Source: ABF Youth Newsletters
After a typical auction of 1Major – Pass – 2Major – Pass, opener can bid a new suit as a long/help suit trial. However, sometimes it is better for opener to show a short suit trial instead (so responder can judge whether he has any wastage opposite the short suit). To get the best of both worlds, you can combine both types of trial bids. Here’s how:
After 1Major – Pass – 2Major – Pass, opener can bid the next step to say “I have a short suit trial somewhere”. Over this, responder bids the next step up saying “Which suit are you short suit trialling in?” in which opener bids his suit. For example:
1 |
Pass | 2 |
Pass |
2 * |
Pass | 2NT* | Pass |
3 |
Short suit trial in clubs | ||
3 |
Short suit trial in diamonds | ||
| 3 |
Short suit trial in spades (not 3 since you might want to stop in 3) |
||
Here’s the auction for spades:
| 1 |
Pass | 2 |
Pass |
| 2NT* | Pass | 3* |
Pass |
| 3 |
Short suit trial in diamonds | ||
| 3 |
Short suit trial in hearts | ||
| 3 |
Short suit trial in clubs | ||
If opener wants to make a long suit trial bid, he just bids the suit himself, such as 1-2– 3, or 1-2-3 (with the exception that 1-2-2NT shows a long suit trial in spades since 2 is used for the short suit trial bid)