Getting to the Right Level in a Major Suit Contract

          There are several things to consider as you and your partner try to win the bid in a major suit.   They are generally the same whether you play Point Count or Losing Trick Count. 

Let’s all try to get on the same page.

First, I am going to assume that you play Two Over One Game Force.  If you don’t, you probably should.   It’s rapidly becoming the new American Standard.  Note: Playing One No Trump Forcing, Semi-Forcing, or Non-Forcing may cause some minor tweaks to the process, but I’ll leave those to you and your partner.  For what it’s worth, I prefer Non-Forcing, primarily because I like the ability to play No Trump at the one level.  It’s often a great contract.

Second, let’s agree that we want at least an 8 card fit in the major.

Third, let’s agree that when you open a Major at the one level you are promising at least five cards in that suit.

Fourth, remember, we open on High Card Points, not Losing Trick Count.

To further the concept of getting us all on the same page, we need to agree on some terminology.  Specifically, a Simple or Basic Raise, a Constructive Raise, a Limit Raise (which I will also call an Invitational Raise), and a Game Force Bid. 

Think of a Simple or Basic Raise as showing 6-7 high card points (HCP) or 10 losing tricks (LTC), a Constructive Raise showing 8-9 HCP or 9 LTC, a Limit Raise 10-11 HCP or 8 LTC and a Game Force bid showing 12+ HCP or 7 LTC.

Most bridge players agree that 25-26 points will usually make game with an 8 card trump fit.  If you harken back to my article on Losing Trick Count, you may recall that most opening hands have 7 losing tricks and that if you add your losing tricks to partners’ and subtract the total from 24, that will tell the expected trick-taking potential of the partnership.  So, if Opener has 7 LTC and you as Responder have 7 LTC (a total of 14) and you subtract that 14 from 24 you get 10.  You should expect that you will take 10 tricks.

So, now that we’re all on the same page, let’s figure out how we tell partner what we have.  My partner and I have developed a simple 2 by 4 grid that helps us do that.  It looks like this

So, now we need to fill in the blanks with bids.  Ideally, we would like to have a unique bid to put in each grid cell so that Opener will know, after the first round of bidding, that we have at least an eight card fit and how many losing tricks (or points) we, as a partnership, have.  If we can do that, Opener, as soon as she adds her LTC (or HCP) to ours, will know right away where the contract should end up.  In order to have eight unique bids, we are going to have to play a few conventions.  They are as easy to learn as Jacoby Transfers after a One No Trump Open, but I am going to leave the details of learning them up to you.   However, I will briefly explain them as we go.  Specifically they are Bergen Raises, Fitting Jump Shifts, Jacoby Two No Trump and Splinters.  If you and your partner will learn those and apply them to the Grid, as I will explain below, I can guarantee that you and your partner will rarely get to the wrong level in a Major Suit contract.

I expect you have at least heard of Bergen Raises and Splinters, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if you and your partner don’t know what a Fitting Jump Shift is.  It’s easy.  It’s just what the name implies.  It’s a jump shift to the other strain that shows a fit.  In the case of a 1♥ open, it would be a jump to 2ª. Or, in the case of a 1ª open it would be a jump to 3♥.  If you think about it, it’s a diabolical bid because if Advancer was going to bid, they were probably going to bid the other Major, the suit you, as Responder, just bid artificially.  If that’s the case, Advancer is faced with a choice of Pass, Double or Cue.  Double is most likely but then their partner has to decide if that’s for Penalty, Takeout or is a Stolen Bid or Lead Directing double.  Tough choice, and if they do decide to bid when it’s their turn it’s going to be at a high level because on Opener’s second bid she will have bid something.  (For what it’s worth, I like to call a Fitting Jump Shift a “Shifty”.)  

So, let’s fill in the Grid.

          The first thing you will probably notice is that I combined two of the Grid boxes so now you only need to remember seven unique bids.  Here they are:

          (Remember, a Splinter is a double jump shift to a suit in which you hold a singleton or a void).

Each of these seven bids do two important things.  First, they show support which establishes the Trump suit and second, they very specifically tell Opener your strength. So, if you can learn (and remember) those seven Grid Bids you and your partner should always be able to get to the right level of your Major Suit Contract.  Do you think that might help your game a little?

One last thing---and this is important.  You and your partner need to agree on what happens when the opponents have the audacity to interfere.  Are Bergen Raises, Splinters, Shifties and Jacoby 2NT On or Off when opponents poke their nose in?  For example, does 1♥,  [2♣],  3♦   show 4 card support and 8LTC, (a Bergen Raise) or does it show a long, weak diamond suit?  Better figure it out.  It will come up.

Happy Bidding