Opening with Unbalanced Hands

Recap of Bidding

Balanced Hand	Unbalanced Hand
No void No singleton No more than 1 doubleton	Every other hand!

High Card Points
Ace	4
King	3
Queen	2
Jack	1

Points required to be in Game
3NT	25+ pts and two balanced hands (or mainly balanced)
4S or 4H	25+ pts and 8+ hearts/spades between both hands
5C or 5D	27+ pts and 8+ clubs/diamonds between both hands

We always try and have a fit (at least 8 cards) between us to play in a suit contract!

Opening Guidelines

• Balanced Hand with 12-14 pts – Open 1NT (last week)
• Unbalanced Hand with 12-19pts – read on!!

Opening with an Unbalanced Hand with 12-19pts

Open 1 of your longest suit

If there are two suits of equal length then choose the highest-ranking suit
(i.e. Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades with spades being the highest ranking)

If the distribution is 4-4-4-1 then open the middle of the 3 four card suits. An exception to this rule is a 4-4-4-1 distribution with a singleton in diamonds - then open 1C.

Responding to a Suit Opening ( e.g. 1C, 1D, 1H or 1S)

0-5 pts Pass

6-9 pts Weak Responding Hand

10+ pts Strong Responding Hand

With a Weak Responding Hand

• Raise Opener’s Suit
  With 4+ cards in partner’s suit then raise his suit ( e.g. 1H – 2H)
  
  
• Bid your own suit at the 1-level
  Bid a different suit that you have at least 4 cards in.
  
  Try and bid your longest suit where possible.
  Do not ever bid a new suit at the 2-level with a weak responding hand.

• Bid 1NT for everything else

With a Strong Responding Hand

If you meet the requirements for going to game (having enough points and having a fit in the trumps suit!) then bid to game immediately!

As more points are required to be in game in 5C/5D (27+ pts.) than in 3NT (25+ pts.), we are often forced to bid 3NT even if we have a fit in clubs or diamonds.

If your hand doesn’t meet the requirements for going to game immediately, then we need to further describe our hand to partner and let him decide what to do.

• Jump Raise Opener’s Suit
  With 4+ cards in partner’s suit then jump-raise his suit (e.g. 1S – 3S )
  
  
• Bid 2NT
  With a balanced hand and 11-12pts
  
  

• Bid your own suit at the 1-level or 2-level
  
  Try and bid your longest suit where possible.
  
  You must have at least 4 cards in the suit to bid it at the 1-level.
  You must have at least 5 cards in the suit to bid it at the 2-level.
  
  If you can bid a suit at the 1-level and the 2-level always choose the 1-level in order to keep the bidding low.

After your response

Opener knows more about your hand and can decide to go to game. Alternatively he can make what is known as a rebid to further describe his hand. More on this in later weeks!

Copyright 2004 Eoin O Fiachain http://www.eoinofiachain.com