Finding a fit (making a suit trumps)

      There are two primary goals of the bidding:

      • To find a trump suit mutually agreeable to you and your partner – this is known as ‘finding a fit’.

      • To decide how many tricks to aim for in that chosen trump suit (or no-trumps) – in particular, whether to bid to a game contract.

When finding a fit, there is a minimum number of cards that should be held between you and your partner to warrant making a suit trumps. Clearly, it would be nice to hold all 13 cards in a suit, but this is rare. Eight cards is more likely and considered the minimum to make a good trump suit. This leaves the opponents with five cards in the suit (probably splitting 3-2 between the opposition partners), giving you a substantial advantage.

      Three ways the suit cards may be distributed between the partnership for there to be a ‘fit’

      A common scenario is that your partner bids a suit, because he holds at least four cards in the suit. You also hold four (plus) cards in the suit so you know there’s a fit. You then decide how many tricks to aim for – particularly whether or not to ‘go for game’.

      Bidding to a game contract

      Bidding to a game contract, known as ‘bidding game’ or ‘going for game’, is very important. In Rubber Bridge, one game made marks a halfway point to the ultimate goal: scoring a rubber (see pp. 220–4).

      must know

      You can make (win) a game either by making several small contracts (‘part-scores’) that add up to the score for game over several deals, or by making game in just one deal (a ‘game contract’). For more on part-scores and game contracts, see p. 60.

      The five game contracts are 3NT, 4♥, 4♠, 5♣ and 5♦. The game contract requiring the fewest tricks to win is 3NT (six plus three = nine tricks out of a total of thirteen – see the bidding steps on p. 22), which is why it’s the most commonly played game contract – closely followed by 4♥ and 4♠. The last two (5♣ and 5♦) are more difficult and should be avoided.

      A rough guide for bidding game is if your opening bid faces a hand that could also have opened the bidding (i.e. your partner also has 12 or more points), then your partnership should go for game. For example, South is dealer and he and his partner hold the following cards:

      South has a balanced hand with 13 points – he opens the bidding 1NT. With the opponents silent, North, who also has an opening hand, immediately thinks ‘game’. With no particular preference for a trump suit (his hand is also balanced), he opts for game in no-trumps. He therefore bids the game contract 3NT.

      A more specific guide for when to go for game in the three desirable game contracts (3NT, 4♥ and 4♠) is if you and your partner together have 25 points (i.e. ten more than your opponents out of the total, 40). It doesn’t guarantee success, and you won’t always fail if you have fewer points, but it’s a useful guide.

      must know

      • The five game contracts are 3NT, 4♥, 4♠, 5♣ and 5♦.

      • Avoid contracts 5♣ and 5♦.

      • If you have an opening hand (12+ points) and your partner also has 12+ points, you should contract for game.

      • Bid game (3NT, 4♥, 4♠) if your partnership has 25+ points.

      When to go for game

      Bidding with your partner involves first trying to find a fit, then seeing whether you have enough points between you for game. This decision process is shown here:

      Now let’s look at some sample pairs of hands (we’ll assume silence from the opponents). Note that ‘responder’ is bridge jargon for the opener’s partner.

      (a) Opener bids 1♠, so responder knows they have at least eight spades between them – a fit. Responder must now bid. There’s no point bidding clubs – it would only confuse matters when it’s obvious spades should be trumps. The only unresolved issue is how high to bid in spades, specifically whether or not to bid for game (4♠). Responder knows that opener has 12+ points (the minimum required in order to open the bidding), and responder has 13, thus the partnership has at least 25 points, which means that responder can go for game: she bids 4♠, a ‘jump’ from the previous bid 1♠. The bidding sequence is as follows, the underlined bid being the final contract:

      (b) Opener bids 1♠. Again responder knows there’s a spade fit (opener must have four+ spades, and responder has four spades, so the partnership has eight+ spades). However responder has a relatively low point count, so should raise to 2♠. This conveys to opener that responder supports spades as trumps but her hand is only worth a minimum bid. With nothing to add to his opening bid, opener then passes. They’ve found their fit but lack the strength for game. The bidding sequence is:

      (c) Opener bids 1♠, which doesn’t reveal a fit to responder. She therefore tries her favourite (longest) suit at the lowest level possible, bidding 2♣. This suit doesn’t appeal to opener, but rather than repeat spades he offers a third choice of trump suit, hearts. Responder now knows they’ve found their fit (the partnership has at least eight hearts). She considers whether the values for game are present: she has 13 points, and her partner has advertised 12+ by opening, which is enough to bid a game contract (25 points are needed to go for game). Responder jumps to 4♥. The bidding sequence is:

      must know

      Don’t bid unnecessarily high when bidding a new suit. Try to find a fit as ‘cheaply’ as possible i.e. the bid you reach first as you work up the bidding ladder on p. 22 (the bid that requires the least number of tricks to make a contract). Then assess whether or not you have enough points to go for game.