Standard American 21

The Rubber Bridge Player's Guide For The 21st Century

By John Sheridan Thomas

Chapter 6: The Majors

Introduction

The expression five-card majors refers to the opening bid rule that, when the opening suit is hearts or spades, it contains at least five cards. This rule is a modern invention - it was introduced in the nineteen-fifties, primarily by Alvin Roth and his partner Tobias Stone. It was quick to take hold in North America, but it's potential advantages were not fully realized until late in the century.

When responder has three-card support, he knows the partnership has an eight-card fit and this constitutes sufficient trump for any contract. Responder is obligated to show support at his first or second bid. As soon as a major has been supported, that suit becomes the designated trump.

It is apparent that, short of slam appeal, when your partnership has earned a partial score toward game, you should continue bidding only as far as needed to complete the game. This may mean passing the opening bid or stopping at the two-level or three-level, whatever it takes. For the most part, responses and re-bids discussed in this chapter presume the partnership does not have a part-score, thus needs 100 points for game.