Kickback is a convention that can make slam bidding easier, in that it gives us more space to ask partner for the Queen of trump, but it can also cause problems for us in the bidding. Any time we make a game contract (like 4♥ or 4♠) a conventional bid, there is danger that we have an expensive mixup with partner. Here we look at some classic danger auctions that may come up if we choose to play Kickback and then discuss some of the common partnership agreements or philosophies for how to handle these dangerous auctions.
When we preempts the bidding they cannot have 3 or 4 keycards. So it does not make sense to have a keycard system that shows these. Here we look at an improvement in steps and in how we ask.
When Opener makes a jump shift into a new suit with their second bid, it is a strong bid that creates a game forcing auction. This is a good bid because it ensures we reach game, but it is a bad bid because it eats up a lot of bidding space without fully describing our distribution. This is a problem. One of the most difficult opening hands to describe to partner is the unbalanced single-suited (one 6+card suit) hand with 18-19 HCP. This is one of the strongest hands that does not open the bidding 2♣. With this hand we usually open our suit at the 1-level and after partner responds at the 1-level, we lie in a minor suit. If our one suit is a Major, then we show our strength by making a jump shift into 3♣, even when we have very few ♣ (as few as 2 cards.) With this bid we create a game forcing auction (showing our values), but we distort our shape (partner expects that we have at least 4 cards in the ♣ suit). This can cause some confusion with partner if they have a large fit for our ♣ suit. We would like to have a way to let partner know that this jump shift is done on a single-suited hand, not on a two-suited hand. Let’s look at a system that helps us improve our jump shift methods.
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.
When partner makes a bid and we choose to bid a suit of our own, it is called a freebid. In most normal situations freebids show values (called positive freebids) and are often forcing 1-round. We’ve all heard the saying -- a new suit is forcing by an unpassed hand. Unfortunately, this is not always true, but it is often our agreement. Let’s look at freebids made by a passed hand and see how the fact that we have already passed changes these situations.
When the opponents open the bidding with 1-Major then we need to compete in the bidding and do so quickly and accurately. In order to do this week need good agreements with partner, especially about the meaning of cuebidding the opponent's suit. Let's make sure we have good agreements in these situations.
