CONVENTIONS AND TREATMENTS

By Larry Matheny

 

In this session I am going to review some conventions and treatments with which many of you may not be familiar.  There is not enough time to go into a great deal of detail so you will have to do the homework.

 

 

15-17 POINT SEMI-BLANCED  HANDS WITH A FIVE-CARD MAJOR

 

In many parts of the world people will simply open 1NT.  However, the Western Scientific influence of Max Hardy in our area discourages this.  So, how do you bid:

 

                      (#1)                                                                (#2)

SAQ765  HK8  DK93  CA52         OR      SQ5  HAKJ98  DKJ2  CQ52

 

If we can’t or won’t open these 1NT, how do we ever describe them?  The forcing 1NT response available to those who use the 2/1 bidding system provides a solution.  

 

Remember, after a 1NT response from partner, an invitational raise to 2NT shows a hand worth 18-19 hcp.  This leaves us with our normal rebid of 2C with both of these hands.  Now assuming partner takes a simple preference to our major showing 6-9 hcp and only 2-card support, we now rebid 2NT.  Since we would pass 2H or 2S with a minimum hand, 2NT shows 16-17 hcp and a semi-balanced hand.  With a 15 point hand it’s probably best to pass the weak preference to our major. 

 

This solution is not always so easy.  Holding hand #2, what if partner responds 1S instead of a forcing 1NT?  You are stuck.  You are too strong to rebid 1NT and not strong enough for a jump to 2NT.  That leaves a 2C rebid hoping that partner doesn’t pass or bid some huge number of clubs.  Opening 1NT may not seem so bad.

 

 

JACOBY 2NT

 

After partner opens 1H or 1S, there are a number of different ways to describe a game forcing raise.  One of the most popular is the Jacoby 2NT, invented by Oswald Jacoby (who also invented Jacoby Transfers).  This is a convention many of you use but perhaps are not aware of all of the responses.  To use this convention, your partnership agrees that after you open 1H or 1S and your partner is an unpassed hand, his jump to 2NT shows:

 

 

Forcing-to-game strength (13+ points)

Good trump support (4 or more cards)

 

The 2NT response forces you to at least game.  It is not a suggestion to play in notrump; it shows support and asks the 1H or 1S opener to further describe his hand.

 

Opener's rebids

In addition to giving responder a direct way to show a forcing hand, the Jacoby 2NT improves the accuracy of your slam bidding.  Its biggest advantage is that it gives opener room to further describe his hand.  There are a number of different meanings you can assign to opener's rebids.  Here is one of the most commonly used structures:

 

If you open 1 of a major and partner responds 2NT:

 

If you have a second 5-card suit (a semi-strong one – KJ10xx or better), show it by jumping to 4 of the suit.

 

With any other hand that has a singleton or void, bid 3 of the short suit.

 

After you open 1S and partner responds 2NT, holding a semi-balanced hand here are your rebids:  

 

4S =  11-13 pts

3NT = 14-16 pts

3S =  17+ pts

 

Once responder has this information, he can decide how to proceed.  If he's not interested in a slam, he can just bid game.  If he wants to explore further, he can cue bid a new suit to show a control and this requests opener to cue bid.  Of course there are also ace-asking conventions that may be employed.

 

JORDAN

 

Here is a common scenario:  your partner opens 1S, your right hand opponent makes a takeout double and you hold:

 

1.  SK1074  HA4   DKJ1098   CK2

 

        OR

 

2.  S4   HAK76  DKJ98   CKQ87

With hand #1 you want to show spade support and make sure you reach (at least) game.  But, with hand #2 you may want to punish the opponents.  For years the only strength showing bid over the t/o double was a redouble showing 10+ points.  But, how can you get partner’s cooperation if he doesn’t know which hand you hold? 

 

The solution is the Jordan convention.  With hand #1 you respond 2NT showing a limit raise or better hand with spade support.  Partner will assume the limit raise and bid accordingly.  With hand #2, you use the redouble.  This implies no fit for partner’s suit and suggests the opponents may be in trouble.  Isn’t this easy?

 

SHOWING COUNT IN THE TRUMP SUIT

 

When defending it is often necessary to know how many trumps your partner holds in the trump suit.  Here is an example with you holding the East hand:

 

SQ83   HKJ87  D8765  C63

                                                  SA6

                                                  HA9643  (YOU)

                                                  D10942

                                                  C98

SOUTH  NORTH

  1S          2S

  4S

 

Your partner leads the deuce of hearts which you read as a singleton.  You win the ace and declarer follows with the queen.  You return the six of hearts (no suit preference) and partner ruffs.  Partner shifts to the king of diamonds and declarer wins the ace.  The king of spades is now led and you win the ace.  Does partner have another trump or did declarer start with six of them?  Will another diamond trick cash?  What do you do? 

 

Partner can give you the answer.  A hi-low in the trump suit shows an ODD number.  So if partner ruffed the first heart with the five of spades and followed with the deuce on the lead of the king, he has a third trump.  But, reverse that order and he denies a third spade.  This is critical information for the hand might be:

 

                    SQ83   HKJ87  D8765  C63

 

S542                                                              SA6

H2                                                                  HA9643

DKQJ3                                                           D10942

CJ10754                                                         C98

 

                    SKJ1097  HQ105  DA  CAKQ2

 

If you try to cash a diamond trick, declarer will ruff and make his contract. 

JUMP ASKING BID

 

This is a simple tool used after an opponent opens the auction with one of a major.  A jump to three of that major by you asks your partner to bid 3NT if he has a stopper in the major.  Here are some typical hands for this auction:

 

PARD  OPP   YOU    OPP

   P       1S      3S        P

  ??

 

S3   HA103  DAKQJ876  CK9      OR     S4  HKQ3   DA5  CAKQJ654

 

While this may also be used after the opponents open one of a minor suit, most players use the jump to three of the minor as natural and weak.

 

 

 

ROMAN KEYCARD QUEEN ASK

 

Many players have replaced Blackwood on their card with Roman Keycard.  The elevation of the king of trumps to ace status more properly reflects the importance of that card.  In addition, the convention allows you to discover if the trump queen is one of your assets.  When holding two keycards your response shows or denies the queen of trumps.  But when the response is one of the first two steps showing 0-3 or 1-4, the location of the trump queen is not known.  Let’s assume spades is the agreed suit and watch the trump queen ask:

 

PARD    YOU

 4NT        5C

 5D*        5H    yes, I have the Squeen and the Hking

                5S   no, I do not have the Squeen

                5NT  yes, I have the Squeen, no outside king, but something extra

                6C   yes, I have the Squeen and the Cking but not the Hking

                6D   yes, I have the Squeen, I have the Dking but not the Hking or Cking

                6S   yes, I have the Squeen but no outside king

               

*queen ask

 

This a very valuable tool to add to your list of agreements but I caution you that it should be discussed thoroughly with your partner(s).  There are potential pitfalls when you use this feature.  Again, I leave it to you to follow up for the details.

 

 

 

 

 

SECOND HIGHEST LEAD

 

We are all familiar with leading fourth down from our longest and strongest, but there are times when this is not best.  Here is a hand to illustrate:

 

S97542   HKJ2   DJ3  C875

 

OPP    OPP

1NT      3NT

 

It seems right to lead a major suit on this auction but it’s not clear a spade attack is best.  If you lead the four, your partner may quite reasonably read you for an honor and keep returning the suit when switching is better.  However, if you lead the seven, by using the Rule of Eleven partner will realize you are not leading fourth best.  He will continue with spades if he has help but will realize you do not have strength in the suit. 

 

Leading fourth best implies the possession of an honor or length with enough outside entries to feel the suit can be established.

 

 

IMPOSSIBLE SPADE BID

 

This strange sounding agreement is actually quite simple and logical.  Here it is in action:

 

PARD    YOU

  1H       1NT

  2C       2S

 

Since you denied a spade suit when you responded 1NT, the rebid of 2S can only mean that your partner’s second bid increased the value of your hand considerably.  Or, stated another way, it is a BIG club raise.  Here is a typical hand:

 

S42   H103   DAJ4  CKQJ763

 

Partner will expect a hand similar to this and bid accordingly.  Another plus is that if you instead simply raise to 3C, partner will not expect more than a minimum raise such as:

 

S42    HK3   DK1098  CQJ765

 

 

 

I hope this look at some different bidding ideas was helpful.  But remember, conventions and agreements only work when you and your partner are in full accord as to their meanings.