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Openers Suit Rebid
Opener should decide on their opening bid and their rebid at the same time. This protects
against misleading bidding.
After an opening bid responder bidding a different suit is a "forcing" bid for one round of bidding. Opener must
have a re-bid organised.
Openers rebid depends on the point count and cards in hand
With a Minimum Hand (12-15 points)
- If your point count is minimum so 11-14 TP you can show this by rebidding your opening suit but only if it has 5 or more (written as: '5+') cards
- If rebidding your first suit is not possible and with 11-19 TP, bid another 4 card suit of a lower rank than the first bid suit, this process is called "bidding down the line" ie. first bidding a higher ranked suit followed by rebidding a lower ranked suit
- You may have support for the suit your partner responded with and if you have a 'fit' in that suit you can show support by raising their suit either to the 2, 3 or even 'game' level
- Bid No-Trump at the 1, 2 or 3 levels these are also limit bids showing precise point counts
- Rebidding 1NT shows 12-14 HCP
- Rebidding with a single jump to either 2NT or 3NT shows 19 HCP
- With a rebiddable suit(5+ cards)* opener rebids their suit
With a Medium-Strong Hand (16+ points)
- Bid a second 4 card suit rather than rebidding your first suit
- With two 5-card suits, you have already bid the higher ranked suit for your first bid so for the rebid you should bid the lower ranked of the 5 card suits.
- With two 4-card suits you have already bid the lower ranked suit first, so for your rebid you should rebid your higher ranked suit.
- Support responder’s suit with a jump bid if you have more than 4 cards in partners bid suit
- Bid No-trump which is a limit bid showing a precise point count
- With only one *biddable suit (more that 4 cards in a suit) opener can rebid their first suit
- With a rebiddable suit (5+ cards)* opener makes a jump rebid in their suit
*a biddable suit has 4 cards or more
*a rebiddable suit has 5 cards or more
*a rebiddable suit has 5 cards or more
Instant Progress Quiz - Check all the correct answers
Holding the cards below you open the bidding with 1♥. Your
partner responds 1♠. Remember responder has
changed suit which is a forcing bid, so you must bid.
What do you rebid?
- ♠ 8 5
- ♥ K J 10 7 6
- ♦ A 6
- ♣ A Q 4 3
Answer: rebid 2♣ this shows you have two biddable suits and that your heart suit is longer than your clubs. If your hearts and clubs were both 4 card suits you would bid the lowest ranked ♣ first and then your ♥ (bidding "up-the-line")
Extra for Experts
A different game on the same subject as this lesson, with questions for community discussion in the comments area below.
PLAY