Gambling 3N


Gambling 3N is a hand with a solid 6-8 card minor suit and stoppers in 0-3 side suits. Both of these numbers depend on partnership agreement.

Responder's bids

    With a weak hand:

      Pass with stoppers in three suits; otherwise - 
      4 and opener will pass or correct to 4. 

    With a strong hand:

      4 asks opener to bid his singleton or void, if any. 
        Opener's replies: 
          4 = a singleton or void in the major bid. 
          4N = 7222 shape. 
          5 = short Diamonds if Clubs is his suit. 
          5 = short Clubs if Diamonds is his suit. 
      4N = A in 2 suits and A or KQ in a 3rd suit plus an extra sure trick. 
        Opener bids slam with an 8+ card suit. 

Is it worth it?

The following comments have surfaced on BridgeBase.com (no kin to CardShark Bidbase).

  • While the convention calls for partner to leave 3N in with the 3 side suits stopped, most people expect just 2 stopped and hope defenders choose the wrong lead, hence the "gambling". After all, if partner has all side suits stopped and opener has 7 running tricks, where's the gamble? 
  • Another idea is for opener to bid 3 for a gambling 3 notrump. Partner can bid 3N with a suitable hand or run to 4, etc. This right-sides the contract, but it takes away preempts in Spades on the 3 level. 
  • A minority say that hands suitable for Gambling 3N come up fairly often. 
  • The majority say that such hands rarely come up. Some have tried for years. On the other hand, 26-HCP hands for a natural 3N rarely come up either. 
  • 3N can be used to show a strong 4 preempt. (Responder bids 4 and opener passes or corrects to 4.) It's hard to see the need for this. There's a big advantage if a minor suit preempt can be converted to 3N, but not so much of an advantage in converting a major suit preempt to 3N, plus Namyats is good for major suit preempts.