Minor Suit Raises

Some hands will have no major suits and support for opener's minor or will have the other minor.

As opener is presumed to have opened with three cards in a minor suit, support for a minor is considered to be 5+ cards, until  the minor is rebid.

Note: You can't bid 1¨ as a 'courtesy bid' over 1§ unless your convention card says you are playing a forcing 1§ opening.

If you don't have anything to bid, pass.

Inverted Minor Raises

If the hand is not suitable for Notrump because of lack of stoppers and lacks 4+ length in the majors, minor suits are raised in an inverted manner.

This means that responder with 5+ card support in §'s or ¨'s  jumps to three of the suit with a weak hand -- 5-8 points -- and raises to two with a strong hand -- 10+ points.  With even weaker hands; pass - opener can't be hurt much if you have 5 trumps.

N	E	S
1§   . . .	P	2§*	5+ Clubs and 10+ points. The subsequent bidding is a search for 3 NT.
1¨   . . .	P	3¨*	5+ Diamonds and less than 8 points. Opener could try 3NT with 18-19 HCP, otherwise should pass.

After a Single Minor Raise. After a single raise of a minor, each partner should bid stoppers up the line, trying for Notrump.  If absent, retreat to the minor.

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(c) Robert D. McConnell, 1998  All Rights Reserved