Responder's Rebids when the partnership has a fit

Summary of what's been discussed so far:

Opening in a five-card major: Opener initially opened in either 1♥ or 1♠ to show at least five cards in the suit bid and 13-21 points with 7 or fewer losers.

Responding to a five-card major opening with a fit: Responder had a fit with opener so she added support points to her hand.  She determined what kind of responding hand she had: a weak responding hand, a minimum responding hand, an invitational responding hand, or a game-forcing hand.  Depending on what kind of hand she had, she made the appropriate response to tell her partner about her hand.

Opener's rebid when responder has shown a fit:Opener now knows about the fit with responder so he adds support points to his hand. If responder has made an asking bid (Jacoby Two NoTrump), he makes the appropriate response. If responder has made a different bid, he adds his points/losers to what his partner has told him about her hand to see if game is possible for the partnership's hands. So, opener:

• PASSes because game is not possible.
  

• Invites game if game is possible but not certain.
  

• Bids game if game is possible but slam is not possible.
  

• Invites slam if slam might be made or slam is very likely.
  

Now, let's look to see what responder should do.

Opener PASSed

This one's easy (so far).

If the opponents have always PASSed [this is known as an "uncontested auction"], the bidding is over since there have been three consecutive PASSes. For example,

Opener	Opponent #1	Responder	Opponent #2
1♥	PASS	2♥	PASS
PASS	PASS

The bidding is over and the partnership has bid a contract of 2♥ which says they will do their best to take 8 tricks (6 "book" + the 2 bid) with hearts as trumps. Opener is the declarer since he was the first one in the declaring partnership to bid hearts. Opponent #1 will lead and the play of the hand begins.

Opener Invited Game

This one's not too hard. 

By inviting game, opener is saying "I think the partnership has enough for game if you have the top of the point range you said you had. If you have the top of the range, bid game. If you don't, PASS."

If responder had a minimum responding hand of 6 to 9 points with 9 or so losers, the top of the range would be 8 or 9 points. (The bottom of the range would be 6 to 7 points, by the way.) So if the bidding went (for example):

Opener	Opponent #1	Responder	Opponent #2
1♥	PASS	2♥	PASS
3♥	PASS	?

responder would bid 4♥ with 8 or 9 points and would PASS with 6 or 7 points.

Opener Bids Game

This one's pretty easy too. If the opponent's have always PASSed, responder should also PASS. Responder has told opener about her hand and opener has decided that game is what the partnership can make. Apparently responder's first bid was enough for opener to make the decision for the partnership. So the responder should respect that decision and PASS. If responder did bid again, it would mean that responder didn't tell partner the truth the first time. But you always try to tell as much of the truth as you possibly can, so this shouldn't happen.

Opener Invites Slam

Your partner opened 1♠ and you made a limit raise of 3♠. Then, of all things, she bids 4♦!?! What is she saying? First of all, she can't be looking for another fit: the partnership already has a major suit fit in spades. Secondly, she can't be looking for a NoTrump game: the partnership has a major suit fit so that search is completed. Thirdly, she can't have a minimum opening hand or a strong opening hand since she would have either PASSed or would have bid game. So she must have a maximum opening hand (19-21 points) and is interested in slam!

When a partnership is trying to see if slam can be made, a new question is added to the list: "Does the partnership have control or a stopper in all of the other suits?" The partnership is interested in this because they don't want the opponents to take the A and K of a suit in the first two played tricks (which "sets" a slam contract). So the partnership starts asking about controls (singletons) and stoppers (aces or sometimes kings). They do this by the use of a CUE-BID, a bid in a suit different from the suit in which the partnership has a fit (often called the "agreed suit"). A CUE-BID tells partner that you are interested in slam and that you have control (most often the ace) of the suit you bid.

So in the bidding 1♠ by partner, 3♠ by you, and 4♦ by partner [again, the opponents are always PASSing here], she is saying that she's interested in slam and that she has control of diamonds (probably the ace). So what do you need to do?

First, you have to decide if you are also interested in slam. With your limit raise, you showed 10-12 points for partner. If you have a "good" 12 points or an "excellent" 11 points, you should also be interested in slam. If you have a "bad" 11 points or a 10 point limit raise, you aren't terribly interested in slam. After all, with 11 points in your hand and 19-21 in your partner's hand, the partnership has 30-32 points and the usual point total needed for small slam is 33. If you're not interested in slam, just bid the game yourself (in this example, just bid 4♠). This will tell partner that either you aren't interested in slam or you don't have a control that you can bid. Either way it should be discouraging to her and she should just PASS your game bid.

If you decide that you are also interested in slam, then you should next look at how the hands "fit" so far. A couple of examples will probably be help here.

Your hand	The bidding	How good is the fit?
♠ KQ95 ♥ Q732 ♦ A73 ♣ 72	1♠ by partner, 3♠ by you and 4♣ by partner.	You have a good 12 point limit raise. The ♠Q is strengthened by the ♠K and you have an Ace. You also have an extra trump (since you might hold only 3 spades for your limit raise). Your partner holds the ♣A and is interested in slam. The fit (so far) is pretty good. You should be a little worried about hearts since you don't hold the ace or the king, but this isn't a big problem right now: the bidding is still below game in spades. So, cooperate by bidding your lowest control (the ♦A)with a CUE-BID of 4♦. Maybe this is all partner needs to hear to bid slam!
♠ KQ95 ♥ K732 ♦ K73 ♣ 72	1♥ by partner, 3♥ by you and 4♦ by partner.	You have an OK 12 point limit raise. As before the ♠Q is strengthened by the ♠K and your extra trump makes the hand "good". The fact that you don't hold an Ace makes it a little bit "bad", but not horribly so: based on points, you're interested in slam. However, your partner has just told you that she doesn't have control of clubs. And neither do you. So even though you are interested in slam, you should just bid game: 4♥. It's possible that the opponents can take the first two tricks in clubs which would defeat 6♥ if the partnership bid it.
♠ KQ95 ♥ Q732 ♦ K732 ♣ 7	1♥ by partner, 3♥ by you and 4♦ by partner.	You have another OK 12 point limit raise (but pointwise it isn't as good as the previous two), so you have some interest in slam. Your partner has told you that she has control of diamonds but doesn't have control of clubs. The fit is GOOD! You have control of clubs (a singleton will allow the opponents to take only one trick in that suit since later tricks can be ruffed using your trumps). Unfortunately, you don't have an Ace to CUE-BID. But since the fit looks good, you can investigate by using the BLACKWOOD convention with a bid of 4NT! This convention will be discussed a bit later in the lesson.

So if you have a "top" of the range limit raise it looks like the "fit" is good, you can cooperate in the search for slam. If you don't have a good limit raise or the hands don't appear to fit very well, you just "stop" by bidding game.

After Responder has bid Jacoby 2NT and Opener has made his response
Opener bids another suit (but not NoTrump):

Your partner opened 1♠ and, since you have enough for the partnership to reach game, you bid 2NT (Jacoby Two NoTrump). Your partner responds by bidding 3♦ showing a singleton or void in diamonds. [Also, be aware that opener didn't say anything about the point range for her hand. She could still have anywhere from 13 to 21 points.] What do you do with this information?

In this situation (very similar to what was discussed above), you're interested in seeing if a slam can be made even if the partnership doesn't have enough points for slam. Technically, what you're trying to find out is: "Does the partnership have a slam that can be made because of the fit of the two hands?" However, you need to look at your hand a bit differently than you did in the previous case. Again, examples will probably help you get the idea.

Your hand	The bidding so far	The fit of the partnership's hands
♠ AKQ5 ♥ Q732 ♦ 9732 ♣ 9	1♥ by partner, 2NT by you and 3♦ by partner.	Even though you have the least you could hold for the Jacoby Two NoTrump bid (13 points with 7 losers), your hand is now very good! Partner has either a small diamond (or no diamonds) so after losing only one trick in this suit, your partner will be able to ruff the low diamonds using her trumps. So those low diamonds (which don't usually win tricks) will not add to the partnership's losers [beyond one trick].You have some control of clubs.You still can't say for certain that slam is possible, but you can let partner know you're interested by... CUE-BIDding 3♠. If partner is interested in slam and CUE-BIDs 4♣ (showing the Ace), you have (almost) all the information you need to bid slam!
♠ AKQ5 ♥ Q732 ♦ 9732 ♣ 9	1♠ by partner, 2NT by you and 3♣ by partner.	Well, this is pretty awful. You and partner are both short (singleton or void) in clubs. Since your partner is short in clubs, that means that she's very likely to hold a number of hearts and diamonds. Thus, the partnership has lots of hearts and diamonds and you don't hold any controls for these suits. That means that your partner will have to hold aces (and probably kings) in both of these suits for slam to be possible. It's not impossible but not likely. You're not interested in slam because the fit is so poor so just bid the game that you know is there: 4♠. [To be honest, it's possible that the partnership might not be able to make game with the cards in the partnership's hands. The counting of support points is useful only if your partner can ruff losers in your short suit. Since your partner is also short in clubs, she won't be able to ruff any clubs in your hand. However, the Jacoby 2NT bid has committed your partnership to game, so you should just to ahead and bid it. If you bid 3♠ now, that would be showing a stronger hand.]
♠ 9732 ♥ AKQ7 ♦ AKQ5 ♣ A	1♥ by partner, 2NT by you and 3♠ by partner.	You must have just about fainted when partner bid 1♥! You now hold an amazing 24 points with three losers and partner has shown at least 13 with seven or fewer losers. So the partnership has 37 or more points with 10 or fewer losers [14(!?!) or so winners]. From the perspective of points and winners, you might be thinking that you should bid 7♥. Almost! Remember that partner has either a singleton or void in spades. If partner has a singleton then the partnership almost assuredly has a spade loser. If she has a spade void then the partnership can make a grand slam (only the worst of luck will prevent it). However, a small slam seems be a cinch. So start investigating for that spade void by CUE-BIDding your ♣A. [Yes, I know that I told you that singleton aces don't make a hand "good" and you usually CUE-BID Aces in suits where you have more cards. This hand is so exceptional that you need to tell partner about every ace you have and you should CUE-BID the lowest one you have.] Your partner might not be interested in slam and might bid 4♥. That shouldn't stop you in this case. If she does that, then let her know about your diamond ace with 5♦.
♠ 9732 ♥ AKQ7 ♦ AKT5 ♣ 8	1♥ by partner, 2NT by you and 3♦ by partner.	Time to be very careful. You have 18 points and five losers. You have seven high card points opposite your partner's singleton or void. In and of itself, this isn't terrible. But that means that you don't have any good high cards for the suits where partner does hold cards: spades and clubs. Fortunately you have a club singleton so she will be able to ruff any of her losing clubs using your trumps (after the first time the suit is played). But it appears as if there might be more losers in spades too. You're not terribly excited about slam. Although slam is possible (but unlikely!) you should probably just bid the partnership's 4♥ game. If your partner has a maximum opening hand, maybe she can CUE-BID or use the BLACKWOOD convention to see if you have any further interest.

So you after partner makes a suit response to your Jacoby Two NoTrump, you check to see the fit by seeing if you only hold small cards in that suit! If you do, the hands appear to fit together pretty well and you can start CUE-BIDding. If you don't (you either are short in that suit yourself or you have a lot of high cards in that suit), then the fit isn't so good and you might just bid game.

Opener bids the trump suit (or NoTrump):

Getting to a slam on fit will be hard to find here (but not impossible). Basically, if you think (based on the points that partner has shown) that slam can still be made then you can either make a CUE-BID or use the BLACKWOOD convention to find out if the partnership has all suits stopped.

First you add your points to the points that partner has shown. [Just to refresh your memory, if opener rebids game in the major she'll have 13 to 14 (or a really bad 15) points, if opener bids 3NT she'll have a good 15 to 17 (or a very bad 18) points, and if opener bids 3 of the major she'll have a good 18 to 21 points (or more after support points are added).] If that's close to the "magic" 33 points then slam is still possible. If it's not very close then just bidding the game is probably best. [Opener should PASS if you just bid game.]

If you're still interested in looking for slam, you look at your hand to see if your singletons or voids will be helpful. Most of the time you won't be able to tell right away. So you can CUE-BID a suit to let partner know you're still interested in looking for slam. The fact that you're cue-bidding also asks her to CUE-BID her aces. Once she tells you about her aces, you'll have a better idea if partner has the right cards to "fit" your hand. Sometimes you'll be able to tell that the partnership has enough points for slam and you just want to know if the partnership has control of every suit. If you know the partnership has enough points for slam and the only thing you need to know (in order to bid slam) is whether the partnership has an ace in (nearly) every suit [not a specific suit!] you can use the BLACKWOOD convention.

The BLACKWOOD convention

The Blackwood convention was developed by Easley Blackwood, one of bridge's great personalities. This convention allows one partner to ask the other about the number of aces that they hold. But just like the Gerber convention that you read about in the NoTrump lessons, you have to be certain that that is all that you need to know. The best piece of advice I can give about the Blackwood convention is: "You need to be prepared for any response that your partner makes after you ask about aces with the Blackwood convention." ANY response. So plan ahead. Check all of her possible responses before starting the Blackwood convention and see if you know what you'll want to bid. If you aren't sure about even one of them, use CUE-BIDding instead.

If the partnership knows they have a fit and you think that all you need to know is if the partnership has all the aces in order to bid slam safely, then you can bid 4NT. This asks your partner to tell you how many aces she holds with her next bid using:

5♣ - "I have zero or four aces. You should be able to tell how many I have from your hand and the bidding so far."
5♦ - "I have only one ace."
5♥ - "I have two aces."
5♠ - "I have three aces."

[Remember that conventional bids rarely say anything about the suit that is bid. In this case, a 5♣ bid says absolutely nothing about that partner's club suit.] Notice that for every suit "up the line" (clubs-diamonds-hearts-spades) she'll have one more ace, except if she hold all of them.

The partner who asked (usually called the "partnership captain" since that partner is the one who knows what to do with this information) adds up the aces for the partnership, both the ones in her hand and the ones that her partner just told her about. If the partnership is missing two aces (and it can happen!), then the captain should bid the agreed major suit at the lowest level that they can. Slam is not possible. If the partnership is missing one ace, then the captain will bid a small slam in the agreed major suit fit. [Remember again, only to use the Blackwood convention if you think slam is possible. If you didn't think slam was possible to start with, then you shouldn't use Blackwood.] In either case, the captain's partner should PASS whatever is the captain bids. Presumably, the captain is the one with enough information to make the best decision. If the partnership has all of the aces and the captain thinks that a grand slam isn't possible (not enough points, for example), then she will just bid small slam in the agreed major suit. [Her partner should PASS accepting her decision.]

If you have found out that the partnership has all of the aces and you think that it's possible for a grand slam to be bid (37 points for the partnership), you can now ask your partner to let you know the number of kings she has by bidding 5NT. This 5NT bid only asks about the number of kings if it has been preceeded by asking about the number of aces first! [That means that sometimes you might use the Blackwood 4NT bid even though you hold all of the aces in your hand. In that case, you're just laying the foundation for your next bid where you'll be asking about the number of kings she has.] The responses to the 5NT "king-ask"ing bid are similar to the ones for aces:

6♣ - "I have zero or four kings."
6♦ - "I have only one king."
6♥ - "I have two kings."
6♠ - "I have three kings."

There's one little note to make here. Once you bid 5NT you take off the captain's hat. You just told partner that the partnership has all of the aces. If that's all that your partner needs to know in order to bid a grand slam, then she is free to do so. If it's not enough, then she should probably just tell you how many kings she has (using the bids above, of course) and leave the decision up to you.

General notes, comments, and a tank of oxygen

I've spent a lot of time here talking about CUE-BIDs, bidding slams, and the BLACKWOOD convention. These things don't come up that often, but when they do it's very important to remember what the bids are telling your partner. One of the things to remember is that the partnership has found a fit. That means that the last bid of the partnership should be in that suit (at the very least).

Sometimes when partners are CUE-BIDding, they lose track of the agreed major suit and PASS because they're nervous, scared or confused. If you're nervous, take a deep breath and keep on trying to do your best. We all make mistakes and, if you make a mistake, your partner should remember that. If you're scared, take a deep breath and keep on trying to do your best. Bidding slams (especially using CUE-BIDs) is a nerve-wracking thing.

Just remember that you have a partner over there and she's trying her best too. Eventually you'll make fewer mistakes and you'll be bidding slams just like the bridge professionals. If you're confused, take a deep breath. Take another. Relax. Maybe another deep breath? Try to remember what the agreed suit was. Has partner told you anything more about her hand? Does that make your hand look better or worse? If it makes it look worse, just bid the lowest number of the agreed suit that you can. Does that make your hand look better? Can you make the decision for the partnership or do you need to tell partner some more so that she can use the tank of oxygen?

Have fun and enjoy the game. It's a great feeling to have bid a good slam (and even a better feeling when your partner is the one who has to be the declarer!) See you in the next lesson!

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