1-Suit Opening – Weak Responses

Introduction

The opening bidder is the first player to make a bid. There is only one opening bidder. Other bidders are either overcallers or responders and use different conventions for bidding. The opening bidder’s partner is the responder. Responses can be divided into 3 groups; weak, invitational, and strong. This lesson will cover the basics of bidding, weak responses and rebids.

The purpose of bidding is to determine if the combined partnership hands are strong enough and shaped properly for a game bid or a slam bid. If so, the goal of the partnership is to arrive at the bid. Otherwise, the partnership should settle for a lower bid or pass.

The strength of the response depends on the value of the responder’s hand. Weak responses have hand values of 6-9 points and don’t encourage a game or slam bid unless the opener has a very strong hand.

Members of the bidding team don’t see each other’s hands and only use strict bidding rules. A set of bidding conventions are designed to make the communication of hand strength and suit length to one’s partner so that the goal of reaching a profitable and makeable contract is reached. This and subsequent pages on bidding lay out a set of basic conventions and methodologies that should lead to successful Bridge contracts.

If you need a review of bidding rules or the 5-card majors convention refer to 1-Suit Opening Bid.

8-Card Rule

When responding to partner’s suit bid, you show support of the suit by bidding the same suit at a higher level. When a player bids a suit, the player promises a certain number of cards in the suit. The 5-card Major rule is one example. Support of partner’s suit is determined by the 8-card rule.

A bidder makes a suit-bid and promises at least x cards in the suit. The partnership should have 8 or more cards between them. If the responder has (8 – x) or more cards and a minimum number of points, then the responder can support the bid.

Application of the 8-Card Rule on 5-card major bids is as follows.

When the bid is 1 ♠, responder can support the suit with (8 – 5) = 3 cards.
When the bid is 1 ♥, responder can support the suit with (8 – 5) = 3 cards.
When the bid is 1 ♦, responder can support the suit with (8 – 4) = 4 cards.
When the bid is 1 ♣, responder can support the suit with (8 – 3) = 5 cards.

Note that the cards needed to support a minor suit (♦ or ♣) are more than with the major suits, because the 5-card major convention forces the bid of a short minor suit when there are sufficient points but no 5-card major.

Other 8-Card rules

Unless otherwise indicated, the responder only promises a 4-card suit and the opener’s second suit only promises 4-cards.  There are some exceptions.  When a minor suit is rebid by either partner, the second bid promises 5 cards.  When a major suit is rebid by the opener, it promises 6 cards.  When the responder rebids a suit, it also promises 6 cards.  Any third bid promises 1 more card. 

While it is rare, a bidder may be required to bid with no other option and therefore may rebid a suit with too few cards.  You may not notice this until the cards are played.

Both the opener and the responder should be aware of number of cards promised in each bid and apply the 8-card rule accordingly.

A bid promising 4 cards needs 4 card support for an answer in the bid suit.
A bid promising 5 cards needs 3 card support for an answer in the bid suit.
A bid promising 6 cards needs 2 card support for an answer in the bid suit.

Analysis by the Responder

If the responder has less than 6 points, the responder should pass. Otherwise, the responder should analyze the hand. Before doing anything, the responder must check for a partial score. If there is, then a partial score bid toward game may be makeable with as few as 9 points. The first step is to use the 8-card rule to decide if you can support partner’s bid or not. The second step is to assume that your partner has a 12-21 point opening hand to see whether the 2 hands are strong enough for game. A weak responding hand contains 6-9 points. When combined with the opener’s hand, a 1-bid might be difficult.

General Responding Rules

One purpose of the dialog between the opener and the responder is to find a fit or a suit that contains at least 8 cards in the 2 hands. If they have a fit, they can consider a bid in the agreed upon suit.  If the bidders can’t agree on a suit, then they determine if they have stoppers or potential winning cards in each suit, they can consider a No Trump bid. 

While settling on the type of hand, they need to determine what bidding level has a chance of success.  The bidders have a very limited vocabulary to communicate the shape and strength of their hand.  The bids mostly focus on finding a suit fit, and the levels of the bids and some special bidding choices help to expose the combined strengths of the hands.   The rules that explain the hidden meanings of each bid help to establish whether there is a fit and if there is enough strength to make a certain bid.

While some bids are defined specifically to be invitational, in fact, most bids are invitational and some are more invitational than others. Each bid defines a corresponding range of points that the hand may contain. For example, an open bid of 1 ♠ shows 12-21 points. This opening bid invites a responder with as few as 6 points, because the combined hands are strong enough for a No Trump game or a 4 ♠ game, assuming the opener may have 21 points.

The responder can evaluate the potential strength of the combined hands by adding the 8-point evaluation to the 21-point potential in the opener’s hand resulting in the upper value of 29 points in the combined hands, enough for a game bid. So, the responder is invitational and should make a weak bid of 2 ♠ showing 6-9 points. The invitation would require the opener’s hand to be stronger than a minimum opening hand to keep the bidding open.

Using this invitational approach, each bid generates a combined range for the two hands.  The combined range is the player’s point count added to the partner’s range.

If the low-end of the range is greater than points needed for game, then they are in a game-forcing mode.  In game-forcing mode, the bidder may make a game-level bid.

If the high-end of the is greater than points needed for game, then they are in an invitational mode. In an invitational mode, a bidder must keep the bidding open and should not pass.

In this case, with a high-end of 29 points, the responder is still invitational, but with a high-end of 22 points, the opener is not.  So, the opener should pass.

Note that neither player is in a game-forcing position.

Suppose the opener has a stronger hand with 17 points.

The responder doesn’t know the specific value of the opener’s hand, so the evaluation is the same as in the first case. 

The opener is invitational(26 points), but not game-forcing(23 points). So, an invitational bid should be made. In this case, the opener should bid 3 ♠. The responder should recognize the invitation, because the opener could have just passed. An invitation suggests to the responder in this to go to game if the responder is at the upper end of the range.

The responder is invitational (29 points), but not game-forcing, but the opener’s rebid is an invitation. Given the 6–9-point range of the original bid, the opener must have a hand with about 17 points. With 8 points and a combined low-end of 25 points, the responder may raise to 4 ♠. The responder would pass with less than 8 points.

Suppose the opener has a very strong hand with 20 points.

The opener is invitational(29 points), and game-forcing(26 points). So, the opener can make a game bid of 4 ♠

The responder can count on the opener having about 20 points. While a game bid is appropriate, there is not enough strength to warrant a slam try. If the opener had a stronger hand than 20 or 21 points, the opener would not have bid 1 ♠.

The general rule is simple. If the low-end of the combined range is greater than a game bid, then bid again. Otherwise, if the high-end of the combined range is higher than a game bid, then bid again. Otherwise, pass. There will be exceptions to this rule, but it works most of the time.

Whenever your partner makes a bid that doesn’t have a very specific meaning and doesn’t give you information, assume that your partner’s points are at the low-end of the range, and you should probably pass. For example, you make a bid, and partner mentions a new suit at the 1-level. You reject his suit by bidding No Trump. If your partner bids your suit after first rejecting it, your partner is probably just choosing a suit and wants you to pass.

At some point you will learn the bidding combinations that lead to game bids without making a new range calculation each time, or you will know which partial calculation applies to the bidding decision. You will also learn that some hands are more or less valuable than the calculated numbers indicate, so you may learn to add your own twists to the process.

If you are not a numbers person, this process might be hard to use. In that case, please try to use the game-forcing-inviting mindset at least at an intuitive level.

Bids by Responder

Your partner has made a 1-suit bid promising 12-21 points. The first step is to evaluate your hand. If you have less than 6 points, you have little chance for a game bid, so pass. If your hand is valued at 6-9 points, choose a bid from below.

Rebids by Opener

The opener makes decisions from a weak hand after calculating the combined point value. If the value of the opener’s hand is x, then the combined point value is usually 6+x – 9+x. Opener rebids are appropriate when the low-end is 25 or more points or the high-end is 25 or more points. Note that the threshold for a minor suit bid is 28 or more points.

Rebidding Options

These rules are most applicable when partners are trying to agree on a suit.

When the opener rebids a suit it usually promises a 6-card suit. Since minor suits can be opened with as few as 3-cards, a rebid of a minor suit can only promise 5-cards. A rebid by responder usually promises a 6-card suit.

When the opener’s rebid is in No Trump, the opener promises stoppers in all unbid suits. When the responder’s first bid is 1 NT, The unbid suit requirement is not likely, but the No Trump bidder should have a stopper in the opponent’s bid suit. but a responder’s inviting rebid in No Trump promises stoppers in all unbid suit

In all cases, the responder bids the longest suit. With a weak hand containing (6-9 points), the responder chooses a major suit when 2 suits are the same length. With a stronger hand containing 10+ points, the responder uses the following rules that will show 5-card suits in many cases.

In the cases when another bid is required, the bidder may have difficulty finding a reasonable bid. The usual rebid in that case is the rebid of a 5-card suit. While such a rebid is not honest, it is the most recommended solution.

A Bidding Example

South starts the bidding. What is a reasonable contract?

South has 12 HCP and 14 points. South has 6 ♥, more than the minimum 5. and South is within the point range for a 1 ♥ bid.

North has 8 HCP and 9 points. Combined with 12 points promised by South, North calculates a combined range of 21-30 points. North is not game forcing but is invitational. North should bid 2 ♥.

South calculates a combined range of 18-23 points. South is not game forcing and not invitational. South should pass.

Review Questions

Some questions may have more than one correct answer.

North starts the bidding. How will the bidding go?

Use the North and South hands to answer the next 6 questions.

1. What is North’s opening bid?

2. What is South’s combined range?

3. What is South’s response to North’s opening bid?

4. What is North’s combined range?

5. How should North answer South?

6. What is South’s new combined range?

7. What is South’s next bid?

Click to see: Review Question Answers

If you have any comments or suggestions, please send them to peterkonieczko76@gmail.com

Click for Next Lesson: 1-Suit Opening Bid – Part 2

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