says nothing about clubs, merely that the opener has a very powerful hand of 23 or more points. Similarly, the response of 2
to the 2 opening has nothing to do with diamonds. Instead, it conveys the message that the responder has a weak hand.CHAPTER 13
Conventional Bids
Learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
Alfred Sheinwold
It is most comfortable when the bidding consists of natural bids, that is, each bid describes a possible denomination for the contract. If your partner bids clubs, he has clubs and if he bids hearts, he has hearts and so on. As we have seen in the previous chapter, however, some artificial, or conventional, bids can be quite useful. For example, the opening bid of 2 says nothing about clubs, merely that the opener has a very powerful hand of 23 or more points. Similarly, the response of 2 to the 2 opening has nothing to do with diamonds. Instead, it conveys the message that the responder has a weak hand.
Our recommendation is that you use as few conventional bids as possible. Having said that, there are some conventional bids which are quite commonly used. You may not want to use them, but you should probably know about them in case your partner expects you to be familiar with them or your opponents use one of them during the auction. These two conventions are the Stayman Convention and the Blackwood Convention.
Introducing the Stayman Convention
The Stayman Convention is used only after an opening bid of 1NT or 2NT. The convention is named after Sam Stayman from New York. Let’s look at why Mr Stayman, and some of his associates, found it necessary to employ such a convention and why it became so popular. Look at these two hands:
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Opener |
Responder |
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The opener, with a balanced hand and 14 points, starts with 1NT. The responder has enough points for a game and, without knowing that the opener has exactly four spades, might choose 3NT with his balanced hand. As you can see, the diamond suit is unprotected and the defence could take the first five tricks or more, defeating the contract. On the other hand, the defenders would only be able to take two diamond tricks if the contract were 4
. How can the responder find out about the spade fit? There is no natural bid available. In response to a 1NT opening bid, 2 is a sign-off bid asking the 1NT opener to pass; 3 is a forcing bid showing a five-card spade suit and asking the opener to bid 3NT with two spades and 4 with three or more spades; 4 is a sign-off bid showing a six-card spade suit. What is the solution? Mr Stayman decided to take the response of 2 and use it as an artificial bid carrying the message, ‘Do you have a four-card major suit?’ This bid became known as the Stayman Convention.
Responding to the Stayman Convention
In response to the 2 bid, the 1NT opener bids a four-card major suit if he has one. If the opener does not have a four-card major, he bids 2, which is an artificial response, saying nothing about the diamond suit. This is similar to the 2 negative response to an opening bid of 2. Let’s see what you would rebid with the following hands after you have opened the bidding 1NT and your partner has used the Stayman Convention by responding 2:
In the first example, you have a four-card spade suit, and so you would rebid 2 in response to the 2 bid. In the second example, you have four hearts and four spades. Bid the lower-ranking of your two four-card major suits first, 2
. In the last example, with no four-card major, rebid 2. This has nothing to do with the diamond suit, it merely says you do not have a four-card major suit.
Responding to Stayman (2 response to 1NT)
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2 |
No four-card major suit |
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2 |
A four-card heart suit |
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2 |
A four-card spade suit |
Using the Stayman Convention
Let’s look at how the responder makes use of the Stayman Convention with various types of hands.
With 13 or more points
Suppose your partner opens 1NT and this is your hand:
You want to play in the game zone and your choice is between no trumps and hearts. To find out if your partner is interested in hearts, you use the Stayman Convention and bid 2. Suppose your partner responds 2. What now? Since you know your partner has at least 12 points and four hearts, you are prepared to make the decision to play a game in a major suit. Bid 4. Suppose, instead, your partner responds 20, showing no four-card major? Now you are satisfied to play in no trumps and can rebid 3NT. Similarly, if partner rebids 2, showing a four-card spade suit, you would be satisfied to play in 3NT since no heart fit has been found.
With 11–12 points
There are times when you have a hand in which you are sure of neither the zone nor the denomination after your partner opens 1NT. For example:
With only 11 HCPs, you need to know if the opener has the top or bottom of his range to decide whether or not the partnership belongs in the game zone. You could invite to a game by raising to 2NT but you also want to investigate the possibility of playing in hearts rather than no trumps. To get the information you need, start out by bidding 2, the Stayman Convention. Suppose the opener answers 2. You still need to know whether there are enough combined points for the game zone. Invite the opener to bid a game with maximum values by moving towards game with a raise to 3. The opener can pass if he has the minimum of his range and accept, by bidding 4, if he is at the top of his range.
Suppose the opener bids 2, showing a hand with no four-card major suit, or bids 2 to show a four-card spade suit. Now, you can bid 2NT, again inviting the opener to a game if he has the top of his range.
Typically, a responder uses the Stayman Convention with hands which he thinks have a possibility of being played at the game level in a major suit. The Stayman Convention uncovers the information that responder needs: whether or not his partner has a four-card major suit. Having found the necessary information to determine the denomination, a responder can bid to the game zone with 13 or more points or make an invitational bid with 11–12 points.
If the opening bid is 2NT, the Stayman Convention can be used by responding 3. If the opener has a four-card major suit, he bids it at the three level. Otherwise, the opener rebids 3.
Using the Blackwood Convention
The Blackwood Convention was named after its inventor, Easley Blackwood of Indianapolis. The convention rapidly attained worldwide popularity. It is used when you feel there are enough combined points for a slam but want to make sure that the opponents do not have enough aces to defeat the contract right away. For example, consider the following hands:
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Opener |
Responder |
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The opener bids 1 and the responder, with 12 HCPs and 3 support points for the singleton, raises to 4. Opener has 18 HCPs and 2 points for the six-card spade suit, giving him a total of 20 points. It looks as though there is enough combined strength for a slam but, if the opener now bids 6, he will be disappointed when the opponents take the first two tricks with the A and A. What went wrong? The partnership has enough combined points for the slam zone, but they are the wrong points. If the opener held the A – 4 HCPs – instead of the K and Q – 5 HCPs – he would be able to make the 6 contract. When you enter the slam zone, aces become very important.
When bidding a small slam, the partnership does not want to be missing two aces. When bidding a grand slam, the partnership cannot afford to be missing even one ace. The Blackwood Convention is used to find out how many aces the partnership has when it is considering bidding a slam contract.
This is how the Blackwood Convention works. Once a suit has been agreed upon, a bid of 4NT by either partner asks his partner to show how many aces he holds using the following responses:
Responding to Blackwood (4NT)
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5 |
No aces (or all four aces) |
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5 |
1 ace |
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5 |
2 aces |
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5 |
3 aces |
So, in the above hand, the opener could bid 4NT after the responder’s 4 bid asking responder how many aces he has. The responder would bid 5, showing no aces, and the opener would know to stop in 5, since there are two aces missing. The complete auction might go like this:
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North |
East |
South |
West |
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1 |
Pass |
4 |
Pass |
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4NT |
Pass |
5 |
Pass |
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5 |
Pass |
Pass |
Pass |
The responder would pass the opener’s 5 bid since, by using the Blackwood Convention, the opener took over the captaincy and is in the best position to decide on the final contract. Had the responder bid 5, showing one ace, the opener would know there was only one ace missing and could safely bid 6.
If the responder had bid 5, showing two aces, the opener would know that there were no aces missing and might become interested in the possibility of a grand slam. If the opener is interested in a grand slam and has found out that the partnership has all the aces, he can use an extension of the Blackwood Convention by bidding 5NT to ask his partner how many kings he has. It is unlikely that you want to be in a grand slam if you are missing a king in one of your suits. His partner responds in the same fashion: bidding 6 with no kings, 6 with one king, and so on.
You need to be careful when using the Blackwood Convention. Remember, it only tells you how many aces partner has, not which aces. If you need to know exactly which ace(s) partner has, you will have to use other methods, which are beyond the scope of this book – or take your chances and just bid the slam. Also, the Blackwood Convention is only used after a trump suit has been agreed. For example, if your partner opens the bidding 1NT, you cannot use a response of 4NT to ask for aces. As mentioned in the previous chapter, a raise to 4NT would be an invitation to slam, which could be passed.
Over Zia’s shoulder
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Audrey: |
Zia, do you ever use the Stayman Convention? |
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Zia: |
It is not always necessary but, since I prefer to play in an eight-card major suit fit whenever possible, rather than no trumps, it does come in useful at times. Here is a typical hand: |
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My partner opened 1NT and I certainly did not like the idea of raising to 3NT with a singleton diamond. Instead, I bid 2 |
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Audrey: |
Do you get much use out of the Blackwood Convention? |
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Zia: |
As you know, I rarely get dealt good enough hands to get to the slam zone. It’s my opponents who always hold all the high cards! However, Blackwood can be very useful when the opportunity to use it does arrive. |
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With such a strong hand, I opened the bidding 2 |
Summary
The Stayman Convention can be very useful when your partner opens the bidding 1NT and you have a four-card major suit and enough strength to invite or bid to the game zone. To find out if the opener has four cards in the same major suit, respond 2, the Stayman Convention. The opener responds as follows:
Responding to Stayman (2 response to 1NT)
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2 |
No four-card major suit |
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2 |
A four-card heart suit |
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2 |
A four-card spade suit |
The Blackwood Convention is used when you have determined the trump suit and are considering a slam contract. You can find out how many aces partner has by bidding 4NT. Your partner responds as follows:
Responding to Blackwood (4NT)
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5 |
No aces (or all four aces) |
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5 |
1 ace |
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5 |
2 aces |
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5 |
3 aces |
You can add the number of aces your partner shows to those that you have and determine whether or not you are missing too many aces to be in the slam zone.
Commonly asked questions
Q Why does the opener respond 2 to the Stayman Convention to show a hand with no four-card major suit? Wouldn’t it be simpler to rebid 2NT? The response of 2 is artificial, since it doesn’t necessarily show diamonds, and I thought we should be using as few artificial bids as possible.
A There is only so much room available on the bidding steps for each partner to describe his hand. If your partner uses the Stayman Convention by bidding 2 after your 1NT opening bid, you can give the information that you have a four-card major suit by bidding 2 or 2 or that you don’t have a major suit by bidding 2. The information the responder asked for can be given with one of these three bids.
When you bid 2, showing no major suit, the responder can now make use of the 2NT bid to show a hand of invitational strength, asking you to pass with a minimum or bid 3NT with a maximum. If you, as opener, were to use 2NT as the response to show no major suit, the responder would have no way of inviting you to a game once he had searched for the major suit fit and not found it. Most conventional bids are designed in this manner, to make the maximum use of the available space on the bidding steps.
Q Some players bid 4, not 4NT, to ask partner for aces. Is this also the Blackwood Convention?
A The use of a 4 bid to ask for aces is similar to the Blackwood Convention but it has a different name. It is called the Gerber Convention. It is normally used over an opening bid of 1NT or 2NT, where a response of 4NT is a quantitative raise – inviting you to bid slam with the top of your range – rather than the Blackwood Convention which is only used when a suit has been agreed upon.
The responses follow a similar pattern to those used for the Blackwood Convention. The next cheapest bid, 4, shows no aces (or all four); 4 shows 1 ace; 4 shows 2 aces; and 4NT shows three aces. If the partnership holds all the aces, 5 can now be used to ask for the number of kings held.
As with any conventional bid, you need to discuss it carefully with your partner before using it to make sure that you both have the same understanding of how it works and when it applies. Until you become very familiar with the game, our recommendation is that you keep your bidding simple, using as few conventional bids as possible.
