TWiB Lesson #592 (8 of 9)
When partner opens the bidding 1-minor (1m), a jump shift to 2-Major (2M) by Responder can be used for a variety of different hand types. Both the standard approach of a strong jump shift and the common approach of a weak jump shift leave a lot to be desired. The modern style is for good hands to go slow, which makes a strong jump shift less appealing because it eats up valuable bidding space. With players responding to a 1m opening bid with 1M more and more aggressively, this makes using a weak jump shift less common…
TWiB Lesson #572 (6 of 9)
When responding to partner’s 1-Major opening bid, Responder tries to apply the Law of Total Tricks (LOTT) – getting to the size of the partnership’s fit as quickly as possible. This LOTT bidding is especially effective when our side has a 9+card fit. Bergen Raises are a set of conventional bids Responder can use when responding to a 1-Major opening bid with 4+card support (at least a 9+card fit). Let’s see how this system works.
TWiB Lesson #574 (8 of 9)
Jumping in the auction eats up a lot of bidding space, which is likely to make communicating with partner more difficult. Since our jump bid may make future communication more difficult, it should have a specific meaning. When partner opens the bidding, Responder’s jump shifts can be used to show a variety of different types of hands. We need to decide, as a partnership, which ones we want to use. We will choose different agreements for different situations.
TWiB Lesson #575 (9 of 9)
When partner makes a bid, and we choose to bid a suit of our own, this 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 are passed changes these situations.
TWiB Lesson #577 (2 of 9)
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♣. Let’s look at a system that helps us improve our jump shift methods.
TWiB Lesson #628 (1 of 8)
When partner opens 1-Major and we play 2/1 GF, then a 1NT response is used with most hands that have minimum or invitational values without a fit, showing 6-11 points. A 2NT response to a Major suit opening is not used as a natural bid because it is Jacoby 2NT, showing game forcing values and at least 4-card support. So the question is what should a jump to 3NT in response to a 1-Major opening show?
TWiB Lesson #629 (2 of 8)
When partner opens the bidding with 1 ♣ or 1 ♦ then our primary objective is to look for a Major suit fit. We do so by responding to 1-Major when we have a 4-card Major suit. We do so if we have 6 HCP or even enough for game (a good 12+ points). If we do not have a 4-card Major suit, but we have a balanced hand with enough values for game, then our most common action is to just bid the game we are likely to make, 3NT!
TWiB Lesson #630 (3 of 8)
The modern expert 2NT response to a 1-Major opening shows a limit raise or better (LR+), instead of game forcing values. This has many different inventors, advocates, and variants. In Europe, it is known as Limit Sternberg while in America, Larry Cohen popularized a similar approach. The idea of using 1M – 2NT as LR+ accomplishes a couple of goals. First, this opens up 1M – 3M to always be…
TWiB Lesson #631 (4 of 8)
When we are a passed hand and partner opens the bidding, we must be careful in trying to describe our hand. Partner’s opening bid in the 3rd seat can be light in values, trying to be destructive or lead-directing, so we cannot respond to it in the same way we would a normal opening bid. Specifically, if partner opens 1-Major in the 3rd seat, we should not go jumping around without…
TWiB Lesson #632 (5 of 8)
In general, we use jumps in competitive auctions as weak bids (0-5 points) applying the Law of Total Tricks (LOTT) -- (though sometimes the modern approach can be to use mixed bids, 6-9 points). The key is that we jump to our Law level, eating up bidding space, to quickly and narrowly define our hand. Let’s look at how we can better describe our hand to partner while preempting the auction.
