When I am asked to give just one tip to intermediate players, I choose this. If at all possible, only bid and repeat a suit with six+ cards. With just five cards, try to find an alternative.

Exercise: What would be your bidding strategy with these opening hands?

Answers:

With Hand (i) open 1 ♠ planning to rebid 2 ♥. There is no need whatsoever to repeat the spades. Bear in mind that bidding spades then hearts shows five-four; you do not have to bid the spades a second time to show the fifth card – bidding your second suit does that.

With Hand (ii), avoid the need for a rebid by opening 1 NT. Mistakenly open 1 ♥ and you’ll have to find a rebid over a change-of-suit response – and you don’t have one. Instead get the hand off your chest in one go by opening 1 NT. Yes – even with a five-card major – after all you do have a balanced hand with 12-14 points.

With Hand (iii) you open 1 ♠ and can rebid 2 ♦ over a 1 NT/2 ♣ response, or raise a 2 ♦ response to 3 ♦. Over a 2 ♥ response, however, there really is no sensible alternative but to rebid 2 ♠. Yes, you’ve only five spades but the idea of bidding 3 ♦ with just 11 points is really a little too much on a potential misfit.

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