MINOR OPEN

Minor Suit Openings and Responses

When you cannot open 1 No Trump or 1 of a major suit, look to your minor suits
.
To open in a minor suit, you need 3+ cards and 13-21 points. This denies a 5 card major,
but you could have 4 cards in one or both majors.
With 4/4 in both minor suits, open a diamond - the higher ranking suit.
With 3/3 in both minor suits, open a club - the lower ranking suit.
With a 2/3 or 4/3 distribution in the minor suits, open with the longer suit
.
Responder's Responses
0-5 points: Pass
6+ points:
1. Bid up the line with 4 card suits.
2. With two 5-card suits, bid the higher ranking first.
NOTE: A new suit at the one-level by responder is a forcing bid, Opener is required to bid again.
3. Bid 1NT - with a balanced hand and 6-10 points, with no 4-or-more-card suit to bid at the 1-level.
4. Bid 2NT - with a balanced hand and 11-12 points and no' 4-card major.
5. Bid 3NT - with a balanced hand and 13-15 points and no 4-card major.
6. Raise Opener's minor suit:
a. To the 2 level with 6-10 points,
b. With 11-12 points, jump-raise the minor to the 3 level.
NOTE: As the Opener may only have a 3-card minor, Responder needs (about) 5-cards to raise the
minor. .Since the partnership may still end up in a NT contract, Responder usually avoids
counting dummy points.
7. If the open is 1, and you do not have a 4-card major, you can bid 2+ with a 5 card suit and 11 +
points.
Openers Rebid
When Responder bids a new suit, Opener has to find a rebid.

Opener places her hand in one of 3 strength categories:

a. Minimum: 13-16 points, or
b. Medium:

17.18 points. or

c. Maximum: 19-21 points.

With support for Responder's suit:
a. Opener revalues her hand with dummy points and then raises Responder's suit with a minimum,
b. Jumps in Responder's suit with a medium; or
c. Goes to game in Responder's suit with a maximum.
With no support for Responder's suit, and a minimum hand, Opener can:
a. Show a second suit at the one level, or
b. Rebid the original suit at the 2-level with 6 cards, or
c. Rebid NT at the cheapest level.
If Opener's rebid is a jump in her own suit, it shows a medium hand; 17 - 18 points and a 6-card suit.
If Opener's rebid is a jump to 2NT, it shows a balanced hand with 18-19 points.
Responder's Rebid
After the opener has shown a minimum-strength hand, responder can:
a. Stop in a suitable partscore with 6-10 points,
b. Invite game with 11-12 points, or
c Go to game with 13 or more points.
If responder can support Opener's second bid suit (her rebid), Responder revalues her hand with
dummy points, and then:
a. Raises opener's rebid with 6-10 points,
b. Jumps in opener's rebid with 11-12 points, or
c. Goes to game in opener's rebid with 13 or more points.