Non-Forcing, One Round Forcing or Game Forcing?

Let's play a game. The name of the game is "Non-Forcing, One Round Forcing or Game Forcing?"

I will give you a bid and you have to tell me whether or not it is a Non-Forcing bid (Partner is allowed to Pass the bid), a One Round Forcing bid (Partner must respond at least one more time) or a Game Forcing bid (neither Partner can Pass until a game is reached)

Bid 1

Partner opens the bidding 1♠. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 2

You open the bidding 1♥. Partner responds 1♠. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 3

You open the bidding 1♠. Partner bids 1NT. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 4

You open the bidding 1♥. Partner responds 3♥. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 5

Partner opens the bidding 1♠. You respond 2♣. Partner rebids 2♠. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 6

Partner opens the bidding 1♠. You respond 2♥. Partner rebids 3♣. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 7

You open the bidding 1♦. Partner bids 1♠. You rebid 2♦. Partner bids 2♥. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 8

You open the bidding 1♥. Partner responds 1♠. You rebid 1NT. Partner responds 2♦. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 9

You open the bidding 1♥. Partner responds 1♠. You rebid 1NT. Partner responds 3♠. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?



Bid 10

Partner opens the bidding 1♣. You respond 1♥. Partner rebids 3♥. Is this a Non-Forcing bid, a One Round Forcing bid or a Game Forcing bid?

Choices on What to Open

Here's a hand that came up the other day.

You hold this hand:
♠A9
♥Q8
♦AK763
♣K974

You are the Dealer. What is your bid?

Think about it.

What would you bid and what does that show?

Here you have a couple of choices. You can open the bidding 1NT. This should show 15-17 HCP with a balanced hand.

The problem is you do not have a balanced hand. You have two doubletons.

You can also open the bidding 1♦. If you choose to open 1♦ you must now decide what to do after Partner makes a 1 level response. So say 1♥. What will you bid if Partner responds 1♥?

If you rebid 1NT that would show a balanced hand with 13 or 14 HCP. You have too much to do that. If you are going to rebid 1NT you should just open the bidding 1NT.

If you instead rebid 2♣ that would show a hand with 5♦, 4♣ and a hand with about 13 to about 18 points. Not quite enough to game force opposite a minimum from Partner.

I would tend to recommend opening the bidding 1♦ for newer Players.

If you choose to open 1♦ Partner will respond 1NT.

Now you should choose to rebid 2♣. Partner will Pass and you are in the best contract.

Partner had the hand from yesterday!

They held this hand:
♠T76
♥973
♦54
♣AQJ86

If you open 1NT, Partner will Pass and the opponents will take the first 5 ♥ tricks.

If you open 1♦ and rebid 2♣ you will play it there and take 10 tricks.

1NT taking 8 tricks is worth 120 points.
2♣ taking 10 tricks is worth 130 points.

Plus more new Players tend to dislike NT. Things can get out of control very easily.

Responding to 1 Diamond - Real Life

Here's a hand that came up today.

Partner opens the bidding 1♦.

You hold this hand:
♠T76
♥973
♦54
♣AQJ86

What is your bid?

Think about it.

What would you bid and what does that show?

Here you would like to tell Partner about that wonderful ♣ suit but bidding a new suit at the 2 level shows 10 or more HCP. You don't have that much.

You can't Pass -- you have more than 6 HCP. You need to bid.

Here the correct bid is 1NT. This does NOT show a balanced hand. It just shows about 6 to a bad 10 HCP, no four card major and no support for Partner's minor.

That is your bid.

P.S.

After you bid 1NT guess what Partner bids? 2♣! You can now Pass and you are safe in that ♣ suit after all!