Bridge Club'S Cheat Sheet

Bridge Club’s Cheat Sheet

based on American Standard at and Williams Bridge Club consensus, last rev 1/20/05

Opening:

Responding

Responding

with a typical unbalanced hand:

to 1 of a major:

to 1 no trump:

< 6 points....................................................................... PASS

< 8 points.......................................................................PASS

< 13 points......................................... PASS

With Support

8+ points: we use “Jacoby Transfer”

Note: if your hand has a very long suit (6+),

6 to 9 points........................................Raise 1 level

4+ hearts and/or spades...................................... 2 C

check out the “Long Suit” section

10 to 12 points.................................. Raise 2 levels

5+ hearts, <4 spades............................................. 2 D

13 to 20 points

13+ points........................... Jump-shift, then raise

5+ spades, <4 hearts.............................................2 H

Five card major.....................1 of major

Without Support

5+ of minor, no 4+ major...................................... 2 S

Otherwise.................1 of better minor

6 to 9 points

Otherwise (balanced).....................................2 NT

Note: If your points are in the higher

4+ card suit............................................1 of suit

10 to 14 points, balanced........................................3 NT

end of this range (17+) you may want to

Note: only if you can bid “1” of it!

signal your partner, perhaps by jump-shifting

Otherwise...................................................1 NT

to 2 no trump:

over his response.

10-12 points, 4+ card suit................Bid new suit

< 3 points........................................................................PASS

13+ points, unbalanced..........................Jump-shift

21+ points...............................................2 C

3 to 9 points, balanced.............................................3 NT

13-15 points, balanced hand...........................2 NT

3 to 9 points, unbalanced

Note: you must have a 5+ card suit.

...................... use Jacoby Transfer at the 3-level

This is called the “strong 2.”

to 1 of a minor:

10+ points....................................................... explore slam

< 6 points....................................................................... PASS

with a balanced hand:

With a 4+-card major suit

to 2 clubs:

(“strong two”)

(no singletons or voids, 1 doubleton max)

6 to 12 points............................................. 1 of major

We use “steps” for the first response:

15 to 17 points.................................... 1 NT

13+ points..................................................... 2 of major

0 to 3 points.....................................................................2 D

20 to 22 points....................................2 NT

Without 4-card major suit

4 to 6 points.....................................................................2 H

25 to 27 points.................................... 3 NT

6 to 9, support for partner............Raise 1 level

7 to 9 points....................................................................... 2 S

6 to 9, no support or good suit..................1 NT

Otherwise.......................1 of better minor

10+ points.......................................................................2 NT

10 to 12, support..............................Raise 2 levels

Counting Points:

Bid Hierarchy:

10 to 12, no support......................Bid new minor

with a long suit and low points:

Aces

= 4 Voids

= 3

1C, 1D

13+, unbalanced........................................Jump-shift

(6+ cards in a suit, no opening strength)

Kings

= 3

Singletons = 2

1H, 1S,

13 to 15, balanced...............................................2 NT

< 13 points, 6 clubs........................... PASS

Queens = 2

Doubletons = 1

1NT, 2C,

5 to 9 points, 6-card suit (not C).. 2 of suit

Jacks

= 1

(sort of)

2D, 2H, . . .

to a weak 2 or 3:

(ie, not 2 clubs)

3 to 9 points, 7-card suit................3 of suit

< 16 points.....................................................................PASS

Combined points needed for contracts:

10 to 12 points, 6+ card suit

16+, support............................... consider bidding game

3NT (game in NT): 26

16+, no support........... consider new suit bid or NT

...........consider a 1-bid, or open weak

4X (game in major): 26

6X (small slam): 33

5X (game in minor): 29

7X (grand slam): 37

The goal of bidding is to discover your partnership’s shared strength. To do this, you have to communicate with each other using bidding – that’s why we use these rules.

The best place to play is in a major suit (H or S) with a “fit,” which means at least 8 cards in the between your partnership’s hands. If you don’t have a fit but your

partner is strong in the suits you are weak in (your hands balance each other), no trump might be a good place to play. Remember that, without a trump, short suits are a

liability, so you need to have balanced hands to play NT, or it could get ugly. A minor fit is your last resort – with game at the 5 level, they are rarely the right place to be.

Note that bidding is structured to favor finding a good suit as soon as possible, and to prefer major suits. Major suit contracts make game at the 4-level, minor suits at

the 5, so this makes sense. No trump suits make game at the 3-level, but are harder to play and require more overall strength. Remember that the idea is to bid out your

hand -- when you have more information to give and any prayer to make game, keep making informative bids. When you no longer have a chance at game, stop bidding.