Introduction

The opening bidder is the first player to make a bid. There is only one opening bidder. The other bidders are either overcallers or responders and bid using different conventions. This lesson covers 5-card suit responses. Part 3 will cover the Stayman responses, and Part 4 will cover Jacoby Transfer responses. If you need to review the basics of making a 1 No Trump bid, refer to 1 NT Opening Bid.

The 5-card major bid is not a regular bid in No Trump, but it is a simple bid that can get a beginner playing a little sooner. The Stayman convention and Transfer bidding are harder to learn but are preferred by most Bridge players.

Responses to 1-NT

There are three different types of response to a 1-NT bid. The first is the simple 5-card suit raise. This method is the simplest and easiest to use. The second is the Stayman convention that asks for a 4-card major suit. This method has the advantage of making the 1-NT opener the dealer which keeps the opener’s strong suit hidden from the defenders. The third is the Jacoby transfer that directs the opener to bid a specific suit. This lesson covers the 5-card suit raise.

The Stayman convention and the Jacoby convention both have the advantage of making the no trump opener the declarer in all hands, hiding the higher-strength opening hand from the defenders. The 5-card convention has the advantage of simplicity. You can combine the Stayman convention with either of the other two methods or you can choose to use only one.

Most of the point requirements are listed as HCP (High Card Points) when evaluating for a No Trump contract, but some are listed as points (HCP plus distribution points) when evaluating for a trump suit contract.

5-Card Suit Responses

The simplest response to 1-NT is to bid a 5-card suit. I recommend The following responses to 1-NT for this convention. These responses in addition to the generic responses make up the 5-card suit convention. I have not seen this convention before and would welcome feedback on its success or failure. This version of the convention doesn’t include slam bidding.

I recommend only bidding only 5-card major suits and playing hands with only 5-card minor suits in no trump unless the hand is highly distributional with a very long suit.

           2-NT shows 8,9 HCP and no 5-card suit.

           2-Major suit shows 8+ points and a 5-card suit.

           2-Minor suit shows 11+ points and a 5-card suit.

           3-NT shows 10-14 HCP and no 5-card suit.

Opener Rebids for 5-Card Suit Bids

           In all cases, pass when partner passes or when partner makes a game bid.

           15 HCP. Single raise any suit bid when you have support in the suit, otherwise bid 2 NT. Pass on partner’s 2 NT bid.

           16 HCP. Reevaluate hand with 10,9 rule. Choose 15 HCP options when no point is added, and 17 HCP options when a point is added.

           17 HCP. Jump to game on any suit bid when you have support in the suit. otherwise bid 3 NT. Raise any 2 NT bid to 3 NT.

Responder Rebids for 5-Card Suit Bids

           In all cases, pass when partner passes or when partner makes a game bid.

           8 points. pass.

           9+ points. Rebid a 6-card major suit as 4-major.

           8,9 points. pass with 5-card suit.

           10 or less points. Pass on partner’s minor suit rebid.

           10+ HCP. Jump to 3 NT game when partner makes a 2 NT bid.

           10+ points. Jump to game in a major suit contract when partner makes a non-game major suit bid.

           13+ points. Jump to game in a minor suit contract when partner makes a non-game minor suit bid.

           13+ points. Jump to game when partner makes a non-game minor suit bid and you have support.

A Bidding Example

As dealer, South starts the bidding at 1 NT. How would the bidding proceed using the 5-card suit convention?

           
North/South Hands
    North
♠ A, Q, J, 7, 4    
10, 9, 8, 7
Q, 6
♣ K, 8
    South
♠ 10, 8, 2
A, K
A, 5, 4, 3
♣ A, 9, 5, 2

           South opens 1-NT with 15 HCP and a balanced hand.

           North bids 2 ♠ with 12 HCP and 13 points and a 5-card suit.

           South bids 3 ♠ with 3 card support but only 15 HCP.

           North bids 4 ♠ with enough points for a game bid (13+15 = 28 points).

Review Questions

Some questions may have more than one correct answer.

           
North/South Hands
    North
♠ A, 7, 3     
A, 8, 4, 5, 3
4
♣A, 10, 6, 3
    South
♠ Q, 9, 4
K, 10
A, Q, J, 10, 9
♣ K, 9, 4

Answer the following questions related to the partnership above using Generic No Trump responses.

1. What does South open and why?

2. How will North respond and why?

3. How should South respond to North and why?

4. How does North respond to South’s bid and why?

           
North/South Hands
    North
♠ A, 7, 3     
Q, 8, 4, 5, 3
4
♣Q, 10, 6, 3
    South
♠ Q, 9, 4
K, 10
A, Q, J, 10, 9
♣ K, 9, 4

5. What does South open and why?

6. How will North respond and why?

7. How should South respond to North and why?

8. How does North respond to South’s bid and why?

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

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