WHICH SUIT TO RESPOND?[1]

By Larry Matheny

 

 

When you and partner are searching for a trump suit, your first goal is to find an 8-card or longer fit in a major.  In some auctions, you'll discover this fit immediately, such as when partner opens 1 or 1S and you hold 3+ cards in his suit.  In other auctions -- usually those that start with an opening bid of 1C or 1D -- it may take two rounds of bidding before you determine whether or not you have a major-suit fit.  In these auctions, it's important that you and partner have a logical, controlled way to exchange information about your suit lengths.  Now let’s look at the standard ways to discover your 8+-card major-suit fits.

 

When you're 4-4 or 4-4-4

 

If partner opens and you have two or three 4-card suits you could bid at the one-level, you should respond your cheapest suit (or, with a weak hand, your cheaper major).  This practice is called "up-the-line", and opener also follows it with his rebids.  After you respond, if opener has a 4-card suit he can show at the one-level, he'll always bid it.  If he has two 4-card suits, he'll bid the cheaper one.

This practice conserves space and assures that you'll always find a 4-4 major-suit fit.  Here's an example:

 

Partner           You

Q7                AK86

KQ65          J973

                                                DJ102            D65                           

KQJ4          865

 

Partner opens 1C.  Even though your spades are stronger, the correct response with your hand is 1 (the cheaper of your 4-card suits).  With the hand above, partner will raise to 2, you'll pass, and you'll probably make an overtrick.

Look what happens if you violate the "up-the-line" practice and respond 1S with the hand above.  Opener will assume that since you bypassed a 1 bid, you don't hold four hearts, so he'll rebid 1NT to show his minimum opener and keep the bidding low.  Your hand isn't strong enough to risk going to the 2-level in a new suit, so you'll have to pass, and you've missed your 8-card heart fit. Your 1NT contract will go down if an opponent has five or more diamonds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now change partner's hand by moving two of the small hearts to spades, giving him:

 Q765  KQ  J102  KQJ4.

With this hand, he won't raise hearts, but he has room to bid 1S to show a 4-card suit, which you'll raise to 2S.  By responding your cheaper major, you've left room to find a possible fit in either major.

 

Note that there are three more basic rules of bridge bidding that opener and responder are following here:


     1)  New suits at the one-level are forcing.  With rare exceptions, after an opening and a response, neither of you should pass until you've reached a contract of 1NT or two of a suit.


     2)  If you hold a balanced minimum, don't bid past 1NT unless you know you have a trump fit.  This rule applies to opener (whose minimum is 12-14 pts.) and responder (6-9 pts.).  In general, when you have a weak hand with only 4-card suits, the only time you should go to the two-level is when you're raising partner's suit to confirm an 8+-card fit. 


     3)  If partner bypasses a suit he could have bid at the one-level, you should assume he does not have 4-card length in it.  The only time you should ever bid a suit partner has denied is when you have significant extra values and want to force the auction higher (see the lesson on reverses).

 

Bypassing diamonds

 

Many pairs apply the "up-the-line" principle only to majors, and they will bypass a 4-card diamond suit -- or even a 5-carder -- to show their cheaper major.  The weaker your hand, the more anxious you should be to follow this guideline.

For example, suppose partner opens 1C and you hold:

 

                              J42  Q1076  KJ93  74. 

 

You're weak and may have only one chance to describe your hand, so show your major right away with a 1 response.  If you follow the "up-the-line" principle religiously and instead bid 1D, you can still find a possible 4-4 heart fit, but only if partner gets the chance to bid 1.  The risk is that your left-hand-opponent will overcall 1S, and partner won't have a strong enough hand to bid a new suit at the two-level.

 

 

When you're 5-4 

 

The up-the-line rule applies only when you have 4-card suits of equal length.  If you have suits of unequal length, you should still show your longer one first.

If your 5-card suit is lower in rank than your 4-carder, you won't have to bid both of them.  If partner opens 1C, respond 1 with:

                                   

                                     K1092  QJ983  8  Q64 .

 

If partner now rebids 1NT, you won't have to worry about showing your spades because you know you don't have a fit there -- since partner bypassed a 1S bid, you should assume that he does not hold four spades. 

 

If your 5-card suit is higher in rank than your 4-card suit, there will be many auctions where you'll want to bid both suits.  If partner opens 1D, you would respond 1S with:

                              J10942  KJ86  K7  54.  

 

This will imply that you don't have four hearts, but if partner rebids 1NT, you plan to show your heart suit by bidding 2.  Partner will know you had a good reason for skipping hearts with your first response, and that reason has to be that your spades are longer.  This specific auction is not forcing and asks partner to choose between your two suits, either by passing (if he prefers hearts) or by bidding 2S.  Going to the two-level is safe here because partner's 1NT rebid promises at least 2-3 cards in every suit, so you know you have a fair fit.

 

The meaning of a 2 rebid is different, though, if partner does not rebid 1NT. Suppose partner opens 1D, you bid 1S, and he rebids 2C or 2D.  In these cases, partner hasn't promised any length in either of your suits, so you have no guarantee of a fit.  In non-fitting auctions like this, a new-suit bid by you would therefore be forcing.  If partner rebids 2D, he has a minimum opener with 6+ diamonds, and you should pass with the hand above.  If his rebid is 2C, he's asking you to choose between his two suits, and you should just retreat to 2D. Since partner is showing at least 9 cards in the minors, it's unlikely that you're missing a good major-suit fit. 

 

 

When you're 5-5

 

A different principle operates when you have two 5-card suits.  In this case, you should respond the higher-ranking suit first, then bid the lower-ranking one.  With two long suits, you'll often want to force partner to choose one, so it's important to plan your bids so you can leave partner with maximum bidding space on the second round of the auction.

 

 

K8742  KJ952  J  43

 

With this hand, after partner opens 1D you should respond 1S (the higher-ranking suit).  If partner rebids 1NT, you'll bid 2, which is non-forcing and allows him to choose between your suits at the two-level.  If you instead responded 1 on the first round, you would have to bid 2S at your next turn.  Then partner would have to go up to the three-level if he preferred hearts.

 

If you have a weak hand and partner does not rebid 1NT, you'll have to give up on showing both of your suits.  With the hand above, after 1D by partner--1S by you--2D by partner, you should pass.  A 2 rebid by you would be forcing here, and your hand is too weak to risk taking this non-fitting auction any higher.

This approach works well with stronger hands, too.  For example, if partner opens 1C, you would bid 1S with:

 

AK1084  KJ872  J3   4. 

 

Over partner's 1NT rebid, you would now jump to 3 (because, as noted above, 2 would not be forcing here).  If partner has 3-card spade support, he'll bid 3S over your 3.  If he has four hearts, he'll raise to 4.  If he has neither of these holdings, he'll rebid 3NT and you can now complete the picture of your hand by bidding 4.

 

Now let’s look at some auctions that take us to a higher level.

 

                              SKQ84  H43  DK9   CAK1094

 

PARD   OPP   YOU   OPP

   1D      1H        ?

 

So many players make the mistake of making a negative double to show the four-card spade suit.  If partner rebids 1NT or 2D, a bid of 3C is not forcing.  Bid naturally by showing your club suit now and later show your spades.  Otherwise you will end up in 3NT many times when a club slam is better.

 

 

                                 SK10984   HAJ54   D5   CJ109

 

PARD   OPP   YOU   OPP

 1NT        P         ?

 

Assuming you use transfer bids, start with Stayman for this hand.  If partner responds in a major, raise to game.  If he rebids 2D denying a four-card major, bid 2S.  This shows five spades and four hearts with invitational strength.  If you didn’t have four hearts (change a heart into a diamond), you would just transfer to spades followed by 2NT to invite.

 

 

                                 SK1098   H4   D52   CQJ10972

 

 

PARD   OPP   YOU   OPP

  1H         P        ??

 

This is a tough hand to bid.  If you respond 1S it is likely your partner will rebid 2D.  Now you really have a problem.  You can’t bid 3C since that is forcing so your options are pass or to take a preference to hearts.  An alternative is to skip the spade suit and respond 1NT.  Then you can sign off in 3C if partner rebids 2D.  If partner rebids hearts, you will pass.  You may miss a spade fit with this solution, but my partners ALWAYS rebid diamonds when I hold this type of hand.  This is a more difficult problem but I want to show how important it is to try to anticipate the auction. 

 

A major theme of this lesson is how to show your suits economically when you are weak.  It just makes sense that it takes extra values to force your partner to a higher level.  I recommend you discuss these auctions with your partners.

 

 


[1] Much of this material is used by permission from Karen Walker’s Bridge Library.