This article concludes a discussion on hands where responder bids a forcing 1NT and then jumps to game.
Some of his jumps will include a minimum opening bid but there are other hands he may have as well. One thing to note is that when opener makes a minimum rebid, he will always pass when his partner jumps to game. Here are a few examples to help sort all of this out.
1♠ 1NT
2♥ 4♥
What do you expect partner to have for his jump to game?
Your partner can have a range of hands from opening bids to hands that have improved as a result of a fit. He can have one of these three hands.
♠ 3
♥ Q 10 9 4
♦ A 8 7 4
♣ A 9 8 4
This is not worth an opening bid but once hearts are in the game, it goes up in value enough to bid game
♠ K 2
♥ K J 8 7 5
♦ J 10 6 5 4
♣ 3
This little hand would have passed a 2♠ bid by partner. With super heart support and an important spade honor and excellent shape, this is worth bidding game.
♠ 3
♥ J 10 9 7 4
♦ A 7 6 4 3 2
♣ 8
You bid 1NT, hoping to escape safely to a red suit, and got the best possible bid from partner, 2H. Raise to game.
1♠ 1NT
2♥ 4♣
This auction reflects some science.
Possibility One
You can play that 4♣ is a splinter bid showing heart support.
♠ 8 2
♥ K Q 8 7 4
♦ A J 6 5 3
♣ 3
Possibility Two
You can play that 4♣ is a fit-showing bid with club values and lots of hearts.
♠ 9
♥ K Q J 4
♦ 4 3 2
♣ K Q 8 7 3
Possibility Three
You can play that 4♣ shows a spade singleton with lots of hearts and some useful club honors. Same for a 4♦ bid. Your partner, whatever he has, will remember that you started with 1NT, not a two-over-one bid.
♠ 6
♥ A J 10 6 4
♦ 8 7 4
♣ K Q 10 8
This hand could bid 4♣ if this understanding was in place. The reason that this bid makes so much sense is that you are much more likely to have a spade singleton than a club singleton.
♠ 3
♥ Q J 6 5
♦ A K 10 8 7 4
♣ 9 3
A 4♦ bid, if used to show hearts and diamonds and short spades, makes perfect sense. If your partner has maximum values for his bid with lousy spades, your jump to 4♣ or 4♦ may get him interested in slam.
The sequence used on these two hands is unexpected. You must never think that one of these bids will be meaningful to your partner unless you have talked about it.
1♠ 1NT
2♦ 3NT
There are two possible meanings and opener does not really care which it is.
Responder can have a hand that would have responded with a natural 2NT if you were not using Jacoby 2NT bids. Here is a possible hand.
♠ J 7
♥ K Q J 2
♦ Q 7 4
♣ Q J 9 5
You would hate to bid only 2NT at this point
Responder can have a hand with a fit for opener’s second suit that he hopes to use for tricks.
♠ 2
♥ J 10 8 3
♦ K Q 8 6 5 3
♣ A 4
