3.1 Responses to 1♣Now that we know which suit to open and how good a hand we need to do so, let’s look at our respones to the opening bid. They are quite different after a major suit opening than a minor suit opening, so we will look at them separately.
Because play in major suits is so much more rewarding than in minor suits, we make holding a five-card major first priority in the auction. We do this by waiting for a five-card major suit to open 1♥ or 1♠ in first or second position. If we don’t have a five-card major, we open a minor suit and then set about locating a 4-4 or 5-3 (with responder having five) major suit fit.
When partner opens 1♣, there are three suits, plus notrump in which we respond at the 1-level. Traditional wisdom was to bid your suits “up the line” when you had two four-card suits, regardless of minors or majors. In other words, if partner opens 1♣ and you have 2=4=4=3 distribution, you would bid 1♦, if partner bids hearts, you can raise, if she bids spades, you can bid notrump and so on.
However, if the opponents interfere over the 1♦ response, both partners need extra values to bid hearts on the second round of the auction!
Consider these examples:
| West | North | East | South | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | Pass | 1♦ | ||
| 1♠ | 2♥ | Because this is a bid that would force your partner to take preference to your first suit at the three level, it is called a “Reverse”, showing 17+ points. |
| West | North | East | South | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | Pass | 1♦ | ||
| 1♠ | Pass | Pass | 2♥ | Again, this is considered a Reverse by responder and shows game forcing values |
For this reason, I suggest that if you have a four-card major you should bid it over 1♣ even if you have longer diamonds unless you have a strong enough hand to bid the major yourself later (opener or better) — don’t lose sight of the goal, to reach a high-scoring contract in notrump or a major if at all possible.
This choice of responding in a major and ignoring the diamond suit has several implications for the future rounds of the auction. Anytime you raise partner’s major after:
| West | North | East | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♣ | Pass | 1♦ | |
| Pass | 1♥ | Pass | 2♥ |
Partner will know you have a game-going hand, since otherwise you would have responded in your major in the first place. This is another reason to open 1♣ instead of 1♦ with balanced hands which are 3-3 in the minors. We have more scientific auctions after 1♣ than we do after 1♦.
| 2.2 When They Interfere over 1NT |
3.1 Responses to 1♣ |