Splinter Bids

An "Unneccessary" Jump

A splinter bid (usually shortened to "splinter") is an unneccessary jump bid in a new suit which shows good trump support and a singleton or void in the bid suit. Its name, "splinter", comes from the fact that it is showing the smallest fragment of the hand.

For example, after an opening bid of 1♥, if responder has 4-card support for hearts, values for game and a singleton or void in some suit (say clubs, for example), he makes a double jump bid in his short suit, i.e. he bids 4♣.

A double jump is unneccessary as a natural bid since 2♣ would be a normal-strength bid and 3♣ would be a game-forcing strong bid. Traditional bidding would say that 4♣ is a pre-emptive bid, but modern thinking is that it is foolish to bid this high with no guarantee of its being a good contract, so these pre-emptive responses are no longer used.

When Is a Jump Bid "Unneccessary"

We define a jump as unneccesary if it is one level higher than a natural bid that would have been game-forcing. A double jump in a new suit is always unneccesary as a natural bid but sometimes even a single jump bid is not needed naturally and thus becomes a splinter.

For example, after a reverse by opener, such as 1♥, 2♣, 2♠, the auction is already game forcing. Therefore a jump by responder to 4♦ is a splinter, showing 4-card support for spades and a singleton or void in diamonds.

Using Splinters

A splinter is a slam try, since it commits the side to a game.

Responder can make a splinter bid in support of opener's suit as his first response, or in support of opener's second suit as his second response. We have already seen examples of both of these.

Opener can make a splinter bid in support of responder's suit, e.g. 1♥, 1♠, 4♦.

A splinter sets the trump suit and invites the partner to assess the fit of the two hands. The best holding opposite the splinter suit is three or four small cards, since these can be ruffed in the splinter hand. An ace and small cards is not bad either, though not as good as small cards only unless you are aiming for a grand slam, of course. Poor holdings are kings and minor honours opposite the splinter suit. These represent wasted values and are a strong indication that a game contract is the limit. It is even possible, with a holding of K Q 10 x or similar, that 3NT will be the best possible contract, particularly if the trump suit is a minor. A bid of 3NT or game in the trump suit is a sign-off, showing wasted values and no compensating extra strength.

If there are no wasted values, you are effectively playing with a 30 hcp pack. To make a slam, you need to win 12 tricks in the other three suits and 27 to 29 hcp will usually be sufficient for you to do this. When you have no wasted values you tell partner the good news by making a cue bid, or maybe by bidding slam straight away.

Agreeing the Splinter Bid method

Agree the following with your partner:

• "Any jump bid in a new suit that is higher than necessary to be forcing to game agrees partner's last suit as trumps and shows a splinter in the bid suit."
• "We will not play Gerber over suit bids."

This last point is crucial: you cannot play Gerber and splinters. Very few good partnerships use Gerber, because it gets in the way of exploratory bidding and it really isn't very useful anyway. Even over no trump opening bids Gerber is hardly worth its place in your system. My advice is not to use Gerber at all. It is not part of Standard English Modern Acol.

Author: Chris Burton
Gravesend Bridge Club