Sunday, February 21, 2016

Responding to 1 Spade 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.

Therefore to open the bidding 1♠ you need 13 HCP and 5♠. 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 support partner's ♠ suit we should have 3 cards in the suit. (Partner needs 5 cards in the suit to open remember. So to get an 8 card fit we only need 3.)

If partner opens 1♠ and you have a fit you should probably tell partner about it right away.

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 2 level you must have at least 10 HCP. Therefore sometimes you might have a hand with a long suit that you can't tell partner about because you don't have enough points. You might get stuck bidding 1NT with an unbalanced hand. Such is life.

Therefore if your partner opens the bidding 1♠ here is a table that states your only possible responses if you have 6 to 9 points:
Bid Points Number in suit
1NT 6 to 10 points and No 3 card ♠ suit
2♠ 6 to 10 points and at least 3 ♠


This is actually easy since there are not very many choices as to what to say when partner opens 1♠ and you have between 6 and 9 HCP. You either bid 2♠ with a 3 card ♠ suit or 1NT if you have fewer than 3♠. Pretty easy when you think about it.

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

Hand 1

♠JT
♥Q5
♦654
♣KT8652



Hand 2

♠QT8
♥KJT6
♦3
♣T8654



Hand 3

♠943
♥AT
♦T6542
♣Q98



Hand 4

♠43
♥42
♦AQ432
♣Q743



Hand 5

♠J83
♥K95
♦JT3
♣J965



Hand 6

♠T54
♥AJ754
♦T3
♣A32



Hand 7

♠52
♥K76
♦QJ732
♣943



Hand 8

♠K642
♥52
♦A75
♣QT42



Hand 9

♠K4
♥K72
♦T982
♣QJT6



Hand 10

♠4
♥KJ9832
♦J7
♣Q932



Hand 11

♠952
♥K7
♦T6
♣QJT532



Hand 12

♠K98
♥97
♦AQ985
♣765



Hand 13

♠KJ2
♥T9432
♦T5
♣Q52



Hand 14

♠KT8
♥JT2
♦Q43
♣J542



Hand 15

♠Q742
♥86
♦Q853
♣Q63



Hand 16

♠2
♥75
♦J942
♣AJT765



Hand 17

♠QJT4
♥Q5
♦J763
♣QJT



Hand 18

♠T76
♥954
♦AKT42
♣T9



Hand 19

♠QT5
♥AQT8
♦T953
♣76



Hand 20

♠Q865
♥K7
♦AT7
♣9642



Hand 21

♠Q743
♥AQ7
♦9864
♣87



Hand 22

♠6432
♥K754
♦JT
♣AJ3



Hand 23

♠T5
♥QT754
♦A32
♣QJT



Hand 24

♠Q63
♥Q94
♦K65
♣J732



Hand 25

♠QT2
♥K864
♦63
♣QJT2



Hand 26

♠J82
♥83
♦AQT965
♣T4



Hand 27

♠K95
♥72
♦K97652
♣52



Hand 28

♠J9
♥J9
♦865
♣AJ9642



Hand 29

♠J93
♥KQT7
♦K652
♣83



Hand 30

♠
♥QT5
♦KT9532
♣QJ96



Hand 31

♠K754
♥3
♦543
♣KT542



Hand 32

♠QT98
♥J75
♦63
♣A653



Hand 33

♠KT5
♥A7
♦965432
♣83



Hand 34

♠732
♥J53
♦876
♣AJ82



Hand 35

♠K95
♥Q3
♦Q9432
♣J73



Hand 36

♠97
♥JT642
♦AQ865
♣9



Hand 37

♠J842
♥QT974
♦K6
♣85



Hand 38

♠KJ4
♥KQ63
♦8652
♣93



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