You opened as in Chapter 2. Your partner responded as in Chapter 3. If this opening and responding did not finish the auction, your and your partner's subsequent bid is called rebid.
Here are two hints for you:
1- You may rebid your suit with 6 cards. 2- Below bids from either by opener or responder are limiting:
a) Bidding previously bid suit b) Bidding NT You can also limit your hand at any level that will reflect your point range. It is your partner's duty to take the partnership to any contract after you showed your limit... Here are some limiting examples:
4.1 Opener's Rebids
An opener may open the bidding with 13-21 points at the 1-level. So, 13 points is opener's minimum, 21 points is opener's maximum points. We can categorize opener's points in strength as:
13-15 points: opener's minimum strength 16-18 points: opener's medium strength 19-21 points opener's maximum strength Responder may support opener, may suggest a new suit or proposes a notrump contract, according to his points. No matter what is responder's response, as a 1-level suit opener your rebid (second bid) must reflect your points range.
In order to rebid your opening suit, you must have at least 6-cards in that suit. 5 card suit is acceptable if you have no other choice..
Also, if you will support your partner's (responder's) suit, you must revalaute your total points, by using your short-suit points (see Section1)
4.1.1 Opener's Rebids With Minimum Strength
Opener's Point Range
Opener's Rebid
13-15
If partner replied 1NT, that means that there is no fit in any higher rank suit than yours.. You can pass, rebid a new 4+ card minor or rebid your six card major..
A new suit by an unpassed responder is forcing one round. But, new suit rebid by opener is not forcing.
Note: Reverse: If opener's rebid is higher in rank than his first suit, this is called "reverse". For a reverse bid you need 16+ points. Opener's rebid at the level one is not reverse.
4.1.2 Opener's Rebids With Medium Strength
16-18
Note: If you have 18 points, jump in notrump. Example 1C-1H 2NT-? If partner responds 1NT, your rebid is 2NT with a balanced hand and 18 points 1C-1NT 2NT-? Responder will understand you are greater than 1NT(15-17) opening and less than 2NT opening (20-21). You would pass with minimum You would open 1NT with 15-17 You would open 2NT with 20-21
4.1.3 Opener's Rebids with Maximum
19-21
Note: If you have 19 points, jump in notrump. Example, 1C-1H 2NT-? If partner responds 1NT, your rebid is 2NT with a balanced hand and 19 points: 1C-1NT 2NT-? Responder will understand you are greater than 1NT(15-17) opening and less than 2NT opening (20-21). You would pass with minimum You would open 1NT with 15-17 You would open 2NT with 20-21
4.2 Responder's Rebids Responder's rebids depend on his first bid and opener's rebid. If responder determine that partnership has totally 25+ points, he must keep bidding until game or slam. As a responder your minimum point is 6. As a responder you must evaluate your hand within below ranges, if you are preparing to rebid.
6-10 : Responder's minimum point range. 11-12: Responder's intermediate point range 13+ : Responder's maximum point range.
Opener's rebids indicate his point ranges: 13-15, 16-18 or 19-21. According to opener's rebid, responder can decide if contract will be a partscore, game or slam.
A responder preparing to support his partner's suit, must reevalute his hand by addding his short-suit points to his high card points to find his total points. In order to be included in this point count system voids, singletons and doubletons must be in a suit which partnership didn't bid until then.
You may rebid your suit with 6+ cards.
Keep in mind that a) Bidding previously bid suit b) Bidding NT are limiting bids..
Responder also has some tools for forcing: Jump shifts, "Forth Suit", cuebidding etc.. 4.2.1 Responder's Minimum Rebids
Responder's Point Range
Responder's Rebid
6-10
Responder's rebids with 6-10 points are called responder's minimum rebids.
If opener shows minimum hand, If you compare your points with partner's points you will see that you don't have enough points for a game:So, you can pass. If you don't want to pass you must stop at the best part score contract: If you have controls in unbid suits you may bid 1 NT without support to partner's suit.. or you can rebid partner's suit. You may rebid your suit with 6+ cards. Avoid rebidding your 5 card suit if opener shows two suits (an unbalanced hand).
If opener shows medium hand, If you have only 6 points you can pass. If you have 7-8 points you may invite your partner for a game contract by bidding one of partnership suits at the 3 level. With 6-10 points against a partner with 16-18 points you can also bid a new suit.
If opener shows maximum hand, With 6-10 points against a partner with 19-21 points game is sure. If partnership already reached a game you can pass. If you did not reached a game yet, bid a game with support for partner's suit. If your partner made a jump bid, you can bid your suit:
Opener Responder 1 1 2 3
4.2.2 Responder's Intermediate Rebids
11-12
Responder's rebids with 11-12 points are called responder's intermediate rebids.
If opener shows minimum hand, 1) If you have controls in unbid suits you can bid NT. If opener has 14 or 15 points game is possible.
2) You can bid a new suit. Note: If you respond in a major to your partner's minor opening, opener can bid 1NT. A 1NT rebid by opener denies 4+ card support in your major suit. But she may have 3 cards and those three cards may carry you to a game in your major. If you want to learn if opener (whose rebid was 1N after your major response) has 3 cards in your major suit you must rebid the other minor (other than partner's minor). This convention is called NMF- New Minor Forcing Convention. New minor asks if partner has at least three cards in your major suit. 3)You can bid your or partner's suit by jump.
If opener shows medium hand, Bid a game. If you need some more information from the opener (your partner), you may bid a new suit.
If opener shows maximum hand, If you need some more information from the opener (your partner), you may bid a new suit. Slam possible
4.2.3 Responder's Maximum Rebids
13+
Responder's rebids with 13+ points are called responder's maximum rebids.
Responder's fourth suit bid is a game forcing bid. When opener shows two suits, he may not have room for a fit in another suit.. For this reason responder's fourth suit bid is artificial and a game forcing bid. ... In 1C-1H;1S-2D sequence 2D bid by responder is 4th suit forcing.. 4th suit forcing does not apply in an "up the line" bidding sequence at the 1-level, e.g., 1C-1D-1H-1S If responder bids a fourth suit, opener must provide additional information by; • Raising responder's first suit with three-card support • Bidding NT with a stopper in the fourth suit
Cuebidding technique (Bidding opponent's suit) can also be used for forcing..
If opener shows minimum, 1) If you have controls in unbid suits you can bid 3 NT. 2) Bid a game in partner's or yours suit. If you are going to bid game in your suit which is not supported by partner, your major suit must be 6-7 carded, your minor suit must have at least 7 cards. 3) A new suit is always forcing: So you can bid a new suit to get more information from partner. If partner made a limit bid (like 1NT, previosly bid suit etc.), you can jump shift to a new suit to show your partner your intension for a game. The lenght and strenght of this new suit is not very important.
If opener shows medium, 1) Bid a game in partner's or yours suit. If you are going to bid game in your suit which is not supported by partner, your major suit must be 6-7 carded, your minor suit must have at least 7 cards. 2) If you found 33 total combined points, slam is possible: If you are not sure about slam yet, you can invent a new suit. A new suit is always forcing: Partner can not pass. So you can get more information from partner before a good slam contract. Jumping to game level in either partner's or your suit invites partner to slam....
If opener shows maximum, Slam is always possible. Read Section 7 for slam biddings...