Definition of Senior Hand or Captain

When one member of a partnership is in charge of the auction, he is called the "Senior Hand" or "Captain".

The term "Senior Hand" is preferable, since the partner can obviously be called "Junior Hand". But the partner of the "Captain" can only be "the crew", and that seems inappropriate and awkward. Nevertheless, "Captain" is a well-established term and is widely used.

A player can become his side's Senior Hand in one of two ways:

1. He can take charge, such as by bidding Blackwood. But it is rare to be able to take charge sensibly unless one's partner has limited his hand in some way.
2. His partner can put him in charge by making a highly descriptive bid, such as a pre-emptive bid or a limit bid.

In either case, once a player has become his side's Senior Hand, he is responsible for determining the final contract. He may ask Junior Hand for further information, but eventually he must either sign off by making what is clearly a final bid or he may, perhaps, make an invitational bid which invites his partner to continue only if better than the minimum shown so far.

The assignment of one player as the Senior Hand only occurs after a limit bid of some sort has been made. In a standard bidding system this may take several rounds of bidding to achieve. Sooner or later, however, one player will become the Senior Hand and the other player will recognise that that has happened. Once it has happened, the Senior Hand must be left to make all of the decisions.

In a strong one club system, limit bids occur earlier in the auction, often on the first round of bidding. This gives the unlimited hand Senior Hand status early in the auction and helps considerably in discovering good slams and avoiding poor slams.

Author: Chris Burton
Gravesend Bridge Club