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Mario Martinelli is a Neapolitan excellent player and accredited bridge teacher. He is an expert about systems and he developed the system “Standard BBO Italia”. The last version of it (2012) can be browsed on Vincenzo delle Cave’s BBO Italia website. Mario is also the nephew of Eugenio Chiaradia, the creator of the Neapolitan Club, a system which our magazine is dedicated to. Neapolitan Club has been publishing a summary of the system developed by Martinelli both in Italian and in English. In todays’ article we publish the second part of chapter about “Jump shift responses”.
Jump shift responses
Second Part
Jump shifts at the two level
There are different ways to treat jump shifts at the two level. A partnership needs a precise agreement on which convention is in use, without which it is wiser for responder not to jump. The most common alternatives are:
a) Weak jump shifts
b) Strong jump shifts
c) Artificial jump shifts
Weak jump shifts
They show 6-7 cards in the suit and roughly less than 6 points. With 6 good points or more responder would not jump, but rather bid his suit at the lowest possible level, planning to rebid it next time round with a minimum hand. For instance:
South West North
1♣ Pass 2♠
North: ♠KJ9842 ♥82 ♦1063 ♣J4
South West North
1♦ Pass 2♥
North: ♠3 ♥Q1075432 ♦106 ♣832
The following hand is too strong for a weak jump shift and North responds at the one level, planning to rebid the suit next time round.
South West North
1♦ Pass 1♥
North: ♠Q72 ♥KQ10754 ♦7 ♣1065
Weak jump shifts are usually referred to in BBO profiles with the acronym “wjs”.
Strong jump shifts
They show at least five cards in the suit and a strong slammish hand.
The jump should be avoided if the hand is two-suited, without a fit with opener. Eligible distributions for strong jump shifts thus are: single suited or 5332, two-suited with a fit in opener’s suit.
Strong jump shifts usually show at least 16-17 points, but with particularly strong and long suits the number of points can be lower (see fourth example):
South West North
1♣ Pass 2♠
North: ♠AKJ1054 ♥A2 ♦A107 ♣104
South West North
1♦ Pass 2♥
North: ♠K95 ♥AKJ85 ♦AQ103♣2
South West North
1♣ Pass 2♥
North: ♠AKQ ♥KQJ92♦J74♣K5
South West North
1♥ Pass 2♠
North: ♠AKQ10765 ♥3♦A54♣42
Now let us carefully look at the following examples where the strong jump shift is not appropriate, contrary to the previous cases.
South West North
1♣ Pass 1♠
North: ♠AQ9543 ♥J2 ♦KQ7 ♣Q4
North has a game forcing hand, but not strong enough to be slammish opposite a minimum opening.
South West North
1♦ Pass 1♥
North: ♠AJ8 ♥AKJ95 ♦5 ♣KQ103
North is slammish, but two suited hands can be described through strong jump shifts only when the second suit is the same as opener’s (see second example). Otherwise it is best to bid cheaply to find a fit in the second suit.
Artificial jump shifts
A partnership can agree to assign jump shifts an artificial meaning, sometimes unrelated to the suit bid. There is a variety of possible meanings available, which usually include situations that would otherwise be hard to deal with, or that not covered by other partnership’s agreements.
An example over all is a popular convention amongst the more experienced players, that also is one of the optional conventions for Standard BBO Italia: Responder’s major two suiters (Standard BBO Italia and all related materials can be downloaded at www.bboitalia.it/martinelli).
The convention is as follows: after 1♣/1♦ openings and RHO’s pass, a jump shift bid of 2♥ shows at least five spades and at least four hearts in a weak hand, i.e. less than invitational strenght. This has two advantages: 1) a heart fit can be quickly found, this would otherwise have been problematic, given responder’s weakness; 2) responder quickly describes nine cards in his hand, and opener is thus in a position to make a decision if opponents compete. For instance:
South West North
1♣ Pass 2♥
North: ♠KQ754 ♥Q765 ♦1096 ♣2
South West North
1♦ Pass 2♥
North: ♠108542 ♥A9753 ♦J4 ♣2
Together with the convention just described it is common (but not necessary) to play that a jump shift of 2♠ shows both majors with an invitational hand. This shows five spades and four hearts, at least in the original version. This has the advantage that sequences in which responder bids 1♠ followed by 2♥ are game forcing. This logically implies that with a 5-5 distribution and an invitational hand (which does not fit the criterion to respond 2♠, because of the fifth heart), responder bids 1♠ and then jumps to 3♥ next time round. For instance:
South West North
1♣ Pass 2♠
North: ♠AQ754♥QJ32♦9 ♣Q65
South West North
1♦ Pass 2♠
North: ♠K96542♥AQ104♦9 ♣65
South West North East
1♣ Pass 1♠ Pass
2♣ Pass 2♥
North has 5+ spades and 4+ hearts, game forcing
South West North East
1♣ Pass 1♠ Pass
2♣ Pass 3♥
North has a 55 distribution with an invitational hand
When the opening bid is 1♣, in addition to the artificial 2♥ and 2♠ responses, it is common to play that a jump shift response to 2♦ is “multi”, i.e. a weak jump in a major. Giving up the not-so-useful weak jump to show diamonds, the two-level major suits bids can be used to show two-suited hands. This is the reason why in the following examples I am using the same hands I used to describe weak jump shifts.
South West North
1♣ Pass 2♦
Nord: ♠KJ9842♥82♦1063♣J4
South West North
1♣ Pass 2♦
Nord: ♠3♥Q1075432♦106 ♣832
The 2♦ “multi” response can also be used after a 1♦ opening, but at the cost of giving up the natural fit bid at the two level. Contrary to the 1♣ opening bid, this is a high price to pay and for this reason, on the 1♦ opening, it is preferable to give up specific bids to show major one suited weak hands.
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The “Standard BBO Italia” System by Mario Martinelli – English edition by Laura Cecilia Porro for Neapolitan Club.
February 25, 2012