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Home > Bidding > Big hands > Big unbalanced hands

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Big unbalanced hands

With unbalanced hands, much of the strength will come from the shape, and so 'big' in this context refers not to points but to 'playing tricks' as defined by the losing trick count. If you are not well-versed in this approach, study this page first.

Unbalanced hands with 8 playing tricks

Take this hand first.

This hand has only five losers--one spade, two hearts, one diamond and one club. Subtract this from thirteen and we have every chance of making eight tricks provided spades or diamonds are trumps.

This eight-trick message is one we would wish to pass to partner straight away and so our opening bid would be 2S or 2D. Notice that this bid has nothing to do with points--just 'playing tricks' ie tricks we can expect to make based on the losing trick count, provided spades or diamonds are trumps. We must not attempt to identify where the eight tricks are coming from.  Clearly, the assumption is that we shall make tricks from the small cards in our long suits as well as some from the high cards. We need a reasonably robust suit for this approach ie A K 4 3 2 or A Q J 3 2 as a minimum.     K J 4 3 2 is too problematical and in this case, we would down-value our hand and open at the one-level.

We also need one six-card suit or two five card suits, as a minimum. The following hands are all suitable for opening two of a suit--although I must say that some authors would disagree.

Two examples of hands that satisfy the losing trick count of 'five', but do not qualify for a two opener, as the suit is too threadbare, are given below.

When responding to an opening two- bid, 2D, 2H or 2S (more of 2C later ), your first obligation is to let opener know if you have a reasonable hand which is measured by either an ace and a king, or at least eight points ( almost ) anywhere, although jacks are not much use on their own. Notice that these requirements for what we call a positive response are more stringent than those for responding to a one-level bid where six points is sufficient. If you have a hand which meets these requirements, you bid naturally. This positive reply will alert partner to the likelihood of a game contract and in some cases, if your hand is very good, to the possibility of a slam.

The hands below would both qualify for a positive response to an opening bid of two hearts.

If you do not have the requirements for a positive response, you will pass this message by making the 'conventional' bid of two no-trumps. This we call a 'negative' response. It does not express the wish to play the contract in no-trumps, it merely gives partner the bad news at once. Any further bid by opener can be passed. The hands below qualify for a 'negative' response.

It is worth noting that if holding absolute rubbish ( take the pictures away from the hands above ),  some partnerships have a 'negative' response of 'pass'. I don't like this as, in my experience, the requirements for a pass tend to creep up ie it may be OK to pass with zero points, but, within six months, responder is passing with four or five points or even higher, and knowing this, opener tends to compensate by over-valuing her hand, often with catastrophic consequences. Enough said.

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