There are some bids that define the strength of your hand to within a 2 or 3 point range, and some that don't. For example, an opening bid of one in a suit can be as weak as 13 points, or as strong as 21--maybe even a little stronger depending on the hand. Similarly, a response of one in a new suit by responder can be as weak as 6 points, or as strong as 18. These are not limiting bids.
On the other hand, a one no trump opening bid precisely defines the strength of the opener's hand. She has 15-17 high-card points, no more, no less.
When your partner makes a limiting bid, it gives you a lot of information and puts you in control. You can add your points to your partner's points and figure out if you should stop in a part score, bid a game, or bid a slam. Therefore, you should try to use these limiting bids whenever they are appropriate. Even more important, you should know what bids limit your strength and what the limits are.
Fortunately, the rules are rather easy to remember. In general, bidding a new suit does not limit your hand. Bidding no trump or a suit that has already been bid does.
If you are supporting your partner's opening suit bid, a single raise shows 6-9 points (counting distribution). A double raise (raising to 3 in the suit) shows 10-12 points.
Rebids by opener in a suit that has already been mentioned also show a limited point range. These apply whether the suit is responder's suit or openers suit. A minimum raise in the suit shows a minimum opening hand 13-15 points. A jump raise shows 16-18 points. Let's look at some examples.
- Opener: 1 heart
- Responder: 1 spade
- Opener: 2 hearts (shows 13-15 points and a six-card suit)
- Opener: 1 heart
- Responder: 1 spade
- Opener: 3 hearts (shows 16-18 points and a six-card suit)
- Opener: 1 heart
- Responder: 1 spade
- Opener: 2 spades (shows 13-15 points and 4 card support for spades)
- Opener: 1 heart
- Responder: 1 spade
- Opener: 3 spades (shows 16-18 points and 4 card support for spades)
No trump bids limit your hand whether you are the opener or the responder. We've covered opening no trump bids here. Responding 1NT to an opening suit bid shows shows 6-9 HCP. We covered this response in this post. It also denies a 4-card suit that can be bid at the one level, and denies adequate trump support for partner's suit.
Be careful with the 2NT response to an opening suit bid. The only time this is a normal no trump bid is when partner opens one of a minor suit, and you jump to 2NT. That bid shows 12-14 HCP, and a lack of 4 cards in any unbid major suit. It also implies lack of adequate trump support for partner's minor suit.
Unfortunately, a 2NT response to a major suit opener is a convention, called Jacoby 2NT. We'll get to that eventually, but not yet. In the meantime, don't bid 2NT in response to partner's major suit opener.
Similarly, a 2NT response to a weak two opener has a special meaning. In SAYC it is asking the opener to describe a feature outside her suit if she has a strongish weak-two hand. Without the feature, she rebids her suit. Note that this rebid does not promise extra length in the suit like most unsupported rebids, do. The 2NT response is forcing for one round, and opener has to say something.
Some partnerships play a convention called Ogust. The 2NT response to a weak two asks the opening bidder to make a conventional response describing her hand better. Let's leave that for a future discussion.
No trump rebids by opener show a specific point range. We covered those in the no-trump-structure post. I'll repeat them here. A minimum rebid in no trump shows 12-14 HCP. A jump rebid in NT shows 18-19 points. You can remember these if you can remember that an opening 1NT bid shows 15-17 points and and opening 2NT bid shows 20-21. These rebids fit between the no trump opening bids.
