Two-Over-One Game Forcing to 3NT***
Principle of Fast/Slow Arrival ***
Losing Trick Count ***
Cover Cards ***
Two-Over-One describes a style that is played by a large number of serious bridge players around the world. It means that Responder’s 2-level non-jump response is a game force (to 3NT or 4 of a minor suit). This method has the advantage of immediately notifying the partnership that their combined holding should produce some game, so they can set about to gradually explore game and slam possibilities without fear of partner passing below game.
A Two-Over-One response shows 12+ points (including distribution for long suits) and virtually forces to 3N, 4H, or 4S (Minor suit contracts might be passed out at the 4-level if game appears hopeless). However, holding a singleton or void in Opener’s suit, Responder should be strong enough (13+ HCP) to compensate for the potential misfit.
Responder’s two level bid in a minor suit almost always promises a 4-card suit (usually 5+). Only with 3-4-3-3 distribution and a 1S opener will Responder have to bid 2C with only a 3-card suit. And in this case he could elect to conceal his strength and bid a Forcing 1NT, but he must ensure that game is reached.
A Response of 2H over 1S promises 5 hearts. If Opener has a minimum hand and three-card support, he jumps to 4H (fast arrival). A raise to 3H shows extra values (slow arrival), suggesting a slam, and also allows Responder to bid 3NT if he has good minor suit values.
After a Two-Over-One response, Opener’s reverse bids no longer show extra values. This allows Opener, with 4-5-x-x distribution, to rebid 2S with only a bare minimum hand.
With 3-card support of Opener’s major suit, and 12+ points, Responder bids at the two level and then supports the major suit at the appropriate level (using the Principle of Slow/Fast Arrival). A Splinter jump by Responder at his second call shows 3 card support, length in his first bid suit, a singleton or void, and 17+ points.
A Two-Over-One force is canceled if overcaller bids. For example, if overcaller bids 2C over a 1S Opener, Responder’s 2D is not forcing but shows a minimum of about 10 points and a 5-card suit.
The Principle of Fast/Slow Arrival is used in game forcing sequences. When a sequence has been established that commits the partnership to at least the game level (after a Two-Over-One sequence or after Fourth Suit Forcing, etc.), then generally the less you bid, the more you have, and the more you bid, the less you have. Keeping the bidding low with a better hand leaves more room to investigate the optimum game, or slam opportunities. For example, 1H/2D: 2H/4H is not as strong as 1H/2D: 2H/3H.
When in a game forcing sequence, jump bids are not needed to show strength. So jumps are used to show specific hand types.
1) Jump Rebids by Opener show a long, strong, independent suit (AKQJxx, AKQxxxx) capable of playing opposite a singleton or even a void. This bid establishes the trump suit.
2) Jump raises by Responder show good 3-card support with most of his strength in the two suits he has bid. In particular, he should have no controls (A, K, singleton or void) in the two other suits. Examples: 1H/2C: 2H/4H, 1H/2C: 2NT/4H, 1H/2C: 3C/4H. In all of these cases, Responder should have no controls in spades and diamonds. Opener can contemplate slam only if he holds controls in these two suits.
Natural bids in NT are exceptions to the Principle of Fast/Slow Arrival. Opener’s initial rebid in NT, after a Two-Over-One game forcing response, will be a normal strength-showing rebid. For example, 1H/2C: 2NT shows a minimum hand (12 to 14 HCP) and 1D/2C: 3NT shows 15 to 17 HCP. To show 18 or 19 HCP, Opener initially rebids 2NT, and bids 4NT after being raised to 3NT.
If Responder’s rebid is 2NT (2 to 14 HCP) or 3NT (15 to 17 HCP), he denies 3 card support for Opener’s major suit and shows a relatively balanced hand. If he has 18 to 19 HCP he first rebids 2NT and then raises 3NT to 4NT. With more distributional hands, Responder rebids his suit (showing 6 cards) or bids another suit (showing at least 4 cards).
The Losing Trick Count is a method of evaluating the trick-taking power of the combined hands in cases where a good (at least 8 card) trump fit has been found. It is not a substitute for point count but can be used as a supplement to it. It is NOT useful for evaluating No Trump contracts. The value of this method is that sometimes games and slams can be bid with fewer points than normal. It can be helpful in close decisions.
The method is fully and clearly described by Ron Klinger in his book " The Modern Losing Trick Count".
Count one loser for every card in each suit that is not an Ace, King or Queen (a maximum of 3 losers per suit). Thus a suit with 4 or more low cards has just 3 losers.
Add the losers in each suit to get the number of losers in the hand.
Add this to the number of (estimated) losers in Partner’s hand, and you have the combined losing trick total for both hands.
Subtract this total from 24, and the result is the number of tricks the combined hands will probably take. So a combined losing trick count of 14 will take 10 tricks, etc.
Summary of Losing Tricks in Common Holdings
An average Opening Bid has 7 Losers. So if partner opens and you have a fit and 7 losers, you should contract to take 10 tricks.
A Jacoby 2NT or a Splinter raise hand should have 7 losers or better.
A major suit invitational raise should have exactly 8 losers. Opener goes to game with 6 or fewer losers.
A constructive major suit raise (8 to 10 support points) will have 9 losers.
A minimum major suit raise will have 10 Losers.
A reverse bid by Opener has 5 losers.
A jump rebid by Opener has 5 losers.
A jump shift rebid by Opener has 4 Losers.
A 1NT Opener, if the final contract is in a suit, has 6 losers.
A 2C Opener has 3 Losers.
A decent weak two Opener has 8 losers. If Partner has 6 losers or better, game (or slam) should be bid.
A sound overcall at the one level has 8 Losers or better.
A sound overcall at the two level has 7 Losers or better.
A sound take-out double has 7 Losers or better.
The concept of Cover Cards is useful to evaluate how many tricks can be taken when Partner has shown a long (6 cards or longer) suit. Examples would be pre-emptive opening bids, weak (or strong) jump overcalls or jump shifts, re-bidding a major suit, gambling 3N opening bid, etc. In these cases, where your support is 3 cards or fewer, the Losing Trick Count method of hand evaluation is inaccurate and should not be used. But the idea of Cover Cards is appropriate to judge whether to bid game or slam, or how high it is safe to bid as a sacrifice.
A cover card is any card in your hand which will likely "cover" one of Partner’s losers. An Ace, King or Queen in Partner’s long suit counts as a cover card. Outside Partner’s suit, any Ace counts as one cover card, an AK combination as two cover cards, Kx is probably one cover card, etc. The technique is to estimate partner’s losers, then count your likely cover cards and subtract that number from partner’s losers. The result is the likely number of losing tricks in the hand. For example – partner opens a vulnerable 3H (showing a seven-card suit and a 6-loser hand). If you have 3 cover cards, you can bid 4H (6-3 = 3 losing tricks). If you have 5 cover cards, you should investigate slam. If you have 2 cover cards, you can safely bid 4H as a sacrifice, expecting to be down one where 4S by the opponents will likely make 4 or 5.
The method is fully and clearly described by Ron Klinger in his book " The Modern Losing Trick Count".
