The most important thing to remember about any kind of signalling system is that it won't work if you're not PAYING ATTENTION.  Both you and partner have to be careful in what cards you play and watchful for what cards partner plays.

There are 3 main signals you can give:  COUNT, ATTITUDE, and SUIT PREFERENCE.  We'll concentrate on Count and Attitude.

In STANDARD COUNT signalling, we show an EVEN number of cards in a suit by playing the highest card we can spare first, then a lower one.  We show an ODD number by playing our spots from the bottom up.

In STANDARD ATTITUDE signalling, we play a HIGH card to tell partner we like that suit.

{Note:  UPSIDE-DOWN signalling just flips those - even count is shown by playing spots from the bottom up and encouraging attitude is shown with small cards.}

We generally give COUNT when the declarer leads a suit and ATTITUDE when WE lead a suit (or discard.)

:)

Basically, 4SF comes into play when Opener bids a suit, Responder bids a new suit, and Opener bids yet a thrid suit.  Responder's bid of the 4th suit is now ARTIFICIAL and GAME FORCING (and therefore ALERTABLE.)  It doesn't promise anything about the length of Responder's first suit, it just promises GF values.

EX:  1D - 1S - 2C - 2H*  (says nothing about Hearts, just GF)

Opener should continue to bid his hand naturally, including showing Responder if he has 3-card support.  Responder can bid that 4th suit again on his next bid if he did actually have it.

{Note:  It is possible to play 4th Suit Forcing for only one round, but that's not nearly as useful along with 2/1.}

There does occur a special case when the auction proceeds:  1C - 1D - 1H - 1S*.  I'm going to suggest that becuase Responder with a hand that isn't worth a second bid would have told Opener about his spades rather than his diamonds, this bid is also artificial and GF.  The auction 1C - 1D - 1H - 2S shows 5(+) Diamonds and 4 Spades and Invitational values.

:)

So tonight we discussed NEW MINOR FORCING, a very useful tool for finding Major suit fits.  NMF, for short, most basically applies when Opener bids 1 of a minor, Responder shows 1 of a Major, and Opener rebids 1NT.  Now 2 of the OTHER (NEW) MINOR from the Responder does a few things:

1.  Promises 10+ points.

2.  Promises 5 cards in your Major.

3.  Asks Opener to tell you more about his holdings in the Majors.

Notice I didn't say anything about the minor you just bid - this is an artificial bid.  Now, there are versions of NMF that don't promise 10+ points or a 5-card suit, but this is the basic version. 

Opener's priorities for answering your NMF question are:

1.  Show 3-card support for your Major.

2.  Show 4 cards in the other Major.

3.  Bid 2NT without either.  (This is why you need to have at least 10 points to bid NMF - you don't want partner to try to play 2NT with fewer than 22 points AND no fit.)

And that's it.  NMF is alertable, since it's an artificial bid, and since partner must bid again, you as Responder with a game-forcing hand will get your chance to show that on your next bid.  This is also another convention where the actual bidding cards on the table will help you out - look at what minor partner opened and bid the other one!  (Likewise, as Opener, if partner bids the minor you didn't open, little bells should go off in your head that this might mean something special.)

:)

We discussed SIMPLE OVERCALLS - that is, bidding a new suit that is not a jump after the opponents have opened.

Simple overcalls show 7(or 8 or whatever you and your partner agree to) to 17 points and are usually made for one (or several) of three reasons:

1.  I think this is actually our hand even though the opponents opened.  Here's my suit.

2.  If you wind up on lead partner, please lead this suit.

3.  I just want to get in their way.  (More common for JUMP OVERCALLS, similar to preempts.)

Simple overcalls at the 1-level could indeed be on as few as 7 points, but should consider vulnerability.  Simple overcalls at the two level should be much closer to actual opening strength hands.

In general, partner should respond to your overcall as though you actually have an opening hand.  However, partner should be very careful jumping around.  If partner has a LIMIT RAISE or better, he should show it by CUEBIDDING the opponents' suit.

ex:  (1D) - 1H - (1S) - 2D = I have Heart support for you and AT LEAST Limit Raise values (10-11 or + pts)

If you have a hand that's too big to make a simple overcall, then you X first and then bid your suit.  Partner will initially think this is a takeout double, but you'll prove otherwise when you bid another suit.

:)

In the meantime, please see the discussion from MONDAY, APRIL 5 for the recap and review.

:)

:)

The two big differences to remember are that Opener's NT shows (relative) balance, while Responder's does not (and is in fact often artificial/conventional.)  Also FAST ARRIVAL ideas tend to not apply in NT - i.e., you do have to jump to show extras.

OPENER'S NT BIDS AND REBIDS:

1x - 1y - 1NT:  12-14 pts

1NT:  15-17 pts

1x - 1y - 2NT:  18-19 pts

2NT:  20-21 pts

2c - 2x - 2NT:  22-24 pts

2c - 2x - 3NT:  25-27 pts

and then some special cases:

3NT:  Gambling, shows a long (7c+) solid minor suit and NO outside cards in 1st/2nd seat

1m - 1y - 3NT:  shows long minor WITH an outside card

and 2/1 sequences:

1x - 2z - 2NT:  12-14 OR 18+ pts

1x - 2z - 3NT:  15-17 pts

Responder's NT bids are very different:

1m - 1NT:  6-9 pts, no 4c M

1m - 2NT:  10-11 pts, no 4c M

1m - 3NT:  12-15 pts, no 4c M

1M - 1NT:  1NT Forcing*

1M - 2NT:  Jacoby 2NT

1M - 3NT:  varies, but a good agreement is 13-15 pts, 4333 shape (not 4c support)

I'll be gone the next two weeks, but you'll have Kathy.

:)

We added to our understanding of how to raise partner with a big Major fit tonight by learning SPLINTERS and JACOBY 2NT.

Both of these bids have in common that they promise at least 4 CARD SUPPORT for partner's opening Major and at least a GAME FORCING hand.

SPLINTERS are double-jumps to show shortness (singleton or void), with the 4c+ support and 12-15 HCP.

ex:  1H - 4D = 4c Hearts, 12-15 HCP, 0 or 1 Diamonds

Followups tend to be natural cuebids showing Aces or just signing off in game with no further slam interest.

JACOBY 2NT also promises 4c support and a game forcing hand, but generally now asks the opener to further describe his hand.  Followups are:

3-level:  SHORTNESS (singleton or void)

4-level:  5-CARD SUIT, 2/3 honors (a source of tricks, probably a better suit than the one you opened!)

3 of our suit:  more than a minimum opener (prob 15+ HCP), no shortness, but wants to hear about Aces

3N:  control-rich minimum (lots of Aces and Kings)

4 of our suit:  minimum opener, no slam interest

Both of these conventions will get us to game, but are really especially useful to find out about slams that might work becuase of SHAPE rather than pure power.

:)

Hand Evaluation is an art - you'll get better and better at it with practice, but there are a few pointers we can start with now.

There are really three main pieces to the strength of a hand:  POINTS, SHAPE, and FIT. 

Points:  Good ol' Goren point count (A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1) is a good place to start, but a little flawed.  Aces are worth more than those 4 points and Jacks are generally not really a point each, at least not by themselves.  Honors together are also generally worth more than the sum of their parts, and separated are hard pressed to pull full weight.  (AKxxx xx much more useful than Axxx Kxx, most of the time)

Shape:  Before you har anything from partner, you should really only give your hand anything extra if it's got long suits - multiple things you'd be happy to have as trump.  Shortnesses can also be valuable, but only once you know if they work well with what partner's got.

Fit:  When you and your partner have the same suit, now you're cooking.  The fabled 8-card (or more!) fit makes a huge difference in how many tricks you can take.  Good fits can also compensate for a lack of actual points much of the time.

Remember also that your hand evaluation needs to be flexible - it will changed based on your seat, vulnerability, and the other bids (or passes) happening around you, both from partner and the opponents.

:)

Since tonight was a GNT Qualifier, we talked about how team games operate and are scored, as well as a little bit of strategy.

It's a little tricky to recount here, so we'll do it again next time we have a team game (May at some point).  However, if you strive to bid games and slams at teams, it's generally worth it.  (plus, it'll make you a better declarer to be in thin games!)

:)