Canary Club

We use only two three of the asking bids; Alpha, Gamma and a control ask.

Alpha:	Where the 1 bidder makes the asking bid introduces a new suit; his partner's response is tied to his holding in this suit and also on his controls.
Gamma:	Where the 1 bidder supports his partner's suit and asks for details of partner's holding in the suit. We only treat 2, 2, 3, and 3 as Gamma bids.
Control ask:	When responder can show his suit at the 1-level, a 1N rebid by opener asks for controls.

Suppose the bidding begins 1 - 1 - 1; 1 is Alpha and asks for responses as follows:

1st step (1N)	no positive support for s (less than Hxx or xxxx) and not more than 3 controls
2nd step (2)	no positive support for s, but upwards of 4 controls
3rd step (2)	positive support (Hxx, xxxx, or better), but not more than 3 controls
4th step (2)	positive support, upwards of 4 controls
5th step (2)	4-card positive support (Hxxx or better) upwards of 4 controls

The 6th and higher steps are defined in one of two ways:

1. If responder has shown a balanced hand of 7 to 12 or 15 up, then the 6th step shows no fit with 15+ HCP and the 7th shows a fit with 15+ HCP. Neither response promises or denies a specific number of controls.
2. If responder has shown a suit, then the 6th and higher steps are natural, deny as many as 4 controls and show a singleton or void in opener's suit. The 5⁺-5⁺ responding hand will have 6⁺ losers if a jump is made. With 5 losers or fewer, bid the first step (no fit, 3 controls or fewer). Agreed — John Kinn 2017/05/18 15:46

In general after receiving a response showing positive support, opener will either bid a new suit (presumably a natural slam try), or bids responder's suit to show a fit. In the case of bidding responder's suit, the bid acts as a Gamma bid (see Gamma asking bid ) if and only if the bid is 2, 2, 3 or 3.

However after receiving a response showing positive support for a minor when responder has shown a 7-12 HCP balanced hand, we change our approach. In order to “switch suits” into a possible major suit fit, bids of 3 major are an attempt to find a 4-4 fit in that major. In order to initiate N or slam tries with the minor suit agreed, it is necessary for opener to bid 3 minor. If he bids 3 of the agreed minor, he doesn't show or deny anything in particular about his suit, but there are negative inferences to be drawn about his holding in the other minor.

Examples:

AKxx	xx
AQ	Kxxx
Qx	AJxx
QJ10xx	Axx
——————————————————————————–
1	1
2	2N (fit with 4+ controls)
3 ( suit)	3N (no fit)
?
——————————————————————————–
AKx	xx
AQx	Kxxx
Qx	AJxx
QJ10xx	Axx
—————————————————————————–
1	1
2	2N (fit with 4+ controls)
3 (probably no control of )	3
3N	4
4	?

This asking bid occurs when opener supports his partner's suit. This initiates inquiry about the suit, to which responder answers as follows:

We no longer play control ask, 1NT is natural in the sequences below, and so are responses to it.

OBSOLETE - BEGIN

In forcing auctions that begin with opener bidding 1N as his first natural bid after a positive natural bid by responder, the 1N bid asks for controls:

Responder's Bid	Controls shown
2	0 - 2
2	3
2	4
2	5
2N	6 or more

Higher responses by responder are natural and show 5-5 or better. It is not clear how many controls he has.

The auctions where 1N is a control ask are:

Opener	Enemy	Responder
1	(1)	1/
1N
——————————————————————————-
1	(1)	1
1N
——————————————————————————–
1	(pass)	1
1N
——————————————————————————–
1	(Double)	1//
1N

OBSOLETE - END