Help Suit Trial Bids

Inviting Game after a Single Raise

If you have opened the bidding with 1 and your partner has raised you to 2, clearly you should pass with a minimum hand (7 or 8 losers) and bid game with a maximum hand (5 or fewer losers). But if you have 6 losers you want to invite game but not insist on it. You need to refer the decision to your partner. You want him to bid game with a maximum but stop in a part score with a minimum.

When you were first learned to play bridge, you would have been taught to invite game by reraising to 3. This is a sensible and workable method (although many advanced players like to use this reraise as a shutout rather than an invitation to bid game), but it lacks accuracy. Look at this example:

A Q 10 7 4 A 2 A 8 5 2 Q 8

After opening 1 and receiving a raise to 2, this 16 hcp 6 loser hand with three aces must surely invite game. But will a non-descriptive invitational raise to 3 do the job?

K J 6 2 7 4 3 K 3 9 7 4 3

If responder has this hand he will pass opener's 3 game invitation. He has 7 hcp, a near minimum for his raise, and 9 losers, and can see no reason to accept the invitation. But 4 would be a good contract here, because of the good fit between the hands. Responder's diamond holding is just what opener needs opposite his own empty diamond suit.

But switch responder's three side suits around in any of the other two possible ways and the hands no longer fit well, and only 9 tricks can be made. The odds are therefore 2 to 1 against game being a good contract, showing that responder is right to refuse the invitation.

The problem is that the bland and non-descriptive invitational raise to 3 just doesn't get the job done well enough.

Increased Accuracy when Inviting Game

The solution to this problem is conveniently simple. Instead of inviting game by reraising the trump suit (i.e. 1 2 3), opener should instead bid a new suit in which he needs help from responder. This is known as a "help suit trial bid", or alternatively a "long suit trial bid" (though this description is best avoided for reasons we shall shortly discuss).

Responder can then bid game if he has the help opener is seeking, otherwise he should sign off by returning to three of the trump suit. Let's see how the "help suit trial bid" gets the partnership to the right contract in the situation we were looking at above.

Case 1

A Q 10 7 4 A 2 A 8 5 2 Q 8

West 1 3 1 end

East 2 4 2

K J 6 2 7 4 3 K 3 9 7 4 3

Case 2

A Q 10 7 4 A 2 A 8 5 2 Q 8

West 1 3 1 end

East 2 3 2

K J 6 2 7 4 3 9 7 4 3 K 3

The "help suit trial bid" gets you to the right contract in both cases. It is easy to use and understand.

Proper use of the Help Suit Trial Bid

It is not a "long suit" trial bid

As alluded to above, the old name for a help suit trial bid was long suit trial bid. That name was applied to distinguish it from an alternative game try method that some partnerships use, the short suit trial bid, where opener bids a suit in which he has a singleton or void. But the "long suit trial bid" name confuses players in two ways. First it encourages players to bid a second suit, whether or not the suit requires help. Second it discourages players from making a trial bid in a 3-card suit where help actually is needed, because a 3-card suit isn't "long".

It is a "help suit" trial bid

Opener should make a help suit trial bid in a suit where he has 2 or 3 losers. A suit headed by two of the top three honours, A K x x, A Q x x or K Q x x, will not be a problem in a game contract even if partner has no help at all. But the suit does not need to be 4 cards. A 3-card suit of A x x or worse clearly needs help from partner, so is a proper candidate for a help suit trial bid.

When should opener make a help suit trial bid?

If opener has 6 losers (or 15-17 hcp if you prefer to count points) and a 3- or 4-card suit which has 2 or 3 losers, then he can invite game by making a help suit trial bid in that suit.

Do not make a help suit trial bid in a doubleton suit, because responder will mistakenly think that a holding such as Q J x is the help you are looking for.

A help suit trial bid can be made in any 3-loser suit, but do not make one in a suit such as Q J x (x) or Q 10 x (x). A 2-loser suit containing the queen is not suitable because responder will value a doubleton in that suit when in fact it will be of little or no help.

When should responder accept a help suit trial bid game invitation?

If responder has 0 or 1 loser in the suit, he should accept the game invitation even if minimum, as in Case 1 above. The hands fit well and the game contact should have good play.

If responder has 3 losers in the suit, he should refuse the game invitation even if maximum. The hands do not fit well.

If responder has 2 losers in the suit, responder should accept the game invitation if maximum (a good 8+ hcp), but sign off in a part score with a minimum.

Invitational hands generally have a suit where help is needed

In case you should worry that some hands that have game invitational values may not have any suit in which help is needed, let me give some examples that demonstrate that this is not the case (in each case after a 1 opening has been raised to 2):

A Q 10 7 4 A Q 5 Q J 5 2 8

This hand has 15 hcp, which on the face of it appears to be invitational values, but it has no suit in which a help suit trial bid would be appropriate. But in fact it is good enough to jump to 4 directly. Because of its good shape it has only 5 losers.

A Q 10 7 4 A Q 5 Q J 2 8 5

This hand has no suit in which a help suit trial bid would be appropriate. But I don't rate a balanced hand with 6 losers as worth a game invitation, so I would pass 2.

A Q 10 7 4 A Q 5 Q 8 5 2 8

This slightly weaker hand has 14 hcp and 6 losers (a suit of Q x x x is three losers), but being unbalanced it needs to invite game. No problem: bid 3 and see if responder has any help for you there.

The lesson to learn from this is that if there is no suit in which an appropriate help suit trial bid can be made then the hand is probably too strong or too weak to invite game. Using help suit trial bids properly adds discipline as well as accuracy to your partnership's bidding.

Help suit trial bids by responder

When opener has made a single raise of responder's suit, e.g. 1 1; 2, the situation is pretty much the same. If responder is minimum (9 losers) he should pass. If responder is maximum (7 losers or fewer) he should bid game. But if he has invitational values (6 losers) he should make a help suit trial bid.

Note that he cannot make a trial bid in opener's first suit (diamonds here). But if his hand would be suitable for a trial bid of 3 he has no need to make that bid - he already knows the answer. He should simply bid game.

Agreeing the method with your partner

The "help suit trial bid" has proved its worth over many decades. It is considered to be part of "standard bidding" and therefore requires no prior agreement before use.

Note that some partnerships agree to use alternative trial bids instead. But unless you and your partner have agreed an alternative method, you should both assume that you are using the help suit trial bid method described here.

Author: Chris Burton
bridgeinfo.net