Showing a 2-suiter with Ghestem

Supposing an opponent opens 1 of a suit and you have not one but TWO 5-card suits. Wouldn't it be great if you could tell partner about them BOTH in just one bid? Well, you can. It's a convention called Ghestem.

Once a suit has been bid, there are just three others left. Ghestem uses the suits' RANK to distinguish between them. So you might have the two LOWEST unbid suits. Or the two HIGHEST unbid suits. Or if not, that leaves the LOWEST and the HIGHEST. And the convention provides three bids that tell your partner which suits you hold. Let's use this hand as an example (East has opened 1♦). Here are the three bids:

• a CUEBID of the opponents' suit shows the HIGHEST and LOWEST (or the EXTREME) unbid suits. So here, an overcall of 2♦ would show Clubs (LOWEST) and Spades (HIGHEST).
• 2 NO TRUMPS shows the two LOWEST unbid suits: in this case that would be Clubs and Hearts.
• and 3 CLUBS (it's always 3♣, whatever the opening bid was) shows the two HIGHEST unbid suits: in this case Hearts and Spades.

And that's it. Let's see what happens:

• South's 3♣ bid tells partner she has at least 5 cards in each major.
• West is weak, but has plenty of diamond support, so competes with 3♦ ...
• ... which suits North very well. West's bid frees him from the obligation of bidding at all, so the fact that he goes on to bid 3♠ anyway shows a bit of extra strength ...
• ... and with a DIAMOND VOID and a 5-loser hand, South is happy to go on to game: 4♠.

It's not an easy game to make, but if North plays carefully he can set up dummy's hearts and make 10 tricks. (Dummy's ♣J fortunately restricts EW to just 2 club tricks.)

Difficulties with Ghestem

The main difficulty is that until you're used to it it's easy to forget! Well, the cue bid and the 2NT bid aren't a problem, but the 3♣ bid looks for all the world like a jump overcall. Every partnership that starts Ghestem has one incident with Player A bidding 3♣ thinking he's making a club overcall and another with Player B mistaking a Ghestem 3♣ as an overcall, but the result is so ghastly that it never happens again! (Most people remember the 3 bids in ascending order with the initials ELH, standing for Extreme, Low, High.)

It's also tricky to know how high to go (here, for example, it would have been easy to miss game without West's interference). For this reason some pairs restrict Ghestem to just intermediate strength or just weak. On the whole, though, I find it works well at any strength – it certainly gets in the opponents' way nicely!

In Bath & Box

Everyone bid 4♠ in Box and most did in Bath (two pairs stopped in 3♠). Those who used Ghestem had North as declarer, and tended to make the contract. Those who didn't ended up in 4♠ played by South, and they weren't so lucky: most went one off. But that was just the luck of the draw. 

The UCB (again)

Two scenarios:

• WEAK  Your partner opens 1♠ and you have a flattish hand, 5-card spade support and just 5 points. You're worth a raise to 2♠.
• CHUNKY  Your partner opens 1♠ and you have spade support and a chunky 10 points. You're worth a raise to 3♠.

Simple enough. On this board, though, the situation's complicated by the fact that North has overcalled 2♥. You're WEAK (as above), and normally the best thing to do is raise one level higher than you otherwise would have done – you want to get in the way. So respond 3♠ instead of 2♠.

Problem is, West happens to have a nice hand, and she needs to know whether your 3♠ is a load of rubbish (as here), in which case she'll pass, or of the CHUNKY variety, in which case she'll go on to bid game.

Enter the (horrendously called) Unassuming Cue Bid, which solves the problem nicely. In a nutshell:

Your partner opens 1♠ and the next bidder overcalls (say) 2♥. You have spade support and you're ...

• WEAK  Bid a level higher than you otherwise would have. Bid 3♠.
• CHUNKY  Bid the opponent's suit: 3♥. This shows a 'sound raise to 3♠'. 

You've managed to turn a disadvantage into an advantage, making use of their suit to give partner more precise information. Not only that, the UCB also stops the next bidder from raising her partner to 3♥ – neat!

So what happens here? You bid 3♠ (instead of 3♥) and so your partner knows you are WEAK rather than CHUNKY. So she'll know to pass rather than go on to game.

If you look at the complete deal, you'll see that NS can actually make 4♥ (on a mere 18 points between them) as the spades are a ghastly 4-0 split. For the same reason, West is unlikely to make 9 tricks, but -50 is a better result than 4♠X-2 for -300.

In Box and Bath

Box was a mixture of EW in 3♠-1 and NS in 3♥+1, the EW pairs doing far better as declarers than defenders.

In Bath, the auctions were a bit more competitive. A few EW pairs got away with 3♠-1, but some of those more experienced players sitting South reckoned that their spade void, coupled with 3 of partner's suit to ruff with, was worth a trick or two and went to 4♥. Which meant that EW had to play in 4♠X for a larger penalty. One unfortunate West instead decided to double 4♥, then found her ♠A getting trumped at trick 1. Ouch!

Two kinds of raise

Partner's opened 1♠ and you've got an 11-count with 4 of partner's suit. An 8-loser hand. If East passes, you'll raise partner to 3♠, inviting her to game.

But East hasn't passed. He's come in with 2♥ – shoved his oar in, got in the way. Inconvenient though this is in some ways, it also gives you an opportunity to describe your hand more precisely. How come?

You'll be familiar with pre-emptive bids, which are made on weak hands to try to shut out the opposition. Well, supposing you had a weaker hand with 4 spades. The same holding as here but without the ♦A, say:

♠ J 10 5 4  ♥ 10 2  ♦ Q J 10 3  ♣ Q J 2

Normally you'd raise partner to just 2♠. But with East's interference you're worried that EW might have a good contract of their own, so you'll want to go as high as possible to try to keep them out – in other words, you want to make a pre-emptive raise. Go one higher than you normally would. Bid 3♠.

Fine. But you see the problem? If you bid 3♠ with a weak holding, what are you do with with your present holding, with a chunky 11 points? You can't bid 3♠, because partner will think you're weak and you may miss game.

Answer: bid the opponents' suit. In this case, 3♥: this says 'Partner, I have a sound, pointy raise to 3♠ and you may be interested in game.' This bid has a complicated name – it's called an unassuming cue bid – but its purpose is simple enough and easy to understand:

If partner opens a suit and the opposition overcall in another suit:

• making a direct raise in your partner's suit is weak and preemptive.
• bidding the opponent's suit shows a sound raise in partner's suit.

Good, innit? A couple more points to note:

1. Another advantage of bidding 3♥ here is that it stops West from raising his partner. He can't bid 3♥ if you've already bid it! (Not that he'll want to on this hand, as you'll see if you have a look at the whole deal.)
2. It isn't just a direct 3♠ that's preemptive. 2♠ would show a hand that you might otherwise have passed on – 4-5 points or even less. And going straight to 4♠ would likewise be pre-emptive. Some care is needed, of course, when making preemptive responses: vulnerable against non-vulnerable, you'd have to pull your horns in a bit, but non-vulnerable against vulnerable, if you think they might have game, go for it!

All in all, this is a great tool to add to your system – as long as you both remember that you're playing it ...:-)

In Box and Bath

On this hand, North, with just 6 losers, will accept South's game invitation and go to game. 11 tricks are there for the taking – pretty good for a combined holding of 23 points. Everyone in Box found 4♠, though 3 went off and only one made 11 tricks. In Bath all 11 NS pairs were in game as well, but only 7 made it, of whom only one got 11 tricks.

Extended Stayman

We all know about finding a major fit after partner opens 1NT. If you have one or more 4-card majors, you use Stayman. And with a 5-card major, you start off by transferring partner into your major and take it from there.

What if you have 5 cards in one major and 4 in the other? Again, easy: first you transfer partner to the 5-card major and then you bid the other one. Then partner knows that you have 5 in the first major and 4 in the second.

Here, however, you have 5 cards in both majors. Which means you're bound to have a major fit in one or the other (because partner won't open 1NT with two doubletons). How to tell partner about it?

Enter a neat little gadget called Extended Stayman: 
 

• You bid 2♣, as normal Stayman, and if partner makes a positive response you've found your major fit and with this holding (12 points and only 6 losers) I'd bid straight to game.
• More likely, though, partner will respond a negative 2♦, and this is where the 'extended' bit comes in: you now bid 3♦, which means 'Partner, I have 5 cards in both majors, so please pick the major you prefer.'
• Partner will now bid a 3-card major (or choose whichever she prefers if she has both) and then you can pass or (as in this case) raise to game.

Works a treat, and it's dead easy to remember, too ... BUT you must, of course, both be aware that you're playing it. Otherwise, partner might think your 3♦ is natural and pass – disaster!

How does it pan out on this hand? If you click on 'Show all hands', you'll see that whether hearts or spades are trumps, you're losing just one heart, one diamond and one club trick. Game bid and made.

Postscript: If you're weak ...

You'll have noticed that Extended Stayman takes you to the 3-level, so before you embark on it, make sure you're strong enough! With the same distribution and a weaker hand, say:
 

 10 8 6 5 3    A 5 4 3 2     K 3    6

I'd try Stayman, just in case partner has 4 of a major (passing a positive response for either hearts or spades), but over a negative 2♦ response I'd sign off in 2♥.

This is a deal where the Ogust convention comes in handy. Here's a reminder: partner opens a weak 2 (e.g. 2♠) and you've got a strong hand - such that you may want to be in game, if partner has the right holding. Ogust is ideal: you bid 2NT (alertable) and partner tells you more about his hand, as follows:
 

• 3♣    Low points, poor suit
• 3♦     Low points, good suit               (both of these lower bids: low points)
• 3♥     High points, poor suit
• 3♠     High points, good suit               (both of these higher bids: high points)
• 3NT  AKQxxx in the suit bid

         KEY: 'low points' = 6-8; 'high points' = 9-10; 'good suit' = 2 of 3 top honours; 'poor suit' = less  

So what about this hand? West has 17 points. If East has a maximum, game is on. If not, well, with a bit of luck you can probably make 3♠. Let's try it. 2NT from West. Which means 'I need to know more about (a) your suit and (b) your point-count, partner.'

What is East's response? Make your choice, then triple-click here:    3♥  

This is good news. If East had had a good suit but low points, you'd have trouble getting over to his hand except in spades - which with the singleton ♠A is impossible! - so you wouldn't be able to risk calling No Trumps. But with East showing rubbish spades and maximum points, you know he can help with at least one of your suits, and that he'll have entries to make the play easier.

Your best contract, then, is 3NT. Partner has points in suits other than spades, you have enough points for game, and you don't have an 8-card major fit (you have 7 spades between you, and partner shouldn't be opening a weak 2 if he has 4 of the other major).

At my table on Wednesday, EW did the Ogust bit, then bid on to 4♠: fine if defenders' spades are divided 3-3, but as things were, North doubled and they went two off - click on show all hands to see why! 3NT is clearly safer - and doesn't need you to make as many tricks as 4♠ either.

  Postscript   

I agree with you that in 3NT it isn't obvious where the 9th trick is coming from, but in Bath it seemed to materialise somehow. Only two pairs found 3NT, and they made 9 and 10 tricks. Seven other pairs went for the 4♠ (four of them doubled), and two of them actually made it - but then again, five didn't.

For my money, that's the beauty of Ogust: it gives you two lots of information in one bid, and the reply here - rubbish suit but good points - surely guides West towards no trumps as the best contract.

If your right hand opponent (RHO) opens a weak no trump (12-14 points) and you have 16+ points, you should double for penalties. Why? Because if (say) you have 17 and opener has 13, the other two players will on average have 5 each. That leaves you with 22 points to their 18, so you should be getting 1NT off.

And that'll happen, more often than not.

But not always. On today's board 3, for example, (NOT the board displayed here - check it out on the results page) East (16 points) doubles North's opening 1NT and South, with a chunky 10 points, is perfectly happy to leave it in, secure in the knowledge that NS have 22-24 points and need only 7 tricks. Poor West, sitting there with two Jacks, knows they're in trouble, but with a 4-3-3-3 distribution has nowhere to run to. And 1NT makes, doubled, with an overtrick.

In Board 6 (shown here), the boot's on the other foot. East opens a minimum 12-point 1NT and South, with a magnificent 19 points, doubles for penalties. Over to West, who has a paltry 3 points, and realises that his side could have as few as 15 points between them. That's a possible 3 off, and to make it worse, they're vulnerable - vulnerable to a likely 800 penalty.

At this point, West begins to see why people keep talking about wriggles - which are, as the name suggests, ways of escaping from nasty situations like this. The simplest wriggle is called the 'Transfer wriggle', and it's easy-peasy. In this case, it enables EW to wriggle out of 1NTX into 2C (West's 5-card suit). It works like this:
 

• bid the suit below the one you want to wriggle to
• your partner bids the next suit up (i.e. your suit)
• you pass

Hang on, I hear you object. How can West bid the suit below 2♣? There isn't one! True, but there is a legal bid (other than pass) available between 1NT - X - ? - 2♣ ... and that's XX (redouble).

So West redoubles (alerted by East, as it has a non-natural meaning: it's a transfer bid), North passes and East bids 2♣ as instructed.

So what does South do now? He's got a lovely hand, but only two little clubs, so he's not going to risk doubling 2♣. Probably he'll start bidding his own suit (spades) and they may end up in game.

And as soon as South bids 2♠ (or whatever), East and West breathe a collective sigh of relief at being off the hook and keep the Pass cards coming until the end of the auction.

So that's an example of a working wriggle. There are all sorts of wriggles, including some where you can offer partner a choice of your two 4-card suits. But the Transfer wriggle is simple, and you should consider adding it to your armoury of conventions.

  Postscript  

It's worth checking out how the different contracts will pan out. Against 1NT doubled, South will lead his fourth highest spade - the ♠4. North will win with the Queen and return a spade, and NS have the first nine tricks. EW are three off doubled vulnerable for -800. Yuk.

What about 2♣ doubled? A quick count suggests this will only go 1 off, for -200, so South was right to discard that option and bid his own suit ... or was he?

Do NS reach 4♠ and score +420? Well, at Bath BC only one table got there! The rest stopped in 2♠ or 3♠, for a miserable 140 or 170.

That's an effect that a successful wriggle often has: it leaves the strong pair not entirely sure how strong they are, and they not only miss getting a good penalty from you - they can also miss their own game contract. Wriggling gets you off the hook and muddies the water for them.

The message is clear: wriggle!
 

Everyone realised that the best contract for EW on this hand is 3NT, but it isn't immediately obvious how you can arrive there.

East has a balanced 15 points and opens 1♣, intending to rebid no trumps.

South overcalls 1♥ and

with 11 points and a 7-card suit, it's a no-brainer for West to bid 2♦. When North again passes,

East is in some difficulty. He knows game is on (his partner has made a free response at the 2 level), and would like to bid 2NT, but hearts are a worry. At one table, East bid 2NT regardless, was raised to 3NT and (as luck had it) made a comfortable game.

But I think it's probably right to be concerned about the hearts. So what to do?

The solution, as is often the case when there simply doesn't seem to be an appropriate bid, is to make a cue bid of the opponents' suit: 2♥.

Put yourself in West's position: what can this bid possibly mean? Well, partner is clearly not insisting on his clubs, nor is he supporting your diamonds. With a spade suit, partner would surely just bid spades. And it can hardly be his intention to play in hearts, as South has shown a 5+-card heart suit.

So what's left? No trumps. OK, if that's what East wants, why didn't he just bid them himself ... Ah, South's bid hearts and East doesn't have a heart stop. So he's asking me if I can help in hearts.

Sure I can. 3NT. (I think East is showing the values for 2NT by his cue bid, so West can go straight to game, particularly with that lovely diamond suit. But if West only goes to 2NT, East can raise to game himself.)

The beauty of West's ♥AJx is that it actually provides two stops in hearts. If North leads a heart, South will play his ♥Q to West's ♥A, and the remaining ♥Jx provides a further stop against South's ♥Kxxx.

And this is probably what happens. North leads his singleton ♥8, and the trick continues as above. Then a cunning West will go over to dummy's ♦A and lead a second heart towards his ♥Jx, thus creating a second heart trick, and ends up with a magnificent 12 tricks: two heart tricks, one spade, two clubs and seven diamonds.

As it happens, a spade lead from North is a better option, and limits EW to just 11 tricks.

  Postscript  

Bidding an opponent's suit is difficult for an inexperienced player: it goes against the grain, feels rather unnatural, plus there's always that primal fear of being left in it doubled ... But it's surprising how often a cue bid of this kind can pay dividends. To clarify:
 

• Partner must realise that it isn't a natural bid, so won't leave you in it.
• It's now up to partner to work out what you mean. He has to realise that you wouldn't make this bid if you had a better alternative natural bid, and as in this case a little thought gets you to the right interpretation.
• A side benefit is that the opposition now can't bid 2♥ themselves.

And what if West hadn't had a heart stop? Well, in this case he'd have rebid his diamonds, and the partnership might have reached an alternative game in 5♦.

So, as always, what happened in Bath? 8 of the 13 EWs were in the best contract: 3NT. Whether via a cue bid or just a punt isn't clear. Of the remaining 5, one got to 5♦ and 4 ended up in 3♦, almost certainly because East was worried about hearts and instead of cue bidding chickened out and simply bid 3D, in spite of the fact that the partnership is known to have game-going points. "But what could I do, partner? I didn't know you had a heart stop!" But that's because they didn't ask!
 

It's a familiar situation. Partner opens 1NT and you have a four-card major. If partner also has four of that major, you would rather be in that than no trumps. How to find out? Stayman, of course. You bid 2♣, your partner announces 'Stayman' and then responds 2♥ or 2♠ (if he has four in either of those suits) or 2♦ (if he doesn't).

The only caveat is that, if you fail to find a fit, you don't want to find yourself stuck in too ambitious a contract. Here are two examples of how it can go wrong:
 

• Say you have just 8 points and 4 hearts. If you use Stayman and partner responds 2♠, where can you go? The only place is 2NT. That's bad enough, but if your partner has a maximum, he's now going to raise to 3NT - even worse!

• Or say you have 9 points and 4 hearts and 4 spades. Fine if partner makes a positive response - but supposing he responds 2♦? You don't want to risk finding yourself in a 4-2 major misfit, so again, the only place to run is 2NT. Same problem as above.

For this reason, the conventional wisdom is that you need 11+ points to use Stayman. In other words, as you may end up in 2NT you have to be strong enough to be there.

Good advice. But keep it in context: it only applies to situations where there is a danger of ending up too high. There are other situations where you can be as weak as you like and Stayman can rescue you from disaster.

The most common of these is where you have a weak hand with a 5-4 (or even 6-4) major holding. Such as:

♠J974   ♥109763   ♦8   ♣Q42

Ouch! One place you certainly don't want to be is 1NT. An obvious place to run to is 2♥ - but as you also have 4 spades, why not use Stayman, just in case partner has 4 spades with you? If partner responds 2♥ or 2♠, you pass. And if he says 2♦, you can sign off in 2♥: 'I'm weak, partner, and I have 4 spades and at least 5 hearts. Pass, please!'

You see the idea. There's no danger whatever of the auction getting too high: one way or another you're always going to stop in 2 of a major, so there's no need to have 11+ points.

The other classic situation where Stayman can be used with a weak hand is illustrated nicely by Wednesday's Board 7, shown above. West opens 1NT and North decides not to overcall 2♥. With just 6 points, East would rather play in a suit and with 4 cards in both majors would like to use Stayman to try to find a fit. Normally, you couldn't risk Stayman with only 6 points, but in this case you also have a 5-card diamond suit. Which means you are in no danger. If West responds 2♥ or 2♠, you will pass. The only other possibile bid from West, denying a 4-card major, is 2♦ - and you will pass this as well! (Think about it: if West doesn't have a 4-card major, the odds are pretty good that she'll have at least 3 diamonds - and could well have more.)

In this particular case, West does happen to have 4 spades, and 2♠ is an excellent spot to be in, but 2♦ would have been a good alternative.

  Conclusion  

To sum up, you will normally have to be strong enough to withstand 2NT before you can use Stayman. But there are two particular circumstances when you can use it with as weak a holding as you can think of to rescue you from an unmakeable 1NT.
 

1. When you are at least 5-4 in the majors. You pass a positive response, and if partner bids 2♦ you make a weak takeout into your longer major.
    
2. When (as in board 7) you are 4-4 in the majors and have 5 diamonds. You pass whatever response partner makes. (I'd do the same if I had 4-4-4-1 with a singleton club, but I'm just rash.)

It doesn't come up that often, but when it does it can be a life-saver.
 

We all know what Stayman's used for over partner's opening 1NT: to find out if she has a 4-card major. It's also well known that to use Stayman, you normally need to hold 11+ points. Why? Well, let's say your hand is something like this:

You may well make 1NT, but if partner has 4 hearts you'd rather play in 2♥. So let's use Stayman to find out. What are partner's possible replies to your 2♣ bid?

• 2♥:  Fine. You have a heart fit. You pass.
• 2♠:  Oops. What do you do now? You can't leave partner in spades, so you have to bid 2NT.
• 2♦:  Oops again. Ditto. (It's pointless 'rescuing' into 2♥, as (a) that shows 5 hearts and (b) partner could have as few as 2.)

You see the problem. If you don't find the fit you want, you're committed to playing in 2NT, and if partner has a minimum 12 points you only have 20 points between you - not enough. Hence the rule: make sure you have 11+ points (and can therefore stand to be in 2NT) in case you don't have the major fit you're looking for.

So far, so good. Now what about this hand? Partner has again opened 1NT.

Again, with 9 points you'll probably make 1NT, but you'd rather be in hearts. This time, you have five, so you don't need Stayman. You simply bid 2♦, partner completes the transfer into 2♥ and you pass. Excellent.

Now let's tweak that last hand a bit, taking away a diamond and adding a spade, giving us the hand we met on Wednesday:

We could just transfer into hearts again, but the extra spade gives us an extra possibility: a 4-4 fit in spades. And if partner's got 4 spades and only 2 hearts, we would much rather end up in 2♠ than 2♥. How to find out? Well, Stayman springs to mind ... but we can't use that because we only have 9 points ...

Hang on a minute. Let's reserve judgment and see what can actually happen. Partner's possible replies are the same as always:

• 2♥:  Fine. You have a heart fit. You pass.
• 2♠:  Fine. You have a spade fit. You pass.
• 2♦:  Fine. You simply revert to plan A and sign off in 2♥.

Not a single 'Oops' in sight. There was never any possibility of ending up in 2NT, so there was never any need to have 11+ points. Indeed, if you only had 3 points you'd bid in exactly the same way. So we need to amend our rule.

But if you have a guaranteed alternative weak take-out, go ahead! To finish with, here are two further telling examples:

This is the classic shape for Stayman as a weak take-out. You really don't want to be in 1NT, so you bid 2♣ and pass whatever partner bids! (If partner doesn't have 4 hearts or 4 spades, all the more chance that she'll have 3 - or more - diamonds.)

And a hand that could tempt you onto the rocks:

This is our featured hand but with only four hearts. Difficult to resist the lure of Stayman here, as either major will put you in clover. But resist you must, because if partner bids 2♦, you're stuck up at 2NT again, without enough points. This time you do need 11+ points. Grit your teeth and pass.

Postscript

Time to look at the featured deal (click on Show all hands, at the top). You'll be gratified to know that when this hand was played at Bath BC, everyone ended up in hearts or spades, but (bizarrely) around 40% of pairs reached game. They went off, of course, as you'd expect with a combined 21 points and 15 losers. Which just goes to show that there are some sound basic principles that more experienced players very often lose sight of!