Thursday, September 15, 2016

Jump Shifts

A jump shift in bridge is a way to show a really big hand once you have opened and partner has responded. Opener’s bid must be a jump in a new suit (not the suit they opened nor the suit partner responded with) that Responder has not yet bypassed. This bid is GAME FORCING which means that neither you nor partner can pass before a game is reached. It also means your hand is probably unbalanced because if you have a balanced hand you would need 20 HCP to force to game but if you have a balanced hand with 20 HCP you would have opened the bidding 2NT. Unbalanced hands do not need as many HCP to force to game.

Opener Responder
1♣ 1
2 This is a JUMP SHIFT. Opener has JUMPed in the bidding and SHIFTed suits


Opener Responder
1♣ 1
2♠ This is a JUMP SHIFT. Opener has JUMPed in the bidding and SHIFTed suits


Opener Responder
1♣ 1
2♠ This is a JUMP SHIFT. Opener has JUMPed in the bidding and SHIFTed suits


Opener Responder
1 1
2♠ This is a JUMP SHIFT. Opener has JUMPed in the bidding and SHIFTed suits


Opener Responder
1 1♠
3♣ This is a JUMP SHIFT. Opener has JUMPed in the bidding and SHIFTed suits


Opener Responder
1 1♠
3♠ This is NOT a jump shift. Opener has jumped in the bidding but did NOT shift suits


Opener Responder
1 1NT
3 This is a JUMP SHIFT. Opener has JUMPed in the bidding and SHIFTed suits


Opener Responder
1 1♠
3 This is NOT a jump shift. Opener has jumped in the bidding but did NOT shift suits


Opener Responder
1♣ 1
1♠ This is NOT a JUMP SHIFT. Opener has not jumped in the bidding


Opener Responder
1 1♠
3 This is NOT a jump shift. Responder could have bid but chose not to. Responder bypassed the suit. 2 by Opener would now be a strong bid called a reverse. 3 is a bid for players who are much more experienced than you are.


Question: Why do we need to make a jump shift?
Answer: Basically so your Partner won't say Pass before a game is reached. Say you hold this hand:

♠AQT95
A
AK
♣K9865

A nice hand. You hold 20 HCP. You can't open the bidding 2NT to show 20 or 21 HCP because your hand is not balanced. So you open the bidding 1♠. Partner responds 1NT. This shows a weak hand with about 6 to 10 HCP and fewer than three ♠. But once Partner responds you know you have enough for a game. Partner has at least 6 HCP and you have 20 HCP. You want to make sure the Partnership gets to a game contract but you are not sure where that should be. Partner could have any of these hands:


Hand A Hand B Hand C
♠3
9863
9842
♣AQT4
♠83
KQ8
Q864
♣T432
♠83
83
Q986542
♣A4
With this hand you have a good chance to take ALL the tricks if ♣ are trump. If you rebid 3NT Partner will Pass. You want to show your ♣ suit but if you rebid just 2♣ Partner will most likely Pass. With this hand the best contract is 3NT. Hard to know that. With this hand if are trump you have a good chance at taking all the tricks. If you raise Partner to 3NT you won't get there because Partner will just Pass.

How do we bid these hands?

Hand A if Opener rebids 3♣ Partner just might raise to 4♣ since their red card holding is not good. Then Opener should get the partnership to at least 6♣ since there are no matchpoints for 5♣.

Hand B if Opener rebids 3♣ Partner will just rebid 3NT since their black suit card holding is not good. Then Opener can just Pass.

Hand C if Opener rebids 3♣ Partner might just bid 3 to show a weak hand with . Then Opener might get the partnership to 6 since their holding is weak and their are no matchpoints for 5.

The key here is to rebid 3♣ so that Partner now knows the partnership is going to game. That way they can show their support if they have it, a new suit if they have it or just return to NT if they are not interested.

Let's practice!

On all the following hands you will open the bidding 1♠. Partner will respond 1NT. What is your bid and what does that tell Partner?

Hand 1

♠AT986
J
A2
♣AT943



Hand 2

♠AKQJ4
KJ
T
♣AQJ83



Hand 3

♠KQJ87
75
A
♣AKQJ2



Hand 4

♠AK943
T
Q2
♣AT985



Hand 5

♠QJ654
Q9
4
♣AKQJT



Hand 6

♠98743
A6
A
♣AK653



Hand 7

♠AK987
J
T7
♣AJ852



Hand 8

♠AKJ97
6
J3
♣AKQJ7



Hand 9

♠J8643
4
A2
♣AKQ65



Hand 10

♠AQJ54
T96

♣AK976



Hand 11

♠AKQJ9

Q42
♣AK986



Hand 12

♠AJ753
QJ6

♣AK974



Hand 13

♠AKQ65
AK
4
♣QJ983



Hand 14

♠AKQJ6
7
K6
♣KQJ76



Hand 15

♠AKQJT
J
AQ
♣QJT64



Hand 16

♠QT742
5
K5
♣AKQ85



Hand 17

♠T8742
A9
2
♣AKQ53



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