8 English Bridge December 2016 www.ebu.co.uk

F

irstly, what is 'Kokish'? It is a convention

named after the great Canadian player and

legendary coach Eric Kokish. It is used to

distinguish between 23-24 balanced and 25+

balanced hands after opening 2® without having to

bid 2®-2t, 3NT which is very space consuming.

Here is how it works: 2®-2t,

2™= natural (5+hearts unbalanced) OR 23-24

balanced, after which responder normally

bids 2´ as a waiting bid asking opener to

clarify their hand type.

2NT= 25+ balanced, game-forcing

After 2®-2t, 2™-2´:

2NT= 23-24 balanced

3®= natural 5+™/4+®

3t= natural 5+™/4+t

3™= natural 6+™ no second suit

3´= natural 4+´/5+™

3NT= Various possibilities. A suggestion is 27-28

balanced which makes the original 2NT bid

25-26 or 29+.

Let's look at a common situation:

2®-2t, 2™2´=

relay, used on 99% of hands

2NT= asks opener to bid 3®, shows at most a

queen topping a 6-card suit (like

Lebensohl). Opener may bid 3t if wanting

to play game facing the club hand but not

the diamond hand. For example:

Give Kokish a work-out, Part 1 by David Gold

Bridge TipsBridge Tips

click

link

´ A K 3 2 ´ Q 10 9 8

™ A 4 ™ 3 2

t K Q J 4 t 9 8 3 2

® A K Q ® 10 7 6

W E

Standard systems might bid these hands

2®-2t, 3NT-Pass

On a heart lead the contract has virtually no play,

yet 4´ is cold.

Using Kokish the bidding would go:

2®-2t, 2NT-3®, 3´-4´

(by all means use your favourite version of

puppet Stayman here instead)

Another advantage to Kokish is describing a very

weak hand and a long suit facing 23-24 balanced:

´ A 9 8 2

™ A K 3

t A J

® A K 7 2

Bid 3t since six low clubs will make 3NT

virtually cold. With diamonds responder will pass

and with a 6-card major responder will bid it and

you will raise to game.

If the opener holds the heart hand after 2®-2t, 2™2NT he

still bids 3® if happy to play there

opposite the weak hand with clubs. If not,

then:

3™= shows six hearts and responder may pass,

but will raise with three hearts. One can play

3™ as forcing, but remember responder has

denied having more than a queen.

3´= artificial (5+hearts and unbalanced),

Responder bids 4™ with 3-6 of them or

names their suit, bidding 3NT to show

spades.

3NT= balanced, wants to play game facing any

hand. For example:

´Ax ™AQx tAKxx ®AKxx

4®/t= natural at least 5m/5™

4™= to play

To continue, after 2®-2t, 2™3®/t/™/´=

a 6-card suit headed by the A or K, and

nothing else. Opener selects the contract

and may pass occasionally. A couple of

examples: