Gerber

 

1NT 4♣ (and 2NT 4♣) are generally used as Ace-asking, the so-called Gerber convention.  This allows 1NT 4NT to be "quantitative", asking Opener to bid slam if he likes his hand.  We'd say that useful occasions for Gerber come up quite rarely, and that many players over-use it, asking for Aces when they would be better off asking Partner opinion (with a 4NT invitation).

 

There are various methods of responding to Gerber, are you and your Partner playing the same one?

 

 

17th May, 2006                 Board 3       Dealer South        E-W Vul

 

 

North’s 2♥ was DONT, showing both majors, and putting East in an interesting situation.  6NT looks like the most likely spot, at least it would be if Partner were kind enough to hold the A♥ or K♥, and if the partnership is not missing two Aces.  We are not especially big fans of the Gerber convention, the opportunities to use it seem so rare.  But, perhaps this is such an opportunity.  Actually, it’s the perfect opportunity, if you are prepared to chance that your side is not missing AK♥.

 

What are your responses to Gerber?  One simple style is 4♦ for 0 (or 4), 4♥ for 1, and so on.  Suppose next that North responds 4NT showing 3 Aces, pretty much assuring that 6NT is worth a shot.  But why stop there?  If Partner also has the K♠, then we can almost count to 13 … 5 Spades (yes, we may need to finesse the 9), a Heart, 6 top minor tricks, surely with a 13^th minor suit trick available one way or the other.  Gerber comes up so rarely that you may not have good agreements on the responses to the King-asking 5♣ … we’d suggest that you show a specific King (with 5NT saying “no Kings”) rather than the number of Kings.

 

On a theoretical note, those responses that we outlined above are generally considered to be old hat in the world of tournament bridge … if your partnership would prefer not to be considered unfashionable, you may want to try these responses to that 4♣ Gerber bid:

            4♦:       1 or 4 Aces

            4♥:      0 or 3 Aces (yes, 1430 responses, just for the sake of consistency)

            4♠:       2 Aces and a minimum

            4NT:   2 Aces and a maximum.

These responses are directly analogous to Roman Key Card 1430 responses, and, as such, quite easy to remember.

 

7th June, 2006                   Board 31       Dealer South        N-S Vul

 

 

East wants to make a strong move in Hearts, but no number of Hearts is appropriate ... obviously not 2♥ ... and 3♥ is merely invitational ... and 4♥ gives up on slam.  One possibility is a bid of 2♣ here, intended as New Minor Forcing.  Our plan is quite crude ... establish Hearts as trumps, then check for controls ... if we are not missing 2 Aces, we'll try for slam. 

 

But, perhaps, we might be even more direct with Plan B ... the hand is so good, we might just as well 4♣ as Gerber.  There's no guarantee that the resulting slam will be cast-iron, but it will usually have a reasonable play.  That's the third Gerber hand in the Wednesday Game in the last month, a most unusual occurrence as we have been known to go for years at a time without using this not-so-common convention!

 

 

© BES, Inc

All Rights Reserved