The Drury Convention

The Drury Convention
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The Drury Convention is an artificial 2C response that's used by a passed hand after partner opens 1H or 1S in third or fourth seat. It shows 3+-card trump support and maximum playing values (10+ support points). Drury is a very valuable convention that comes up frequently, is easy to remember and can dramatically improve your bidding accuracy. Here's the type of problem it solves:
J43 A75 KQ532 64 -- You pass and partner opens 1S in third seat. Without Drury, you have a choice of four possibly disastrous responses:
1 - You make a limit-raise to 3S and go down because partner opened light.
2 - You raise conservatively to 2S, partner passes, and you make 10 tricks because he had a full opener.
3 - You bid 1NT (forcing or standard), partner passes, and you get a poor score because the rest of the field is playing in their 8-card spade fit.
4 - You try a "temporizing" 2D, partner passes and you get an even worse score.
A Drury 2C response shows your support and strength right away, allowing you to bid your hand's full value without getting too high. It gives you a built-in safety valve if partner has opened light and it helps opener evaluate chances for game.
Drury is used only when you're a passed hand and partner has opened 1H or 1S in third or fourth seat. If you have 6-9 points, you make your normal raise to 2 of the major. If you're stronger, you use the Drury 2C response, which always shows:
1 - At least 3-card support for partner's major.
2 - A maximum passed hand (10+ support pts.).
In this sequence a 2d response is weak and Drury bidder should now bid 2 of Major. Opening hand or better rebid 2 of Major
Two-Way Reverse Drury
Yet another treatment is Two-Way Reverse Drury, where 2C shows the 3-card raise and 2D shows the 4-card raise. If you use "normal" Drury and bid 2C with 3-card support, opener has a 2D bid available to show this hand. But if you use 2D to show 4-card support, opener will have to rebid 2 of his suit with minimum and sub-minimum hands. If responder has extra playing strength, he'll know exactly what is in your hand and either makes a game try or bid game.