Major Suit Summary
Major Suit Openings.
We open major suits just as anyone playing “Standard American” does: 5 or more cards in the suit and a hand of 12+ HCP. The guidelines are the same for 1st, 2ndand 4th hands. 3rd handmajor suit openings may be light, with as few as 8 HCP. (See Drury below.)
Rebidding a Major Suit. An unsupported suit -- one without a raise from partner -- may only be rebid with an additional trump, i.e., a second unsupported suit bid shows a 6-card suit and a third unsupported bid shows 7 cards. Don’t rebid an unsupported 5-card major.
Weak Two Major Suit Openings. Only the 2 Weak Two is recommended: there are conventional 2 (Flannery) openers.
Opening Hands With Two 5-Card Majors. Hands with both 5-card majors should open Spades and rebid Hearts unless the hand includes 17 or more HCP, which should then reverse: Open Hearts and then bid Spades, or open Spades and then jump rebid Hearts. Hands with a 5-card major and a 5-card or even a 6-card minor should open the major suit, not the minor suit.
[1 – P – 1NT# – P 2. . .] at least 5 – 4
[1 – P – 1NT# – P 3. . .] 5 – 5 and 15+ strength
[1 – P – 1NT# – P 2. . .] 5 – 5 and 17+ strength (a reverse)
[1 – P – 1 – P 2. . .] 5 Hearts and 4+ Clubs, average opening strength.
What Is a Minimum Opening Hand?
There are several popular systems for determining if a marginal hand should be opened.
(1) X High card points. Open any hand with 12 (13? 11?) HCP’s.
Open with Axx Kxx Kxx Qxxx 12 HCP: a typical duplicate standard.
(2) X High card points with two defensive tricks. Open any hand with 12 (13? 11?) HCP’s that also includes 2 tricks on defense.
Open Axx Kxx Kxx Qxxx but pass Kxx KJxx Qx QJxx
(3) Quick Tricks. Open with at least 2 ½ quick tricks, where Ace = 1 and King = ½ quick tricks.
Open Axxxx Axxx Kx xx I would open this hand.
(4) Rule of 20 (for 1st and 2nd seats only). Open if the total of HCP’s plus the length of the two longest suits equals 20 or more. Discount unsupported Queens and Jacks and upgrade Aces.
Open AJxxx Kxxx Kxx x but pass AJxx Kxxx Kxx xx
(5) Losing Trick Count. In each suit, count missing Aces, Kings, and Queens. If the total is 6 losers or fewer, open. 7 losing tricks is an optional opener; don’t open with 8 losers.
Axxxx Kxxx KQx x 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 6 losers. Open 1 Spade.
AJxx Kxxx Kxx xx 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8 losers. Pass.
AQxx Kxxx Kxx xx 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 7 losers. Optional opening.
With one exception, we always open in a major with any hand holding a 5+ card major suit. Forget “always open in your longest suit”: ALWAYS OPEN 5+ CARD MAJORS. In this way, responder knows immediately if youhave or don’t have a 5+ card major. Bidding a higher suit on the 2nd round is a reverse, showing 17+ HCP and forcing one round, except in a Two Over One auction. Don’t do it by accident, especially with both minors.
Theexception: Shouldwe open 1NT instead of a major when our count and distribution are appropriate? An answer: if there are 5 or more HCP in the major suit, open 1or 1;
if less than 5, open 1NT. With AKxxx AxxKxxQx,open 1, not 1NT.
Rebid planning may also determine whether to open 1NT or 1 of a major. This is most obvious when the major is Hearts - - there is frequently a problem if partner responds1 to 1. Consider this opening hand: QxAKxxxAxx Kxx)
If we open 1and partner bids 1, do wethen rebid 1NT?2NT? 1NT is too weak, showing 12 to 14 HCP, and 2NT is too strong, showing 18 or 19 HCP. And obviously we can’t bid 2 or 2 or 2: Another answer: so it’s better to open 1NT to eliminate this rebid problem in either major.
Add a 4th Club or Diamond card and you can bid it at the 2-level, so a 1or 1♠ opening is OK: KxAKxxxAx KTxx [1 - P - 1 - P 2 …]. Also, we have 2 doubletons in this hand: usually not a good thing for a 1NT opening.
Possibly having a 5-card major when opening 1NT, or not, is a Partnership Agreement: Another answer: we can agree to always open the major or Another answer: we never do it: see the choice on the standard convention card: “5 card major common □”.
Your Answer? It’s a partnership agreement. Generally, in my partnerships, I will open 1NT with a bad 5-card major and otherwise balanced hand, i.e., no side 4-card suit. Many players pick Always or Never. Just so you both do the same thing.
Responses to a 1 or 1Opening
Our 1st or 2nd seat partner has opened 1 or 1. What should we bid now? It depends first of all on whether or not your right-hand opponent (RHO) bid in front of you. The meaning of almost all responses changesin competition, so we will consider responses in competition separately in a section below. For now, let’s just look at non-competitive auctions, other than Two Over One or 1NT#, which we covered last week.
RAISES to MAJOR OPENINGS WITHOUT COMPETITION
Single Raise.
A simple raise to the 2-levelshows 6 to 9 dummypointsand 3+ trump cards. “Dummy points” are the sum of HCP plusshortness points: 5 for a void, 3 for a singleton and 1 for a doubleton. They are valid only in theshort trump hand in a suit contract. Usually that’s the dummy hand, but not if there’s been a Jacoby Transfer into Heart or Spades for a 1NT opener. The major opener can’t count shortness points to open: length points? Yes, but not shortness.
Double Raise (a Limit-Raise).
A “Good” Limit-raiseis 4trumps and 9 to 11 dummy points. [1 – P – 3. . .]. Not forcing, so opener can pass and play in 3.
With just 3trumps and 9 to 11 dummy points, we firstbid 1NT#, then jump to3 or 3 on the 2nd round: [1 – P – 1NT#– P 2 –P – 3 . . .].We call this a“Bad” Limit-raise.
Sometimes, knowing about that 4th trump in dummy can help opener decide to go on to gameor pass the 3-level response.
JumpRaise to 4 or 4.
A preemptive raise showing 5+ trumps, some distribution and a 0 to 8 HCP hand. Such a hand should hold no outside Ace. Holding one, we bid 1NT# and then jump to 4 or 4 on the 2nd round. This tells partner we have an outside Ace in addition to 5+ trumps and some shape, but not game forcing HCP.
2NT* Conventional Game Forcing Raise:Jacoby 2NT.
Sometimes, responder will have the strength to insist on game or more andhold 4 trumps.
Without competition, the convention to show such a hand, used by the majority of duplicate players, is Jacoby 2NT.With (AxxKxxxAxx Kxx), we respond 2NT* to a 1opener. [1♥ - P – 2NT* …] We clearly need to get to at least game; maybe to slam.
However, opener could have extra HCP strength and / or shape, like a 2nd 5 card suit; a singleton or void, etc., meaning slam may be in the picture. Responder could also have more than just a game-forcing 13 points as well as her 4 trumps.
But we’re only at the 2-level at the moment, so rebids by both players can explore for slam without going past game, by showing things at the 3-level and below game at the 4-level.
There are some variations of rebids after a Jacoby 2NT* response, but these are the most common ones and are the baseline for our Jacoby 2NT response system.
Rebidsafter a Jacoby 2NT* response.
- With no extra HCP or shape, opener just bids game [1♥ - P – 2NT* - P 4♥ …]
° However, responder can still go on if she has the goods.
- Opener with a singleton or void bids it at the cheapest 3-level: [1♥ - P – 2NT* - P 3♦* …] Diamond shortage, but not Club shortage. Alerted.
- Responder can see this as a plus if she has 3 losing Diamonds, or as a minus if she has ♦KQx. If plus, she can go on toward slam by bidding her Aces up-the-line; if it’s a minus, she just bids game.
- Openerwith a good 2nd5-card suit, bids it at the 4-level. [1♥ - P – 2NT* - P 4♣*…]
- Opener is now seen to be 2-suited, which may be a plus or minus or neutral to responder. She can then decide to bail out in game or bid 4NT Roman Key Card Blackwood if she sees slam or show an Ace if she can’t yet decide.
[1♥ - P – 2NT* - P 4♣* - P - 4♦ …] On we go. No decision yet by anyone. - With no “shape”, opener with higher than minimum count, 15+, can rebid 3NT, which may show responder enough HCP to go slamming.
[1♥ - P – 2NT* - P 3NT – P - 4♥ …] “Partner, your extra HCP doesn’t help me.”
Remember that Jacoby 2NT* is only bid without competition.
Splinter Raise.
Another Game Forcing Conventional Raiseis a Splinter Raise.With strong major suit support plus an opening hand and a singleton or void in a side suit, responder double jumps in his short suit. Most play that the singleton should not be an Ace.Unlike most responses, it’s the same in competition. [1 – 1♠ – 4* – P 4 . . .]
Without interest in a slam, opener just bids game. [1 – P – 4* – P 4 . . .]
If opener is interested in slam, she cue-bidsher Aces up the line. Responder does likewise. The Splinter bid is alertable and very forcing!
[1 – P – 3*– P 4. . .] a strong Heart raise with a singleton or void in
Spades. Opener cue bids herA butdenies the A.
Responder can go on toward slam with 4NT or bid 4♥.
So we have lots of major suit raises without competition, from a simple one-over-one to Good and Bad Limit Raises (Invitational to game) and at least two game-forcing raises other than Two Over One.
NON-RAISE RESPONSES to MAJOR SUIT OPENINGS
(Other than Two Over One and 1NT Forcing, which we studied last week.)
There’s a unique response to a major opening that we’ve notyet seen :
a Weak Jump Shift. (WJS) [1♠ - P - 3♦/3♣/3♥ . . .] (Not Bergan raises.)
Since we are preempting our partner who has opened in 1stor 2nd seat, we are taking away a lot of his bidding space, so we must have a hand totally worthless except in our long (6 or 7-card) suit, and with a max of 4 HCP.
Yes!:a 4 point max for a WJS. With a bit more than that, we have yet another use for 1NT#, as we might imagine: it’s called a “Drop Dead” rebid and it goes as follows:
Suppose we have a 6 HCP 6-card Diamond suit and nothing else, including only 0 or 1 of opener’s major. We’d like to bid 2♦, but that’s a Two Over One GF in our system. How to stop in 2♦? Here’s how:
Bid 1NT# then bid Diamonds at the cheapest level: [1♠ – P – 1NT# - P 2♣ – P – 2♦ …]
This 2♦ is an absolute “Drop Dead Bid”, meaning “Partner, we can’t play in anything but Diamonds with my hand; Please Pass without any questions”. We might even have to bid 3♦.
Other non-raise responses to major openings are obvious or off-the-wall: we won’t study them much if at all. Examples:
[1♠ – P – 3NT . . .] Responder wants to play in 3NT. OK, good luck, pard!
[1 – P – 6♥ . . .] Responder wants to play in slam. OK, good luck, pard!
[1♠ – P – 5♣ . . .] Responder wants to play in 5♣. OK, good luck, pard!
[1 – P – 4NT . . .] This is definitely a raise – and slam-going, either in Hearts or NT.
RESPONSES IN COMPETITION
Virtually all bids in competition havedifferentmeaning from the same bids without competition.
Direct Raises. N.B.:Every directsuit raise in competition can be weak and is not forcing.
[1 – Dbl – 2 . . .]maybe a weak raise showing 3 trumps and a few points.
[1– 1 – 3 . . .] weak, showing4 trumps and a few points: Not a Limit Raise.
[1 – 2 – 4 . . .] weak, showing 5 trumps and a few points.
The “few points” called for above illustrate that judgment and experience play a key role: if vulnerable, be a bit more conservative: if non-Vul vs. Vul, be very aggressive. Partner must remember that ALL raises can be weak in HCP; but they do show a fit and are preemptive.
Limit Raises in Competition.
Since we play that all direct raises are weak in competition, we need ways to show a Limit-Raise strength hand over interference. Here they are.
Good Limit-Raise:Jordan 2NT*.Only over a takeout double of a major,we bid 2NT*to show 4trumps and limit-raise strength. [1 – Dbl – 2NT* . . .] Alerted.
(Not Jacoby 2NT: Jordan 2NT!).For example,with (JTxx QxxKJTx Kxx. )
Bad Limit-Raise: ReDouble. Redouble over a double byRHO shows a “Bad”limit-raise, meaning3trumps. Alerted, as it’s not the “standard” meaning of ReDouble.
[1 – Dbl – ReDbl* . . .]with(Jxx QxxKJTx Kxx).
Cue-bid Limit-Raise. Over an intervening suit bid, a direct cue-bid shows a limit-raise strength hand. [1 – 2 – 3 . . .] a Good OR Badlimit-raisein Spades. Forcing!
For example,againwith (JTxx QxxKJTx Kxx.)
Negative Double.
If responder can’t raise or bid her own 5+ card suit (10+ HCP – not Two Over One) but wants to show a suit(s), weuse a Negative Double, which means “all unbid suits”, especially any majors.
[1 – 1 – Dbl . . .] denies 3+ Heart support and shows both minor suits
without a5+ card suit. Not alerted.
[1 – 2 – Dbl. . .] denies 3+ Spade support but show some points (8+),
and both red suits (4 Hearts and “some” Diamonds.
No Two Over One Game Force. The 2/1 Game Force is OFF in competition. Any 2- or 3-level new-suit response is “standard”, showing 10+ HCP, a decent 5+ card suit and usually denies support for the major. Forcing for one round by a non-passed responder, but not to game.
1NT, 2NTor 3NT Usually natural calls in competition. HCP: 6 to 9, 10 to 12 and 13to 15
with appropriate stoppers in opponent’s suit(s). Can’t raise opener’s
major or bid anothersuit; not forcing; just HP showing.
[1♥– 1 – 1NT . . .] 6 – 9 HCP with good Spade stoppers, not forcing.
[1 – 1 – 2NT . . .] 10 – 12 with good Spade Stoppers but no minor suit to bid.
[1 – 1 – 3NT . . .] 13 – 15 HCP with goodSpade stoppers, but no minor suit to bid.
[1 – Dbl – 2NT* . . .] A 4 card Jordan Limit Raise - remember? Not Jacoby.
Summary: In competition, direct raises are often weak; Cue-Bids and 2NT*and ReDouble show Limit-Raise hands; 1NT and 3NT bids and often 2NT are natural. New suits are natural, forcing 1-round (by a non-passed hand) and usually, not always, deny an ability to raise opener’s 1 or 1 opening.
Quiz 3: [1 –Dbl – ?] 1. Kxxx xxx Ax Kxxx 2. Kx JTxx Axx QTxx
[1 –1 – ?] 3. xx KQxx Jxx xxxx 4. x Kxxxx xxx QJxx
[1 –2 – ?] 5. KTxx xx Axxx Qxx 6. KTxx Kx AJx QJxx
(Answers below)
3rd Seat (or 4th Seat) Weak Major Openers.
Our 3rd seat major suit openers (and, optionally, 4th seat openers) can be as weak as 8 HCP, but show a good, chunky 5 card major suit. They don’t have to be 12+ HCP as in all other seats. But if we allow this strength, we must play Drury as responder. (See below)
Why do we allowed this? Consider: dealer and 2nd seat have passed, and 3rd seat has only 8 or 9 HCP. Why should she open? Obviously neither 1st or 2nd seat has 12+ HCP, and if 3rd seat has only 8 HCP, what is 4th seat going to do? Open, of course: she has the best hand at the table.
But, if we allow our 3rd seat to open a chunky Spade suit, for example, then 4thseat has had several opening bids removed from her choices. She can’t open 1♣ or 1♦or 1♥ ; she may not be able to overcall 1NT without good Spade stoppers; she may not have a hand with a 5+ card suit to overcall two Clubs or Diamonds, she may not be able to double 1♠, etc. In other words, a 3rd seat major suit opening is preemptive to the known best hand at the table. A 1♥ opening is similar, except perhaps she can overcall in Spades – but that doesn’t show her strong hand.
(With 6 chunky cards in a major, we open 2♥ or 2♠ - not 1 – to block that strong 4th hand.)
How about opening weak in 3rd seat hands in a minor suit? You do the opposite re: preempting 4th seat. If you open 1♣ with 11 or fewer HCP, 4th seat now has more options than if you had passed. He can simply overcall your 1♣ with a major, cue-bid, bid 1NT, and get into the auction easily at a low level. Don’t do it.
Responses to a 3rdSeat Major Opener.
Remember that allowing weak 3rd seat majors is a partnership agreement. If you and partner don’t do this, then your responses are “normal” for a passed hand. Following is the discussion if you do allow weak 3rd seat major openings.[P – P – 1/1 – P …]
If 3rdhand opens in a major suit, it can be light, with as few as 8+ HCP, but it also could be a “standard”or even strong opener with 12 to 20 HCP. Responder, as a passed hand, must be careful to allow for all the possibilities by raising if appropriate, but not jump raising.
Direct Single Raise. Responder raises to the 2-level with 6 to 9 dummy points and 3+ trumps.
[P – P – 1 – P 2 . . .] Opener continues normally.
1NT response. 6 to 9 HCP,(not dummy points!) denying 3 trumps. Not forcing, because responder (dealer) is a passed handthat can never make forcing bids.
[P – P – 1 – P 1NT . . .] Opener continues normally.
Drury Limit-Raise.
Sometimes, our passed hand responder has a very strong hand in support of a major opening, although not quite strong enough to have opened the bidding. But, since3rdseat can have 8 HCP or 19 HCP, responder must show his strong support at a low level to accommodate all this wide range by opener. A “very strong hand in support” means Limit Raise dummy strength and 3 or more trumps.
The convention that handles this situation is called Drury: (technically it’s called Two Way Reverse Drury, but forget all that: it’s just Drury.)
We use the Drury convention to avoid bidding too high, as in [P –P – 1 – P 3 …]. This 3“Good” Limit-Raise can be too high, because our3rd seat major opener may have only 8 HCP. To prevent this situation, Drury works as follows:
If the (passed hand) responder has a limit-raise of 9 to 11 dummy points, she bids 2*with 3 trumps or 2*with 4+ trumps.Both are artificial and alerted. Arebid by opener of her majorshows a weak hand and any other rebid shows a real opening hand.
[P – P – 1 – P 2* – P – 4] opener has a good 15+ HCP opening hand.
[P – P – 1 – P 2* – P – 2 . . .] opener is weak. Responder must pass.
[P – P – 1 – P 2* – P – 3 . . .] opener has an invitational-strength hand,
given responder’s 3-piece Limit Raise.
Other responses, such as 1NT, are “normal”, denying a raise, but suit bidscannot be new suits at the 2-level, because opener may have only 8 HCP. Raise or bid 1NT or bid Drury or pass.
Interference by 4th Hand.
Frequently, partners play Drury is off after interference, but a conventional “Stolen Bid double” response nowbecomes available.Double to show a Limit-Raise when 4th hand bids 2over a 3rd seat major opener. Alertable.
[P – P – 1 – 2 Dbl* …] a 3-pieceor4-piece Limit Raise “Stolen Bid double”.
[P – P – 1 –2♣ Dbl* …] shows a 3-piecelimit-raise.NOT a negative double.
[P – P – 1 – 2♣ 2♦* …] ignoring the 2♣ overcall.
[P – P – 1 – 2♠ Dbl* …] a 3-pieceor4-piece Limit Raise “Stolen Bid double”.
Not a Negative double or Penalty Double.
[P – P – 1 – Dbl - 2♣* or 2♦*…] a 3-pieceor4-piece Limit Raise. Ignore the Dbl.