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 #578 (3 of 9)
When partner opens the bidding with a 2-level or 3-level preemptive opening bid then Responder may have a struggle to find the best final contract without getting the auction too high. One of the natural pressures is whether Responder risk going past 3NT to look for a fit or a better fit. Given the variability of modern preempts it can be dangerous to reach the 5-level when partner has taken an aggressive action. Here we look at a tool, called Preempt Keycard, for Responder to ask for Keycards after a preempt, but still keep the auction at a low level.
TWiB Lesson #548 (8 of 9)
Lebensohl is an excellent system for dealing with interference over our 1NT opening bids. But Lebensohl has some flaws. In Lebensohl auctions we will often play the hand from the “wrong” side (Responder’s side.) Another flaw in Lebensohl relates to Responder’s strength. Responder often has three strengths (buckets) let’s see how Transfer Lebensohl is an upgrade to this.
TWiB Lesson #549 (9 of 9)
One of the most common gadgets that we use when partner opens 1NT is Stayman. We primarily use Stayman to search for a 4-4 Major suit fit. After Stayman sometimes we want to have a way to raise partner’s suit where they cannot pass. We will want a “Forcing Raise” (similar to Jacoby 2NT or Inverted Minors) in order to find out more about Opener’s hand.
TWiB Lesson #532 (1 of 9)
When we are in a game forcing auction and the opponents interfere (usually to sacrifice) it is clear that we are not going to go quietly and just let them steal the contract. If the opponents bid over us, then we will either double them and defend or bid on to our game. Forcing Pass is an agreement used to help us work together with partner to make a good decision about which to do.
TWiB Lesson #533 (2 of 9)
Minor suit slams are much harder to bid than Major suit slams. This is especially true after we open the bidding with 1NT (or 2NT). We start off the auction looking for Major suit fits and only then look for our minor suit fits after that. These Major suit showing bids are the cheapest bids and that means that our minor suit showing bids take up more space. We look at how we overcome this.
TWiB Lesson #534 (3 of 9)
In the Major suits, we try to bid to game at 4-Major or slam at 6-Major. We try not to play in 5-Major, but it does happen, like when the opponents compete and push us beyond game, or when we go looking for slam and determine that we need to stop because we are missing two Aces. So, we can use a 5-Major bid for something other than to end the auction.
TWiB Lesson #535 (4 of 9)
We most frequently use 5NT in Ace-asking auctions to ask for Kings. We now have another use of a 5NT bid in Grand Slam Force. But trying for a grand slam is a rare occurrence and we would like to use 5NT (specially a jump to 5NT) for another more frequently useful purpose. The modern approach is to play a jump to 5NT as a “choice of slams” to help find the best small slam.
TWiB Lesson #536 (5 of 9)
On some highly distributional hands when we ask for Keycards (or Aces) using 4NT, the opponents choose to bid over our 4NT bid to obstruct communication & “get in the way”. We should be prepared for this interference & have agreements for how to communicate with partner (show our number of Keycards or Aces) in this situation.
TWiB Lesson #537 (6 of 9)
When partner bids 4NT as Keycard in our established fit, a void in a side suit can be useful. We may still be able to make a slam if we are missing two Aces/Keycards if the void is in a suit of one of those missing side Aces. We need a way to tell partner about this void if we haven’t already done so earlier in the auction. Let’s see how this play works and how you can utilize this.
TWiB Lesson #538 (7 of 9)
When we have a minor suit fit, using 4-minor as Keycard in our suit (Minorwood) is an effective tool for exploring slam without getting the auction beyond game, beyond 5-minor. But we give up the natural slam try of 4-minor, asking partner to do something forward going for slam, usually starting to make a control showing bid, if they like their hand. Let’s take a look.
TWiB Lesson #539 (8 of 9)
When we find a Major suit fit at the 3-level in a game forcing auction, then partner is usually expressing interest in slam (because without slam interest, partner would have applied the Principle of Fast Arrival and bid 4M.) In this case, now we usually express whether we have slam interest or not by either making a cuebid or simply bidding game with 4M. Let’s see how this all works.
TWiB Lesson #540 (9 of 9)
One of the ways that we investigate slam in a suit contract is the use of control showing bids. When one member of the partnership is interested in slam then they show this interest by making a control showing bid. Once we start the process of making control showing bids then we continue to do so to explore slam. But as the auction approaches game we have a big decision to make.
TWiB Lesson #524 (1 of 8)
One of the most important parts of bridge is raising partner. We try to raise Opener whenever possible. We may choose not to support partner immediately if we feel we have something more pressing to communicate, but in general we strive to “support with support.”
TWiB Lesson #525 (2 of 8)
When partner opens in 3rd or 4th seat and we have a good hand, we do not want to go jumping around to show it – partner may have no game interest for their opening bid. We want to have an effective way of describing our good hands cheaply when partner opens in 3rd or 4th seat.
TWiB Lesson #526 (3 of 8)
We look at ways that Advancer can raise partner's overcalls. It is good to have tools that show a fti and describe your hand -- one of the most common actions we like to take.
TWiB Lesson #527 (4 of 8)
When partner makes a 1-level overcall it is a very wide-ranging action in terms of strength and shape – about 7 to 18 HCP and a 5+card suit. Advancer generally assumes Overcaller has at least 10 HCP, we look at Advancer’s options for bidding and what partner should expect.
TWiB Lesson #528 (5 of 8)
A Mixed Raise shows 4-card support and 7-9 HCP in a competitive auction. Let's see how to implement this very useful bid in even more bidding situations.
TWiB Lesson #529 (6 of 8)
When the auction begins 1X – 1Y – 2Y, we usually have 4-card support for our raise of partner’s suit. But in some auctions, we don’t have a convenient rebid and we are forced to raise on only 3-card support. Here we look at when to raise responder's suit on 3-card support. And then what we do after that -- the trump asking bid, sometimes called Spiral.
TWiB Lesson #530 (7 of 8)
When partner opens the bidding with 1-Major and Responder makes a Splinter bid then this shows our fit, values, and shortness all in one call. This gives an excellent description of our hand and allows partner to re-evaluate their hand based on their working values.. Here we look at the use of Over-Splinters and see how we can use them to give partner additional information about our hand.
TWiB Lesson #531 (8 of 8)
When partner preempts the bidding at the 2-Level, and we have a good hand we expect the auction to be difficult. We need to have good agreements with partner and exercise some good judgment to get to the right final contract. When we have a fit for partner’s suit (especially a Major suit) then we know what strain we are likely to play in. We need to exchange useful information with partner.
TWiB Lesson #515 (1 of 9)
When we open the bidding with 2NT then if we find a major suit fit ( 4-4, 5-3, or 6-2), we get to declarer this from the hand that opens 2NT — the strong side. That makes it opening 2NT something we should strive to do. The modern style is to stretch to open 2NT, even with many good 19 HCP hands.
