July 2020 - 43

Newer Players

Startup Bridge
BY LYNN BERG

lberg@cfl.rr.com

Supporting partner's minor suit
There's a sad truth in bridge: minorsuit tricks are worth only 20 points
each, while major-suit and notrump
tricks are worth 30, and the first trick
in notrump 40. Is it any wonder that
there is a common notion that "clubs
are for the golf course and diamonds
are for your finger"! But there are times
when a raise of partner's minor is the
only bid that makes sense.
Partner opens 1♦ and you hold:
♠9 6 4 2 ♥A 3 ♦K J 9 6 5 ♣7 3.
This hand is not one of those times.
Before you give in and raise diamonds,
bid 1♠. It would be a pity to miss a 4-4
spade fit. What if partner held:
♠A K J 8 ♥5 4 2 ♦A Q 7 4 ♣9 8?
Spades are a much more profitable
strain to choose, and your diamond
fit will be a source of tricks. If the ♠Q
doesn't take a trick because it drops or
can be finessed, you expect to take 10
tricks.

So-called inverted minors have
become popular because they allow
you to make a blocking bid when you
don't have a major but do have five of
partner's minor.
♠9 3 ♥Q 6 2 ♦K J 9 6 5 ♣J 9 3
Now when partner opens 1♦, and
the next player passes, by agreement
your jump to 3♦ promises five-card
support but no more than 9-10 points.
If you bid only 2♦, the opponents will
have a much easier time trying to find a
major-suit fit. If there has been action
taken by the opponent, you can make
a single raise (to 2♦) with four-card
support and a jump raise with five.
Take advantage of the opponent's action whenever you can.
In its simplest form, inverted minor
bidding uses the single raise to 2♦
when you have a limit raise or better
and five-card support for partner's
minor but you don't have a four-card

➤ Reasoning with Robert
If we have a minimum hand such as
this, we pass and try to end the auction
before it gets out of control, hoping
that partner has a five-card spade suit
(but even a 4-3 fit wouldn't necessarily
be bad).
If we have more values, but hold only
three cards in the suit partner bid, then
we need to let partner know that we are
still interested in exploring game, but
have not yet found a fit:

With this hand, we start with a takeout double of 1♥, and after partner's
1♠, we cuebid 2♥. This says we have
good values, but we'd like partner to
have a five-card spade suit for a possible spade game. After the cuebid,
partner can rebid 2♠ with the weakest
of hands or try another suit (or jump in
spades) if they have some values and
are potentially interested in game.
◾

major suit:
♠A 6 ♥9 6 2 ♦A K J 6 4 ♣7 3 2.
Your 2♦ bid leaves plenty of room
to investigate whether your side has
stoppers in the other suits to make a
notrump contract viable - there's that
sad truth about scoring rearing its head
again.
Say partner now bids 2♥, showing
a heart stopper. You can bid 2♠. It's
already been established that your side
does not have a major-suit fit, so your
spade bid shouldn't mislead partner. If
neither of you has a club stopper, you'll
be able to avoid a disastrous notrump
contract.
If the opponent has overcalled, the
stronger element of inverted minors is
off for most partnerships. Instead, cuebid the opponent's suit to show support
worth a limit raise or better. With the
previous hand, for instance:
Partner
1♦

Opponent
1♠

You
2♠

That cuebid is a useful and often
neglected tool. Not only does it tell
partner you have good support, it also
uses up bidding room the opponents
might have enjoyed.
◾

♠A 9 8 ♥6 5 ♦A K J 3 ♣A Q 7 3
July 2020 Bridge Bulletin

43
July 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2020
