fourth seat may well have the best hand at the table, and be ready to open the bidding given the opportunity. A third seat light opening, especially in a major suit, will act preemptively to make it harder for the last player to enter the bidding.
• The traditional method for showing good support for opener's suit is to jump to the 3-level (e.g., 1♥ - 3♥). On those occasions when partner has opened light, this may result in an overly ambitious contract, despite the good support.
• It is common practice that when a player opens in third or fourth seat, their partner (having passed) has no forcing bid available. This convention gives a tight description of the passed hand in a single bid, making it possible to escape into 2 of the major if the opening were light or to advance toward game if it has better values.

Opener's rebid

Original Drury convention

Opener rebids 2♦, to show a light opening.

Reverse Drury (more common today)

A rebid of 2♦ shows a full opening. While not universally accepted, a bid of 2♥ by opener after opening 1♠ is also a weakish bid showing 5 spades and 4 hearts (or better). With a good hand (say 15 or more points) opener may simply jump to game (4 of the major suit). Other bids tend to be natural and descriptive, in effect a game try. With an excellent hand, opener may be interested in a slam and will bid accordingly.

Responses by the Drury bidder after the sequence 1M-2C-2D

After opener confirms a full opening hand, the following sequence of rebids is helpful to allow opener to decide if game is possible. The Drury bidder responds to 2♦:

• 2♥ - I have a minimum Drury hand
• 2♠ - I have a maximum Drury hand but only 3 trumps
• 2NT - I have a maximum Drury hand with 4 trumps

Two-way Drury

In this variant, the passed hand with 10+ points responds 2♣ to show exactly 3-card support and 2♦ to show 4-card support or better. This may help opener evaluate the probability of a successful game contract.

Real club (or diamond) suit

If the passed hand has 10+ points and a real club suit (or a diamond suit, when playing two-way Drury), this cannot be shown naturally at the 2-level. One possibility is that a jump to 3♣ (or 3♦) shows this hand. An alternative is to use the forcing notrump. A third possibility (and the one recommended when the convention was introduced) is to bid 2♣, then rebid three of the minor. If this last approach is used, opener must be careful about jumping in own suit without extra length.

Variation for 4-card major systems

The above examples are suitable for use with 5-card major systems such as Standard American. Variations are required for use with 4-card major systems such as Acol.

References

• Bergen, Marty (1985), "Reverse Drury", Better Bidding With Bergen: Uncontested Auctions, 1, Louisville, KY: Devyn Press, ISBN 0-910791-36-8 
• Francis, Henry, ed. (1994), "Drury", The Official Encyclopedia Of Bridge (5th ed.), American Contract Bridge League, pp. 119, ISBN 0-943855-48-9 
• Hardy, Max (1989), Two Over One Game Force, Louisville, KY: Devyn Press, ISBN 0-910791-35-X 
• Root, William S.; Pavlicek, Richard (1981), "Reverse Drury", Modern Bridge Conventions, New York: Crown, pp. 51–53, ISBN 0-517-88429-1