Lesson 5.
1. Responses to opening bids of 1 in a suit, other than direct raises.
When a player opens the bidding with a bid of 1 in a suit, he is saying that:
a) he has the same minimum point count as for a bid of 1NT. (12).
b) he has no suit longer than the suit he has bid.
c) that his hand is not suitable for a 1NT opening bid.
d) he will bid again if partner responds by bidding another suit.
Responder has a problem if he doesn't have a fit for the suit and is unable to give an immediate raise.
It could be possible to make game if he has as few as 6 points, while if he has 13-15, game is virtually certain however weak partners opening bid was.
That is why opener guarantees to bid again if responder bids a new suit is vital.
First, one or two general principles.
a) When partner makes an opening bid in a major suit, and responder has a fit (i.e. holds 4 or more cards in the suit), he should normally raise to the full value of his hand.
You will remember that on 6-10 points he raises to 2, on 11-12 points he raises to 3 and on 13-15 points he raises to 4.
The only time he will not raise the suit immediately is when he has more than 15 points (see later lesson).
b) If partner opens by bidding a minor suit, responder should show a major suit of 4 or more cards, if he has one, even if he has a fit for partners minor!
This is because, as we have seen before, it is much easier to make game in a major suit if a fit is found (10 tricks), or in NO Trumps if there is no fit (9 tricks), than in the minor suit, where you have to make 11 tricks.
Changing the suit (Assume partner has opened 1 Heart and you haven't got a fit for Hearts.)
(i) The one-over one bid.
If you can respond without raising the level of the bidding (because your suit is higher- ranking than the suit opened by partner), then you may bid it on as few as 6 points.
With less than that, you pass. In the example, since partner had opened 1 Heart, you may respond 1 Spade or 1 No Trumps on 6 or more points.
(ii) The two-over-one bid.
If, however, you need to bid at the "2" level to respond to partners opening bid (because your suit is lower-ranking than the suit bid by partner),
then you need at least 8 high-card points to bid it. In the example, if your suit happened to be Clubs or Diamonds,
then to respond to 1 Heart you would have to raise the level of the bidding and bid 2 Clubs or 2 Diamonds.
Therefore, since you are increasing the number of tricks you need to win to fulfill the contract, you would need a few more points: an absolute minimum of 8 high-card points.
The maximum point count for both these bids is 15. With 16 or more points you make a different first response.
When responding to an opening bid, you normally bid your longest suit, just as you did when opening the bidding, and you bid it at the lowest possible level . If you have two suits of the same length, you make the bid that takes up the least bidding space. i.e. if you consider the successive bids (1 Club, 1 Diamond, 1 Heart, 1 Spade, 1 No Trump, 2 Clubs, 2 Diamonds etc. etc.) as rungs of a ladder, you choose the bid that takes the smallest step up the ladder.
Examples: (Assume partner has opened 1 Heart)
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Q J 10 4 3
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K 4 2
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A 4 2
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A Q J 7 6
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7 6 2
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10 7
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10 7
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K Q 5
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K 4 2
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Q J 10 4 3
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K J 10 6 4
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Q 9 3
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10 7
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7 6 2
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7 6 2
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10
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7 pts
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6 pts
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8 pts
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14 pts
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Bid 1 Spade
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Bid 1 NT
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Bid 2 Diamonds
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Bid 1 Spade
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Exercises. Partner has opened 1 Heart. What response do you make on the following hands?
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J 4 2
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K Q 7
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A 4
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A Q J 75
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9 6
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A K 5 4 2
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K J 5 3
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Q 4
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10 4 3
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10 7
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K 4 2
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10 4
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5 3
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K 3 2
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J 10 6 3
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J 8 7 3 2
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Q J 10 8 6
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K 10 3
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A J 10 9
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K J 4 2
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A Q 4 3
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8 7 6
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4 3
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J 10 4 3
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9 7
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Q 10 7 4 2
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9 8
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9 7
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2. Openers rebid after partner has changed the suit.
a) Rebids with support for partners Major suit, i.e. you hold 4 cards in partners suit:
Assume you have opened 1 Heart and partner responds 1 Spade.
With 4-card support for Spades:
13 - 15 points raise to 2 Spades
16 - 18 points raise to 3 Spades
19+ points raise to 4 Spades
Examples. You opened 1 Heart. Partner responded 1 Spade:
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A J 7 6
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A J 8 7
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A K J 7
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K Q J 8 7
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K Q J 7 5
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A K J 6 5
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3 2
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A 6
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Q 9
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4 2
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9 2
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74
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13 pts (11 +1+1)
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17 pts (15 +1+1)
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20 pts (18 +2)
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Raise to 2 Spades
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Raise to 3 Spades
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Raise to 4 Spades
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b) Rebids in No Trumps.
Without support for partners suit and with a balanced hand, containing some points in the unbid suits, a rebid in No Trumps is often the best choice:
Assume you opened 1 Diamond and Partner responds 2 Clubs:
12 - 14 points You should have opened 1 No Trump.
15 - 17 points Bid 2 NT
18 - 20 points Bid 3 NT
Examples. You opened 1 Heart and Partner bids 2 Clubs:
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A J 2
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A J 7
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A K J
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A K J 2
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A K J 2
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K Q J 7
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Q J 3
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3 2
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A 4
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5 4 3
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K J 5 3
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J 4 3 2
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16 pts
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17 pts
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19 pts
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Bid 2 NT
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Bid 2 NT
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Bid 3 NT
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