Gerber & Quantitative Bidding
These are slam hunting bids employed by responder to a balanced opener. They can cause great confusion so in this system, the rules governing their use are clearcut and strict.
Gerber
Gerber can cause great confusion and the advantages of using it in modern systems are very small so Gerber has now been removed from this system.
Historically, Blackwood was the first ace asking bid but problems arose with the introduction of the 4NT quantitative raise, necessitating the invention of an alternative ace asking bid over NT. When John Gerber described the bid, he advocated that all 4C bids should be regarded as ace asking. In the past, Gerber was promoted by some as an alternative to Blackwood, with the advantage of keeping the auction lower. That was all well and good then but bidding now is more accurate and of necessity, more complex and Gerber is incompatible with many modern uses of 4C including cue-bids and splinters. Moreover, gadgets such as Redwood, Kickback and Italian Cue Bids combined with Roman Keycard Blackwood have addressed most of the issues around aborted slam hunting sequences ending too high. With modern bidding techniques, the need for Gerber is vanishing and it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify the loss of a natural 4C bid, especially over high level NT openings e.g. partner opens 2NT and you have 11 points and a beautiful 6 card club suit. How do you investigate a club slam if 3C is some sort of Stayman and 4C is Gerber? Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer to this and it comes down to partnership agreement. One modern approach is to take the line that if a 4C bid can be anything else, it’s not Gerber. That’s fine but it’s too ambiguous for my liking. An alternative is to restrict the use of Gerber to one situation and one only which is that a direct 4C response to a 1NT opening is Gerber and nothing else is. The response to the 4C Gerber ace ask is stepped;
Quantitative Raises
So called because they simply show HCP ranges while agreeing NT. So strictly speaking, 1NT-2NT and 1NT-3NT are examples of quantitative raises. However, the usual meaning is applied to slam hunting situations where 4NT is an invitation to 6NT and 5NT an invitation to 7NT. Note that while 4NT can be passed, 5NT cannot; you must bid either 6NT or 7NT. It is critical to be able to discern when 4NT is quantitative and when it is Blackwood. The logical test to apply when partner bids 4NT is to ask yourself “Has my bidding to date unequivocally indicated that I am balanced?” If the answer is yes, then 4NT is quantitative. The alternative question is “Have we agreed a suit or have either of us insisted upon a suit (e.g. 2C-2D-3H)”. If the answer to that is yes, then 4NT is unequivocally RKCB. In cases where there is real doubt (this should be rare), go with RKCB if for no other reason that partner will immediately know what you are doing and may be able to rescue the situation. For clarity, I am listing auctions where 4NT bid is unequivocally Quantitative;
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These are slam hunting bids employed by responder to a balanced opener. They can cause great confusion so in this system, the rules governing their use are clearcut and strict.
Gerber
Gerber can cause great confusion and the advantages of using it in modern systems are very small so Gerber has now been removed from this system.
Historically, Blackwood was the first ace asking bid but problems arose with the introduction of the 4NT quantitative raise, necessitating the invention of an alternative ace asking bid over NT. When John Gerber described the bid, he advocated that all 4C bids should be regarded as ace asking. In the past, Gerber was promoted by some as an alternative to Blackwood, with the advantage of keeping the auction lower. That was all well and good then but bidding now is more accurate and of necessity, more complex and Gerber is incompatible with many modern uses of 4C including cue-bids and splinters. Moreover, gadgets such as Redwood, Kickback and Italian Cue Bids combined with Roman Keycard Blackwood have addressed most of the issues around aborted slam hunting sequences ending too high. With modern bidding techniques, the need for Gerber is vanishing and it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify the loss of a natural 4C bid, especially over high level NT openings e.g. partner opens 2NT and you have 11 points and a beautiful 6 card club suit. How do you investigate a club slam if 3C is some sort of Stayman and 4C is Gerber? Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer to this and it comes down to partnership agreement. One modern approach is to take the line that if a 4C bid can be anything else, it’s not Gerber. That’s fine but it’s too ambiguous for my liking. An alternative is to restrict the use of Gerber to one situation and one only which is that a direct 4C response to a 1NT opening is Gerber and nothing else is. The response to the 4C Gerber ace ask is stepped;
- Step 1 (4D) - None or all 4 aces
- Step 2 (4H) - 1 ace
- Step 3 (4S) - 2 aces
- Step 3 (4N - 3 aces
Quantitative Raises
So called because they simply show HCP ranges while agreeing NT. So strictly speaking, 1NT-2NT and 1NT-3NT are examples of quantitative raises. However, the usual meaning is applied to slam hunting situations where 4NT is an invitation to 6NT and 5NT an invitation to 7NT. Note that while 4NT can be passed, 5NT cannot; you must bid either 6NT or 7NT. It is critical to be able to discern when 4NT is quantitative and when it is Blackwood. The logical test to apply when partner bids 4NT is to ask yourself “Has my bidding to date unequivocally indicated that I am balanced?” If the answer is yes, then 4NT is quantitative. The alternative question is “Have we agreed a suit or have either of us insisted upon a suit (e.g. 2C-2D-3H)”. If the answer to that is yes, then 4NT is unequivocally RKCB. In cases where there is real doubt (this should be rare), go with RKCB if for no other reason that partner will immediately know what you are doing and may be able to rescue the situation. For clarity, I am listing auctions where 4NT bid is unequivocally Quantitative;
- 1NT-4NT (opener is 12-14 balanced)
- 2NT-4NT (opener is 20-22 balanced)
- 2D-2x-2NT-4NT (opener starts off as a Multi and then reveals that he is a 23-24 balanced type)
- 2C-2D-2NT-4NT (opener starts off as a non-specific strong hand and then reveals he is a balanced 25+)
- 1x-1y-1NT-4NT (opener starts off promising 2+ clubs if x=C, 4+ diamonds if x=D or 5+ of the major if x=H/S and then reverses into 1NT showing a balanced shape and 15-17 HCPs)
- 1x-1y-2NT-4NT (as above but 18-19 HCPs)
- 1NT-2C-2D-4NT (responder looks for a major and on failing to find one makes a quantitative raise. Note that there is no genuine suit bid here but in any event, the 1NT opening guarantees a balanced hand)
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