5-CARD MAJORS

While there are many ways to bid in bridge, the most common approach in North America is 5-card majors. The basic premise of 5-card majors is that the best combination of ease and value when trying to make a game is in a major. Four of a major is worth 120 plus game bonus; whereas, 3 NT—which is often more difficult than a suit contract because of the lack of trump—and 5 of a minor are each worth 100 plus game bonus.

Ideally, a suit contract should be played when declarer and dummy have a combined eight or more cards in the trump suit, so the 5-card major system is designed to identify just such a fit.

Opening a Suit at the One Level

The first thing you need to do when considering opening with the bid of a suit at the one level is look at the shape of your hand. If shape seems like a strange term, think of your hand as a bar chart representing the number of cards in each suit. The shape of your hand will determine whether or not you will open and in which denomination. While the calculations can become involved, there is an easy way to deal with it when you are first learning bridge.

Making it Simple: The Rule of Twenty:

Certain hands, even when they meet the criteria for opening one of a suit, should not be opened. Likewise, some hands that come up a little shy, should be opened at the one level. The Rule of Twenty simplifies the decision-making process for hands that are close to the line. Here's how it works:

Take your HCP and add the number of cards in your two longest suits. If the result is 20 or greater, you have a valid one-level opening, though some of the hands with fewer HCP will be opened as weak preempts. Thus, a hand with 11 HCP and 5-4-3-1 distribution should be opened in the 5-card suit. The calculation is simple: 11 + 5 + 4=20. Similarly, a hand with 12 HCP and 4-3-3-3 distribution should not be opened because 12 + 4 + 3 = 19. Note that this only applies to players in first seat or second seat (dealer or dealer's Left Hand Opponent, or LHO).

If the bidding starts off with two passes, the requirements drop a little since neither side is likely to have dominating points. In third seat, modify the figures by two, thus employing the Rule of Eighteen. Even with this modification, however, you should not open a five-card suit with fewer than 10 HCP in the hand.

Finally, a player in fourth seat has a more difficult problem. Three players have passed, and a marginal hand means that the points are probably fairly even all around. Opening with a weak hand could be dangerous if your opponents have a fit in a higher suit than yours. All they have to do then is bid their suit at the same level as your bid (probably the two level) to take over a contract and hand you a negative score that you could have passed out for 0. To minimize this risk, add your HCP to the number of spades in your hand to get your Pearson Points, and if you have 15, open your natural suit. This ensures that either by HCP or by your spade holding (where you might find a fit or be able to defend effectively against a spade contract) you will be able to make it difficult for your opponents to compete.

Major Suit Openings:

If you meet the qualifications for opening a suit at the one level and you have a 5-card or longer major suit, open one of the major. If you have 5 or more cards in both majors, open one of the longer. Finally, if both majors are 5+ cards and the same length, open one spade (the reason for this will become clear later when we look at bidding space). This is all based on the presumption that you lack a minor suit that is longer than any 5-card major you may have, for if you had five spades and six diamonds, you would bid the diamonds. While some players do not like this system, they rarely account for the advantage provided by your two short suits, a calculation that is even built into the Rule of 20.

Convenient Minors:

You won't, of course, always have a 5-card major, so you need a method for determining which minor suit to bid if you have opening strength. When you lack a 5-card major or have a longer minor than a major, you must be prepared to bid a minor. If you have minors of different length, open the longer one. If they are the same length, open one diamond (it's that bidding space thing again) unless both minors are 3-card suits; in that case, open one club.

You'll note that this system guarantees at least three clubs under any conditions, with the worst-case scenario being one of those 4-3-3-3 hands we said needed at least 13 HCP to open. Likewise, it guarantees at least three diamonds and strongly suggests four since the only way you can have three diamonds and open them is if you have exactly 2 clubs, 3 diamonds, and 4 in each major.