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, 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.
One of my favorite sayings is “2NT is a convention, not a contract.” In specific situations, Responder can use 2NT as conventional raise of Opener’s suit. Sometimes we need to choose between several different conventional methods for competitive auctions. Here we look at our options for how to best use 2NT.
One of my favorite sayings is “2NT is a convention, not a contract.” In specific situations, Responder can use 2NT as conventional raise of Opener’s suit. Sometimes we need to choose between several different conventional methods for competitive auctions. Here we look at our options for how to best use 2NT.
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 is particularly true in competitive auctions but is also useful in constructive auctions. Responder must balance showing the size of their fit with showing their values. This LOTT bidding is especially effective when our side has a 9+card fit. In this case, the auction is likely to become competitive if the opponents have some values as well. Predicting this to happen, we would like to be able to compete to the 3-level with a 9+card fit as quickly as possible, eating up the opponents’ bidding space while showing our values. 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.
When our side opens the bidding 2♣, we need an agreement about how we handle our responses. There are a variety of ways to handle this -- 2♦ waiting, Steps, Controls, 2♥ Bust. People have strong opinions about 2♥ for showing a bust. The players who dislike it are worried about “wrong siding” a ♥ contract. The players who like it like knowing that 2♦ is game forcing, determining if we are going to game or not immediately.
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 even if it is our agreement. For these reasons many experienced partnerships choose to use these jumps to 2M for other constructive bidding purposes. Let’s look at uses of these jump shifts that can help us with some problem hands for Responder.
When we use Inverted Minors to raise partner’s suit, the traditional approach is to show Major suit stoppers and determine whether we can play a notrump contract. A more sophisticated approach is to use an artificial structure that allows Opener to show their hand type and strength and allow Responder to determine where to play the final contract (and who should be the declarer in notrump). A similar approach to this structure can be used in 1♦ – 2♣ auctions as well. Let’s look at some of these methods in detail.
Another approach for using 2♥ and 2♠ responses to 1-minor suit opening bids is to use these bids to show a variety of problematic hands that have length in both Major suits. This method, called Reverse Flannery, is particularly effective after a 1♦ opening bid. It originally comes from Precision where 1♦ is the only “natural” 1-minor opening bid. Let’s look at how this works and see what types of hands these agreements can help us bid better.
When partner opens the bidding in a suit at the 1-level and the next player overcalls 1NT, we want to have a system that allows us to deal with this interference effectively. With a good hand (which is somewhat rare in this auction), we make a penalty double. With a poor hand that is relatively balanced, we likely want to stay out of the auction and simply pass. It is the distributional hands with some values, but less than 10 HCP, where we are likely to want to compete in the bidding. One way to make it easier to bid with these distributional hands is to use a system similar to what we do when the opponents open 1NT. Let’s look at what systems we should use in these auctions and how our system varies based on which suit partner opened.
When we find a Major suit fit and we are interested in game (specifically in the auction 1M – 2M), we want to have a good way to explore or invite game. The traditional way to do this is to ask for help in a side suit, using a Help Suit Game Try, HSGT. We additionally have 2NT available to make a general try for game (some play it as trump suit GT) and a raise to 3-Major to mean 1-2-3 Stop (or generally quantitative/general GT.) This structure is reasonably effective in exploring game.
When the auction begins 1X – 1Y – 1NT (where X and Y are different suit bids), the modern treatment is to play Two-Way New Minor Forcing. This approach uses both 2♣* and 2♦* as artificial and forcing bids by Responder. 2♦* is an artificial game forcing bid, while 2♣* is generally used to start invitational bidding sequences. XYZ is a convention that is an extension of this approach in other auctions that start with three bids at the 1-level. Let’s look at the details of how this can improve our bidding.
New Minor Forcing is an excellent convention for continuing the auction when Opener has shown a balanced hand that is weaker than opening 1NT. But after a New Minor Forcing bid, the auction often gets complicated if we don’t go straight to game. It can be confusing whether we are inviting game or trying to make a slam try – which bids are forcing and which bids are non-forcing? 2-Way New Minor Forcing is an upgrade to New Minor Forcing that allows Responder to better describe their hand and simplify and clarify the rest of the auction.
The concept of having a conventional bid like Drury available to show a limit raise in support of partner’s Major suit when we are a passed hand is a regular part of most partnerships’ passed hand bidding structure. Given that making a 2/1 bid into a minor suit is not that attractive (or even possible!) by a passed hand, it makes sense to allocate both 2♣ and 2♦ as artificial raises of Opener’s third seat (or fourth seat) Major suit opening bid. Many partnerships that play Drury play 2-Way Drury, using one bid to show a 3-card limit raise and the other a 4-card limit raise. But a more sophisticated structure can allow us to describe even more hand types in the same bidding space.
