STRONG HANDS INTRODUTION
This Chapter deals with all sorts of strong hands. It covers all the strong opening bids,
as well as strong responses and it also looks at slam enquiries, especially Blackwood
and cue-bidding. There are deals when the two hands combine strongly as well as
those all too common types, when one hand is very strong and the other is very weak!
Slams are an exciting aspect of bridge and there is always much to be learnt in this field.

The subjects dealt with in this section are:

CUE-BIDDING
STRONG OPENING BIDS & RESPONSES
BIDDING OVER STRONG 2NT BIDS
JUMP RESPONSES IN A NEW SUIT
BLACKWOOD (& KEY-CARD)
SPLINTERS

Cue-Bidding
Cue-bidding is not easy, but it is an important aspect of slam bidding.
Blackwood is everybody’s favourite convention, but there are many hands
when it is not suitable (hands with voids or small doubletons).
A cue-bid is a bid of a new suit at a high-level when a suit has been agreed
as trumps - the bid shows a ‘control’ in the suit - that is, the ability to win
a trick if the suit is led:
A first-round control = an Ace or a void
A second-round control = a King or a singleton
E.g. 1♠-P-3♠-P-4♦: spades have been agreed as trumps
        so 4♦ is a cue-bid showing ♦A or a void in diamonds.

Strong Opening Bids & Responses
In your system, two bids are all strong:
2♦, 2♥ and 2♠ are ‘strong twos’ whilst 2♣ is the strongest possible bid.
The strong twos show a hand with eight playing tricks and a good suit.
They do not show a hand that can make a game by itself (the 2♣ bid is used for that)
- for this reason you are allowed to pass a Strong Two if you feel you have
no chance of making a trick - no points and no distribution.
The negative response to a strong two is 2NT.
The 2♣ opening bid shows a hand with 23 or more points or a hand
that can make game by itself. (Remember that it does not necessarily show clubs.)
The negative response is 2♦.

Bidding Over Strong 2NT Bids
Once again you have the option to play transfers, something I highly recommend.
The other convention over 2NT is Stayman (3♣), played in precisely the way
it is played over 1NT - asking for four-card majors. For a more detailed discussion
of responses to 2NT see The Basic System File (in the help menu).

Jump Responses in a New Suit
To make a jump response in a new suit to an opening bid you need a very strong hand.
There are two types of hand that on which you should consider such a response:
(1) 16 or more points and a strong suit (with at least six cards).
(2) A game-going hand (13+ points) with support for your partner’s suit
     and a strong and long second suit.

Blackwood (& Key-Card) (4NT)
Blackwood is the best convention for Slam exploration - it is no coincidence
that almost all bridge players use some form of this convention - it is simply
one of the best ideas in bridge - without the aces slams cannot be made.
I am hoping to introduce you to a new form of Blackwood - I do advocate
you giving it a try - Key-Card Blackwood - it works exactly like normal Blackwood
except that you count the KING of TRUMPS as an ACE. The idea is, that the king
of trumps is a very important card (as important as any ace) so that it should be
included in your Blackwood calculations.
The responses are almost exactly the same as normal Blackwood:
 5♣   0 or or 4 aces
 5♦   1 or 5 aces
 5♥   2 aces
 5♠   3 aces
The only change is that 5♦ shows 1 or 5 of the ‘FIVE ACES’.
You will see that this addition to the Blackwood convention is invaluable
to accurate slam bidding.

Splinters
Pre-empting your own partner is not a good idea, so a double jump in a new suit
in response to your partner’s opening bid (1♥ Pass 4♦) is not used to show a weak hand.
One very useful use of this type of bid is to show a hand with four-card support for your
partner’s suit, game-going values and shortage (singleton or void) in the bid suit.
E.g. 1♥ Pass 4♦ : 4♦ shows four-card support for hearts, a singleton or void in diamonds
and enough strength to bid to 4♥.
This is an extremely descriptive type of bid and allows your partner to judge
whether there is a possibility of slam by viewing his holding in your short suit.