Minor Suit Auctions

For hands that must be opened with a minor suit, we open our better minor, at least a three-card suit. Holding 4-4 in the minors, we would normally open 1D, with 3-3 the bid would be 1C. Playing 5-card majors, I think it is absolutely necessary to play inverted raises. Inverted minor suit raises were an original feature of the Kaplan-Sheinwold bidding system. K-S tried to embody certain principles into their system – weak hands bid high, to pre-empt the opposition, while strong hands bid low, to use bidding space effectively. Accordingly, 1C-3C is a pre-emptive raise, while 1C-2C is natural but forcing 10+hcp (both raises are alertable). And similarly for diamond raises.

After a single raise, opener and responder can show no-trump stoppers, or move towards the minor suit game or slam. I’m assuming responder would have bid a 4-card major rather than raising the minor, so major-suit bids from either side should be just stoppers, not suits. If opener rebids 2NT, he is showing stoppers in both majors. The most worrying situation is if responder has a bare 10-11hcp and/or opener has a minimum 10-12hcp opening. It is important to identify these hands so that we can stop in 3 of the minor when both are minimum, and not drive ourselves into a hopeless 3NT on a combined 20-22hcp. Either hand shows a minimum by rebidding 3 minor at the first opportunity. Any other bid at the first rebid indicates better than the bare minimum, say, 13+. So for example, 1C-2C; 3C responder knows that opener holds the bare minimum, probably a long club suit but only 10-12 hcp. If responder’s raise was based on 10hcp and 5-card club support, prospects for game look a bit dim – we have a big fit, but not much outside. A pass of 3C is reasonable. Another example: 1C-2C; 2H-3C; 3D responder has shown a minimum raise, but opener has kept going, so responder should be looking for game now. Opener has shown stoppers in hearts and diamonds, so responder can bid 3NT if he has a spade stopper. With a half-stopper (Qx or Jxx), he can bid 3S, to ask opener if he has a half-stopper also. Any other bid would be pushing us towards 5C, since spades must be unguarded for no-trump.

When a minor suit is agreed as trumps and either player wants to check on aces, 4NT as Blackwood is problematic. Often, there is insufficient space for the response without going past game. The suggested solution is Redwood – using 4D as the asking bid when clubs are trumps, and 4H as the asking bid when diamonds are trumps. The extra two or three steps are valuable, and the bids are generally easy to recognize and unambiguous.

Holding less than 10hcp but with good trump support (might be a strong 4-cards but usually is 5+cards), responder wants to make a pre-emptive raise to the three level. A problem is that the potential range of responder’s hand is quite wide. Depending on vulnerability, distribution, and other circumstances, responder may wish to make the bid holding anything from 4-9hcp. Opener with a good but not great hand, say about 17hcp, then doesn’t know whether to make a move toward game or to leave well enough alone. A solution is to use the jump-shift in the other minor as an extra tier to the raise. (These bids are not very effective as pre-empts, so using them this way is better.) So
1D – 3D = pre-emptive raise with 4-6hcp
1D – 3C = pre-emptive diamond raise with 7-9hcp
1C – 3C = pre-emptive raise with 4-6hcp
1C – 2D = pre-emptive club raise with 7-9hcp
(all alertable)
This isn’t pinpoint accuracy, clearly, but it does give opener some chance to guess if more than 3minor has a chance.

Opening 3 of a minor is pre-emptive and may be a good 6-card suit if desperate, usually a not-so-good 7-carder. Opening 4 usually shows 8+ cards. In between is the Gambling 3NT, defined to be a solid 7- or 8-card suit with no outside A or K (minimum suit AKQxxxx). Responder can pass with stoppers in two or three suits. If he doesn’t want to chance it, he can bid 4C or 5C for pass or correct by the opener. If he feels slam-minded, he can use a 4D response to ask about a singleton. Opener rebids 4H or 4S to show a singleton in the bid suit, 4NT with no singleton, 5 of his suit to indicate a singleton in the other minor. (Holding solid clubs, you don’t want to bid 5D to show a singleton in case that wasn’t what responder needed. So bid 5C, and have that show the singleton diamond. And then when holding diamonds, you have to be consistent and bid 5D to show the singleton club.)