27 Asking bids

This is a follow-on from dummy tricks, in the common situation where an opening 1H/S has been raised to 2 by partner. Opener has a good hand and would like to go to game, but for absolute safety should hold an extra two tricks over and above the promised 12 pt/3HT hand – quite rare.. What if opener has one trick over? Mm, tempting but it still only rates the 3-level. What if 1½ spare tricks or thereabouts? Well, let’s remember that if partner had 2½ dummy tricks but had to bid 2 for safety, the partnership total could well be 4. So ask.

Here it’s essential that both partners have absorbed my rule that once a suit has been agreed, you always end up in that suit. Here’s how the bidding could go:

1H – 2H – 2S or 3C or 3D – 3H or 4H.  Let’s study that closely. The opener’s rebid is called the Asking Bid. It asks “Can you help me in this suit, or failing that, have you half a trick to spare?” The response 3H says “No” and the 4H says  “Yes.”  N.B. Always return to the agreed suit. What constitutes help, I hear you cry. One of the three top honours in that suit will do, or perhaps a singleton.

PS There is a simpler way of asking which you perhaps already use: 1H – 2H – 3H? This is workable but a bit hit-and-miss, the above way is more precise. And its full name is actually DAB (directional asking bid).