Bridge Gambling 3nt

• Gambling 3nt In Bridge
• Gambling 3nt Bridge Convention
• Bridge Gambling 3nt
• Bridge Gambling 3nt

In the card gamecontract bridge, Gambling 3NT is a special treatment of an opening bid of 3NT. The bid is used to describe a hand containing a minor suit of at least seven cards in length and headed by the ace, king and queen, at minimum. The bid has the dual objectives of preempting the opponents' bidding should they hold the majors and trying for a game in notrump on the gamble that partner might hold adequate support.

The Gambling 3NT by Chris Jagger. I'm not going to pretend that the gambling 3NT is a vital convention that everybody should know, but it is a part of normal Acol, and your partner will probably assume that you are playing it. Moreover, I recently discovered that half of the Tolle team don't know the continuations! Gambling 3 Notrump - An opening bid of 3 Notrump based on a long, solid minor suit. The 3 Notrump opener anticipates partner holds a stopper in the suit lead by the leading opponent, then running the long minor suit. Among the variations, two treatments include.

Because this conventional bid replaces the standard use of opening 3NT (a hand with 25-27 high card points and a balanced distribution), partnerships must use other bids to show the standard 3NT hand. For partnerships which also employ the use of the strong two club convention, that bid can be used to describe a standard 3NT opening hand. For example, the following bidding sequence:

Gambling 3nt In Bridge

Gambling 3nt Bridge Convention

replaces the traditional 3NT opening bid if gambling 3NT and strong two club is in use. That is, North's hand is best described as 25 to 27 high card points and a balanced distribution.

Responses[edit]

Responses vary depending on the partnership agreement for stoppers in the side suits.

For the strong 3NT variant, the responder will normally pass unless holding a strong enough hand to envision a possible slam.

For the weak 3NT variant responder will:^[1]

• pass when holding a stopper in three suits or with two aces (3NT becomes the contract)
• bid 4♣, 5♣, 6♣, or 7♣. This bid should be passed by the opener if the minor is clubs or corrected to diamonds.
• bid 4♦ asking opener to
  • bid their shortness (singleton or void) if it is a major
  • bid 4NT with 7222 shape,
  • bid their long minor suit with a singleton in the other minor.
• bid 4NT with four likely tricks, asking opener to continue to slam with an eight card suit.

Variations[edit]

Partnership agreements vary as to whether the 3NT opening bid shows a side-suit ace or king. Originally, the convention required the opener to have stoppers in at least two of the side suits, now known as the Strong Gambling 3NT. The common current treatment is that the 3NT bidder shows weakness in the other suits^[2] and many play that it specifically denies any Aces or Kings in the side suits (in the first or second seat)^[3] – the Weak Gambling 3NT. Other variants include having at least one ace in a side suit or exactly two aces in the side suits.

Some partnerships play the following response variations:

• bid 4♦ asking opener to
  • bid their shortness (singleton or void) if it is a major
  • bid 4NT with a minor suit singleton
  • bid 5♣, with 7222 shape^[4]

Or alternatively

• bid 4♣ as the Gerber convention asking opener to respond using their version of this convention (usually showing Aces)^[4]

Defense[edit]

A double by either opponent shows a strong hand which can expect to defeat 3NT with moderate help from partner, and invites partner to take out with some shape if the opponents run to their long suit.

If 3NT, doubled or otherwise, becomes the final contract, it is recommended that the opening lead be an ace, in order to see the dummy. A typical reason not to lead aces against other contracts is that it may give away a trick when declarer holds the king; here that is not possible. The reason that the ace is led is that the offense may have nine top tricks, and the defense must take its five first, without losing the lead.

References[edit]

1. ^Bridge Guys
2. ^'Bridge World Standard'. Bridge World. Bridge World Magazine. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
3. ^'Gambling 3NT'. Bridge with Larry Cohen. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
4. ^ ^ab'Gambling 3NT'(PDF). Bridgewebs. Retrieved 7 August 2016.

Now, the earliest reference that I've found for the Gambling 3NT is 'Howard Schenken's 'Big Club' circa 1968. The late great Schenken defined his 3NT opening as a 'solid minor suit, 17-21 HCP, 8.5-9 playing tricks, [and] should include [an] ace, king or queen in every suit.'

This conservative approach has lost popularity, though, because it is less preemptive than the other two styles. The aggressive hand type is also more frequent than a running minor suit with ALL side suits stopped, which appears about as often as Halley's Comet.

That said, the disadvantage of an aggressive treatment is that it may wrong-side the contract when partner holds stoppers (read: tenaces) in the other three suits.

Why play the Gambling 3NT? The following tournament deal is an example in all its dice-rolling glory.¹ (Hands rotated for convenience.)

South dealt and opened 3NT, which was passed out. Sitting West was Philip Alder, expert player and former bridge columnist for The New York Times. A heart lead would have set the contract by two, but Alder led the A to take a proverbial look at dummy. This immediately set up declarer's spades for overtricks! Fun times.

Partner will normally pass an opening 3NT. However, he is allowed to bid if it's deemed necessary. There are several flavors of response schemes to choose from. Below is a summary of some common approaches.

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Opener's Rebids After a Strong 4

There are multiple ways to define opener's rebids in response to a strong 4 ask.

Approach #1

The same rules can apply over a strong 4 response, except that opener cannot use Gerber.

Bridge Gambling 3nt

Approach #2

Alternatively, opener's rebids may describe suit length.

Gambling 3nt Bridge Convention

replaces the traditional 3NT opening bid if gambling 3NT and strong two club is in use. That is, North's hand is best described as 25 to 27 high card points and a balanced distribution.

Responses[edit]

Responses vary depending on the partnership agreement for stoppers in the side suits.

For the strong 3NT variant, the responder will normally pass unless holding a strong enough hand to envision a possible slam.

For the weak 3NT variant responder will:^[1]

• pass when holding a stopper in three suits or with two aces (3NT becomes the contract)
• bid 4♣, 5♣, 6♣, or 7♣. This bid should be passed by the opener if the minor is clubs or corrected to diamonds.
• bid 4♦ asking opener to
  • bid their shortness (singleton or void) if it is a major
  • bid 4NT with 7222 shape,
  • bid their long minor suit with a singleton in the other minor.
• bid 4NT with four likely tricks, asking opener to continue to slam with an eight card suit.

Variations[edit]

Partnership agreements vary as to whether the 3NT opening bid shows a side-suit ace or king. Originally, the convention required the opener to have stoppers in at least two of the side suits, now known as the Strong Gambling 3NT. The common current treatment is that the 3NT bidder shows weakness in the other suits^[2] and many play that it specifically denies any Aces or Kings in the side suits (in the first or second seat)^[3] – the Weak Gambling 3NT. Other variants include having at least one ace in a side suit or exactly two aces in the side suits.

Some partnerships play the following response variations:

• bid 4♦ asking opener to
  • bid their shortness (singleton or void) if it is a major
  • bid 4NT with a minor suit singleton
  • bid 5♣, with 7222 shape^[4]

Or alternatively

• bid 4♣ as the Gerber convention asking opener to respond using their version of this convention (usually showing Aces)^[4]

Defense[edit]

A double by either opponent shows a strong hand which can expect to defeat 3NT with moderate help from partner, and invites partner to take out with some shape if the opponents run to their long suit.

If 3NT, doubled or otherwise, becomes the final contract, it is recommended that the opening lead be an ace, in order to see the dummy. A typical reason not to lead aces against other contracts is that it may give away a trick when declarer holds the king; here that is not possible. The reason that the ace is led is that the offense may have nine top tricks, and the defense must take its five first, without losing the lead.

References[edit]

1. ^Bridge Guys
2. ^'Bridge World Standard'. Bridge World. Bridge World Magazine. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
3. ^'Gambling 3NT'. Bridge with Larry Cohen. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
4. ^ ^ab'Gambling 3NT'(PDF). Bridgewebs. Retrieved 7 August 2016.

Now, the earliest reference that I've found for the Gambling 3NT is 'Howard Schenken's 'Big Club' circa 1968. The late great Schenken defined his 3NT opening as a 'solid minor suit, 17-21 HCP, 8.5-9 playing tricks, [and] should include [an] ace, king or queen in every suit.'

This conservative approach has lost popularity, though, because it is less preemptive than the other two styles. The aggressive hand type is also more frequent than a running minor suit with ALL side suits stopped, which appears about as often as Halley's Comet.

That said, the disadvantage of an aggressive treatment is that it may wrong-side the contract when partner holds stoppers (read: tenaces) in the other three suits.

Why play the Gambling 3NT? The following tournament deal is an example in all its dice-rolling glory.¹ (Hands rotated for convenience.)

South dealt and opened 3NT, which was passed out. Sitting West was Philip Alder, expert player and former bridge columnist for The New York Times. A heart lead would have set the contract by two, but Alder led the A to take a proverbial look at dummy. This immediately set up declarer's spades for overtricks! Fun times.

Partner will normally pass an opening 3NT. However, he is allowed to bid if it's deemed necessary. There are several flavors of response schemes to choose from. Below is a summary of some common approaches.

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Opener's Rebids After a Strong 4

There are multiple ways to define opener's rebids in response to a strong 4 ask.

Approach #1

The same rules can apply over a strong 4 response, except that opener cannot use Gerber.

Bridge Gambling 3nt

Approach #2

Alternatively, opener's rebids may describe suit length.

Bridge Gambling 3nt

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• If the opponents double 3NT for penalty (how unsporting!), responder may bid 4 as a runout bid, askingopener to pass or correct to 4.
• If the opponents overcall, a 4NT bid by responder is natural. It is neither quantitative nor Blackwood.

Defense to the Gambling 3NT

Expert Ron Klinger suggests the following approach to dealing with an opposing 3NT opening.²

¹ ACBL. Daily Bulletin, Volume 61, Number 9. 2019.

² Klinger, Ron. Bridge Conventions, Defences and Countermeasures. London, Weindenfeld & Nicolson, 2017.