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This Week in Bridge
(576) Kokish over Strong 2♣
© AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 8 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
Balanced hand bidding is relatively easy. We can usually describe our hand to partner by opening 1NT or rebidding 1NT. This lets partner know both our points and our hand type with either our first bid (when we open 1NT, the best situation) or with our second bid (when we rebid 1NT). However, if we have a big balanced hand then we need to have tools for describing our hand as well. These usually involve the use of 2NT – as a rebid, an opening bid, or even a rebid after having opened the bidding 2♣. But this does not solve all our bidding problems when we have these large balanced hands. Let’s look at these auctions in detail, see some of the issues, and then look at a useful gadget called Kokish to help us bid better.
Strong Balanced Hands
Here is how we describe our strong balanced hands to partner:
Opener Responder
2NT
This opening shows a balanced hand with 19+ to 21 points.
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
2NT
This sequence shows a balanced hand with 22 to 24- points (same over a 2♥* bust response to 2♣).
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
3NT
This sequence shows a balanced hand with 24+ to 26 points (If 2♥* bust response to 2♣, then 3NT could be 24+ points.
But when Opener has a 3NT rebid, then Responder is left with a difficult problem. Most players play Systems On over 3NT rebids (Stayman and transfers at the 4-level), but they must still guess what to do if they have a 5-card Major.
If Opener has 3 cards in Responder’s Major, it will be right to transfer.
If Opener has 2 cards in Responder’s Major, it will be right to pass.
This is a problem for Responder because we are too high --- no room to show 5-card Major and still offer 3NT. This is a classic example of running out of bidding space, getting to 3NT, before we have had room to properly communicate with partner.
Kokish Solution
Kokish is a conventional bid used by the Opener after they have opened 2♣. By adding a relay to our bidding we gain some interesting options, in a similar way that adding a relay helps us with Lebensohl or 2-Way New Minor Forcing. We will use a relay to help us save space and better describe our hand. Let’s see how this works.
We use a 2♥* rebid in the auction below as a relay by Opener.
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
2♥* 2♠*
This 2♥* bid forces Responder to bid 2♠* - Responder’s bid means nothing about ♠.
Now Opener gets a chance to make another bid. Specifically, this allows Opener to show more balanced hands:
2NT directly after 2♣.
Bid 2♥ relay first, then rebid 2NT.
We use these two different auctions to show more ranges of balanced hands at a level that gives us more space to communicate, starting at 2NT.
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
2NT
A direct 2NT rebid shows 22 to 24- points and a balanced hand.
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
2♥* 2♠*
2NT
This 2NT bid, going through the relay, shows a balanced hand with 24+ to 26 points.
Now we can have much better auctions when we have the 24 to 26 point balanced hands because partner can still use their normal 2NT responding tools at the 3-level (Stayman and transfers) and stop in 3NT if we do not have a fit.
Note: Kokish can be played regardless of the meaning of 2♦ in response to 2♣, i.e., whether we play 2♥ as a bust or not.
Bigger Balanced Hands
Now that we can show our 22 to 24- point and 24+ to 26 point hands at 2NT, we can use 3NT to show even larger hands:
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
3NT
Balanced hand with 27 to 28 points.
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
2♥* 2♠*
3NT
Balanced hand with 29 to 30 points.
Partner will then be in a good place to judge how high for us to get – to bid slam or not. This is an excellent structure for describing balanced hands and giving Responder room to continue the auction and look for fits, since we will play Systems On.
What To Do with Hearts
We might ask ourselves, if we use 2♥* as an artificial bid (relay to 2♠), then what do we do when we actually have ♥? First, if we are 5332 with a 5-card ♥ suit then we treat this as a balanced hand – as we do with all 5332 hands, so we will not have to deal with trying to describe that hand type (it just gets rolled into NT.)
If we have 5+♥ and 4+cards in another suit or a 6+card ♥ suit, we still need to know how to describe our hand. Well, it turns out to be easy – we just bid naturally! After we bid 2♥* (Kokish relay), we then bid our other suit:
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
2♥* 2♠*
__?
3♣ -- This shows 5+♥ and 4+♣.
3♦ -- This shows 5+♥ and 4+♦.
3♥ -- This shows 6+♥.
3♠ -- This shows 5+♥ and 4+♠, with longer ♥ than ♠.
Once we make any bid other than NT over the 2♠ relay, that new bid is natural and it turns the 2♥ bid into a natural 5+card ♥ suit.
Some Advanced Kokish Variations
We can add some additional conventional variations. These are Kokish variations and not something that all players who play Kokish play (or need to play.)
Problem Hands – Strong hand with 4-card Major and 5+card ♦. Some players play that the following auction shows this hand:
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
3♥
This jump shows 4-card ♥ and 5+card ♦.
Opener Responder
2♣ 2♦
3♠
This jump shows 4-card ♠ and 5+card ♦.
There are other advanced switches to the classical Kokish structure, but we won’t get into too many here.
Conclusion
Kokish is another application (just like Lebensohl) of a conventional relay. This relay allows the Opener to make two calls in a very small amount of space. Thus, the Opener is able to show a lot about their hand without eating up much bidding space. This is valuable because the 2♣ opening bid already ate up a lot of bidding space. Kokish helps us describe our hand and gives up very little – just what we want in a convention!