I see it as follows, pretty much as you do:
There are two questions
1. What is the definition of a reverse?
2. What does it show?
Bridge World Standard appears to take the same view:
"Opener's reverse of the form one diamond — two clubs — two of a major does not promise extra values and is ambiguous as to diamond length."
Thus 1
- 2
- 2
is a reverse because 2
goes beyond 2
, but, for BWS anyway, it does not show extra strength. This came up in the Donna hands and it is true that not everyone plays this the same way.
Here is the hand from Donna's session:
AQT6
AQ85
KQ43
J
K743
764
T
AKQ87
I gave this hand to the robots and the auction began 1
- 2
- 2
.
The robots tell you what their bids mean. The 2
was described as
"3+ diamonds, 4+ hearts, 16-22 total points" (total points include points for shape and fit).
Otoh, I took a look at the computer disc I have where Mike Lawrence gives his views on 2/1. His views are closer to BWS (and to mine). I'll summarize from memory:
A. After 1
-2
, opener should prioritize clarifying diamond length since 1
is often on four cards and can be on three. ML says that if opener has 5+ diamonds his rebid should be 2
. But one of the things I like (maybe others hate) is that he feels free to violate his own rules. He later gives a hand where despite having five diamonds he regards a rebid of 2NT as preferable. But usually with 5+ diamonds his choice is to bid 2
B. As with BWS, for ML the auction 1
- 2
- 2
does not show extras. But he also plays that 1
- 2
- 2NT does not deny a major. I think of ML as very practical. If it begins 1
- 2
and opener has four hearts he looks at his hand to see if, from what he can see, NT might be a good spot. If so, he is free to skip over the heart suit and bid 2NT. Responder, holding four hears, can still bid 3
. So the general idea is: After 1
- 2
we look for where we belong. Bidding 2
says "I have four hearts and I am wary of NT) while bidding 2NT says "I might or might not have a four card major but if we don't have a major suit fit I think NT should be fine".
The full robt auction on the Donna hand went 1
- 2
- 2
- 2
- 4NT - 5
- 6
.
I am not so fond of the 4NT. It seems to me that there could be a hand where opener lacks four spades but want to bid an invitational 4NT. Why not raise 2
to 3
, setting trump, and then next time bid a clear RKC bid of 4NT? In fact, one could make the argument that since opener had the option of setting trump with 3
and he chose not to do that, therefore the 4NT is not RKC for spades. But 4NT was the bid by opener robot and understood by responder robot.
I chose the maybe not so good rebid of 2NT over 2
, Blu bid his spades, we got to 6
, but maybe I should have bid 2
over 2
. If I do, I really think the next bid by opener should be 3
.
PS This idea that 1
- 2
- 2
does not show extra values reflects the fact that the 2
call already showed that responder has good values. If the auction begins 1
- 1
then responder might have very little. So surely 2
has to be on extras. How much extra gets debated, and what happens next gets debated, but definitely 1
- 1
- 2
shows extras. It is after 1
- 2
that many, including me, play that 2
does not show extras.