September 2020 - 44

Newer Players

Lessons Learned
BY MICHAEL BERKOWITZ

michael@larryco.com

Jumping around
We all have those games from childhood that we remember fondly, and
then, if we think deeply about them, we
wonder how no one got hurt. My sister
and I, for all of our other faults, weren't
that creative at making truly dangerous games. Enter Larry Cohen.
Larry was my father's bridge partner
from the time I was born until my 20s,
and Larry, as an adult younger than my
parents, took it upon himself to teach
us some dangerous games. As most of
you know, Larry is a very good teacher
of games, so we learned quickly the
rules of a game called "furniture to
furniture," which had us traversing our
basement without touching the floor.
We learned so quickly, in fact, that we
were soon zooming from one couch
to a chair to a rocking chair to ... ouch.
I'm not sure we ever confessed to our
parents how my sister got that giant
bruise, but it may have been attempting a particularly stylish leap from the
coffee table not quite over the arm rail
of the treadmill.
The lesson Larry taught us: Be careful before jumping.
In bidding, jumps are dangerous if
they mean something different to you
and to partner. An old classic: What
does the auction 1♣-(Pass)-2♥
mean?
The answer: It's either a weak bid or
a strong bid. Great! If you haven't discussed this with partner, you shouldn't
do it! Jump bids have very specific
meanings, but sometimes it's best to
not make a jump bid if there's a chance
partner could get confused.

44 Bridge Bulletin September 2020

Weak jumps
First, to clarify, an opener can never
make a subsequent "weak" jump. If you
had enough to open the bidding, your
hand can't be weak.
I like to simplify things by saying that
any jump in competition is weak. So
1♣-(1♠)-3♥ is a weak bid. The only
exception is that there are no weak
jumps if your opponents have shown
a weak hand. 1♠-(3♣)-4♠ shows a
good hand, for example. This all goes
with the concept that if they are weak,
you don't need to preempt them.
Jumps by the opening bidder
If the opening bidder jumps after
partner's one-level response, that
jump should show extras. A jump to
the three level of either opener's suit
or responder's suit shows about 16-18
points and is non-forcing. One auction I've seen too many times is this:
1♦-(Pass)-1♥-(Pass); 3♥-(Pass)-
4♥-(Pass); 4NT. You can't make an
invitational bid and then decide to
use Blackwood when partner simply
accepts the invitation. Typically, the
opener should have jumped straight to
4♥ immediately.
Jumping to game by the opener
also has specific meaning, though the
meaning will depend on which game
opener jumps to.
Let's say the auction starts 1♥-
(Pass)-1♠. There are different meanings for a jump to 4♥ and 4♠. A jump
to 4♥ is a picture bid. It shows something like:
♠3 ♥A K 8 7 6 3 2 ♦A J 10 ♣5 2,

i.e., a long suit with a hand that was
a little too good to open 4♥. If you
picked up a hand like this in third or
fourth chair, you probably would just
open 4♥.
However, 1♥-(Pass)-1♠-(Pass);
4♠ shows a very good hand. It should
have about 19-21 points in total valuation. It is not a signoff. Remember
that once you've opened the bidding,
you don't have a way to show a weak
hand anymore, so all of opener's jumps
should show extra values. A typical
hand:
♠K Q 10 4 ♥A Q J 9 3 ♦K 7 ♣A 5.
A jump to 3NT typically shows a
source of tricks and approximately
eight tricks in hand. Over 1♦-(Pass)-
1♠, you could bid 3NT with:
♠7 ♥A 9 2 ♦A K Q J 10 4 3 ♣Q 3.
Notice how your suit is much more
solid than the example for a 4♥ rebid.
Jumps by opener into a new suit are
natural and game forcing. When you
jumpshift as opening bidder, make sure
you have an idea of how you want the
auction to go.
Jumps by responder follow the same
general rule: Jumps to the three level of
a suit already bid are invitational, and
jumps to 3NT usually just mean that
responder wants to play 3NT.
Special jumps
In 2/1 auctions, jumping to a suitcontract game generally shows a weak
hand. So 1♠-(Pass)-2♥-(Pass); 4♥
says that the opener has a minimum
hand and heart support. This follows
September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2020
