On some highly distributional hands when we ask for Keycards (or Aces) using 4NT, the opponents choose to bid over our 4NT bid in an effort to obstruct our communication and “get in the way”. We should be prepared for this type of interference and have agreements for how to communicate with partner (show our number of Keycards or Aces) in this situation. Here we look at how to do this.
5NT is not a common bid. We most frequently use it 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 up find the best small slam. Let’s see how this works.
We can use a 5-Major bid for something other than to end the auction. 5-Major can be bid concisely for a variety of reasons -- to take away bidding space from the opponents or to ask partner a specific question (which we call the “obvious question”). Let’s look at our options for how to make use of this 5-Major bid.
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 bidding challenge to bid good minor suit slams.
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. — “Forcing Pass.”
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. There are a variety of systems for accomplishing this, including Optional Feature, Ogust, Steps, and Modified Ogust.
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. In a sophisticated partnership we may choose to have multiple types of splinters, allowing us to communicate even more information to partner. Here we look at the use of Over-Splinters and see how we can use them to give partner additional information about our hand, allowing them to better judge if slam is likely to be a good contract.
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.
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.
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, to narrow down the range to a more reasonable number. Here we look at Advancer’s options for bidding and what partner should expect. Our focus is on what Responder needs in order to bid a new suit or to respond NT.
When partner makes an overcall then we have a variety of ways to raise partner's suit. Let's look at our options so we are on the same page with partner in these competitive auctions.
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.
One of the most important parts of bridge is raising partner. We try to raise partner whenever possible. We may choose not to support partner immediately if we feel we have something more pressing to communicate, in which case we can respond in our own Major, use a negative double, or bid some number of notrump. But in general we strive to “support with support.”
