Glasnevin Bridge Club

Weak Jump Shifts
Traditionally an immediate jump shift by responder to partner’s opening bid is strong. In reality it doesn’t happen much and when it does, there are equally good if not better ways to describe the hand. In keeping with modern pre-emptive style, this system uses Weak Jump Shifts. A weak jump shift shows a hand with 2-5 points and denies support for partner’s opening suit. The bid guarantees 6+ cards in the suit bid.

Openers Responses

  • Opener with no fit will generally pass, even with a fairly strong hand.
  • Opener with a 3+ card fit may raise preemptively to the 3 level.
  • Opener may raise partner’s major bid to game and nobody except him knows whether this is purely pre-emptive, on the basis of a 4 card holding in partner’s suit, or genuine on the basis of a fit (2 cards+) and 19 points!
  • A strong opener with no fit and extra length may rebid his own suit.
  • Finally, an opener with genuine game aspirations may initiate an Ogust sequence by bidding 2NT. The responses are as usual but note that minimum is 2-3 and maximum 4-5, so you can’t have a good suit unless you are a maximum, so no bids above 3H are necessary! The responses therefore are;
  • 3C minimum & poor suit
  • 3D maximum and poor suit
  • 3H maximum and good suit
Remember, that as with all pre-emptive actions (and this is as pre-emptive as it gets!) you must be sensible and pay due attention to vulnerability.

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