- ♠️K7 ❤️KQT2 ♦️AKT43 ♣️AJ If we open 1♦️ and partner responds 1NT,
partner will end up declaring 3NT. Both of our black suits are better if
we are lead into. Correct bid: 2NT.
- ♠️AKQ3 ❤️42 ♦️A3 ♣️AKT62 With this hand we do not need to be the
declarer in 3NT. This hand also has a lot of potential for slam in a
suit contract and opening 2NT doesn’t help us. Correct bid: 1♣️
- ♠️K3 ❤️AQ2 ♦️Q3 ♣️AKJ632 If we open 1♣️ we have an impossible rebid.
Instead we just open 2NT and deal with it. Range with a 6 card minor
should be (17)18-19.
- ♠️K ❤️AQ52 ♦️AQT3 ♣️KQ97 Singleton King is ok. Avoid Singleton Aces.
This hand has an awkward rebid problem if you open 1♦️. Correct bid:
2NT.
- 19 HCP. OK to open 2NT any time you have a 5 card suit.
Response structure by Gavin
Wolpert
Gavin wrote: It is important to be able to reason out what the bids
mean on the fly. You will never memorize these auctions because there
are too many of them and they come up infrequently. Your goal should be
to understand them all as a whole and then be able to dissect an
individual auction to reason out what the bids NEED to mean.
- 4♦️/❤️ Texas transfer
- 3❤️ transfer, 5+ spades
- 3♠️ transfer completed
- 4♠️ to play
- 4❤️ 5-5 in the majors. No interest in slam, e.g. ♠️K9863 ❤️Q9742 ♦️2
♣️85. Opener picks the game.
- 3NT e.g. ♠️K9863 ❤️53 ♦️2 ♣️KJ854
- 4♠️ correct with a fit, e.g. ♠️A75 ❤️AKJ7 ♦️QT3 ♣️AQT
- 4♣️ second suit, mild slam interest, c an be 5-4 with an unlimited
point count, e.g. ♠️KJ863 ❤️53 ♦️2 ♣️AQ854
- 4♠️ to play, e.g. ♠️A75 ❤️KQJ3 ♦️KQ9 ♣️KQT (points in partner’s
short suits are wasted)
- 4NT to play, e.g. ♠️A5 ❤️KQJ3 ♦️AQT76 ♣️KT (no fit)
- 5♣️ to play
- 4♦️ good hand, flag bid for spades
- 4❤️ good hand, flag bid for clubs
- 4♦️ second suit, mild slam interest
- 4❤️ good hand, flag bid for spades
- 4♠️ to play
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ good hand, flag bid for diamonds
- 5♦️ to play
- 3♦️ transfer, 5+ hearts
- 3❤️ transfer completed
- 4❤️ to play
- 3♠️ 5-5 in the majors with at least mild slam interest, e.g. ♠️KJ863
❤️AQ943 ♦️72 ♣️5
- 3NT to play, 2-2 in the majors
- 4♣️ good hand, flag bid for hearts, e.g. ♠️AJ4 ❤️KQ8 ♦️AK943
♣️K8
- 4♦️ good hand, flag bid for spades
- 4❤️ bad hand, heart fit
- 4♠️ bad hand, spade fit
- 4♣️ second suit, mild slam interest 4♦️ good hand, flag bid for
hearts 4❤️ to play 4♠️ good hand, flag bid for clubs 4NT to play 5♣️ to
play
- 4♦️ second suit, mild slam interest
- 4❤️ to play
- 4♠️ good hand, flag bid for hearts
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ good hand, flag bid for diamonds
- 5♦️ to play
- 3♣️ Puppet Stayman.
- 3❤️/♠️ 5-card major
- 3♦️ at least one 4-card major
- 3❤️/3♠️ shows the opposite 4-card major. With two four card majors,
the responder would bid 4♣️/4♦️
- 4♣️ both majors, slam interest (slow shows, fast denies)
- 4♦️ pre-accept slam try in hearts
- 4NT pre-accept slam try in spades, RCKB
- 4♦️ both majors, no slam interest
- 3NT five ♠️ and four ❤️ (‼️)
- 3♠️ puppet bid showing balanced hand or slam try in minors.
With minor suit hands that have no slam interest, we do not need to
bother showing our hand, e.g. ♠️Q2 ❤️52 ♦️AJ9432 ♣️763. Even when we are
distributional, five of a minor is so unlikely to be the best contract.
With no slam interest we want to play 3NT and hope for the best,
e.g. ♠️92 ❤️2 ♦️KJ943 ♣️Q7652
Slam invitation with one or two minors (could be 5/4), e.g. ♠️2 ❤️K2
♦️8742 ♣️AK7653 or ♠️2 ❤️92 ♦️AK742 ♣️QJ653
- 3NT opener always bids 3NT
- PASS Can’t bid 3NT directly (see above)
- 4♣️ 6+ diamonds
- 4♦️ 1st step: reject (I don’t have a good hand), e.g. ♠️AQJ4 ❤️AKJ8
♦️43 ♣️KQT
- 4❤️ ask for keycards anyways, e.g. ♠️K43 ❤️4 ♦️AQT843 ♣️K42
- 4♠️ control bid
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ control bid
- 5♦️ to play
- 4❤️ keycard response (1 or 4)
- 4♠️ keycard response (0 or 3), e.g. ♠️AK4 ❤️A4 ♦️K943 ♣️KQJ7
- 4NT keycard response (2 or 5 w/o ♦️Q)
- 5♣️ keycard response (2 or 5 w/ ♦️Q)
- 4♦️ 6+ clubs. Due to the limited room in this auction, opener should
not accept the slam try with 2 w/o the queen of trumps. We do not want
to have our 2+Q answer take us beyond 5 of our suit.
- 4❤️ 1st step: reject (I don’t have a good hand)
- 4♠️ keycard response (1 or 4)
- 4NT keycard response (0 or 3)
- 5♣️ keycard response (2 or 5 w/ ♣️Q)
- 4❤️ slam interest, hearts shortness, both minors (could be 5/4).
Limited room – uncomfortable suction
- 4♠️ good hand for one of the minors
- 4NT to play, e.g. ♠️AQJ4 ❤️AKJ4 ♦️A97 ♣️J6
- 5♣️ to play
- 5♦️ to play
- 4♠️ slam interest, spades shortness, both minors (could be 5/4)
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ to play, responder may bid slam anyways
- 5♦️ to play, responder may bid slam anyways
- 4NT quantitative invite with both minors
Minor Suit Slam Auctions Notes:
- Partner has not promised 5-5 in the minors when they show both
minors. You often will still want to end the auction in 4NT when you
have most of your points in the majors.
- With a good hand for partner, opener may not have room to express it
to partner below game. Sometimes opener will have to go straight to
slam. We should not be aggressive to show both minors and a slam
try.
- There is very limited room to sort things out. No one gets all of
these auctions right. If you are having trouble with the auctions, know
that even experts struggle with these auctions.
- Don’t be aggressive to look for slam. The money is in staying out of
bad slams. If you are too pushy you will end up minus.
Marc’s long suits slam tries
- 4♣️ Slam try in hearts
- 4♦️ good hand, flag bid for hearts
- 4❤️ to play
- 4NT RCKB
- 4♦️ Slam try in spades
- 4❤️ good hand, flag bid for spades
- 4♠️ to play
- 4NT RCKB
- 4❤️ Slam try in clubs
- 4♠️ good hand, flag bid for clubs
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ to play
- 4♠️ Slam try in diamonds
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ good hand, flag bid for diamonds
- 5♦️ to play
Gavin’s
traditional Stayman, which allows to use Smolen convention
- 3♦️ no 4-card major
- 3♠️ Smolen, 4 spades and 5+ hearts, game forcing
- 3NT no fit
- 4♣️/♦️ responder’s 3rd suit
- 4❤️ six hearts
- 4♦️ 5+ diamonds and 4 of a major, mild slam interest, e.g. ♠️KJ42
❤️2 ♦️ADJ32 ♣️763
- 4❤️ keycard for diamonds
- 4♠️ control bid
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ control bid
- 5♦️ to play
- 3❤️ 4+ hearts (may have 4 spades)
- 3♠️ heart fit and slam interest, continue with control bidding
- 4♣️ 5+ clubs and 4 spades, mild slam interest
- 4♦️ good hand, flag bid for spades
- 4❤️ good hand, flag bid for clubs
- 4♠️ to play
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ to play
- 4❤️ to play
- 4NT quantitative invite
- 3♠️ 4+ spades
- 4♣️ 4 hearts and 5+ clubs. This auction has a completely different
structure because we cannot have a major suit fit. So the only suit
opener can show a good hand in is partner’s minor. In this case we play
one over keycard and control bids.
- 4♦️ keycard for clubs
- 4❤️ control bid
- 4♠️ control bid
- 4NT to play
- 5♣️ to play
- 4❤️ spade fit and slam interest, opener can sign-off in 4♠️ or
continue with control bidding
- 4♠️ to play
- 4NT quantitative invite