Gerber Convention: Slam Bidding in Contract Bridge

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With the Blackwood 4 Notrump convention in our arsenal to handle slam bidding in a suit contract, we are ready to explore the intracasies of the Gerber 4 Club convention.

When our partner has either opened our rebid a Notrump bid without a partnership suit fit, we need an alternative tool to check for Aces before bidding a Notrump slam.  And that’s where our friend the 4 Club Gerber comes into action.  Okay, let’s try the poll and watch our video commentary.

Slam Conventions: Blackwood and Gerber

With good shape (a long suit partnership fit), we often use the Blackwood Convention – 4 Notrump to search for slam in a suit contract.

With a more balanced hand, we typically use the Gerber Convention – 4 Clubs is used to search for slam in a Notrump contract (or possibly a suit contract when partner attempts to signoff in Notrump).

Gerber prerequisites:

Small slam, 12 tricks with 3-4 Aces/controls, 33+ distribution points

Grandslam, 13 tricks with 3-4 Kings/controls, 37+ distribution points

Typically a balanced hand (preferably not 4-3-3-3)
Perhaps a promotable long minor suit

Invoked after Notrump, continuing with a 4 Clubs conventional ask-asking bid 

Purpose of Gerber 4 Club bid:

Explore small slam – Bid 4 Clubs to ask, ensure sufficient Aces

Explore grandslam – Bid 5 Clubs to ask, promise all 4 Aces, ensure sufficient Kings [Read more…]