Vil Gravis's blog

1/1 Chapter 5

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Thu, 02/04/2026 - 21:45

Non Forcing Responses to One of a suit openings:
All responses other than 1NT are non forcing. Often when partner opens 1H or 1S it is necessary to
raise with only a three card suit if you don’t want to force to game. That is why I prefer to play ‘five
card majors’
Normal suit responses to 1 level openings:

1/1 Chapter 4

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Thu, 02/04/2026 - 10:10

Responding with weaker hands:
After a 1 of a suit opening bid:
Because 1NT is a game force, all other bids are natural and bidding continues in a normal fashion, but a
lot of responses are not strong and hence not forcing, something to be kept in mind. Keeping in mind
also that we are playing 5 card majors and that 1C can be as short as TWO.
Let’s take a look at responses to a 1C opening bid:

Q&A 09: CUE BIDS BY RESPONDER

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Mon, 23/03/2026 - 10:24

There are going to be many times at the bridge table that you will want to tell partner about your hand
but won’t know how best to do so. That is why it is so important to discuss such things with your
partner. This article is aimed at getting a common understanding with partner by using takeout doubles
and cue bids when you and your partner want to compete against your opponents. I will describe the
potential bidding in plain English because, after all, the bridge bidding language is no different, it just
takes a different form

Here are some bidding situations from recent teams play

1/1 Chapter 3 - A grand start

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Tue, 17/03/2026 - 14:21

Now let me show you a deal from X-Clubs, from Monday 16/3/2026

Board 6, Dealer East, EW vulnerable

JT
52
Q86
T85432
32
AKJ74
KT
AKQJ
AQ64
QT9
A7532
9
K9875
863
J94
76

1/1 Chapter 2

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Tue, 17/03/2026 - 13:56

Responding to 1 Level Suit Opening Bids:

A 1NT response to a 1C, 1D, 1H, or 1S opening bid is GAME FORCING, with no reference to any particular suit or denomination. Bidding after this continues in the normal way, but a rebid in a major shows at least a six card suit, 2C or 2D should be natural but can be a good three card suit, though with a balanced 5332 hand the rebid should be 2NT

In such a game forcing situation, any suit agreement or a new suit by the 1NT responder, can be treated as a KEY CARD ASK, which will be covered later

1/1 Bidding System - Chapter 01

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Sun, 15/03/2026 - 14:53

Vil is starting a new series which he's picking will be of interest to only a few players. The concept is simple: 5 card majors, a strong (15-17) 1NT and a GAME FORCING 1NT response to all 1-level opening bids. Anyone interested in following the series can get the articles first hand by registering with him (villyn@xtra.co.nz). His articles will be published on this site while he continues to answer any questions anyone may have and helps juniors as much as possible

This system is based on “Five Card Majors”
We have all gotten used to responding to partner’s opening of one of a suit in time-honoured fashion: bid our suit at the one level, or bid 1NT with “6-9” if we haven’t enough points (usually 10+) to bid at the two level. But how often do we really need to bid 1NT? With ‘five card majors’ that is something that I find can be circumvented, with the 1NT response being far more useful to create a game going scenario, with many, many advantages to off-set the loss of the 6-9 1NT response. Read on if getting more out of your system interests you

Q&A 09: Transfers and Cue Bids

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Wed, 11/02/2026 - 13:37

1. You open 2NT (balanced 20-22) and partner bids 3D which is a transfer to
hearts. Your hand:

A2
AQT8
AT64
AK

What do you know? All you know is that partner has at least five hearts.

Q&A 08: Splinters and Cue Bids

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Fri, 06/02/2026 - 14:21

We saw in No.7 how a slam might have been bid using “splinters” but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Let me show you another and very similar layout, where you might consider splintering but a slam is
near impossible.

SouthWestNorthEast
1Pass2Pass
?

You are sitting South and your hand is:

AT964
AQJ9
9
KQ9

A much better hand than earlier, so surely a splinter bid of 4D is in order. And responder also has a
better hand than we saw last time:

Q2
KT876
KQJ
AJ87

Q&A 07: Splinters and Cue Bids

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Mon, 02/02/2026 - 05:06

You are SOUTH, and dealer. All vulnerable, match points.

The Bidding has been:

SouthWestNorthEast
1Pass2Pass
?

Your hand is:

AT9643
AQ9
9
K73

What would you bid?

Q&A 06: Major Oriented

Submitted by Vil Gravis on Thu, 29/01/2026 - 15:32

Not enough people play strictly major oriented takeout doubles, and then they find that because they
don’t trust partner to be on the same page, end up in the wrong contract. Here is a good example

You are SOUTH, Both vulnerable, dealer West.

SouthWestNorthEast
-1X2

Your hand is:

42
AT42
J4
AJ987

Syndicate content