How Well do You and Your Partner Understand Each Other? Bidding when You Open 2♣
By Mike Lawrence 7
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 A K Q J 7
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 A K J 9
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 A Q 8
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, you start with that. Do you have agreements on what partner's various bids mean? For instance, what would partner show if he bid 2 or 2 or 2NT? What does he have if he bids 3 or 3?
| West | East |
| 2
| 2
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and East responds 2. In your methods, which of these
hands qualify for a 2 bid? And, if any of these hands do not bid 2, what DO they bid?
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bid.
You can show your points by bidding in steps.
You can show controls artificially.
You can play that 2
shows 6 or more points and 2 shows a true bust.
Or, you can play that 2
says only that you do not have a descriptive bid to make.
You may have some points, but no way to show them now.
On hands where you have a bust, you will show that fact on the second round.
This last method is by far the easiest to play and since it has a lot of merit, I will use it as the guideline for the 4 hands shown above.
| K 9 5 4
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| 6 2
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| Q 7 3
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| K J 7 4
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Bid 2
. You don't have a suit to show.
The only bid you have to show points is 2NT. In this regard, I recommend you NEVER bid 2NT in response to an opening 2 bid. It takes away bidding room, plus it can make the wrong hand
declarer. Respond 2 and leave opener room to show his hand.
| J 8 5 4 3 2
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| 6
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| 8 4 3
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| 10 5 3
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Bid 2
. Your spades are not biddable and your hand is too weak. Maybe you can show the spades later.
| A K J
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| 9 6 3
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| Q 3 2
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| J 6 3 2
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Even with this fine a hand, start with 2
. I offer the strong suggestion that you do not bid 2NT to show points. Bidding 2NT takes up important bidding room. You will do better by bidding 2, which lets opener start to show his hand, and then you can make a forward-going bid on the next round.
Truly, I hate bidding 2NT and I hate hearing partner bid it. You can find players
who do bid 2NT and who claim that it solves some of their problems, but it has
yet to solve any for me. Usually, it just gets in the way of our bidding.
| K Q 10 8 4
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| 8 5 3
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| 6 5 2
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| K 2
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Finally, a hand that should not bid 2
.
Bid 2
. This bid promises a biddable suit and usually 6 points or more. The only question is, how good a suit do you
promise? Some play that any two of the top three honors in a five-card suit is OK. I think that might be restrictive. KJxxx or even QJxxx makes sense. K10xxx and A10xxx need to be discussed.
| 7
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| A K Q J 7
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| A K J 9
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| A Q 8
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You opened the nice hand I gave you (to the left) with 2
and heard a 2 bid from partner.
| You | Pard |
| 2
| 2
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| 2
| ? |
, 2NT, 3, 3, 3, and 4 show?
In the structure I recommend, partner shows you a worthless hand by bidding 3
. Partner can have as many as 4 points, but they will be terrible ones.
The other bids are natural and show some values.
What should these hands bid after your 2 rebid? How will they continue? In a couple of these cases, the answer may surprise you.
| K 9 8 6 2
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| 3 2
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| Q 7 3
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| 10 6 4
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Bid 2
. This is minimum for the bid. You might have a better hand for this. Still,
since it is convenient to show spades now, you should do so. Partner will know you don't have better spades since you could have bid them over 2.
| 10 8 5 4 3
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| 6 4 3 2
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| Q 8
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| 9 2
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Jump to 4
. This is the traditional bid to show trump support and a poor hand with no first or second round controls. This means no Aces, Kings, voids, or singletons. This is a very useful bid and should not be forgotten.
NOTE. If you use the Expert Tricks shown in the last three hands, you can have the understanding that a jump to game promises a little distribution and not a genuinely terrible hand. The hand here has 2 HCPs, but it has good shape. It is not a 4-3-3-3 dog.
| Q 8 3 2
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| 10 3
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| Q 7 4
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| K 6 4 3
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Bid 2NT. This is forwardgoing. You promise 6 or so points with no upper limit.
| K Q 6
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| 6 3
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| Q 8 5 3
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| K 6 5 3
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Bid 2NT here too. Don't leap to 3NT just to show an extra point or two. The cost of a round of bidding is too great.
| A Q 8 6
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| 10 9 4
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| 4 3
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| 10 7 6 3
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Raise to 3
. You show a hand worth a nice 6 points. If you use one of the Expert Tricks from the end of this article, you can have the agreement that the raise to 3 shows a decent hand and not a scroungy 6 count with no real merit.
| A 10 5 4 2
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| 10 5 4 3
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| Q 2
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| K 3
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Bid 3
. You may end up in a grand or a small slam. Bidding 3 leaves room for cue-bidding.
| Q 9 5
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| 4 3
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| 10 6 5 4 2
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| 9 5 3
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Bid 3
. This is an alert showing a bad hand for sure. You should not bid 3 if you have real values. The range for this is zero up to a four or five count,
depending on its quality.
| Q 8 6
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| 8
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| Q 10 8 7 5
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| K 6 4 3
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Bid 3
. This is natural. Since you didn't bid 3 on the first
round, you are showing a so-so suit. You should have 6 or more points for this.
| Q 8 6
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| 8
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| Q 10 7 6
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| K 10 7 6 4
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You would like to bid 3
, but that bid shows a dud. Bid 2NT. Not perfect, but at least it does tell partner you have some points. If you are lucky, your partner will bid 3 or 3
Expert Hands 14, 15, & 16.
| Q J 3
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| J 6 3
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| Q 5 4
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| J 10 6 5
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Bid 2NT. You have enough points to raise hearts, but your points are terrible. By bidding 2NT, you tell partner you aren't broke, and then when you go back to hearts, you will imply you have support points but not good ones. Say your partner rebids 3NT or bids 3
over 2NT. Now you can jump to game in hearts, giving the message that you have something but no enthusiasm.
| K 9 8 5
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| 10 6 5 2
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| Q 5 4 3
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| 2
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For anyone who likes splinter bids, this one is perfect.
Bid 4
. You show a singleton club, heart support, and at least 6 support points. You can do this with three card support.
| 10 6 5
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| 5 4 3 2
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| 7 6 4
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| J 7 3
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Bid 3
, telling partner you have nothing. As the auction progresses, you will keep returning to hearts. Having warned partner that you are broke, you won't have to worry that he will get excited.
This is an important hand.
If your current solution is to bid 4, your partner will have to guess whether you have this worthless hand or the hand shown earlier, Hand 6 (108543, 7643, Q8, 92),
which is a bad hand but a bad hand with some redemption.
Remember, the bidding on all of these hands starts out the same:
| You | Pard |
| 2
| 2
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| 2
| ? |
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