When the Opponents Have Opened the Bidding
	Opener's Second Bid
	Index of Lessons

In this lesson, we will talk generally about the direction the auction will take after you have opened, your partner has responded, and you have rebid. There are few absolutes by this time, so the best we can do is talk generally.

Notrump Auctions

Basically, you are in a Notrump auction when either you have opened in Notrump and your partner responded or your partner responded to your opening bid with with a jump in Notrump.

Either you or your partner may be using the Stayman Convention to check for 4-4 major fits on the way to a game either in a suit or Notrump. If not, then one or the other of you probably knows by now where the final contract should be, and is ready to bid it or to Pass if you are already there.

In the rare cases where your combined point total is in the slam range (33 points for a small slam and 37 points for a grand slam), the partner who realizes this first is about to jump to the slam or use the Gerber Convention (see the previous lesson) to check for Aces before doing so.

In any event, Notrump auctions are already winding up.

Trump Suit Auctions

In these auctions, no one opened in Notrump, no one jumped in Notrump and no one opened a Strong Club and then bid Notrump. In these auctions, it is likely that there will be a trump suit.

The main thing to remember is that as soon as your partnership bids a suit and the other partner raises it, your trump suit is confirmed; that is where the partscore contract, game contract or slam contract is going to be played. Because of this fairly obvious conclusion, we can begin to infer other things about our partner's bids. Let's look at an example:

North (You)   East   South (Partner)   West   1 Pass 1 Pass 2 Pass 3 Pass ????

Your partner knew from your opening bid that you had 13-16 points and a biddable Heart suit. From his bid, you knew that he had a biddable Spade suit, and that his point count was 7+ (he needed more than six points to respond, but that's all you know). Your bid confirmed that Spades would be the trump suit; that the final contract will be in Spades. You probably expected partner to pass, if he had only 7 points, because he would know that even if you had 16, your partnership still did not have the 26 necessary for game. Or you might have expected him to bid 3 if he wanted to invite you to bid game if you had 15-16 points but pass if you didn't. Or, finally, you might have expected him to bid game in Spades if he had 13 points minimum, and needed only a minimum number from you.

But he didn't do any of these things; instead, he bid another suit. He can't be looking for a better trump suit because he knows that when a suit, particularly a major one, is bid and raised that the trump suit is confirmed. So why did he bid Clubs?

The answer must be that there is something else he wants to tell us, something that might cause us to go beyond game and investigate whether a slam is possible. What he is telling you, basically, is this: "Partner, I know that Spades will be trump, and I know we have a game. But I didn't bid it right away because I think we might have a slam. I am only counting on you for 13 points, so if you have more, I'd like to know. In the meantime, I just want to tell you that I have "first-round control" of the Club suit; I either have the Ace of Clubs or I am void in Clubs and could trump them right away if they are led. Can you tell me more about your hand?" (This is another type of "cue-bid", a bid that does not show a suit or ask a question but shows that the suit in question is "controlled". The other type of cue-bid is when you or your partner bid a suit an opponent has bid, at which time you are showing a strong hand and control of that suit.)

So what should you do? Well, if you only have 13-14 points, you should probably just bid Spades again. But if you have more, make some other bid. If you, yourself, have an Ace or void you can bid that suit. Or, if you don't, but still have more than 15 points, you can bid the next level of Notrump. Just avoid rebidding the Spades, as this will tell partner the wrong thing.

After this, partner may simply bid the game, after which you might pass, or if you have showed more than a minimum, he might make another cue-bid, or he might use the Blackwood Convention to check for Aces before bidding a slam on his own.

Definition: Blackwood Convention This convention is used when a trump suit has been confirmed and one partner thinks that a slam should be bid. This partner wants to make sure that the partnership is not missing two Aces, which might defeat a small slam immediately, or a single Ace, which would scuttle a grand slam if it is led. To initiate the Blackwood Convention, bid 4 to find out from partner how many Aces he holds. Here are the bids that partner can make: If you have either all four Aces or no Aces at all, bid 5 If you have one Ace, bid 5 If you have two Aces, bid 5 If you have three Aces, bid 5 These are the only bids you can make and you must make one of them. Your partner may then set the final contract or, if he is aiming for a grand slam, may want to know how many Kings you hold. He will do this by continuing the Blackwood Convention and bidding 5 . Again, here are your responses: If you have either all four Kings or no Kings at all, bid 6 If you have one King, bid 6 If you have two Kings, bid 6 If you have three Kings, bid 6 Again, these are the only bids you can make and you must make one of them. And, again, your partner will set the final contract.

Strong Club Auctions

In auctions where one of you opens with 1 , there has already been a positive or negative response and a rebid by the Club bidder. Just remember that a 1 opening followed by a positive response means that the partnership must not stop below game. If the Club bidder gets a negative response, he can either set the final contract immediately, or force Responder to bid again by jumping. Both bidders should always be keeping track of the upper limit of the point count of the combined hands; if this count rises to the slam range, then one or the other partners can use Gerber or Blackwood to check for Aces before bidding that slam.

	When the Opponents Have Opened the Bidding
	Opener's Second Bid
	Index of Lessons