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: