Most of the time when Partner opens the bidding and you respond, Partner will limit their hand on their rebid. Once they do that, most of the time you, as Responder, should know where to place the contract.
For example, you hold this hand and Partner opens the bidding 1♥:
♠AQJ932
♥9
♦AT7
♣QJ9
You respond 1♠ and Partner then bids 1NT. What is your bid?
Partner is showing a minimum, balanced opening hand. You also have an opening hand. You have enough for a game but not a slam. You know you have a ♠ fit because Partner should have two of them and you have six. So your bid is 4♠.
Let's take another hand. This time Partner opens 1♦:
♠QJ93
♥Q962
♦A7
♣KJ9
You respond 1♥ (with two four card majors bid them up the line) and Partner then bids 1NT.
Partner is showing a minimum, balanced hand. You also have an opening hand. You want to be in game. You tried to find a 4-4 ♥ fit but Partner didn't show support. You'd like a 4-4 ♠ fit but Partner could have bid 1♠ over your 1♥ bid and didn't. Partner does not have four ♠ so you do not have a fit there either. But your hand is balanced and since you want to be in game you bid 3NT. Pretty easy.
Now let's take a look at some more difficult hands to bid.
Partner again opens 1♦:
♠KJ932
♥9
♦T7
♣QJ963
You respond 1♠ and Partner bids 1NT. Balanced hand with 13 or 14 HCP. (After all with 15 HCP they would have opened 1NT.)
Not quite as easy. You know you DON'T want to play in NT -- your hand is too unbalanced. You know you have a fit in one of the black suits but not sure which one. You also don't have very many points so you don't want to get too high. On this hand you can bid 2♣. This is a NON-FORCING bid. Partner is allowed to Pass. In fact, Partner is either supposed to Pass or bid 2♠. That's it. Those are their only choices.
So far, so good. But now what about this hand?
Partner opens 1♦:
♠AQJ92
♥9
♦A7
♣QJ963
You respond 1♠ and Partner bids 1NT. Balanced hand with 13 or 14 HCP. (After all with 15 HCP they would have opened 1NT.)
You know you'd prefer not to play in NT -- your hand is too unbalanced. You'd like to find a 5-3 ♠ fit. But you do have the values for a game so if you can't find a 5-3 ♠ fit you don't mind playing in 3NT. At least you will have bid a game. But how do you show only 5 ♠ on this auction?
2♠ shows a weak hand with six ♠
3♠ shows an intermediate hand with six ♠
4♠ shows a game forcing hand with six ♠
All these bids show a six card suit. How do you show a five card suit?
Bid another suit.
Once you take Partner out of their NT contract they will know you are unbalanced. If you were unbalanced because you had six ♠ you would have rebid your ♠ suit. If you were to bid another suit you would show at least another four card suit. But if you only had two four card suits your hand would be balanced and want to play in NT. So you must also have a five card suit along with your other four (or more) card suit. You would bid your longest suit first so your first suit bid must have five cards and your second suit bid would have at least four cards.
Therefore, in the auction, you need to bid your ♣ suit. But you can't just bid 2♣. That is a non-forcing bid remember. Partner can Pass. In order to force Partner to bid you need to jump to 3♣.
This does several things:
It puts a game force on the auction. No one is allowed to Pass below game.
It shows an unbalanced hand that does not want to play in NT -- probably five ♠ and four ♣ since with a single suited unbalanced hand you would just rebid your suit.
So back to that hand:
♠AQJ92
♥9
♦A7
♣QJ963
Partner opens 1♦. You respond 1♠ and Partner bids 1NT. You rebid 3♣. Now at this point Partner probably does one of two things:
Partner bids 3♠. This tells you that Partner has three ♠ for you. If they had four ♠ they would have supported you right away. But when they bid NT they already showed they had two ♠. They need at least two cards in every suit to be balanced. So after Partner bids 3♠ you can bid 4♠.
If Partner instead responds 3NT you do not have a ♠ fit. Just Pass.
RULE:
In an auction where Opener has limited their hand by bidding 1NT Responder must JUMP in a NEW, lower ranking SUIT in order to force Opener to bid again. This creates a GAME FORCE on the auction. No one is allowed to Pass a bid below game.
Opener
Responder
1♣
1♥
1NT
3♦
This is GAME forcing -- Responder JUMPED in a NEW, lower ranking suit over Openers 1NT rebid. Opener MUST respond.
Opener
Responder
1♣
1♥
1NT
3♣
This is invitational -- Responder JUMPED in a suit that was already bid. Opener can Pass.
Opener
Responder
1♣
1♥
1NT
3♥
This is invitational -- Responder JUMPED in a suit that was already bid. Opener can Pass.
So with that in mind what do you respond with each of these hands when your Partner opens the bidding 1♦, you respond 1♠ and Partner rebids 1NT? What does that tell Partner?
Hand 1
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