Know the rules on forcing, nonforcing bids

At mid-summer, it’s time to weigh in on local bridge players. Many are still heading to nearby in-person duplicate games at two clubs in White Plains, N.Y. For others who are less likely to venture out for games, we offer a new series of articles and columns on forcing and nonforcing bids.

A round of applause for Greenwich players who finished in the overall rankings in the past week at either of the two White Plains duplicate clubs offering face-to-face competition were:

Harte’s Club: Thursday, June 23, Terry LubmanVivian Wu, fourth, Strat A; Tuesday, June 28, Betty Cutting, playing with Kay Schulle, second, Strat A.

The Bridge Deck: Friday, June 24, Mary Albertell-Mary Scarfi, second, Strat C; Monday, June 27, Mary Scarfi-Lois Spagna, first, Strat B.

Today’s quiz: This is the first of a series of articles and quizzes on the basic rules governing forcing and nonforcing bids; the next few columns will present quizzes designed to test your knowledge of the subject.

Knowing which bids are forcing and which are not — that is, which bids partner cannot pass, which may be passed, and which must be passed — is absolutely essential. Without such an understanding, a partnership cannot hope to reach the proper contract with any degree of consistency.

Determining whether a particular bid is forcing depends upon application of a simple set of rules which have been adopted as standard procedure by the majority of players in this country. Briefly summarized, these rules are as follows:

A player who has opened the bidding with one of a suit has no forcing bid available on the next round other than a jumpshift — a bid in a new suit that skips an entire level of bidding. With rare exceptions, all other bids by the opener can be passed.

As opposed to this, any new suit bid by the opener’s partner (responder), at whatever level below game, cannot be passed by the opening bidder, and as long as responder continues to bid new suits, opener cannot pass. None of this holds true, however, if the responder is a “passed hand” — that is, had an opportunity to open the bidding before his partner did, but could not do so. In that case, the opener can pass any response, including a jump bid.

Finally, as seen in several quizzes over the past few weeks, these rules do not apply to a suit bid (an overcall) made by the side that did not open the bidding. If an overcaller’s partner bids a new suit at the one- or two-level, that bid can be passed. For this reason, many players today have adopted a cuebid of the opponents’ suit as a means of forcing partner to bid again. Such bids usually imply a fit with the overcaller’s suit, but may also be used to show a powerful hand.