Passed Hand Response


Bridge World Standard says:

    Passed-hand situations: When it is logically possible and there is no explicit understanding to the contrary, an action taken by a passed hand has the same general meaning as the corresponding action taken by an unpassed hand, subject to whatever constraints are imposed by the failure to open the bidding.

For example, a simple raise of an opening bid means the same whether responder is a passed hand or not, So after a 1 opening, if responder has 3 Hearts, he should just raise with less than 10 points.

When responder has 3 Hearts and 10+ points, he can bid 1 with 4+ Spades or 2 with 5+ in the suit. A 2/1 bid (not the 2/1 Forcing convention) by an unpassed hand is not forcing if opener made a weak opening bid, but since responder has promised 10+ points, opener will normally bid again.

When responder has bid 1, showing anywhere from a 5+ point hand to 10-12 points, opener should bid again if at all possible simply to keep the opponents from balancing.

Also see The Drury Convention for responding to an opening 1-of-a-major when you are a passed hand.

Most entries in the database can be used whether responder is a passed hand or not.

Bids for which the specs are different for passed and unpassed hands need separate entries for each. For example, a Jacoby 2N response to 1 of a major shows 13+ HCPs if made by an unpassed hand, but shows a balanced hand with 11-12 HCPs if made by a passed hand.

Likewise, a 2/1 response to an opening bid is game forcing when playing 2/1 Forcing.

In BidBase's database, 2/1 Forcing entries have a Bid Order Number ("BON") starting with 1TF. Conventions which take precedence over 2/1 have smaller BONs. For example, Splinters start with 10Sp Bergen starts with 1B, Drury starts with 1Dru, etc.

Standard entries (i.e.: not conventions) all have 6-digit BONs starting with 9, thus if 2/1 Forcing is deactivated, nearly all non-conventional responses to one of a major will have a BON starting with 9.

One requirement for a bid to be 2/1 Forcing is that the bidder must an unpassed hand, so each 2/1 Forcing entry has that Position entered. Again, in BidBase nearly all non-conventional bids come after conventional bids, so if 2/1 Forcing is activated, then they will be tried before standard 2/1 bids ( BONs starting with 9) and if 2/1 Forcing is deactivated, they they will be skipped an stanard 2/1 bids will be tried.


Bridge World Standard:

    Passed-hand situations: Passes over redoubles: A pass over a redouble is:
      (a) for penalty when
      • a preemptive opening is doubled in either position,
      • a suit one-bid is doubled in reopening position, or
      • a bid at the two-level or higher is doubled after the opponents have bid three or more times;

      (b) for takeout when

      • a suit one-bid is doubled in direct position or
      • a new-suit response is doubled;

      (c) subject to no special agreement when

      • a raise of a one-bid is doubled, or
      • a one-notrump response is doubled, or
      • a one-level bid after the opponents have bid three or more times is doubled.