Drury Convention: The Passed-Hand Limit Raise

Drury is an artificial 2♣ response by a passed hand to partner's third-seat or fourth-seat 1♥ or 1♠ opening. It shows support for opener's major and limit-raise values, about 10-12 points, and asks whether opener has a full opening or a light one.

It exists because third-seat and fourth-seat openings are often light. A jump to three of the major with a limit raise would push a 10-point opener and an 11-point responder to the three level with no game in sight. Drury lets the partnership show the raise and still stop in two. It is a standard part of most 2/1 Game Force and Standard American cards, and Acol players who open light in third seat use it too.

Three conditions must all be true:

1. Responder is a passed hand. That caps his strength: he cannot have an opening hand.
2. Partner opened 1♥ or 1♠ in third or fourth seat.
3. Responder has support and limit-raise values: three or more trumps (four in some partnerships) and about 10-12 dummy points.

Responder bids 2♣. It says nothing about clubs. Opener now tells responder whether his opening was full value or light, and the partnership stops in two of the major whenever game is unlikely.

With a weaker raise (about 6-9), responder simply raises to two. With a natural club suit, a passed hand bids 3♣ or starts with 1NT, because 2♣ is no longer natural. You can see what 2♣ means in every system.

Original Drury. The convention is named after Douglas Drury, a Canadian player. In the first version, opener rebid 2♦ to say "my opening was light, sub-minimum". Any other rebid showed a full opening. The flaw: after the artificial 2♦, responder still had to bid two of the major to reach the right contract, and the hand that declared was sometimes the wrong one.

Reverse Drury. The modern version turns it around. Opener rebids two of the major with a light or minimum opening: that is simply the contract, and responder passes. 2♦ (artificial) shows a full opening with some interest in game. This is now the standard in North America, and when players say "Drury" today they usually mean Reverse Drury. See Reverse Drury for the full set of rebids.

Two-way Drury. Some pairs split the raise: 2♣ shows three-card support and 2♦ shows four-card support, both with limit-raise values. Opener then knows the trump count, which helps when he judges game.

Use Drury when:

• You passed, partner opened a major in third or fourth seat, and you have a fit with 10-12 points.
• The opponents have stayed out of the auction, or have only doubled. Most partnerships keep Drury on after a takeout double.

Do not use it when:

• You did not pass. As an unpassed hand, 2♣ is natural: in 2/1 Game Force it is a game-forcing two-over-one response.
• Partner opened a minor. Drury applies only to major-suit openings.
• An opponent overcalled. After an overcall, most pairs show the limit raise with a cue bid of the opponents' suit, and 2♣ after a 1♠ - (2♦) overcall is not even available.
• You have a weak raise. With 6-9 points, raise to two.

You are South and pass as dealer with ♠K94, ♥Q852, ♦KJ6, ♣Q73: 11 HCP. West passes and partner opens 1♠ in third seat. You have three spades and a limit raise, so you bid 2♣ (Drury). Partner rebids 2♠: a light opening, no game interest. You pass.

2♠ makes eight tricks. Without Drury, South would have jumped to 3♠, and that goes one down. The two hands have 22 HCP between them: a partscore deal, and the only question is whether you score +110 or -50. Drury gets you the plus.

1. Forgetting to alert. 2♣ is artificial. Opponents are entitled to know it shows a major-suit raise.
2. Using Drury as an unpassed hand. It is a passed-hand convention.
3. Opener passing 2♣. Never: responder may hold two small clubs.
4. Bidding Drury with a weak raise. With 6-9 points, raise to two of the major directly.
5. Mixing up original and Reverse Drury. In Reverse Drury, two of the major is the weak rebid. In original Drury, 2♦ is. Agree which one you play.
6. Bidding Drury with a long club suit. Partner will treat it as a raise. With clubs and no fit, bid 1NT or 3♣.

Third-seat auctions are a good place to practice, because the light openings are where Drury pays off. The BridgeDummy Bidding Room lets you bid random deals with EPBot robots and see the full layout afterward, so passed-hand raises come up naturally. Our bidding puzzles score each candidate call double dummy over many deals that fit the auction.

• Reverse Drury: every opener rebid and responder's follow-ups.
• Limit raises: the unpassed-hand version of the same raise.
• Bergen raises: four-card raises that many pairs turn off by a passed hand.