Responding to Opening Bids

When your Partner opens one of a suit you have basically four possible responses
(1) Pass.
(2) Support Partners suit to the level suggested by your hand
(3) Bid a new suit
(4) Bid No Trumps.

Everything below is directly quoted from the EBU Acol file and is, therefore, standard and very sound Bridge but where I have commented and suggested one or two minor modifications it is printed in blue.

Pass Less than 6 HCP. Very occasionally with a singleton in the opening suit, particularly Clubs or Diamonds, you might risk bidding a 4+ Major with only 5 points but be aware of the risks.
Supporting Partners Suit
Support partner’s opening bid in a Major suit whenever you have 4+ cards in that suit
With support for a Minor suit, bid a Major suit of your own first.
To raise past 3NT in a Minor you should have a very distributional hand; otherwise you will investigate a No Trump contract.
A Minor suit raise to the two or three level is usually based on high card points since opener’s most likely continuation is to bid No Trumps
With support for a Major suit take into account shortages in other suits as well as points when raising. With enough trumps, a Singleton is like an extra King and a void is as good as an extra Ace. A Doubleton is a marginal extra asset. A better method of evaluating a hand with a Major suit fit is to use the Losing Trick Count. (See Hand Evaluation to Open Bidding)
Add the losers in each suit together to get a total loser count.
With 9 or 10 losers raise to the two level
With 8 losers raise to the three level
With 7 losers raise to the four level
Sometimes a raise to two of partner’s Major may be the best choice with only three trumps and an unbalanced hand. To raise to the three level or higher you must have at least four trumps. Hands with 4 card support and 16+ HCP should make a jump shift response before supporting opener’s suit
With fewer than 16 HCP always raise Partner immediately. When holding a game going hand, only bid a new suit followed by a jump to game with 3 card support.

Responding in a new suit
A response at the one level promises at least 6 HCP, at the two level at least 9 HCP. There is no upper limit in either case. Opener must bid again (unless responder is a passed hand). Simple new suit responses show 4+ cards except 1 ♠ - 2 ♥ which guarantees a 5 card Heart suit.

Some of the things included in Hand Evaluation to Open should be considered when the decision as to what to respond is borderline, suit quality, intermediates etc
A simple example such as ♠ xxxx, ♥ KQJxxx,♦ Qxx ♣ x. The general rules on bidding at the two level say you should have 9+ HCP and with 6-8 you should bid 1NT but with such a good suit, if Partner opens 1 ♠ I think 2 ♥ is the best bid, particularly with 3 cards in Partners Major

Choice of suit
With two 5 card or longer suits, bid the higher ranking if you intend to show both suits in the most economical way. With two 4 card suits, bid the cheaper, i.e. the one which takes up least bidding space. If Partner declines an opportunity to bid your other 4 card suit, you can safely ignore it and rebid in no trumps.
With suits of unequal length, bid the longer first unless the hand is too weak to respond at the two level. Show a 4 card Major at the one level in preference to a longer Minor at the two level with fewer than 13 HCP. To bid the longer Minor and then the 4 card Major is called a Responder’s reverse and is forcing to game.

A jump response in a new suit- This is also dealt with in Jump Responses in a New Suit
This shows at least a decent 5 card suit and 16 or more HCP (perhaps a little less with a very good suit or an excellent fit). A jump shift is used on only three hand types:
A single 6+ card suit, where the suit is good enough to rebid
“good enough to rebid” is a bit vague.I prefer where the suit is good enough to stand on its own e.g AKQJxx or AKQxxxx not needing any help from Partner.
A 5+ suit with good 3 card or longer support for opener’s suit. I would add or possibly Ax or Kx support
 A single 5 card suit, where the rebid can be in No Trumps i.e.good stops in the two unbid suits
See also Fit Showing Jump bids

Responding in No Trumps
A response in No Trumps is a limit bid, describing the hand within a defined range of HCP.
The ranges are:
1NT 6 to 9 HCP
A 1NT response may be something of a ‘dustbin‘ bid when there is no other appropriate response, e.g. weak unbalanced hands not suitable for a response at the two level
Conventionally over a 1 ♣ opening, a 1NT response shows a balanced hand with 8 to 10 HCP and no 4 card Major. With 6 or 7 HCP bid 2 ♣ or 2 ♦ depending on the Minor held
2NT 10 to 12 HCP
Avoid an immediate response of 2NT unless the hand is completely suitable, balanced and with stoppers in all the unbid suits. With only 10 HCP consider the intermediates and sensible alternate bids available. Always prefer to respond in a Major suit at the one level if you can.
3NT (13-15 HCP) with no 5 card suit or no 4 card Major
I find a useful modification allowing Partner to judge the best contract more accurately is
When a Major is opened agree that an immediate response of 2NT or 3NT will guarantee 3 card support
If you look at the criteria above you will see that with no 5 card suit most of the time you will have 3 and if not there should always be other bids available.
If the opening bid is 1 ♠ for example and you have ♠ xx ♥ AKxx ♦ Kxxx ♣Axx bid 2 ♦ Partner might bid 2 ♥
With ♠ xx ♥ AKx ♦ Kxxx ♣ Axxx bid 2 ♣ and then 3NT over anything but a 3 ♠ (showing 6 Spades) rebid from Partner

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These are only the initial responses. For further continuations refer to the Acol file. They also assume no interference from the opposition and when that happens lots of other systematic bids and conventions come into play.

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