Contract Bridge

2 over 1 Game Forcing – Any opening bid other than 1NT or higher is responded by 2 X (where X is not same as the opening bid suit) – promises 11 HCP and Game Forcing e.g. 1H/1S followed by 2D/2C or 1D followed by 2C and 1S-2H This applies only when not intervened by opponents ..

Stayman – 1NT-2C without intervention by opponents specifically requests partner to identify four card major 2D by partner denies four card holding in either Hearts or Spades. e.g. 1NT-2C-2H specifies 4 + card H suit with opening partner. some times esp. when vulnerable it is better to use stayman with 8 HCP a good distribution could over rule this requirement to 6 HCP when not vulnerable .. if opponents intervene with a bid intended by the responder .. 1NT-2C(opp)-Dbl specifically asks partner to bid 2H/2S if not further interfered by other opponent..

Jacoby Transfers – The responses to 1NT/2NT for transfer to bid immediately following suit at the same or higher level (i.e. super acceptance) e.g. 1NT- 2D asks partner to bid 2H and 1NT-2H asks for transfer to 2S . There is no minimum requirement for such transfers however, do not bid again if your hand does not permit i.e. bid again only to show length or 8-10 TCP or when inviting to game based on hand shape. e.g. 1NT-2H-2S to be taken to 3S if holding 6 S or 8-10 HCP .. the opening partner decides the next suitable bid or pass, if minimum

Michael ‘s Cuebids – These are special cases showing 5-5 hands by a player after opponents open at 1 level in a particular suit to ask the partner to select a suit more suitable to his/her holdings e.g. 1C-2C or 1D-2D specifically suggest 5-5 (or a good 5-4 ) holdings in major suits, 1H-2H specifically 5-5 in Spades and a minor 1S-2S implies 5-5 in Heart and a minor

Cappelletti – A convention used to express holdings when opponents open with 1NT , necessarily immediate to the opening bid by them or when others have not intervened i.e. your partner and opponents partner have both passed . The requirement for Cappelletti is to indicate a holding or at least 6 HCP The convention specifies following –

1NT – Double – equal hand holding 1NT strength, partner could use all the conventions associated with 1NT opening bid if not intervened by opponets

1NT – 2C – specifies 6 card holding in one of the suits, to be specified at next step

1NT – 2D – specifies 5-5 holding in major ( or good 5-4 holding at times) with understanding between partners

1NT – 2H – promises 5-5 holding in Hearts and a minor

1NT – 2S – implies 5-5 holding in Spades and a minor suit

1NT – 2NT – implies 5-5 holding in minor suits

Jacoby 2NT – A convention used specifically for major opening by partner without intervention by opponents, i.e. 1NT-P-2NT implies 4 card support in the major with minimum 12 points, it specifically asks the opening partner to identify shortness void or singleton to seek a possibility of bidding slam .

Roman Key Cards Blackwood – A Conventional bid of 4NT seeking possibility of a little slam (or grand slam) in the common suit. Once a common suit is established or the last suit bid by partner in the immediate sequence of biddings is taken to be the common suit .. e.g. 1NT-2C-2H 4NT specifies the common suit to be Hearts . The answers to 4NT should address the holding of keycards by the other partner, the four Aces and King of trumps are the 5 keycards the bids and their implications are described below – 03 14 22 (some prefer the os 14 30 22), you should definitely know what RKC you and partner are playing to avoid confusions

5C – 03 – implies 0 or 3 keycards

5D – 14 – implies 1 or 4 keycards

5H – 2 keycards without Q of trumps

5S – 2 keycards with Q of trumps

Inverted Minors – 1C-2C or 1D-2D specifies inverted meaning of traditional weak minor suit raises to strong raises. These imply at least 4 card support and maybe around 8-10 HCP and usually forcing for 1 round. Opener’s rebids 2H/2S 3 or card holding , 2NT balanced hand 3C/3D natural minimum 4 cards, 3NT balanced 18-19 HCP.

Ogust – A Convention used to Check the quality and distribution of weak openings . A response of 2NT promises 15 + Points with interest in game The responders bids are explained below

3C – Bad hand (5-7 points) with only one of the top three honours

3D – Bad hand (5-7 Points ) with two of the top 3 honours

3H – Good Hand (8-10 Points) with one of the top 3 honours

3S – Good Hand (8-10 points) with 2 of the top 3 Honours

3NT – Good Hand (8-10 Points ) with all three top honours

Blackwood – Ace asking convention once a common suit is identified and partnership look good for trying a slam bid .. 4NT is then a Blackwood Call, if common suit is not expressed, it assumes the last suit bid by the partner is agreed for final contract. Responses to 4NT are

5C – 0 Aces

5D -1 Aces

5H – 2 Aces

5S – 3 Aces

5NT – 4 Aces

This is further followed by 5NT which is asking for Kings with similar 6 level bids as above. Some people adopt RKC Blackwood convention described here.

Bergen Raises – Bergen raises are a form of major-suit raise when playing 5 card major, after 1H/1S bid 3C/3D/3H/3S show different types of 4 card support (CLAP – or Constructive, Limit and Preemptive) for example after 1 H opening bid

3 C – A Constructive raise showing 7-10 points

3D – is Limit Raise showing 10-12 points

3H – A pre-emptive raise showing 0-6 points

3S – An ambiguous Splinter – an unbalanced, game forcing hand with 12 + points, with an undisclosed singleton or void

Similarly for 1 S – 3C and 3D are same 3S is pre-emptive and 3H is the ambiguous splinter

It is advised to use Jacoby 2NT with 4 card support and balanced hand asking opener to show singleton or void.

DONT – Disturbing opponents NT See also Cappelletti However DONT specifies the following

DBL – Any one suit (normally 6 card suit) relay to 2C

2D – Diamonds and a Higher suit ( at least 5-4 or4-5)

2H – Heart and Spades (at least 5-4 or 4-5)

2S – Spades (normally 6 cards), weaker than double followed by 2S

Landy – is another defence against Opponents 1NT . A 2 C bid specifies at least 5-4 in major suits with 10 + Points Responses to 1NT-2C by partner

2D – artificial, showing equal length in the majors partner is requested to correct to 2H or 2S

2H – Natural, sign off

2S – Natural sign off

2NT – artificial and forcing for one round may or may not have major suit shows 12+

3H – 10-12 points 4 card support

3S – 10-12 points 4 card support

As its requires a bit confusing and nt understood by robots in BBO, Landy is not allowed in many online tournaments

Gerber – is a 4C response to any NT bid or overcall or a Jump rebid of 4C to a natural No Trump bid is Gerber .. The bid is with the intention of seeking possibilities in bidding slam in NT (and behaves similar to Blackwood 4NT convention for suit slams) Responses to Gerber 4C are as follows –

4D – 0 or 4 Aces

4H – 1 Ace

4S – 2 aces

4NT – 3 Aces

The 5 C following 4C responses seeks the Kings with sam e answers as above at 5 level

Reverse Drury – a convention used by a passed hand to show a strong raise after a third or fourth seat major suit opening, with openers rebids reversed to indicate hand strengt., example-

After a 3rd or 4th seat opening of 1H or 1S, a passed hand responder bids 2C top show 10-12 points (artificial) and at least 3 Card support. The Opener rebids 2H or 2S shows a sub-minimum allowing closure at 2 level, 2D shows a full opening hand, indicating a possibility of a game.

2C – 22 Plus HCP or eight sure tricks

2NT – 20 to 21 HCP Balanced Hand

1NT – 15 to 17 HCP Balanced 5 Card Minor Possible

1 H/ 1S -12 to 21 HCP – Minimum 5 Card in Hearts or Spades

1D – 12 to 21 HCP – Minimum 4 Cards in D

1C – 12 to 21 HCP it could be even 2 cards in some cases .. strongly advised not to pass

2D/2H/2S – 6 to 11 HCP – 6 Cards in specified suit

3C/3D/3H/3S – 6 to 1 1 HCP – 7 Cards in specified suit

Responses to 2C (strong)

2D – Negative Less than 4 Points or waiting responder to bid his interests

2H – Constructive with 4 or more Spades ( opener to bid 2S)

2S – Constructive with 4 or More Hearts (Opener to Bid 3H)

2NT – Balanced Hand inviting for further description by opener

• Jaggy Shivdasani
• Ashok Goel
• RA Agarwal
• Subhash Gupta
• Gopinath Manna
• Kiran Nadar
• Bharti Dey
• Aparna Sain
• Kachchhu Dey Sarkar
• Vinay Mohan Lal
• Arun Bapat
• Raju Tolani
• Ajay Khare
• Kaustubh Bendre
• Swarnendu Banerji
• Marianne Karmarkar
• Sandeep Karmarkar
• Rajeshwar Tewari
• Dipak Poddar
• Tribhuwan Chandra Pant
• Archie Sequeira
• SK Sharma (Late)
• Abhijit Sarkar

Necessarily limited to people I have known, met and/or played with ( Bold implies played on a table in a live tournament)

More Bridge Players from India (Limited to those who have been a part of some tournament I have played)

• Inderjit Singh Ratra
• Vijay Kumar Goel
• Prasunkumar Mukhopadhyay
• Vikrant Mehta
• Kailash Agarwal
• Mahesh Rohera
• Sukrit Vijaykar
• DC Biswas
• ML Jayanthkumar
• Prabhat Ranjan Singh
• Abhay Todankar
• Andrey Purshottam
• Arvind Vaidya
• Madhusudan Sharma
• Shantanu Das
• Arnab Guha
• Buddy Shah
• Rajeev Khandelwal
• Himani Khandelwal