navit Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 My partner opened with 1 H. Opponent passed. I had 12 HCP= 3 card support in H, 4 SPADES and 3 in each of the minors. Since I don't know how strong my partner is how should I bid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike777 Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 Why do you not know how strong your partner is, they can have 1 or 2 hcp, they can have 37 hcp? nonsense. If you do not know the hand type 1h promises, ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1eyedjack Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 Why do you not know how strong your partner is, they can have 1 or 2 hcp, they can have 37 hcp? nonsense. If you do not know the hand type 1h promises, ask. I think you misread the OP. It is partner not opponent who opened 1H. Or perhaps I misread it. Without the full hand it is hard to comment, but with 12 HCP you have a hand worth a borderline game opposite an opening bid. Some might be content with an invititation, particularly as the 4-3-3-3 shape is rather unattractive. It is certainly easier to bid if you downgrade the hand to invitational: Start with 1S response - this is a new suit and forcing. At that point it does not limit your hand strength. But opener's rebid will clarify his strength. If he shows extras then your problems tend to disappear. If he rebids 2H (showing 6 of them) then you would probably upgrade to GF and bid 4H. Otherwise you could bid 3H invitational and let partner take the push with a maximum. If you decide that you are worth game then it gets a bit murky. You don't want to conceal the 3 card support for partner's Hearts, but neither do you want to rule out the possibility of 3N being the right spot. Again I would normally start off with a quiet 1S to see how the wind lies. Then I might continue to make forcing noises by "manufacturing" a new suit bid in the minors, otherwise you would have to blast 3N or 4H either of which could be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoTired Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 Start with 1S. Over a 1N, 2m, 2H rebid, bid 3H if you think the hand is invitational or 4H if you think the hand is GF. Those bids show 3-card support and your strength. If opener rebids 2S, then bid 4H, offering partner a choice of games. The double-fit allows you to upgrade even if you originally thought the hand was invitational. About 3N: I suggest you play in the 8-card major fit always. Save 3NT only for hands without an 8-card major fit. When you become far more advanced, then you will be better position to know when to ignore the 8-card major fit and bid 3N. I STRONGLY disagree with a previous poster Then I might continue to make forcing noises by "manufacturing" a new suit bid in the minorsIf you have support for partner, show it as soon as possible. Don't play around and confuse the auction by showing suits you don't have when all the time you know exactly where you want to end up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtfanclub Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 My partner opened with 1 H. Opponent passed. I had 12 HCP= 3 card support in H, 4 SPADES and 3 in each of the minors. Since I don't know how strong my partner is how should I bid? Part of it is going to depend on how your hand looks. If all of your honors are focused in two suits, or you have lots of aces, probably be best to start with 1 spade. If your points are spread out and you have lots of queens, better to start with no-trump (1NT if it's forcing, 2NT if it shows 11-12 balanced). The point is, decide who you want to declare 3NT, and make sure that person ends up declaring. If partner does not show extra shape, consider notrump, even with the 5-3 fit. 4333's generally prefer no trump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1eyedjack Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 Start with 1S. Over a 1N, 2m, 2H rebid, bid 3H if you think the hand is invitational or 4H if you think the hand is GF. Those bids show 3-card support and your strength. If opener rebids 2S, then bid 4H, offering partner a choice of games. The double-fit allows you to upgrade even if you originally thought the hand was invitational. About 3N: I suggest you play in the 8-card major fit always. Save 3NT only for hands without an 8-card major fit. When you become far more advanced, then you will be better position to know when to ignore the 8-card major fit and bid 3N.I have won a lot of points over the years electing to play in 3N rather than 4M (or at least offering partner that choice, which he accepts), despite holding a 5-3 major suit fit. If you had to choose between playing ALWAYS in the major fit or NEVER in the major fit, then I would tend to agree that playing in the major fit will gain over the alternative. Some of us do not like to tie our own hands. We get enough of that from opponents.I STRONGLY disagree with a previous poster Then I might continue to make forcing noises by "manufacturing" a new suit bid in the minorsIf you have support for partner, show it as soon as possible. Don't play around and confuse the auction by showing suits you don't have when all the time you know exactly where you want to end up.If you had read my post it should have been apparent that the reason for bidding a minor is because I do NOT know exectly where I want to end up. I am all in favour of not concealing support in principle, but if the only way to show support is by bidding 4M when 3N is the right spot, then it is a principle that I am prepared to bend. Your entire strategy is based on a premise that you will always prefer to play in 4M rather than 3N. If that premise is correct then your conclusion logically follows. If it is not then the remaining argument is worthless. As I said in my OP, "without the full hand it is hard to comment". There may be some 4-3-3-3 hands where I would agree with SoTired's bidding. It might be an interesting question to put to Bridge Browser (which I don't have, mainly because I lack confidence that I would ever learn how to use it). If anyone has it, and say limits opener to a balanced hand with a 5 card major, and responder with 4333 shape with 3 card support and values for game, how 3N fairs compared with 4M over a large number of deals. Talking of which, I just had a look at the BrBr catalogue athttp://www.microtopia.net/bridge/pricelist.htmland it looks as though the available hand records stop in 2004.Perhaps it has been packed in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianshark Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Someone correct me if I'm wrong in this but... -Jumping to game in the Major is weak.-Bidding a new suit then jumping to game in a Major is stronger, based on points (12-15 or so)-Bidding a new suit, then bidding 4th suit forcing, then jumping to game in a Major is a mild slam try. Also, as far as I can tell, the only time you'd consider 3NT instead of 4M when holding an 8 card fit is if both hands are balanced. So you only really want to consider 3NT opposite a 1NT rebid. In which case, don't mess about making up bids, decide if your a Major or NT'er and invite/bid game accordingly. I'm going to respond 1♠. Opposite a 1NT bid, I may bid 2NT/3NT or may bid 3♥/4♥ depending on the hand. Opposite any 2-level new suit, I'm going to bid either 3♥ or 4♥ again depending on the hand. Opposite 2♠, I'm probably going bid 4♥, maybe 4♠. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P_Marlowe Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Hi, without any further agreements, simply bid 1S. Opener cant pass, and after his rebid,you will know, if he has a min. / med.or max. opener. With kind regardsMarlowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts