Tuesday, March-24-09

Hand Evaluation -  Demise of Gerber

PITBULLS:

           In my opinion , in the modern game of Bridge , Gerber is no longer required . In the old days , Gerber was used as a jump in clubs after a 2NT rebid , a 1NT opener  or a 2NT opener. Why have this pre-occupation with the number of Aces ? Quantitative bidding can get you to your NT slams or staying out of your NT slams. Gerber was used in the old days when you had one suited hands & just needed to know the number of Aces the NT bidder is holding.

            Exclusion Blackwood or KCB with Texas has made Gerber extinct with the single suited major hands. You just use Texas & bid 4NT or exclusion KCB when you bid another suit. We no longer need Gerber with those single suited major hands . How about the long suited minor hands ? With the long suited ♣ hands lets use a jump to 4♣ as KCB in clubs over 1NT or 2NT . This works way better than Gerber & you have identified the club suit as trump. What about the long diamond suit hands when you just want to take control & find out the number of Aces ? What’s the hurry ? Bid your systemic 2NT & leap or raise diamonds to the 4 level. Minorwood showing diamonds as the trump suit works much better than Gerber. Over 2NT , you show diamonds systemically & use Kickback.

           What about Gerber after a 2NT rebid ? Most of us play the Wolffe relay which means that strong natural distributional club hands are now difficult to show. Throw out Gerber in these auctions to show these club hands with natural bidding. 

1♣-P-1♠-P

2NT-P-4♣             two suiter in spades & clubs with a slam try ( not Gerber )

1♦-P-1♥-P

2NT-P-4♣             two suiter in hearts & clubs with a slam try ( not Gerber )

    OK , in 2/1 or forcing to game auctions we play a leap to 3NT as a hand in the strong NT range & 2NT  as an either /or bid of 12-14 or 17-19. We use 4NT by either partner as quantitative to sort things out. What if we just want to know the number of Aces with no fit established ? Use an "out of the blue" 4♣ bid as KCB with modified responses. 1 or 4 , 0 or 3 , 2 with nothing extra & 2 with a maximum.

    1♠-P-2♦-P

    2♠-P-3NT-P

    4♣          is KCB with the steps defined as above & 4NT would be quantitative. With suits established , just use minorwood.

Note the standard way of showing 6-4’s after 2/1 is to show the 4 card suit first. For this reason 4♣ must be KCB in the above auction.

    Over pre-empts at the 3 level or weak 2's , a leap or bid of 4♣ is two control KCB with responses ( 0- 0 or 0-1 , 1-0 , 1-1 , 2-0 ,2-1 ) with the first number being Aces & the 2nd the trump queen.

        Gerber is now just plain baby food & nothing to do with Ace asking in my system , anyway.