Help Suit Game Tries: How to Invite Game After a Raise

A help suit game try is a new-suit bid by opener after a single major raise, such as 1♠ - 2♠ - 3♦. It says: "I am interested in game, and I have losers in this suit. Bid game if you can help here." Responder judges the fit in that one suit, not just the point count.

Help suit tries are part of standard methods in Standard American, 2/1 Game Force and Acol. The idea is old and simple, and it still beats a blind invitation on a large share of hands.

After 1♠ - 2♠, responder has shown three or four spades and about 6-10 points. Opener sometimes holds a hand in between: too good to pass, not good enough to bid game alone. The question is not "how many points does partner have?" but "do partner's cards cover my losers?"

A help suit try asks exactly that. Opener names the suit with the most losers. Responder looks at that suit:

• Honors there (the ace, the king, sometimes the queen) remove opener's losers.
• Shortness there (a singleton or void, sometimes a doubleton) lets dummy ruff them.
• Three small cards help not at all.

The same 8-count can make game easy or make it hopeless, depending on where the points are. The try lets you tell the difference. To compare the try with other methods, see what 3♦ means in every system after 1♠ - 2♠.

Opener tries for game with about 16-18 total points opposite a single raise, or in losing trick count terms with six losers. A useful guide:

The losing trick count fits this decision well: a single raise usually shows about nine losers, and 24 minus the two loser counts gives a rough trick total. Six plus nine is fifteen: 24 - 15 = 9 tricks, one short of game, so opener asks.

Bid the suit where partner's help matters most:

• Three losers (xxx, Jxx): the best try suit. Partner's ace or king, or shortness, turns a loser into a winner.
• Two losers (Kxx, Qxx, Axx, xx): a fair try suit when you have no three-loser suit.
• One loser or fewer (AKx, AQx, a singleton): never the try suit. Partner's help there is wasted.

With two suits of equal losers, bid the cheaper one: it leaves room for responder to make a counter-try. The try suit needs three or more cards in most styles. A doubleton is a weak try suit, because responder's shortness there does not help.

Count the losers in the try suit from opener's point of view, then add your overall strength:

A few details matter. With four trumps your hand is worth more, so lean toward game. A singleton in the try suit is worth much less with only three trumps, because ruffing in dummy shortens your trumps. Queens and jacks outside the try suit are often wasted: count them low.

Sometimes responder cannot help in opener's suit but has a good holding in another suit. If there is room below three of the major, responder can make a counter-try: bid that suit to say "no help in yours, but my values are here."

After 1♠ - 2♠ - 3♣, responder's 3♦ or 3♥ is a counter-try. Opener then decides: with a fit for responder's suit (for example, a singleton or the ace there), bid 4♠; otherwise sign off in 3♠.

Counter-tries need space. After 1♠ - 2♠ - 3♥ there is no room between hearts and spades, so responder simply bids 3♠ or 4♠.

The same opening hand faces two different dummies with the same 6 HCP and the same 4-4 shape in the majors. Only the minor suits differ.

South holds 17 HCP and six losers: one in spades, one in hearts, three in diamonds, one in clubs. That is a classic game try, and diamonds are the suit with the most losers, so South bids 3♦.

North has only 6 HCP, the bottom of the raise, but a singleton diamond and four trumps. That is perfect help: South's three diamond losers become one loser plus two ruffs in dummy. North bids 4♠. The play is easy: declarer loses a diamond and the ♣A. A double dummy solver gives 4♠ eleven tricks.

North holds the same high cards, but the ♦974 are no help: three diamond losers stay three losers. North signs off in 3♠. Declarer loses three diamonds and the ♣A and makes exactly nine tricks, the double dummy result. In 4♠ South would go down.

A point-count invitation (1♠ - 2♠ - 3♠) cannot tell these two dummies apart. The help suit try can, and it costs nothing when the answer is no.

Help suit tries are the standard, but you will meet several other methods:

• The re-raise to three (1♠ - 2♠ - 3♠): in standard methods a general invitation, "bid game with a maximum". Many pairs who play Bergen-style methods use it as preemptive instead, to make it harder for the opponents to compete.
• 2NT game try: natural (balanced, 17-18) in some partnerships; an artificial ask in others.
• Short suit game tries: opener bids a short suit instead of a weak one. Responder accepts with no wasted honors in that suit.
• Two-way game tries: one bid (often 2NT) starts a short suit try, while new suits stay help suit tries. You get both tools for one bid.
• Kokish game try: after 1♥ - 2♥, 2♠ is an artificial relay to 2NT, after which opener names the try suit. This makes room for counter-tries in every case.

After 1♥ - 2♥, the cheapest try is 2♠. In plain methods it is a help suit try in spades; with Kokish it is the relay. Agree which you play. When the opponents compete, a double of their raise can serve as a game try instead: see the maximal double.

• Trying with a minimum. If you would pass a sign-off and also pass a game, you had no reason to ask.
• Trying in a strong suit. AKx in the try suit means partner's help is wasted, and partner's "yes" will mislead you.
• Responder counting points only. An 8-count with xxx in the try suit is worse than a 6-count with a singleton there.
• Responder treating Qxx as full help. The queen helps only if opener holds the king or the ace in that suit. Treat it as half help: accept only with a maximum.
• Passing the try. It is forcing. Responder must bid three of the major at least.
• Forgetting the singleton needs trumps. With three trumps and a singleton, one ruff may be all you get.

After 1♠ - 2♠, in standard methods:

Responder's answers after 1♠ - 2♠ - 3♦:

Game tries are judgment calls, so they reward practice with real deals. In BridgeDummy's bidding puzzles you face the decision as South, and every option is solved double dummy over many deals that fit the auction, so you learn which dummies make game. The Bidding Room gives you endless raises to practice against EPBot robots. For hand evaluation, see losing trick count and hand evaluation; for raises in general, raising partner.