A convenient minor in bridge is an opening hand in which the player has a card in a major suit and 13 points. The player’s partner also has five cards in the same suit as the player. The player with the highest points wins. Using a club system, you can show your strength by rebidding if you have three of a kind or more. If you are three-three in a minor suit, you can bid in your own minor suit or use your club system to show your strength.
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Bid your longest minor suit
The first step in bidding a long minor suit is to alert your partner. During a rebid, you must bid a higher level to increase your chances of winning. Generally, you will want to raise your minor suit’s opening bid by two points to gain bonus points. However, in some situations, you may need to raise the minor suit’s opening bid by one point for extra points.
When bidding your longest minor suit in bridge, remember that the length of your partner’s suit is likely to vary depending on the overall strength of the responder’s hand. It is best to aim for a combined point count of at least 29 or 31. If your partner has no stoppers in both majors and minors, you can bid your longest minor suit at three levels. In such a bid, the responder is implying stoppers in both major suits.
Show strength by rebidding
In bridge, rebidding a suit or raising a partner’s suit is an effective way to show strength. A rebid can be used to express other features of the hand as well as the strength of a partner’s hand. For example, if the opener bids 1H, he will receive a response showing a minimum hand of 13-15 points. A responder who bids 2H or 1S will receive a response showing an extra length in hearts. However, a responder who rebids can also pass if his or her partner has an opening hand of 16+ points.
A natural notrump opening bid or an overcall can also show strength. A strong 6+ suit, for example, can show strength by showing that you are a strong invitational player. Similarly, an invitational bid can show strength by jumping to the original 6+ suit and rebidting with one suit. In this case, the opening rebid is used to describe the shape of the hand and not to mention its strength.
Avoid rebidding if you are 3-3 in a minor suit
Whenever you are 3-3 in a convenient minor, you should avoid rebidding. This is the same rule as for the major suit, but the minor suits are trick higher. You should bid minors before majors because you’ll want to fit an 8-card major to your hand. If your partner opens a 1 or a 2, you can raise your suit to the three level if you have a poor hand. If you’re holding four-card trumps or no major suits, you can bid a 2NT and avoid rebidding.
Rebidding when you’re 3-3 in a convenient minor suit is a bad idea if you’re in a minor suit. Your partner may have too many points in a suit. By bidding three-card suit, you are wasting valuable room and risking losing a hand that you could win with a weak response.
Using a club system to show strength
A club system is a bidding convention in contract bridge. It is based on an opening bid of 1 or an artificial forcing bid. In uncontested slam strength auctions, the strong club system improves accuracy. Some variations of the club system exist. One of them is the Schenken Club, a four-card major system modeled after Standard American bidding. Another one is the Blue Team Club.
