Bidding Jacoby over 2NT

Here is your hand:
♠J7652
♥K93
♦QT9
♣QT

Partner is Dealer and has opened the bidding 2NT. You have agreed that opening 2NT shows:
20 or 21 HCP
A balanced hand so

• No void
• No singleton
• Not more than one doubleton

The opponents Pass throughout the auction.

You have agreed that you will play both Stayman and Jacoby Transfers over all NT openings. So on this hand with your five card major you bid 3♥ which forces Partner to bid 3♠. They do. Now it is back to you.

What will you bid?

Show Answer

Bid 3NT.

Do NOT raise the ♠ bid. Remember you have shown a five card suit when you made the transfer. You have no more than you promised. Partner might only have two ♠ in their hand. They do NOT show a fit when they bid 3♠. You are forcing them to bid 3♠ and they are obeying you. They might have a doubleton ♠. They are allowed to have one doubleton when they open 2NT.

If Partner has three or more ♠ in their hand they can now bid 4♠ over your 3NT bid knowing they have a fit.

If Partner only has two ♠ you want to play in 3NT -- not in 4♠.

Responding to 2NT

Here is your hand:
♠QJ52
♥J92
♦KT52
♣82

Partner is Dealer and has opened the bidding 2NT. You have agreed that opening 2NT shows:
20 or 21 HCP
A balanced hand so

• No void
• No singleton
• Not more than one doubleton

The opponents Pass throughout the auction.

You have agreed that you will play both Stayman and Jacoby Transfers over all NT openings.

It is now your turn. What will you bid?

Show Answer

Bid 3♣ which should now be Stayman asking Partner for a four card major.

If Partner responds either 3♦ or 3♥ you can now bid 3NT.

If Partner responds 3♠ you can now bid 4♠.

A player I was kibitzing just bid 3NT because she thought she needed 8 HCP in order to bid Stayman.

This is true if Partner opens the bidding 1NT showing 15-17 HCP. You need 8 HCP in order to bid Stayman in that situation because you need at least 8 HCP in order to invite game.

When Partner opens 2NT they have more points. Therefore you can bid Stayman with fewer points. Over 2NT, if you have the values to bid again to get the partnership to game, you have the values to bid Stayman. So if you have 5 HCP you are now allowed to bid Stayman. You may get to a better contract if you do.

What would YOU respond?

Here is your hand:
♠AT852
♥T7
♦KQT
♣K65

You are Dealer and decide to open the bidding 1♠. The opponents Pass throughout the auction. Partner bids 2♣. It is now your turn. Rate the following bids you could make and decide which one is the winner:

Bids you can now make:
Pass
2♦
2♥
2♠
2NT
3♣

What do you think of each of those bids?

Show Answer

Pass
Pass should NOT be an option here. A new suit by Responder is forcing for one round unless 1NT has been bid in the auction or Responder could have opened the bidding and did not. Neither of those situations applies here. Partner is unlimited and could have enough for a game or even a slam. This bid is FORCING and you must bid.

2♦
This bid tends to show a four card ♦ in this auction. Sometimes we have to lie but this is not a hand we need to lie. So this isn't a very good bid.

2♥
This bid should show a four card ♥ in this auction. Sometimes we have to lie but we don't want to lie about the majors. So this isn't a very good bid.

2♠
Not the worst bid you can make with this hand but the problem with this bid is Responder must bid again. There are only two bids you can make that Responder is allowed to Pass. Bidding 2NT and raising Responder's suit one level.

2NT
I like this bid because Responder is allowed to Pass and this hand is pretty weak. But I don't like the lousy doubleton ♥ suit. Not the worst bid possible but not the best.

3♣
I like this bid because:
A) Responder is allowed to PASS -- this hand is very weak and does not want to encourage Responder to bid again
B) the other bids this hand can make are even worse

You are allowed to raise Responder's 2 level bid suit with three card support only.

How Many?

This post is a continuation of yesterday's post. Please read that one first:
A Tough Rebid

Here is your hand:

♠AJT865
♥A5
♦K3
♣AT5

The auction proceeded as follows:

Partner	RHO	You!	LHO
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♦	Pass	3♣	Pass
3♠	Pass	???

Question is: How many ♠ does Partner have?

Knowing this, what will you bid?

Show Answer

Partner should have three ♠

They can't have four ♠ -- they would have supported you right away.

They should have more than two ♠. You are not showing a six card suit.

So since Partner has ♠ support do you think you have enough for slam?

I think you should take a chance on this one. You've got a nice hand.

First of all you have SIX trump.

Next you have the nice fitting K♦ card for Partner's suit.

Plus you have shortness in Partner's suit so you can trump a ♦ to set them up if you need to.

Also you have ACES!!! Aces are HUGE!

So bid 6♠.

A Tough Rebid

Here is your hand:

♠AJT865
♥A5
♦K3
♣AT5

Your Partner is Dealer and opens the bidding 1♦. Your RHO says Pass. I think everyone would now bid 1♠. LHO Passes. Partner bids 2♦. Your RHO Passes again.

What is your bid? You are playing match points.

The auction proceeds as follows:

Partner	RHO	You!	LHO
1♦	Pass	1♠	Pass
2♦	Pass	???

Question is: What will you bid now?

Show Answer

The problem here is that you really don't know where the contract should be placed.

3NT could be right
4♠ could be right
5♦ is not right at match points so let's rule this one out
6♦ could be right
6♠ could be right
6NT could be right
So now you need a little more information from Partner.

However you have to remember to make a FORCING bid. You've got to make Partner bid again.

If you bid:
2♠ -- Partner is supposed to PASS
3♠ -- Partner is allowed to PASS
4♠ -- Partner is probably going to PASS -- you have just placed the contract

So that rules out rebidding some number of ♠

If you bid:
2NT -- Partner is allowed to PASS
3NT -- Partner is probably going to PASS -- you have just placed the contract

So that rules out rebidding some number of NT

If you bid:
3♦ -- Partner is allowed to PASS
4♦ -- Is this a forcing bid? Does Partner know it is a forcing bid???
5♦ -- Partner is probably going to PASS -- you have just placed the contract

So that rules out rebidding some number of ♦. Besides, Partner might only have five ♦. We might not even have a fit.

So we are left with two other suits. The round suits.

2♥ is a forcing bid. That has potential.

But Partner has not yet denied having a four card ♥ suit. If they had bid 2♥ that would have been a reverse bid showing extra values. So the problem with bidding 2♥ is that Partner might not get that you were just forcing them to bid and you don't really have the suit you were bidding. They might raise you. If you then go back to ♦ or ♠ they might put you back to ♥.

So that's probably not the best bid here.

That pretty much leads us to the best bid. 3♣.

I LOVE that bid. Note that Partner COULD have bid 2♣ and choose not to. They probably won't get too excited about your ♣ bid. However if they do decide to go crazy and leap to 7♣ guess what you can do?

That's right. Bid 7♦. You can put them back to their suit.

But, again, they shouldn't go crazy.

If you decide to bid 3♣ Partner will now bid 3♠.

How many ♠ do you think Partner has?

What will you bid now?

...to be continued

A Minor Dilema

Here is your hand:

♠-
♥Q7
♦QJT853
♣KT963

Your RHO is Dealer and starts with a Pass. You (hopefully!) decide to Pass. (Not a good pre-empt and not a good opening hand.) Your LHO then opens the bidding 1♠. Partner overcalls 1NT. Your RHO Passes again.

What is your bid? You are playing match points.

The auction proceeds as follows:

RHO	You!	LHO	Partner
Pass	Pass	1♠	1NT
Pass	???

Question is: What will you bid now?

Show Answer

It would be nice if you had a bid to show Partner you have 11 cards in the minor suits. You probably don't.

However you do know that you have at least a ♦ fit. Plus maybe a ♣ fit.

In any case this is match points -- you either want to be in 3NT or 6 of a minor. 5 of a minor will not score well at matchpoints. Plus you might have too many losers right off the top.

I know you have only 8 HCP but you have a lovely source of tricks in at least one of your minor suits -- maybe both.

Partner is showing values in the ♠ suit. Those values will not help you in 6 of a minor.

I think the best bid is 3NT here.

Note that if you relayed to force Partner to bid 3♣ and then bid 3♦ this is showing a weak hand. Partner is not allowed to bid again. Your hand is too strong for that bid. If Partner has a high ♦ card (or two) you could take 5 or 6 tricks from that suit alone.

Bidding 3NT gets you either a 7.5 or a 9 out of 9 possible match points depending on how well you played the hand.

If you decided to force to 5 of a minor you would lose the first three tricks and only get 0.5 matchpoints.

Playing in 3♦ gets you 4.5 out of 9. So average.