After the First Round of Bidding
On most occasions, opener will limit her hand with her rebid. In that case, responder is the captain and will make a decision about the strain (suit or no-trump) and the level. It's pretty easy when responder is minimum and opener has described minimum values. If a fit in a suit has been found, responder will usually pass. When there is some doubt about where to play, more bidding will ensue. For example:
East might have a hand such as:
♠ A954
West has not denied four spades, so East will bid the suit to provide more information to West.
When responder is confident the partnership has found the best denomination to play in, she will pass with minimum values, make an invitation to game with intermediate strength, and simply bid game in the appropriate suit (or no-trump) unless she has enough extra strength to consider probing for slam.
If a fit has not been found and responder has a minimum hand for the bidding, she will usually take a preference for opener's first suit. In most cases, responder will not introduce a new suit, which is forcing (opener cannot pass) in most systems. With no fit for either of opener's suits, assuming two have been bid, responder will bid 1NT if possible. 2NT is not an option without at least 11 HCP because 2NT is an invitational bid.
Modern bidding is designed to help partners discover when two hands have at least eight cards in the same suit (usually a major) between them. This is known in the vernacular as a “golden fit.” It is highly advantageous in many cases to have four cards of the suit in each hand, providing opportunities for using the trumps separately and generating extra tricks.
When responder has a strong hand and wants to play game, she can simply bid it if a fit has been found, bid 3NT with a balanced hand and no established fit, or she can jump in a suit of six cards or longer.
East would bid 3 ♥ with this hand:
♠ AQ
Bidding 3 ♥ would show a six-card suit and enough to play game. Opener, with a doubleton heart, would probably bid 4 ♥. With a singleton heart, opener likely would choose 3NT.
Responding hands with invitational values are more difficult to bid without certain sophisticated bidding tools that are beyond the scope of this book.
What you want to take from this chapter is an understanding of and appreciation for good communication between partners. If you and your partner are on the same wavelength, you will probably get by just fine in most cases without fancy conventions. In any case, no system, no matter how fancy or highly developed, can cater to all possibilities.
