Bridge On One Page

Reply to 1 No Trump - 0 to 5 Points

After your partner has done an opening bid of 1 No Trump, your bid then depends on your reply points. If the value of your hand is 5 points or less, you say 'no bid' or 'pass' if your longest suit is 4 cards, otherwise you bid your longest suit (called doing a 'weak take out').

Example 1

Here you have 2 queens, and a doubleton, giving you 5 points. As your longest suits, spades and clubs, are both only 4 cards, you should say 'no bid'.

Example 2

Here you have a queen, and a doubleton, giving you 3 points. As there are 5 cards in your longest suit, diamonds, you should bid 2 Diamonds. This is a good example of a 'weak take out', which means that you take your partner out of no trumps because, with an uneven distribution, you are more likely to do better in a suit.