Responding to 1 Diamond with 6-9 Points

With 13 HCP you should open the bidding. If you have 5 cards in a major suit you want to open 1 of that major. If you do not have a 5 card major but do have 13 HCP you still need to open the bidding. Since you don't have a 5 card major open the bidding 1 of your longest minor. This might only have 3 cards in it.

Therefore to open the bidding 1♦ you need 13 HCP and 3♦. That's it.

When partner opens 1♦ we no longer need 13 points to make a bid. Since partner opened the bidding they have the opening hand. We just need 6 HCP to respond. With 6 HCP we need to respond. To bid a new suit we just need 4 cards in that suit. To support partner's ♦ suit we should have 5 cards in the suit. (Partner only need 3 cards in the suit to open remember. So to get an 8 card fit we should have 5.)

If partner opens 1♦ and you have a fit but you also have a 4 card major, bit the major suit. You want to try to find a fit there. If you do not have a fit in the major you can always bid ♦ later on.

The only bids that limit your hand are 1NT and 2♦. Both these bids limit your hand to 6 to 10 points and partner can pass both those bids.

If you respond with a new suit at the 1 level you might only have 6 points, but you could have 13 points -- or even 20 points. Partner MUST bid again with any of these bids. But we can let partner worry about that.

If you respond with a new suit at the 2 level you must have at least 10 HCP. Therefore sometimes you might have a hand with ♣ that you can't tell partner about. You might get stuck bidding 1NT with an unbalanced hand or you might have to bid a shorter major suit rather than a longer ♣ suit. Such is life.

Therefore if your partner opens the bidding 1♦ here is a table that that states your only possible responses if you have 6 to 9 points:

Bid	Points	Number in suit
1♥	6 or more points and	at least 4 in the suit
1♠	6 or more points and	at least 4 in the suit
1NT	6 to 10 points and	no 4 card major suit or 5 card ♦ suit
2♦	6 to 10 points and	at least 5 cards in the ♦ suit with no 4 card major suit

With two 5 card suits bid the higher ranking one first. With two 4 card majors bid them up the line so ♥ first.

With that in mind what do you respond when your partner opens 1♦?

Hand 1

♠K9542
♥A2
♦T63
♣JT2



Hand 2

♠JT
♥Q5
♦654
♣KT8652



Hand 3

♠QT8
♥JT86
♦3
♣KT654



Hand 4

♠93
♥AT
♦T6542
♣Q984



Hand 5

♠43
♥42
♦AQ432
♣Q743



Hand 6

♠J83
♥K95
♦JT3
♣J965



Hand 7

♠T54
♥AJ754
♦T3
♣A32



Hand 8

♠52
♥K76
♦QJ732
♣943



Hand 9

♠K642
♥52
♦A75
♣QT42



Hand 10

♠K4
♥K72
♦T982
♣QJT6



Hand 11

♠4
♥KJ9832
♦J7
♣Q932



Hand 12

♠952
♥K7
♦T6
♣QJT532



Hand 13

♠K98
♥97
♦AQ985
♣765



Hand 14

♠KJ2
♥T9432
♦T5
♣Q52



Hand 15

♠KT8
♥JT2
♦Q43
♣J542



Hand 16

♠Q742
♥86
♦Q853
♣Q63



Hand 17

♠Q92
♥75
♦94
♣AJT765



Hand 18

♠QJT4
♥Q5
♦J763
♣QJT



Hand 19

♠T76
♥954
♦AKT42
♣T9



Hand 20

♠T9532
♥KQ4
♦74
♣K94



Hand 21

♠QT5
♥AQT8
♦T953
♣76



Hand 22

♠Q865
♥K7
♦AT7
♣9642



Hand 23

♠Q743
♥AQ7
♦9864
♣87



Hand 24

♠6432
♥K754
♦JT
♣AJ3



Hand 25

♠T5
♥QT754
♦A32
♣QJT



Hand 26

♠Q63
♥Q94
♦K65
♣J732



Hand 27

♠QT2
♥K864
♦63
♣QJT2



Hand 28

♠J82
♥83
♦AQT965
♣T4



Hand 29

♠K95
♥72
♦K97652
♣52



Hand 30

♠J9
♥J9
♦865
♣AJ9642



Hand 31

♠J93
♥KQT7
♦K652
♣83



Hand 32

♠K754
♥3
♦543
♣KT542



Hand 33

♠K7432
♥87
♦KJT
♣Q75



Hand 34

♠QT98
♥J75
♦63
♣A653



Hand 35

♠KT5
♥A7
♦965432
♣83



Hand 36

♠732
♥J53
♦876
♣AJ82



Hand 37

♠K95
♥Q3
♦Q9432
♣J73



Hand 38

♠97
♥JT642
♦AQ865
♣9



Hand 39

♠J842
♥QT974
♦K6
♣85



Hand 40

♠KJ4
♥KQ63
♦8652
♣93