Bridge: a comprehensive introductory guide

A few words (actually, 179 of them) :

Contract bridge can be extremely fun, but to many, it has a steep learning curve. I
myself can only be considered an amateur at best, and Ive been learning myself
whilst receiving support from several seniors for a few months. However, this
process can also be extremely fun and mentally stimulating, and I gained many
insights as to why we do certain things in bridge.

However, this intuition and the why of things like why we bid this way, why
we have rules like third hand high, etc. are often not expressed clearly in
resources, and in this short guide I wish to share some of the many intuition to
things many beginners will learn.

At the same time, this can be used as an introductory guide to the game itself,
and although I wont be explaining the rules, I will go through almost all of the
things you need to know for you to start playing casual games in bridge clubs all
over Singapore immediately. (You might fail in the games, but you wont fail in
bridge etiquette!)

- Yang Gan, super enthu dude who has too much time in his hands.
Introduction to bridge etiquette

I am assuming you know the rules of the game. Here I will share some of the
lesser-known rules and silent agreements that bridge players have at a
duplicate event in any bridge club.

1. Respect
Every bridge player is expected to be respectful and courteous to their
partners and opponents. A simple greeting before you sit at a table, or a
thank you before you leave, goes a long way in making a positive
impression of yourself.

Bridge is a silent game. While directors (someone who acts as an arbiter)

tend to be lenient in casual duplicate pairs or rubber events, players are
expected to not say unnecessary things during all phases of the game.
While casual chit-chat with everyone on the table, or a discussion on the
possible ways a deal could have been played are encouraged, private talks
across the table between yourself and your partner is considered to be
extremely rude.

Also, do not scold your partner or condemn your opponents for poor play;
this is basic courtesy and it also goes a long way in a healthy partnership.

2. Before you start

Dont be blur; know what is going on. You should know which table you
are supposed to be at, which one you are suppose to head to (usually
indicated on a sheet of paper found on every table) and what your pair
number is.

When you take cards out from the clip (the holder that contains all the
cards of the deal), COUNT and WAIT for everyone to count before looking
at your hand. It is not as uncommon as you think for cards to go 12-14,
and it causes great problems if you dont count before you look at your
cards.

Last but not least, I emphasise again, dont be blur. Check the clip and
know who is the dealer (the person who starts bidding first). Don't let
your opponents and partner wait for your bid while you have no idea
whats going on.

3. Bidding
Now that everyones counted their cards and looked at them, it is fine to
remind opponents to bid, but do give others some time to arrange their
cards.

During the bidding phase, if your partner has made any artificial or
alertable bid such as stayman (though since many people use it we tend
to forgo this sometimes), Jacoby 2NT, multi 2 Diamonds, etc., you can pull
out your Alert card the moment he bids to inform opponents that your
 partner has made a special bid.

Anyone can ask their opponents on the meaning of their bids, but ONLY
during their turn to bid. Remember that in order to maintain integrity, the
person who made the bid is NOT allowed to answer any questions; the
partner answers them. The reason is simple: if you are allowed to answer
your own bids meaning, you can simply just describe your entire bloody
hand and say it's the convention. (i.e. Whats the meaning of YOUR 1Heart
bid? Oh, it means 3-5-3-2 distribution missing King of Hearts)

If opponents did not raise any questions, you do not need to explain your
bid, and are expected not to.

During any stage of play, you may refer back to the bidding and question
the opponents.

Once you put down a bid, you may not retract it, so dont anyhow throw.

4. Play
Some rules regarding play: if you accidentally throw out more than one
card (i.e. flashed another card), it becomes a penalty card. Ask what to do,
because I personally also have no idea how it works.

Revokes are to be reported to directors and thereby decide what to do

(how many tricks to be transferred)

Please thank your partner when dummy drops.

Introduction to scoring of deals

This section handles the scoring of deals (not IMPs), so you will understand
some of the ideas later on. For the first table:

Denomination Each trick Each trick Each trick

(undoubled) (doubled) (redoubled)
No trump

-First trick 40 80 160

-Subsequent 30 60 120
tricks
Major suit 30 60 60
Minor suit 20 40 80

This means that for every trick above the 6th (because 1 level means 7 tricks, 2
level means 8, etc.) you get the point as stipulated above. For example, if you
made the exact contract of 1NT, it is 40 points. 2NT is 40+30=70. 3 is 90 points,
etc.

Bonus points table:

Bonus type Not vulnerable Vulnerable
Partial (total points less 50 50
than 100)
Game (total points is 100 300 500
or more)
Small Slam (a successful 500 750
contract to win 12 tricks)
Grand slam (a successful 1000 1500
contract to win 13 tricks)

Thus, a quick calculation will reveal that the smallest level for game in no trumps
is 3NT for major suit is 4 or 4, for minor suit is 5 or 5. This imbalance
creates plenty of interesting tactics, including why people usually shy away from
playing minor suit contracts if they can find a game in major suit or the hand is
playable in 3NT. In fact, if there exist stoppers, most people tend to play in 3NT.

Furthermore, people cringe when they bid 4 when they can make 6, because
of the hefty 500 or 750 bonus they could have gotten.

There are several other tables you can check out on Wikipedia, on the scoring of
overtricks and undertricks. But the basic idea is, if you are vulnerable, winning in
a doubled contract gives you more points, but losing loses you more points too.
Bidding

The system Im introducing here is the Standard American Yellow Card, a natural
system that most players use. Some terminology first:

Void: no cards in a suit.

Singleton; doubleton: a single card in a suit/two cards in a suit.

High Card Points: Count 4 points for Ace, 3 for King, 2 for Queen, and 1 for Jack.
But do not blindly count, sometimes you might need to use your discretion a bit.
E.g. you have a singleton Queen. Is it really worth 2 points? When the opponents
play an Ace or King, your Queen will drop, making it worthless. It might not be
worth 2 points afterall, huh.

Natural: a bid that is, well, natural. i.e. I bid means I have ; I bid means I
have , simple.

Artificial: a bid that is, well, not natural. i.e. Stayman convention 2 does not say
anything about the bidders clubs. It has a special meaning which I will introduce
later on.

Convention: a set of rules that you agree with your partner about what different
bids mean. Bidding conventions have been refined and defined over and over for
centuries (bridge started in the 1600s!), and there are many systems out there
that have been proven to be efficient. There is a lot though, so you might want to
do some shopping and pick the ones you feel comfortable with after weighing its
advantages and disadvantages.

Opener, responder, rebid: The opener is the player who made the first bid in the
auction; the responder is the partner of the opener who made a bid in response
to the opening bid; a rebid is a subsequent bid, starting from the opener.

Fit: statistics and common sense tells us that the more cards you have in a suit,
the higher your chances of making a contract with that suit. But what common
sense didnt tell us is that an 8-card fit gives us statistically the most comfortable
chance of making our contract. This means that many bidding conventions aim to
help you find this 8-card fit. Do also realise that if you already know that such a
fit does not exist, bidding a suit has no particular meaning.

e.g. 1 - 1 - 2 ; the last bid is extremely dubious. By right, this is supposed to

mean that you have 5 diamonds and 4 hearts. But think of it this way: Your
partner has at least 4 cards in spades. If he had 4 hearts, he would have bid 1
instead of 1. So there is already no chance that you have an 8-card fit (at most
you have 4-3 seven card fit) in hearts. Thus this bid has to mean something else,
and it does it is known as a reverse, which is an otherwise dubious bid that is
made to show something else (goes reverse in logic). Usually people use it show a
big hand above 16 points (so the opening bidder does not pass; with so many
points this is at least game level).
Game; Slam; Grand Slam: its not only about what they mean, because you should
have already known from the previous section. Its about their significance.
Having a game contract gives you bonus points, and thus if you have cards strong
enough to play in 3NT, 4, 4, 5 or 5, it hurts to have not bid at least that level
(for now it might be just dignity, but in competitions if other people get more
points, you lose IMPs!). Furthermore, if you can make 12 or 13 tricks and did not
bid slam, you might also lose out with the same logic!

Usually, with a combined (partner plus you) total of 25+ points, you have
strength for 3NT (there are more conditions, but this is the point condition at
least), 27+ are required for 4 of a major, and 29+ are desired for 5 of a minor.
However this is just a guideline, many times you can play good game contracts
without having too many points.

Invitational: a bid that, as the name suggests, invites your partner to bid on. For
instance, you count that you and your partner have at least 24 points together. If
your partner just had a little bit more points, you might be looking at a game
contract. But you are not sure, so you make an invitational bid that is not yet
game level, such that if your partners has more points (or he evaluates his hand
to have some sort of strength) he will bid on to game.

Alright, enough mugging, lets get down to business.

Opening bids
The opening bid is the FIRST bid made in the auction. If your LHO (left hand
opponent) has already made a bid, and you bid over it, its no longer an opening
bid.

Bid Point range Meaning Intuition

1 13-21 Denies 5 card major; A game in a major suit is 4 level
Has longer clubs than lowest. This means that it is easier
diamonds to make a major suit contract than
a minor suit contract (you only
need 10 tricks compared to 11!)

Thus the focus is to find a major fit

at first opportunity; thus we assign
1 level major bids to a 5-card suit.
You will want to make a bid if you
have 13+ points, but how about
other kinds of hands? What if you
dont have 5 cards in a major, or a
minor suit? If you dont have a lot
of points, bidding at 2 level can be
dangerous. Thus, 1 and 1 are
reserved to describe such hands.
 Why 13-21 points? 13 is one more
than the average number of points
needed for game. So if you open,
and your partner has an opening
hand too, you know you are in
game. 21 is the cap because when
you have a crap load of points, you
risk your partner having little
points. Then what happens is that
he may pass when you might
have a game contract.

We have better bids for hands with

more than 21 points.

1 13-21 Denies 5 card major; Refer to above. The difference

Has longer diamonds between 1 and 1 is simply which
than clubs suit you are longer in.

1 13-21 5 cards in Hearts Refer to above

1 13-21 5 cards in Spades Refer to above

How do you count 13 points? First take your HCP (high card points), then add 1
for a doubleton, 2 for a singleton and 3 for a void. This tells you how valuable
your suit bid is.

1NT 15-17 HCP Regular distribution; When you bid 1NT, just like the
don't have any other bids you must be prepared in
DO NOT singleton/voids, and case your partner passes. The best
count has at most ONE chances of making 1NT is when
distribution doubleton. you have enough points, and when
points (for your distribution is regular
void, e.g. 4-4-3-2 (otherwise 1 of a suit could be a
singleton, e.g. 5-3-3-2 better contract).
etc.)
1NT here is what we call a limit
bid, because it limits your hand (it
must be 15-17 HCP, and
distribution is regular). When your
hand is limited, your partner is the
boss of the contract: he knows
what you have clearly, but you
dont know what he has. If you try
to take over the contract, it can
spell disaster. For example, if your
partner bids 2, he KNOWS whats
up. He probably has very little
points, but has a 6-card spade suit
(for the 8-card fit). This is because
 he KNOWS that you have at least 2
cards in spades (regular
distribution). So dont go and
continue to bid.

Two level opening bids

There are many reasons why people open at 2 level instead of 1. Logically, to bid
at 2 level, you must have a stronger hand, since you need 8 tricks if played, right?
That might be true, but more popular is the Strong 2 convention combined with
the Weak 2 convention.

2 21+ 5 cards in Spades We mentioned that we have a

better bid for hands with more
than 21 points. Here it is! It is
logical for a few reasons:

1. This is the lowest bid at 2

level, thus you have plenty
of bidding space to
communicate and find out
whether you should play in
game, or in slam, or even
grand slam, which may be
possible since you have a
big hand.
2. It is unlikely that you will
have a hand that plays 2
clubs. The removal of this
possibility is a small price to
pay for this convenient
alternative.
3. You hardly ever need 2
clubs as a pre-emptive club
bid.

Here I mentioned the word pre-emptive. What does this mean? In short:

When you have a hand that is too weak to bid conventionally, but it has a long,
running suit that can give you loads of tricks if it is trump.

One has to realise that HCP is not the best way to evaluate how many tricks your
hand can take. I mentioned this in the glossary, that if you have a singleton
Queen for example, it might not be worth 2 points afterall. Normally, with say 6
points, you will hardly want to bid, before even talking about opening. But look
at this 6-pointer hand:

AQ10987 432 2 32
If your partner has K or J of spades, it is likely that you have 6 spade tricks (by
finessing if he is missing either). Maybe he is short in clubs, and you can ruff a
club for a 7th trick. Maybe he has a King of diamonds, which might give you an 8th
trick. Or maybe even better: he may have some spades and void clubs, and you
can cross-ruff to victory.

The bottom-line is, with a 6-pointer hand like above, it might not be as useless as
you might think it is.

But MORE importantly, you have only 6 points. This leaves 34 points on the
table. If you average it out, your opponents probably have more than 23 points.
They might thus very well have a game contract. Now what happens then?

Suppose your opponents have 25 points together and 8 card heart fit: boom if
they make 4 they get 420 points. Now lets say on the opening bid you bid 2.
Now even if the opponent holds 14 points, he dare not bid, because he must
either bid 2NT or a 3 level bid that requires 9 tricks. His partner could have very
little points. Now what happens? You play 2 and makes, getting 110 points. The
difference? A whopping 530 points!

Even if you cannot manage to make 2, and scores 1 under (you only get 7
tricks), you still did better than if your opponents scored 420 points! In a
duplicate competition setting, this will earn you the IMPs if other tables let their
opponents find the 4 contract.

Now that you see what it means, we introduce the weak 2 bids.

2 6-10 Good 6-card With a good 6-carder diamond like

Diamonds AK10532, or AQJ765, you can
expect to make 8 tricks with
By good, we mean diamonds as trumps while stealing
you have 2 out of bidding space from opponents.
AKQ
Why 6-10 points? With less than 6
points, your suit is probably not
very solid. With more than 10
points, it might be better to wait
for someone to bid, then overcall to
show you actually HAVE
something.

2 6-10 Good 6-card Hearts Refer to above

2 6-10 Good 6-card Spades Refer to above

Similarly, 3 level opening pre-empts require a good 7-carder, 4 level 8-carder.

Now for a short description of exotic openings, whose intuition should be pretty
obvious:
2NT: Regular distribution 20-21 points
3NT: Regular distribution 25-27 points
4NT and above: To play (playing tricks maybe, or some other consideration)
Response

A response is the bid that the partner makes after one made an opening bid.

The response has several key objectives:

1. To show support for partners suit. In this way the partnership knows of
an 8-card fit, it only remains to find out which level to play the contract at.

a. Find a 5-3 fit. If the partner raises an original 1 major opening, the
partnership might be looking at (at least) a 5-3 fit. E.g. 1 - 2

b. Find a 4-4 fit. If partner opens 1NT, having a 5-3 might not be
likely, but a 4-4 is possible, and is sometimes more valuable than a
5-3 fit (do you know why?) e.g. Stayman convention 1NT - 2: I
have a 4-carder major, but Im not sure if you have 4 cards in the
same major. Ill just bid 2, if you have a 4-card major bid that, and
Ill see if we have a fit, k?

2. To find a fit in a new suit. If there is no support for the original suit bid,
one needs to show that he has another long suit, which may have an 8-
card fit. E.g. 1 - 1 I have spades, at least 4 to be exact.

3. Tell partner how strong his hand is. Do you play in partscore, or in game?
Or slam? E.g. 1 - 2NT Jacoby 2NT convention: I have at least 4 cards in
Hearts (we have a 9-card fit!) and opening level points (13+). If you are
strong enough we can try for slam, else we can at least play 4

4. To show a certain shapely hand. As mentioned, HCP does not mean

everything, and having a void or singleton in a side suit might be
extremely valuable. E.g. 1 - 4 (splinter; I have spade support, a big
support hand, and void or ace in clubs)

5. To show a certain number of points. E.g. 1 - 1NT: I have 6-11 HCP, but
theres like no good bid for me. Lets just bid 1NT for now, you tell me
more about your hand. It doesnt say anything about my cards other than
the fact that I dont have 4+ cards in spades, coz otherwise I would have
bid 1 instead (1NT might have different point ranges depending on
partnership agreement. 6-11 is for most people playing 2-over-1 game
forcing convention)

A rebid is made by the opening bidder after a response.

The rebid has several key objectives:

1. Show how strong the hand is, after finding a trump fit. Great, we have an
8-card fit. But are we strong enough to play at game level? (e.g. 1 -2 -3
means hey I have around 15-16 points, if you have more than the
 minimum needed to raise my 1 Hearts, bid to 4 Hearts, else pass)

2. Show support for the new suit introduced. I might have a 3-card spades I
thought was worthless, until you told me you had 5-card spades. (e.g.
maybe you have 3-5-3-2 and your partner has 5-2-3-3, so the auction
might go 1 -1 -2)

3. Introduce a new suit. This is rare, but the new suit must have at least 4
cards. It is used to find 4-4 fits in a third suit. (e.g. maybe you have 2-4-2-5
and your partner has 2-4-5-2, so the auction might go 1 -1 -1 -2)

4. Reply to a convention. E.g. 1NT - 2 - 2 (I have 4+ hearts)

5. Sign-off. 3NT/4/5/6/7

From here on, I will be introducing and discussing several bridge conventions
that I have mentioned before.

One key idea to the SAYC is that, being the most natural bidding system, it is
extremely hard to convey the proper hand and get the best contract when
everyone is bidding naturally to just show which suit they are strong in.
Precision requires memorisation of sequences, but most bids are not natural as
they are in SAYC.

That is basically the sacrifice you have to make in return for convenience in most
of the bids. However, to deal with that problem, there are many conventions
available to express different kinds of hands more efficiently. These are our so
called conventions.

Basic bidding rules:

1. Response of a new suit is forcing; it basically says we might not have a fit
in the first suit you bid, but we should at least see if we can find another
fit
2. With a strong hand, the responder should do whatever in his power to
keep the bid going; either by using a forcing bid, or by raising to game
immediately
3. Given any hand that might have a combined HCP of around 30, try for
slam using one of the slam bidding tools
Lets have a quick overview

Suit and strength bids

1.1 Stayman: tool used to find a 4-4 major fit
1.2 Jacoby Transfer: tool used to put the responder as the boss of the auction
1.3 Texas Transfer: an extension of the same idea above
1.4 2/1 game forcing: a tool by responder to tell partner that they have enough
points for game immediately
1.5 Inverted minors: used to confirm a minor suit fit
1.6 Reverse: used as a game forcing bid to show a strong support hand
1.7 Jacoby 2NT: used as a game forcing bid to show a strong support hand
1.8 Splinters: used as a game forcing bid to show strong support hand and first
round control in a side suit
1.9 4th suit forcing to game: when theres no fit but there are points, this bid is
used to tell partner that as a responder, you have enough for game
1.10 New minor forcing: To check if there is a major fit after opener bidder of a
minor rebids 1NT
1.11 Puppet Stayman: Stayman-like responses to 2NT (need to preserve space
for 3NT game bid)
1.12 Bergen raises:
1.13 Multi two diamonds:

Interference bids and dealing with interference

2.1 DONT or Cappelletti over 1NT: to annoy the crap out of opponents when
they bid 1NT
2.2 Lebensohl: to deal with the above
2.3 Negative doubles: to show that you have a decent hand and a possible fit in a
suit that you can no longer bid as it is interfered
2.4 Responsive doubles: to tell partner you have no convenient bid even though
you might have a fit
2.5 Michaels cuebid and Unusual 2NT: to tell partner that you have a special
distribution; used as interference
2.6 DOPI, ROPI, DEPO: dealing with people trying to interfere a blackwood
sequence

Slam seeking bids

3.1 Standard blackwood: very standard
3.2 RKCB: Roman Keycard Blackwood 0314 or 1430
3.3 Gerber: slam bidding from a lower level (may be used for minors)
3.4 Quantitative slam try: for No Trump contacts
1.1 Stayman convention

The Stayman convention is a way of answering a partners 1NT opening bid.

1NT promises regular distribution and 15-17HCP, meaning the responder

already knows very well how the openers hand looks like.

Lets say you hold AQ74 1095 Q109 J2 opposite a 1NT opener. What will
you respond with? Surely with 8 points opposite 15-17, there could be a game of
some sort. Most likely by this distribution you will be playing 3NT.

However, a suited contract may be safer, if you have an 8-card fit. Since it is
unlikely that your partner has 5 cards in hearts, there is most likely no heart fit.
But how about spades? You have 4 spades, and if your partner also has 4, you do
have a 4-4 fit!

Stayman is used to solve this kind of problem. You make a bid of 2 which says
nothing about your clubs, but instead that you have at least one 4 card major.

a) With 4 card hearts, 1NT opener bids 2

b) With 4 card spades, 1NT opener bids 2
c) With no 4 card major, 1NT opener bids 2

Now it is up to the discretion of the responder. Keep in mind your main

objective: to find a 4 card major fit.

E.g. 1) The uninterrupted auction goes 1NT - 2 - 2

With AJ109 K105 Q432 953 what do you bid?

Back to common sense: your partner has shown to have 4 cards in hearts, but did
he show anything about spades? No. Could he possibly have 4 cards in spades?
Yes! 4-4-3-2 distribution is regular and could be opened with 1NT! Therefore
you can bid 2 hoping for a 4-4 spade fit. With a spade fit, your partner will raise
spades, then you can bring it to 4. If your partner bids 2NT, he denies 4 spades
and you can either play in 2NT or 3NT depending on your points (in this case bid
3NT).

E.g. 2) The uninterrupted auction goes 1NT - 2 - 2

With Q52 KQ103 Q43 765 what do you bid? Are you going to find the heart
fit? No! With 4 card hearts, your partner would have bid 2 Hearts instead of
Spades! Since you most likely have no fit but you do have points, bid 3NT.

Summary: 1NT - 2 is stayman convention, where 1NT opener will rebid with
his 4-card major suit or 2 when without a 4 card major.
1.2 Jacoby Transfers

Jacoby Transfers are typically used in conjunction with Stayman convention as

mentioned above. As the name suggests, it transfers your bid to your partner.

Say your partner opened 1NT, and you hold the following: AK1054 Q1064
107 98

What will you bid? Great, you have a lot of spades, and probably a spade game
even. But you cannot deny that your partner has the stronger hand. If you bid 2
what do you expect your partner to bid? If he passes, you might miss a 4-4 heart
fit and instead play with a 5-2 spade fit. He dare not bid on because he doesnt
know how many points you hold.

Now even worse: you will be the declarer. Anything the defender leads, your
stronger hand (dummy) will be under attack. Say you are South and West leads
2 and your 1NT partner has diamond holding K85. If you play your K, it will
most likely be captured by Wests A, promoting QJ of diamonds for your
opponents.

Thus you will want the stronger hand (1NT) to be the declarer. To do this, you
agree with your partner that if you have hearts, you bid 2, if you have spades,
you bid 2. Here are some examples and explanations.

1. J108654 5 84 J864 : transfer with 2. Pass partners 2 bid. You know you
have a 8-card spade fit but not enough points for anything more than 2 level.

2. 832 KJ9543 642 K6 : transfer with 2. Raise to 3, invitational, telling

your partner to bid to game if he has 16 or 17 HCP, and to pass if he only holds
the minimum of 15 HCP.

3. 1098765 AK 54 K43 :transfer with 2. Raise to 4.

4. 9874 QJ754 Q54 K4 : transfer with 2. Bid 2NT, invitational. With 3 cards
in hearts he raises to game, else bids 3

5. - KQJ43 542 AQ974 : transfer with 2. Bid 3, forcing, to show second

suit.

6. A10543 105 KQ6 Q43 : transfer with 2. Jump to 3NT to show strength
and 5 carder. Partner should raise to game with 3 card support, pass with
minimum and no support, QST with points and no support, blackwood with
support and points.

7. 109543 QJ943 43 7 : transfer with 2. Pass partners 2 bid.

8. A9754 109543 Q8 6 9. AK543 QJ653 94 9

With 5-5 in majors, transfer to Hearts then bid 2S to show invitational, transfer
to spades then bid 3H to show game forcing; let partner choose which suit.
For the 1NT opener, he can choose to super-accept any transfer by bidding it at
the 3 level, showing a 4-card support and a maximum hand (16-17)

Responder can also sign off to either minor by bidding 2 to which the opener
responds with 3

If responder has long clubs, he passes. If he has diamonds instead, he bids 3

It is unfortunate that he has to be the declarer, but theres no helping it, unless
you want to use 3 as a transfer to diamonds, which is also possible.

But that removes the option of the responder bidding 3 and 3 as invitational
bids to a minor game. Remember, use discretion: if you see that you have major
suits stopped, or 1NT opener sees that after such a bid by responder, theres
always the option of going 3NT, which is better than a minor game in most cases
(unless there is shortness in a side suit/not stopped).

1.3 Texas Transfers

This is an extension of the idea of transfers, but this time bidding only at 4 level.
Why the need to do this when you can just use Jacoby transfers then raise to
game? When you immediately use Texas transfers, you are denying all chances
of slam. But if you use Jacoby transfers then your opener can decide if he is
maximum and can try for slam.
1.4 Two over One Game forcing

Assume you have 5 diamonds and 3 spades with 12 points.

Say your partner opens 1 and you have game values but only 3 card spade
support. If you bid 2, your partner will know of your spade support, but he
wont know anything about your diamonds you might miss a 9 card diamond fit
to play a game in diamonds or no trumps. He will have to guess how strong your
raise is: he might even pass.

That is why the classic 2 level bid over a one level bid is an issue: it eats up
bidding space as each side is afraid to miss game, and there is no good
invitational sequence.

The definition of a 2 over 1 bid is very simple. It is simply a 2 level bid in a suit
that is LOWER than the original suit bid by the opener. E.g. 1 - 2, 1 - 2

The most important aspect of the 2 over 1 game forcing agreement is the bidding
space to explore slam. As you might realise, sometimes you need not require a lot
of points for a good slam contract good distribution and first round or second
round control by shortness (having void/singleton) is extremely valuable.

The 2 over 1 game forcing convention allows partnerships to cuebid after

agreeing on the trump suit, biding another suit might not appear to be
constructive: thus they are used to show that they have a first round control in
that suit (having an ace or a void; you CONTROL the first round and not allow the
opponents to quickly take a trick in the round right off the bat).

A 2 over 1 game forcing bid as its name suggests, is game forcing and thus must
assure the number of points necessary for game. You may show delayed support
for your partners opening suit by first bidding a 2 over 1, then showing 3 card
support in his major. With 4 card support, bid 3/

a. 1 - 2
b. 1 - 2
c. 1 - 2 could have as little as 3 in 3-4-3-3
d. 1 - 2
e. 1 - 2 promises 5 hearts
f. 1 - 2

How does that facilitate slam exploration? Take the sequence 1 - 2 - 3 - 3

If there is no 2/1 game forcing agreement, the last bid might be passed it is
interpreted as invitational. But in this case, it just shows a delayed support for
hearts. Now the opening bidder can explore slam by cue bidding 3 for example,
to show ace or void in spades.

Principle of fast arrival: once you know where the contract belongs, theres no
need to bid slow: e.g. you are partner holding 12 points and the auction goes 1 -
2 - 2 showing 6 hearts; thus bid 4 game straight: if your partner has a strong
hand he knows you have a minimum and will only try slam if he has >16 points.
1.5 Inverted Minors

A major suit opening is straight-forward: raise? Second suit? No fit? NT!

But a minor suit opening can be more troublesome. Is there a major 4-4 fit? 3-5
fit? Before I continue I have to warn that showing a 4-card higher suit is a
priority. If you have a hand that is suitable for a 1 level overcall in a higher suit,
BID THE HIGHER SUIT.

The sequence 1 - 2 or 1 - 2 is generally regarded to contain a 5 carder with

invitational values (10+). A jump raise in the 3 level is considered weak and pre-
emptive, to which the opener can raise if he has a big hand.

A rebid in another major suit shows extra values, is forcing for 1 round (a tool for
opener with a bigger hand!) and shows 3-4 cards in the major suit. Goal: To
check whether NT can be played. If you only hold 4 cards in total in a major, you
might want to consider playing in the minor suit. Otherwise, playing in NT might
be a better idea, simply because the opponents might not be able to run 5 rounds
in a suit straight away.

Note that rebidding a major is NOT to find fit: if the responder has a 4-card major
he would have already bid it.

Else, opener bids 2NT, showing no singleton (semi-balanced holding) and only 3-
card support for the minor. After which, with extra values, the responder cue
bids his LOWEST suit with a stopper.

1 - 2 - 2NT - 3 says: I have more points, we might try game, I have a club
stopper. By more points, use rule of 20 to determine if you have an opening
hand.

A rebid at 3 level in a new suit shows a stopper and game going values.
Responder will then bid HIS stopper, until either the partnership decides to play
in No Trumps or in the minor suit.

1 - 2 - 3 - 3 - 3NT opener says: hey I have a heart stopper. Responder says:

hey I have a spade stopper (without spade stopper, he bids 3NT with semi-
balanced holding, hoping for a pass-or-correct to the minor suit; i.e. with more
stoppers in side suits passes, with like singleton or smth corrects to 4 or 5).
Opener is glad to have all suits stopped and signs off in 3NT.

To make things short, for the opener after an inverted minor activation:

a) With no points, bid a major at 2 level if you have 3 or 4 cards, else bid 2NT
for semi-balanced or 3 of the minor with 4 carder (basically, pre-emptive)
b) With points, bid the lowest suit that is stopped at 3 level, bid 3NT if all
suits stopped, bid to game with unbalanced holding and points.

For the responder, goal is simple: respond with his own stopped suit or decide
which contract to sign off.
1.6 Reverse and jump shifts

First Ill explain what a reverse is. It is a REBID made by the opener after a
response, in a 3rd suit, such that the new suit is bid INTO the two previous suits
(i.e. between the two suits).

Therefore, 1 - 1 - 2/ is a reverse

So is 1 - 1/ - 2 and 1 - 1NT - 2 ; you get the point. Usually reverses are

only agreed if partner rebid at one level.

Now you have to understand that under normal circumstances, this rebid makes
NO SENSE at all. Why so? Usually, when someone bids one suit, then bids another
suit, it shows 5 cards in the first suit and 4 cards in the second.

But seeking a 4-4 fit in the second suit does not make sense! Why? With 4 cards
in the suit made as a rebid, the responder would have responded with 1 of the
suit!

E.g. if the partner of a 1 opener has 4 hearts, he would bid 1 as it takes

priority! Thus what is the point of bidding 1 - 1 - 2?

Which is why such bids are reserved for a special meaning: you have a BIG
opening hand and wants to tell your partner that hey, dont anyhow pass, my
hand is pretty good. How good? 16+ points (this is known as the medium range).

Now you might be wondering, how do people usually bid with a strong opening
hand 19+ points. There are tools available, such as the jump shift. Usually a jump
shift in a new suit by the opener shows a very powerful hand with 5-4
distribution in the two suits he bid, in that order.

What to do after that? Use common sense; the purpose is to find a fit, bid no
trumps, or explore slam.

A rebid of the responders suit shows 5+ with points; rebid of a new suit is
natural and game forcing, 3NT to play or a jump to a suit game straight to play.

Here it is only right for me to point out that with 5 clubs and 4 diamonds, do
NOT bid 1! This is because if your partner bids 1 of a major, you CANNOT bid
2 when you have less than 16 points! Bid 1 instead. Alternatively, bid 1NT over
your partners 1 level bid.
1.7 Jacoby 2NT

Jacoby 2NT is a 2NT bid over your partners opening 1 of a major bid. It shows 4+
trump support with an opening hand as well as interest in slam.

With minimum values, opener bids to game.

With 14+ points and 6+ in the major, bid 3 of the major.

With singleton/void in a suit, bid 3 of the suit as a splinter.

With a good 5+ side suit, bid 4 of the suit.

With 14+ balanced, bid 3NT.

From here, use appropriate sign-off or slam bidding sequence.

1.8 Splinters

Splinters are bids made in a suit sequence that is a jump shift to a new suit by the
opener or responder. It can be used by either opener or the responder near the
beginning of the auction.

It shows singleton or void in the suit, which can be valuable when considering
losers in a suit in the process of exploring slam.

e.g. 1 - 1 - 3 shows spade singleton/void and 4 card heart support

1 - 1 - 3 shows heart singleton/void and 4 card spade support

1.9 4th suit forcing

Your partner opened a suit. You responded another suit. Your partner bid YET
another suit. He is trying to tell you of a 5-4 holding, but you dont have a fit for
any of the 2 suits. What do you do?

It does not make much sense to bid the last suit. After all, it is numerically almost
impossible to have an 8-card fit in that suit unless both your hands are extremely
skewered. Hence this can be used in another way: in the 4th Suit game forcing
agreement.

Think about it, after 3 bids, there is still no suit fit, this means its about time to
consider playing in no trumps. However, sometimes there is a 4-4 fit in the rebid
by the opener: do you play in this suit, or do you play in no trumps? This is when
you employ 4th suit forcing.

e.g. 1 - 1 - 2 - 3 and you hold the following:

KQ85 A7 A872 954

This says nothing about your club suit. Instead, it just says most likely that you
need clubs stopped, else you would rather play in a minor suit or at worst a 7
card major suit. If it is stopped, opener can bid NT.

The opener, with a 3 card spade suit, can infer that responder has 5 card spades
and bid spades to deny club stopper.

Another situation where you need 4th suit forcing is when you have length in the
last suit. Only use this when you have 5-5 in the two suits, and to show that, do a
jump bid in that suit, e.g. 1 - 1 - 2 - 3
1.10 New Minor Forcing

Suppose the bidding goes 1 - 1 - 1NT, showing that the opener has 12-14
points; a minimum hand. But suppose the responder has an opening hand as
well, or more, what now?

Over a 1 level minor opening, a rebid by the responder in the other minor is
forcing for one round, showing an invitational or game forcing hand; this
agreement is known as New Minor Forcing.

Now the priorities of the opener in response to the activation of this system are:

1. Show a 4 card major in a new suit; minimum bid at 2, maximum bid at 3

2. Show a 3 card support for partners suit (for him to raise with 5 cards);
minimum bid at 2, maximum bid at 3
3. Expect no fit; minimum bid 2NT, maximum bid 3NT
4. With 4 card support in the articial new minor (articial means a bid that
might not mean that suit is good, as with the case with NMF).

Note that new minor forcing only applies if the new minor bid is made at the
lowest level; a jump at 3 level is natural (recall: this means bid diamonds means
have diamonds, etc.)
1.11 Puppet stayman

Other than the standard stayman, there are many versions of stayman, each with
different styles but serving the same purpose: to find a 4-4 major fit.

However, puppet stayman is usually reserved for a special situation: the opener
bids 2NT (20-21 HCP). How is this different from the standard 1NT stayman?
While you know the partnership has more points, the opener has already
committed the partnership to a 3 level in any suit bid. But the most important
part is: you dont want to bid so high that you miss 3NT.

With minor transferring hand, people will almost definitely bid 3NT.

So the idea is the similar to stayman: 2NT - 3 asking for a 4 card major.
However, it is a little bit different in the sense that you may initiate puppet
stayman with a 3-card major.

With a 5 card major, the opener bids that major in the 3 level; with a 4 card
major he bids 3, after which the responder shows HIS 4-card major by bidding
the OTHER major so as to put the 2NT opener as the declarer.

For instance in the sequence: 2NT - 3 - 3 - 3 - 4 is a possibility to raise to a

major game after 2NT (3 shows 4 card spades).

If after a puppet stayman sequence, no fit is found, there is always the possibility
of signing off in 3NT.