Bidding Cornerstones

[bobh2]

MY FAULT

 

I apologize. My classes on BBO were for Intermediates and Advanced and I just didn’t realize that I was dealing with some beginners. Aaaarrrrhhhhggg. I should have figured it out. Here’s what happened to clue me in. In the last two days, I have spent a couple of hours showing people the most basic thing about bidding, because they showed me they didn’t know this. Evidently not, and you just cannot move toward being able to play the game until you have this down cold, so I am writing this up in the hopes that I can send people here to gain the understanding necessary.

 

Teaching someone to play bridge has two facets. One is card play and the other is bidding. Starting on card play, the steps would be:

 

1. The play goes in a clockwise manner, and the first guy to play plays a card of a specific suit. Each position has to contribute one card to the first trick (define that) in the suit led, if he has one. When each of the 4 positions have played a card, the trick is over and the highest card played of the suit led wins the trick. Well, you get my drift...

 

Starting on the bidding:

 

1. Learn how to count points

2. Understand about the suits (including NT) and their rank

3. Learn how the bidding progresses

4. Learn what the phrase, “opening bid” means

5. Learn about the levels(partscores,games, small slams, grand slams)

6. Learn about how much strength it takes to play at each level and how you find that out in the bidding.

 

That spot, right there, is lesson two, LESSON TWO! It boggles my mind to think that I have supposedly intermediate and advanced students who have just skipped line 6. If you consider learning to bid at bridge like building a house, I am working on putting the walls up and look down and see that building block #2 of the foundation of the house is missing. Surely, I dont’ need to point out the problems I have now?

 

We are going to fix that right now!

 

Point #1. The concept of bidding.

 

The idea of bidding at bridge is that you use bidding to convey both the distributional pattern of your hand and the strength of your hand to your partner so that at some point, one or the other of you has a clear idea of the combined assets of the partnership. That person, knowing that, will make a decision concerning the level (partscore, game, small slam, grand slam) that the partnership can bid up to and take the required number of tricks to fulfill the contract.

 

(I told you this was “BASIC”)

 

Point #2. There is one and one way only to get to this point. During the bidding, each partner will have a “range”, a minimium to a maximium of high card points. The beginning ranges are very large, but usually, one partner or the other will, by their bids, “limit” their hand to a much smaller range, normally a 3 point range. Example time:

 

North opens 1H. His “range” right now is about a good 12 to about 22 points. South, his partner, after East’s pass, bids 1S. South’s “range” is 6 up to “unlimited”. Right now, all we know is “minimiums”. We know the partnership can have at least 18 all the way up to 40. North’s rebid is likely to cut down the range of strength, either to a lesser degree, or all the way down to the workable 3 point range we really need.

 

North makes his rebid: 1NT. The bidding so far: 1H-p-1S-p-1N. North did it! He just completely limited his hand to a 3 point range. In this case, he is limited to exactly 12-14 points. No matter what happens from here on, South, the responder must keep in mind that his partner has 12-14. That is now written in stone.

 

All of bidding is based on the concept that eventually, one hand or the other is going to “limit his hand”. Then, the other guy knows for sure the combined assets of the partnership and can determine the final outcome. The other guy can stop the bidding, he can “invite” his partner to bid to any of the levels, or he can just bid to the level he wants all by himself. Why? Because his parnter is “limited” and he’s the one in the partnership who knows how high the partnership belongs.

 

UNTIL YOU HAVE THIS CONCEPT COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD, YOU HAVE NO REASON TO DO ANYTHING ELSE WITH BRIDGE. YOU ARE AT A PLACE THAT UNTIL YOU GRASP THIS, THERE IS NO PROGRESS TO BE MADE ELSEWHERE, AT ALL!

 

The best way to think at this is in terms of “boxes”. “Boxes” are small point ranges...let me give you an example:

 

If you are in the 6-9 point box, with a flat hand, you can respond 1N

If you have support for partners’s suit and are in the 6-9 box, you can raise your partner’s suit from 1 to 2.

Those two actions place you, without question, in the 6-9 box.

If you are in the 6-9 box, partner opens 1 of a suit, and you can bid a suit, staying at the 1 level, you can do that. Your hand is not “in a box” yet. It probably will be on your next bid.

 

Depending on the bidding system, you are going to have boxes that you can bid to to tell pard what range of hand you have. Playing standard, you have fairly standard, common boxes. The range of the box depends on whether you are an opener or a responder.

 

As opener, with NT hands...not distributional hands:

 

12-14 is a normal box

15-17 is the next higher box

18-19 is the next box up

20-21 is the next box up

22-24 is the next box up

25-27 is the next box up

28+ is the biggest one

 

(PS, Don’t worry about that biggest box....you’ll see one of those about once every 5 years)

 

As responder, normal boxes are, with flat (4333, 4432, 5332 patterns) hands:

 

0-5 is the first box

6-9 is the next box up

10-12 is the next box up

12-14 is the next box up (yes there is a little overlap)

15-17 is the next box up

18-19 is the next box up

20+ is the next box up

 

As either opener or responder, one of you is going to fit your hand into one of those boxes, and usually pretty quickly. BIG POINT COMING:

 

When you do, either of you.......THE OTHER GUY IS NOW IN CHARGE!.

 

Why? Because he is the one in the partnership who knows what is going on. That simple.

 

So how does he determine how high you ought to be? He can see his points, and he adds those to your range of points. No, he doesn’t know exactly how many points his partner has but he knows partner’s range, for certain sure. How does this help?

 

First, we need to make sure we understand what we need to play at the various levels. The first level is called the part score level, only part of a game. Without discussing trump fits, if we have less than 25 combined points, and we are going to play the hand, not defend, we need to be in the part score range, in our best combined suit or in nt. If we have a major suit fit or we can play in NT, and have at least 25 points, we need to be in the game level to go plus. If we can’t play NT, but have a minor suit fit, we need about 27 to play game in the minor. (Why the difference? To make a game contract in a minor, we have to take 11 tricks of the 13. To do that, we need more points than the 10 needed for a major game or the 9 needed for the NT game).

 

Once you determine that you have a combined 32 points, or more, (of the 40 possible), you now should be thinking about the small slam level. If you think you have 35 or more, grand slam is possible.

 

Those are the levels, and of course, you know the bonuses at bridge get bigger, with each higher level you bid to (and then make your contract).

 

We have spent all this time making sure we understand this, step by step. What follows is the actual mechanics of getting this right.

 

Here’s the situation: Your partner has “limited” his hand. He is in one of the boxes I outlined above. You add your points to his box...the top and the bottom, both. You see where your combined “range” now fits on the part score/game/small slam/grand slam hierarchy.

 

If your combned range all less than 25, you dont have a game. You find where you want to play and play that as cheaply as possible. If your combined range, bottom to top, is all in the game range, you have to make sure you get to game. The same for the small and grand slams. The other situation is that your range can overlap the numbers you are looking for. This is what will happen a lot, and you need to recognize that you are now in an “invitational” situations. Time for examples;

 

Your partner opens 1N:

 

You have 6 points. You know your partner is in the 15-17 box. Add your points to his top and his bottom. You get a combined partnership assets of 21 to 23. Your total assets just will not reach the needed 25. You pass.

 

You have 10 points. Pard has 15-17. Add your points to the top and the bottom. Combined range: 25-27. The top possibility will not reach the slam zone but the bottom is clearly in the game zone. This means you have a game but not a slam. You simply bid 3N. Pard will pass and will likely make the contract.

You have 9 points. Pard has 15-17. Combined range: 24-26. If pard has a maximium within his range, you can make game. If not you can’t. Guess what? You cannot make the decision by yourself. You need to find out pard’s exact point count. You do this by making what is called an “invitational bid”. In this case, it’s 2N. Pard will pass with a minimium and bid 3N with a maximium. Accuracy in bidding.

 

Think about the principles here. If you know you have a game, you make sure to get to it (more complicated bidding is another lesson). If you know you don’t have a game, you get stopped at a safe level. If you may or may not have a game to bid, depending on partner’s exact strength, you make an invitational bid and partner will know you need to know if he is on the top of that little range or not. He will “accept” the invitation if he is on top and “decline” if on the bottom.

 

Some very simple examples:

 

1s-2s-3s-? Opener knows responder is in the 6-9 box. Opener is saying, in English, partner, if you are on top of your stated range, we can make a game.

 

1d-1s-2s-3s-? Now responder is the one who knows what is going on. Opener has placed himself in the 12-14 box. Responder is asking partner if he has a good 13 or any 14 to bid game. He is “inviting”

 

1s-2s-pass. Opener knows the range, and it doesn’t get to game level strength. Time to quit.

 

1s-2s-4s. Opener knows that responder has 6-9. Opener thinks the partnership has the strength for game, so he does not invite. He just bids game. (Note he needs about 19 points to do this)

 

This is how you, as a bidder, determine how high you need to be. You need to have this concept very, very clear in your mind. Until you do, do nothing but think about this until you do. You are flatly wasting your time doing anything else until you have your mind completely wrapped around this idea.

 

Bob Holmes

 

(PS. If you are an avid reader concerning bridge, trying to learn solid basics of each facet of the game, keep up with the information posted on this link: http://forums.bridgebase.com/index.php?showtopic=12429

[barmar]

Very good article, I'd like to add one thing, though.

 

The converse to the limit-bid principle is knowing which bids are forcing. Once one player has limited his hand, his partner may need to get more information from him in order to determine what strain (a suit or NT) to play in. He may know that they belong in game, but he can't just bid it immediately because he needs to find the best fit. But if he makes any non-forcing bids below game, his partner might pass.

 

Furthermore, "how high" is often dependent not only on simple point count, but on distribution and fit. When you have a good fit, distributional features increase in value, so you can play at a higher level. You need to understand how to find fits (or lack) and be able to use this information to revalue your hand based on this, and keep the auction going in the process. Forcing bids are the cornerstone of this process.

[Wsue601]

I was never taught this concept when I first learned to play. I doubt the ladies from the rubber bridge group that taught me knew about it either. I recently decided to re-learn the game after a very long absense from the game and this cornerstone of bridge -- limited range and captaincy -- was the first thing I "discovered" from the books and on line tutorials I used for study. Bong! The Lightbulb Lit! I now realize there is no partnership communication without an understanding of this concept.

 

BUT, I am now playing rubber bridge again and find the concept is still unknown. Bidding either goes on forever until one partner gets so confused he/she passes OR the bid ends at 2 diamonds with 35 pts between the two hands. Very, very frustrating...

 

I made the mistake of trying to "teach" this concept. Eyes glazed over. But everyone was interested in learning Transfers.

 

I am no expert. One still needs to play skillfully (which I'm still studying) even in the best contract. BUT at least the concept of limited range and captaincy gets the partnership to an appropriate contract.

 

I'm curious....

Why/ How does this concept get lost?

 

Sue

[Sigi_BC84]

I guess it often is discussed in the context of NT openers ("now partner is boss") but in the teaching I received it was not emphasized enough that this applies in many situations all across the system, either. I've got this feeling because -- although not having a genuine "lightbulb experience" -- when reading this I realized that never anybody taught me this in such clear words. Bob's article is really good and should be given to new students per default IMHO.

 

--Sigi