This document provides lessons on bridge bidding conventions, including: 1) Game tries/slam tries over 1M openers, where opener rebids the next cheapest suit to check for a game or asks for shortness with the cheapest suit to check for a slam. 2) Two schools of thought on jumpshifts - strong jumpshifts showing a game force or weak jumpshifts to play with a balanced hand. 3) Splinter bids showing a singleton in the bid suit and support for opener's original suit. 4) Two-way Drury convention where a response of the next suit shows either 3-card support and 10-12 points or 4+ card support and 10-12 points

1. Bridge Lessons - Intermediate NYU Bridge and Spades Club

2. Lesson 11 Game Tries/Slam Tries over 1M Openers

3. Revision So far, we’ve learnt that you may respond to 1M openers with 2X, 1S (in the case of 1H openers), xNT or xS. 2S = 6-9 points, 3+ card support 3S = 10-12 points, 3+ card support 4S = 13+ points, 3+ card support 1NT = 6-9 points, no spade fit 2NT = 10-12 points, no spade fit 3NT = 13+ points, no spade fit 1S (over 1H) = 4+ spades, 6+ points 2X = 5+ cards in X, 10+ points

4. Game Tries after 1M-2M What does opener do if opener has a strong hand (15+ to 18- points) and wants to check if game is available? Opener rebids the next cheapest bid i.e. 1H-2H-2S or 1S-2S-2NT Responder rebids the cheapest suit in which he has a feature (one of the top 3 royals at least) Opener then decides whether there is a secondary fit which may produce extra tricks and decide on the contract accordingly After 1H-2H-2S, responder bids 2NT to show a spade feature

5. Slam Tries after 1M-3M Opener rebids the cheapest suit (Mathe asking bid) as a slam try i.e. 1H-3H-3S or 1S-3S-3NT to ask for shortness Without shortness, responder bids 4M to end the auction With shortness, responder bids the suit in which he is short at the 4th level

6. Jumpshifts – Two Schools of Thought A jumpshift is defined as a bid that is one level higher than the lowest level possible for that suit E.g. 1H-2S E.g. 1C-2H E.g. 1S-3D School of thought 1: strong jumpshifts School of thought 2: weak jumpshifts

7. School of Thought 1: Strong Jumpshifts This is more commonly used with Standard American Yellow Carding (what we have been learning so far) This school of thought uses strong jumpshifts as a game-forcing bid and showing 5+ cards in the suit bid

8. School of Thought 2: Weak Jumpshifts This is more commonly used with 2/1 Because there is no longer a need to jumpshift to GF in 2/1, weak jumpshifts are used instead 2nd level weak jumpshifts show 2-5 points and 6+ cards in the suit bid 3rd level weak jumpshifts show slightly more, probably 5-9 points and 6+ cards in the suit bid Weak jumpshifts are to play and opener is generally recommended to pass

9. Splinter Bids Right now, 1M-4X is a useless bid so we’d might as well put it to use 1M-4X a splinter bid showing 4+ card support for M and a singleton/void in X, 12+ points E.g. 1S-4C shows 4+ spades and singleton/void in X Exception: 1H-3S is also a splinter bid. It doesn’t make sense for 1H-4S to be the splinter bid as it forces a contract at the 5th or higher level

10. 2-Way Drury If you pass with 10-12 points and your partner opens on the 3rd seat with 1M (a suit in which you’re long too), your partnership may have a game anyway We have thus come up with the 2-Way Drury bid 1M-2C shows 3 card support and 10-12 points Opener can rebid 2D to show he could’ve opened by rule of 20 Opener can rebid 2M to show he opened by rule of 18 so the partnership can sign off at that level 1M-2D shows 4+ card support and 10-12 points Opener can no longer show a less than opening hand, but has knowledge of an extra trump and can better decide where the contract should be 2M on top of 2D is sign-off, 3M is invitational. Responder only bids up to game with favourable distribution

11. 2-Way Drury Opener may also bid 2H on top of 1S-2m to show a 4-card heart suit. This promises opening strength Opener may also bid 3m on top of 1M-2m to show a 5-card minor and responder can then decide where to place the contract If responder wants to show a good minor suit instead, responder should bid 3m instead of 2m