Jacoby 1

JACOBY 2NT / SPLINTER BIDS

ABOUT THE DEALS

You may be either Opener or Responder, but you will always be in the South position.

The first page or two of each Deal shows only your hand. The initial bidding is given and you are asked to decide what you would bid, then click BID. The subsequent page will then appear telling you what you should have bid and continuing the auction. On the final page of each Deal partner's hand will be shown.

JACOBY 2NT / SPLINTER BIDS SUMMARY

You can play the Jacoby 2NT convention without using Splinter Bids, and you can play Splinter Bids without using Jacoby 2NT.
They are here together simply because the two conventions complement each other so well.

Jacoby 2NT

Major suit bidding without Jacoby has an awkwardness when Responder has a game-going hand with trump support.
One commonly used method for supporting the Major is this:

0-5 points	Pass
6-10 points, 3+ trumps	Raise to 2
11-12 points, 3+ trumps	Raise to 3 (limit-raise)
0-10 points and 5 trumps	Raise to 4 (preemptive)
13-16 points, 4+ trumps	Bid 2 of a new suit, then raise to 4

Some do not use the limit-raise concept, but use the jump to 3 of the Major to show a game-forcing 13-16 point hand.

Jacoby 2NT offers a big improvement over this method.
The actual working of Jacoby 2NT is simple:

Following an opening bid of 1 of a Major, Responder's jump to 2NT shows a hand with 13 or more points and at least 4 cards in the Major. This bid sets up an absolute game-forcing situation.

Note: Do not use Jacoby 2NT after a Minor suit opening.

Here are some examples. Partner opens 1♥.

   ♠ A K Q 6    ♥ A 8 4 3    ♦ 10 7    ♣ 9 7 6    Bid 2NT.

   ♠ 10 6    ♥ K Q 9 7 2    ♦ K 7    ♣ A Q J 6    Bid 2NT.

   ♠ A 8    ♥ 10 8 4 3    ♦ A 9 7 2    ♣ A 10 6    Bid 2NT.

   ♠ A Q 6    ♥ 4 3    ♦ K J 10 7    ♣ K J 9 8     DO NOT bid 2NT.

The last example shows the price you must pay for using Jacoby.
You can't have the jump to 2NT meaning two different things, chaos would result.
Be assured, after you get used to Jacoby you won't want to return to the old ways.

The first two steps are a snap.
Opener begins with her normal 1♠ or 1♥ opening.
Responder bids 2NT with any 13+ point hand containing at least four of partner's Major suit.
Then the fun begins.

Opener's Second Bid:

The Principle of Fast Arrival applies to Jacoby 2NT Auctions.

PRINCIPLE OF FAST ARRIVAL

When a game-forcing bidding situation exists,
a fast jump to game denies slam interest.

Here are the meanings of various second bids by the Opener:

13-15 points	Jump to 4 of the Major (Fast Arrival)
16+ points with a good outside 5-card suit	Jump to 4 of the 5-card the suit
16+ points with a singleton/void and no good outside 5-card suit	Bid 3 of the singleton/void
16+ points and 5 trumps no singleton or void	Bid 3NT
16+ points and 6+ trumps no singleton or void	Bid 3 of the Major

Opener's second bid usually describes her hand well enough that Responder gets promoted to Bidding Captain, and can often place the contract immediately. All later bidding is just whatever is normal for your partnership, including control showing bids, standard Blackwood, Roman Key-card, or anything else.

Splinter Bids

There is no universal agreement as to when Splinter Bids should be used. But as long as you have a partnership agreement you should be OK. The explanation that follows is what OUR partnership uses, and what is used in the Example Deals.

A double-jump response to a 1 of a suit opening is a Splinter Bid, showing 13-16 points, at least 4-card trump support, and a singleton or void in the suit splintered.

You can see why Splinter Bids and Jacoby 2NT complement each other so well; together they take care of a lot of game-forcing responses. There is one pretty big difference in their application though. Splinter Bids after 1 of a Major openings are usually limited to about 13-16 points. You shouldn't Splinter with stronger hands. The reason for this guideline is that Splinters use up so much bidding space it makes it more difficult to show your additional strength. Jacoby 2NT bids on the other hand are unlimited - 13 points and above.

Some people only use Splinters after 1 of a Major, presumably because you are far less likely to be thinking about forcing to game in a Minor suit. However, Splinter Bids are very effective as Slam investigating bids, so you can use them for Minors also if you like.

There is one restriction that you should follow:

Don't Splinter with a singleton Ace, King or Queen.

The reason this is good advice is that when you Splinter, partner is going to assume you have a small singleton (the most likely situation) and to discount any strength he may have in the suit.

Opener's rebid after the Splinter is normal bidding, whatever systems/conventions you use. There is one thing that opener needs to keep in mind - his own holding in the Splintered suit.

A x x (x) is great - partner's Splinter means you have no losers in the suit.
x x x is also great - you have only one loser in the suit.
K J x is terrible - 4 of your point count are apparently wasted, they might as well be x x x.

Since the Splinter examples we will be looking at are tied to the Jacoby 2NT convention, all of the Splinter bids you encounter here will be immediate, following an opening bid of 1 of a Major.
However, consider this bidding sequence:

WEST	NORTH	EAST	SOUTH
	1♣	pass	1♥
pass	4♦

North's 4♦ bid is a Splinter. It shows 4+ ♥s, a singleton or void in ♦s, and game-forcing strength. In this case at least 20 points or so. It might be a hand like this:

♠ A Q 8 ♥ K Q 9 5 ♦ 4 ♣ A K Q 6 5

25 examples will be worth more than another 1000 words.

Deal 1