Gerber Convention: Slam Bidding in Contract Bridge

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With the Blackwood 4 Notrump convention in our arsenal to handle slam bidding in a suit contract, we are ready to explore the intracasies of the Gerber 4 Club convention.

When our partner has either opened our rebid a Notrump bid without a partnership suit fit, we need an alternative tool to check for Aces before bidding a Notrump slam.  And that’s where our friend the 4 Club Gerber comes into action.  Okay, let’s try the poll and watch our video commentary.

Slam Conventions: Blackwood and Gerber

With good shape (a long suit partnership fit), we often use the Blackwood Convention – 4 Notrump to search for slam in a suit contract.

With a more balanced hand, we typically use the Gerber Convention – 4 Clubs is used to search for slam in a Notrump contract (or possibly a suit contract when partner attempts to signoff in Notrump).

Gerber prerequisites:

Small slam, 12 tricks with 3-4 Aces/controls, 33+ distribution points

Grandslam, 13 tricks with 3-4 Kings/controls, 37+ distribution points

Typically a balanced hand (preferably not 4-3-3-3)
Perhaps a promotable long minor suit

Invoked after Notrump, continuing with a 4 Clubs conventional ask-asking bid 

Purpose of Gerber 4 Club bid:

Explore small slam – Bid 4 Clubs to ask, ensure sufficient Aces

Explore grandslam – Bid 5 Clubs to ask, promise all 4 Aces, ensure sufficient Kings [Read more…]

Slam Bidding with Blackwood in Contract Bridge

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Having a bright and shiny tool is great.  And knowing when to use it is even better or as the saying goes, “Always use the right tool for the right job.”   So how do you feel about the Blackwood conventional widget?  To be sure, the 4 Notrump incantation is unparalleled to instantly discover partner’s Aces, just as the follow-up 5 Notrump bid reveals partner’s Kings.

In our second installment of Blackwood bidding we will consider not only how to use our special tool, but WHEN to use the 4 Notrump conventional call.

[Read more…]

Blackwood Slam Bidding Convention in Contract Bridge

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Bidding slams are exciting – never a dull moment.  Back in the late 1930s, Easley Blackwood came up with a conventional bid to ask partner to disclose the number of Aces.  Being a manager for an insurance company and wanting to capitalize on his newly invented bid, Easley called his convention “Wormwood” (not wanting senior managers to think his card play was risky). 

Easley also applied for a patent on Wormwood.  But the name never stuck and the patent office scoffed at the idea of patenting anything to do with Bridge.  Fortunately, his convention was loved by many who simply called his treatment the Blackwood convention.  And so Easley’s Blackwood bidding system has become the beloved slam asking bid over the last 70 years.

Slam – Three Possibilities

1. Classic Suit Slams – Majors, Minors
Use 4 Notrump “Blackwood” to check for Aces

2. Distributional extra long suits and two-suited Slams – Majors, Minors
Use 4 Notrump “Blackwood” to check for Aces

3. Balanced Slams – Notrump
Use 4 Club “Gerber” to check for Aces (more in next lesson)

Blackwood Prerequisites:

1. No worthless doubleton or void (instead use control bidding)

2. Suit Agreement (not Notrump contract)

3. One player jumps with self-sustaining suit (usually a major suit)

4. Small slam
a. 33+ distributional points
b. 12 tricks
c. 3-4 Aces or controls (singleton/void)

5. Grandslam
a. 37+ distributional points
b. 13 tricks
c. 4 Aces or controls, 3-4 Kings or controls (singleton/void)

The purpose of the Blackwood convention

1. Explore small slam
a. Bid 4 Notrump to ask
b. Used to ensure sufficient Aces (3-4 or controls/shortness)

2. Explore grandslam
a. Promises Aces or all first round controls (void)
b. Follow-up bid 5 Notrump to ask
c. Used to ensure sufficient Kings (3-4 or controls/shortness) [Read more…]

Slam Bidding using controls in Contract Bridge
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At some point in our Bridge career we learn that making a 12 contract slam require Aces and Kings, lots of them.  And once we learn the Blackwood convention and no more, our slam bidding follows the old cliche, “When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail!”

Yet here we go again with yet another discussion about more instances when to use cuebids as a critical alternative.  Be on the lookout to avoid opponents cashing out their Ace-King before you get a chance to pull trump and try to promote a nice side suit.  Ditto when you have a void and attempt to Blackwood-ask for Aces: “Which Aces was that, partner?”

So what’s wrong with the Blackwood Ace-asking bid, you ask?  Well nothing, when the bid is used in the right situation.  As we shall see, the prerequisite to bid Blackwood includes:

1. A good trump fit

2. Sufficient points – either High Card Points or distribution points

3. At least one control in each suit, to ensure the opponents do not hold the Ace-King on a side suit

4. No voids in a suit – otherwise the Blackwood response will be ambiguous since the unspecified Ace might be double-counted along with the void

Controls in a suit include (4 suits, 2 per suit):

1. Aces

2. Kings

3. Singletons

4. Voids

Cuebidding Technique:

1. Trump fit
a. Partnership agree on a suit
b. One player bids strongly, indicating a self-sustaining suit (or semi self-sustaining suit)

2. Partners cuebid controls “up the line” (lower ranking suit first)

3. Cuebidding typically begins at 4 level (perhaps 3 Spades after 1H – 3H)

4. Bidding the agreed-upon trump suit is a signoff request – nothing else to show

5. Bidding a non-conventional Notrump bid (as 5 Notrump) is generally “to play”

6. The one who knows, GOES! (bids Blackwood, slam directly, etc)

7. Slow shows – fast denies (bidding slowly shows extra honors/controls/strength/shape) [Read more…]

Control Bidding and Slams: Contract Bridge Lesson

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Are you in control?  How much control do you like?  How about sharing control with your partner – is that important?

Well, Bridge is a partnership game and controls are the foundation of sound slam contracts.  So once we have found a trump fit with partner and are ready to explore slam, one way or the other prudent Bridge players will double check their aggregate controls on the road to slam nirvana.   In today’s poll and blog posting we develop a foundational to build our slam bidding framework.  As you would suspect, while slam bidding controls do have their place it’s critical to know when and how to apply them.

Slam Contracts – The Three Way Triad:

1. Classic Trump-oriented Slam – Major or minor suit slam

2. Balanced Slam – Notrump, typically with 33/37 points to make slam/grandslam

3. Slam “Magic” – Major or minor slams with very distribution one or two suited hand

Controls: Aces, Voids, King-Queen, Singletons, King + others

Two Ways to Count Controls:

1. Basic – Two Controls per suit
Ace, King, Singleton = 1 control each
Ace-King, Void = 2 controls each

2. Advanced: Three Controls per suit
Ace-King, Void = 3 controls
Ace+ = 2 controls
King, Singleton = 1 control

Typical Usage of Controls – Suit Slams, where Voids and Singletons highlight extra value as controls
Caution – Suit shortage is a liability in a Notrump contract [Read more…]

Slam Bidding in Contract Bridge – Introduction

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In Bridge, everyone loves a slam.  Well, at least if the slam was made by you our your partner!  Of course, earning a slam bonus does not come without some risks.  So that’s the basis of the terrific bonuses earned for a 12 trick slam or breathtaking 13 trick grandslam.

Like any contract, making a slam requires accurate hand evaluation, sound partnership agreements, accurate bidding and solid card play.  The best things in life aren’t always easy, that’s the charm of stretching to get the gold.

Slam bidding has three components:
1. Strength – The power of High Card Points is our friend
2. Shape – The more extreme the shape, the fewer HCP are required
3. Controls – Quick tricks matter, especially so when playing in slam

Controls:
Missing both the Ace and King in a suit can spell TROUBLE!
Aces – first round control
Voids – first round control
King-Queen – second round control
Singleton – second round control
King+ other – second round control (but not guaranteed) [Read more…]

Bridge Penalty Doubles and Environmental Factors 11-15 in Contract Bridge
Watch Your Opponents, Know Thy Partner

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Okay, we’ve covered Environmental Factors number 1-10, with only 5 more to go.  As we’ve mentioned from time to time, Bridge is an ecosystem that lives and breathes with each player’s bid, their play, their gestures and mannerisms – even knowing their style before sitting down to begin shuffling the cards.  When we first begin playing Bridge, we are so focused on ourselves and the basic mechanics of the game we have little hope to be aware of our environment.   Over time, we realize that Bridge is not a solo event;  it pays handsome dividends to both be a good partner and trust that your partner wants to help you, too.

When you stop to think about it, nurturing your partnership is the secret sauce of successful Bridge players.  But then that’s true with personal and business relationships as well, right?   Ah, there’s another secret of Bridge – the things we learn at the Bridge table are transmutable in our daily lives.

Continuing on our paradigm, at some point advancing Bridge players realize that in addition to paying close attention to one’s partner, it pays to keep an eye on the opponents, too.  Or as the Chinese General Sun-tzu eloquently stated,

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” [Read more…]

Penalty Doubles and Environmental Factors 6-10 in Contract Bridge

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Penalty Doubles in Competition –Too close to call? Day 5

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In our last lesson we covered Bridge “Environmental Factors” #1 through #5.  Let’s continue with another five topics:

6. Working honors.  While you see us toss around this football all the time, it bears repeating that we’d prefer to have top honors in our long suit as opposed to side suits.  Then again, if when we are not blessed with working honors perhaps it’s time to consider punting – doubling the opponents for penalty.

7. Direct/passout seat.  Generally, when a player makes a bid in direct seat it shows more values than in the passout seat, i.e., competing to win the auction in the balancing seat, “borrowing a King” from partner, that sort of thing. 

8. Passed hand bidding.  Once we’ve passed the bidding, most of the time we’ve limited our hand and should use extra caution when bidding at or above the 3 level.  On a really good day partner may not have overcalled with opening values but poor shape.  Just try not to push your luck too much, or as leading Masterpoint professional would say, “Partner, if you’re hoping I’ll have the perfect hand, sorry but most of the time I won’t!”

9. We overcall.  When you or your partner overcalls at the 1 level, the hand may be as low as 8 points using modern competitive bidding styles (especially with favorable vulnerability).  Dial in a bit more caution when your side has overcalled the opponents.

10. Primary/secondary honors.  No surprises here, offensive tricks (Aces, Kings, shortness) help propel a partnership to game while side suit Queens, Jacks, and 10s may enjoy defensive tricks.  [Read more…]

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Penalty Doubles in Competition: Too close to call?
Time to make the environment your friend!

Life isn’t always easy and sometimes the same can be said at the Bridge table.  You know the drill – you or partner begin the bidding, the opponents overcall and before you know it the bidding is at the 3 level and you’re left with a difficult decision.  And when both sides have roughly the same trick-taking power, determining the best action can be a bit tricky.  In a Super Bowl football game when you’ve got the ball it’s either throw, run, or punt.   Hmm, let’s see if we can work this paradigm into today’s Bridge lesson.

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Before we get into lots of nitty-gritty details, suffice it to say that when competing at the 3 level we are not going to always make the right decision.  There, now we’ve got that off our chest, hopefully we both feel a little bit better.  Still, we do have several useful factors to consider when deciding to throw, run or punt – err, bid game, pass or make a Penalty Double.

Okay, so what’s the secret sauce to become a Bridge Ninja competitor you ask?  Sorry, we don’t have any silver bullets to offer.  In large part, being an effective competitor is mostly about common sense.  You know common sense, right?  Common sense is the application of good judgment, discovered AFTER having exercised bad judgment one too many times!   Only kidding, but we will have to pay careful attention to the Bridge bidding ecosystem.  Okay, here we go, let’s jump right in. [Read more…]

Doubles after Preempts: For Takeout or Penalty?

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Over the last three weeks in our journey discussing doubles, we’ve covered Takeout Doubles, Negative Doubles, Penalty Doubles against misfits and Balance of Power Penalty Doubles.  Now enters the cursed preempts, leading us to examine a few more agreements.  After opponents’ preempt, sometimes a double is for penalty, sometimes it’s for takeout, and sometimes we’re all on our own.   Who said Bridge was only a game for black-white thinkers, anyway?

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For our discussions, we will assume the opponents are playing Weak Two preemptive bidding.  So in first, second and third seat bidding, opening 2D, 2H or 2S shows a 6 card suit typically headed by 2 of the top 3 honors with no more than 1 useful honor in a side suit (5-11 HCP).   Similarly, three level preempts normally contain a 7 card suit with a weak hand.    First let’s explore doubles in the direct seat after the preempt bid.  Except in high 4 level contracts, doubles in direct seat are normally for takeout: [Read more…]