Jacoby Raises of a 1-Major Opening

Overview

Jacoby raises are used in response to an opening bid of one of a major. Responder bids 2NT to show a good, relatively-balanced, at-least-4-card, raise in opener's suit. Most people play that the Jacoby 2NT bid is a game-forcing raise, though a minority play that it's forcing only as far as 3-major. Using Jacoby raises means that there's no natural 2NT bid available once partner opens one of a major, but this isn't much of a loss.

The version of the system described herein assumes that 2NT is game-forcing, and is broadly in line with David Bakhshi's article in the October 2009 English Bridge.

Opener's Response to 2NT

As we're playing that 2NT is game-forcing, opener rebids four of his/her major to show a minimal [< 15 HCP, > 6 losers] hand.

All other bids show a non-minimum opening hand, and are descriptive of the hand shape:

• 4♣/♦ are always splinter bids, as is 4♥ if spades is the trump suit. This approach is in line with other splinter situations, where an unnecessary-to-be-forcing jump shows shortage.
• 3-original-major shows extra length compared to that already promised by the opening bid, and is usually a 6-card suit
• 3-new-suit is a trial bid, promising a respectable 4-card suit [could be a 5-card suit, but that would imply there's a singleton somewhere that opener might have chosen to bid by preference].
• 3NT shows a fairly balanced hand, no extra length in the trump suit, no singleton, no suitable suit to trial-bid

Responder's Subsequent Bidding

If opener rebids four of his/her original major, showing more than six losers, responder passes unless his/her own hand has five or fewer losers. Otherwise, he/she proceeds via RKCB or cue-bids as appropriate.

If opener shows a non-minimum hand, responder may sign off in 4-major if the hands don't seem to be fitting well, for example if opener shows shortage in a suit where responder has values, or if responder has shortage opposite opener's trial-bid suit. It's also possible, though unlikely, that responder may pass a 3NT rebid. Otherwise, responder once again proceeds via RKCB or cue-bidding.

Jacoby After RHO Intervenes

In this situation, 2NT by responder is a natural bid. Cue-bidding RHO's suit becomes the Jacoby bid, forcing to three of opener's suit, and a jump raise in opener's suit is pre-emptive. So now, if opener rebids three of his/her suit in response to a cue-bid, this shows a relatively minimum opening hand. Where opener's suit is spades, this may guarantee at least a 5-card suit, which gives responder more scope in finding the most descriptive bid. If the opening suit is hearts, intervention in spades makes things more difficult, but double is now used as a support double promising exactly three of opener's suit.

RHO Intervenes with the Unusual No Trump

There's no longer a Jacoby-style bid available, but responder has several options:

• cue-bidding 3♣ [RHO's lower suit] promises support for opener's suit, but forcing only to the three-level
• cue-bidding 3♦ [RHO's higher suit] promises 5+ cards in the other major
• doubling shows general values, with a preparedness to double at least one of RHO's suits for penalties. A subsequent spade bid by responder would show a 4-card suit
• a direct raise of opener's suit is competitive
• a direct bid of the other major is non-forcing.