Responding to Partners Opening Bid with a Strong Hand

When to make a jump shift

A jump-shift response can be most useful for those hands where you want to invite a slam, not insist on one. A strong jump-shift should be made only when you have a one-suited hand with good honor strength in your suit, slam-try strength or better and a good rebid. In addition the jump-shift response works best when you want to describe your hand to partner. A jump-shift bid is valuable for describing the following types of deals:

1. A strong hand (17+ pts.) with one long, strong suit holding at least two of the top three honors.
2. An intermediate hand (13–16 pts.) with a long, solid suit and good controls.
3. A balanced slam-invitation (17 to a "bad" 19 pts.) with a good 5-card suit.

Even with very powerful hands, you should make a low-level response any time you need general information from partner about his strength and distribution. Avoid making a jump-shift with the following types of hands:

1. A two- or three-suited hand – you need time to explore to find the best suit for your contract.
2. A one-suited hand with a bad suit (missing two or more top honors).
3. Into a suit that needs good honor support or length from partner.
4. A very strong, balanced hand – No Trumps is often a better place for this type of hand.

A jump-shift doesn't always promise a distributional hand – it can also be made with a good 5-card suit and balanced strength. With very strong hands, there may be a problem finding a good rebid after your jump-shift, so in that situation try to keep the auction at a low level rather than jump shift responding.