Opening Bid

Here is your hand:

♠T75
♥K6
♦AKQ875
♣Q3

Playing matchpoints and you are vulnerable.

You are Dealer. What is your call?

Show Answer

How about 1♦?

Even though you have a nice six card ♦ suit you have too many points to open 2♦. That shows a weak hand remember!

What to Open?

Here is your hand:

♠Q2
♥QT5
♦A642
♣AK95

Playing matchpoints and you are not vulnerable.

You are Dealer. What is your call?

Show Answer

How about 1NT? This should show 15 to 17 HCP with a balanced hand.

Opening the Bidding

Here is your hand:

♠A
♥97632
♦KQ985
♣A4

Playing matchpoints and you are not vulnerable.

You are Dealer. What is your call?

Show Answer

You are stuck with opening 1♥. Yech!

But you are just telling Partner that you have 13 (or more) HCP with five (or more) ♥. You are NOT saying they are good ♥!

Opener Rebid

Here is your hand:

♠Q3
♥KJ7
♦AJ84
♣K643

Playing matchpoints and everyone is vulnerable. The Opponents are silent during the auction.

You are Dealer and open the bidding 1♦. (People tend to open 1♦ with 4-4 in the minors.) Partner responds 1♠. What is your call?

Show Answer

How about 1NT?

This gets across the fact that you are balanced. (Which you are.)

This also lets Partner know that you have less than 15 HCP. Why? Because with 15 HCP and a balanced hand you would open the bidding 1NT.

Opener Rebids

Here is your hand:

♠Q2
♥AKT92
♦A
♣AQ765

Playing matchpoints and everyone is vulnerable. The Opponents are silent during the auction.

You are Dealer and open the bidding 1♥. Partner responds 1♠. What is your call?

Show Answer

How about 3♣?

This is a GAME FORCING bid and should show at least 19 HCP or the equivalent if distributional.

This is a JUMP SHIFT. Read more about them here:
Jump Shifts
More Jump Shifts

If you bid 2♣ Partner is allowed to Pass. Which they will since they are weak.

Opener must Rebid a suit

Here is your hand:

♠AJ
♥KQJ865
♦Q62
♣A9

Playing matchpoints and you are vulnerable. The Opponents are silent during the auction.

You are Dealer and open the bidding 1♥. Partner responds 1♠. What is your call?

Show Answer

How about 3♥?

This shows about 16 to 18 HCP and a GOOD six card suit.

If you bid 2♥ you only showed about 13 to 15 HCP. Your hand is much stronger than that.

Tough Rebid

Here is your hand:

♠Q53
♥AKJ6
♦J872
♣T8

Playing matchpoints and you are vulnerable. The Opponents are silent during the auction.

Partner is Dealer and opens the bidding 1♣. You respond 1♥. Partner now bids 1♠. What is your call?

Show Answer

How about 2NT?

This shows about 11 or 12 HCP with a little something in the unbid suit.

If you raised Partner's ♠ suit remember that Partner probably does not have five ♠. They would have opened the bidding 1♠ if they did. So you probably do not have a ♠ fit.

If you bid 1NT you showed only about 6 to 10 HCP. You have a bit more than that.

Opening Dilema

Here is your hand:

♠KJ
♥8
♦KQ632
♣AKQ86

Playing matchpoints and everyone is vulnerable.

You are Dealer. What is your call?

Show Answer

1♦.

With two five card suits you open the bidding the HIGHER RANKING suit.

What to Rebid?

Here is your hand:

♠63
♥AK973
♦K2
♣Q742

Playing matchpoints and no one is vulnerable.

You open the bidding 1♥. The Opponents are silent during the bidding. Partner responds 2♣.

What is your call?

Show Answer

There are a couple of options here. Bidding 3♣ shows a minimum hand with at least three ♣. Perfect!

Another option to show a minimum hand is 2NT. You could also make that bid. This tends to show a little bit of something in the other two suits however and you have nothing in the ♠ suit.

Partner says "Pass" to whatever bid you made. You can take eight tricks in NT (for 120 points) and 10 tricks with ♣ as trump (for 130 points) so bidding 3♣ is the bid that worked the best here.

Responding to 1 of a Major

Here is your hand:

♠975
♥AQJ43
♦J93
♣84

Playing matchpoints and everyone is vulnerable.

Your Partner opens the bidding 1♠. Your RHO says "Pass".

What is your call?

Show Answer

Bid 2♠.

You have a very nice ♥ suit -- this is true. But bidding a new suit at the 2 level shows at least 10 HCP. Your hand is not strong enough.

Bidding a STRONG hand

Here is your hand:

♠AKQJT7
♥AKQ
♦6
♣KJ9

Playing matchpoints and you are vulnerable.

You have a VERY strong hand. You decide to open the bidding 2♣. The opponents are silent. Your Partner raises to 3♣. You have agreed that that shows a GOOD five card suit with two of the top three honours.

What is your call?

Show Answer

Count your tricks.

You have SIX ♠ tricks.

You have THREE ♥ tricks.

You have FIVE ♣ tricks. (Partner has a five card suit to the AQ remember?)

You have 12 tricks. Why not bid 4NT (asking for Aces) right away?

If Partner shows two Aces you can safely bid 7NT. You will have one additional trick in ♦ and more importantly the control of the ♦ suit.

If Partner shows one Ace only you can safely bid 6♠. You should be able to play in that suit even if Partner does not have any ♠. Your suit is good enough. But do NOT bid 6NT if Partner has only one Ace -- you might not have control of the ♦ suit!

In this case Partner shows two Aces and you can safely bid the grand. You are unbalanced and might prefer to play in a trump contract but if you can count 13 tricks go for the NT. The extra 10 points is very important at matchpoints.

Responding to Partner's Weak 2 Bid

Here is your hand:

♠QJ73
♥J765
♦AK74
♣6

Playing matchpoints and no one is vulnerable.

Partner opens the bidding 2♥. (You have agreed to play weak 2's so Partner has a six card suit with less than an opening hand.) Your RHO (Right Hand Opponent) says "Pass".

What is your call?

Show Answer

If you obeyed the "Law of Total Tricks" you would bid 4♥ right away. If you do that Partner should take 10 tricks.

More Opener Rebids

Here is your hand:

♠AQJ
♥K9654
♦J4
♣Q64

Playing matchpoints and you are vulnerable.

You open the bidding 1♥. Partner responds 2♣. The opponents are silent during the bidding.

What is your call?

Show Answer

You have a minimum balanced hand. You don't want Partner to get too excited.

The only two bids you can make that Partner is allowed to "Pass" are 2NT and 3♣

2NT shows your balanced hand but it also tends to imply you have a little something in both the unbid suits. You don't have much in the ♦ suit.

You are allowed to raise your Partner's suit with only THREE card support. So 3♣ is also an option.

You probably don't want to rebid that ♥ suit.

I would probably recommend bidding 3♣ with this hand. Mostly because Partner's tend to like it when you support them and I might be a tad worried about my lousy ♦ holding.

Another Rebid

Here is your hand:

♠AK3
♥AQ7653
♦A
♣852

Playing matchpoints and you are vulnerable.

You open the bidding 1♥. Partner responds 1♠. The opponents are silent during the bidding.

What is your call?

Show Answer

3♥. That shows a GOOD six card suit with 16 to 18 HCP.

If you rebid 2♥ only you showed a six card suit with a minimum hand -- about 13 to 15 HCP.

If you supported Partner's ♠ suit remember Partner only needs a FOUR card suit to respond.