Kokish Game Try

Eric Kokish came up with what he called two-way game tries. 

1- 2-

• 2NT = asks partner where he would accept a help-suit game try.
• 3 = short-suit game try.
• 3 = short-suit game try.
• 3 = short-suit game try.

When opener relays with 2NT (asking for a help suit), responder will bid the cheapest suit in which he would accept a help-suit game try. So if responder has QT6 J84 KQ632 86, he'll bid 3 over 2NT. This not only tells partner about that diamond help, but since 3 was skipped over, opener knows that responder has a poor club holding.

So let's say the auction went 1 - 2 - 2N [asking] - 3C [showing goodies in clubs], but opener wasn't interested in the club suit. He can now bid 3D or 3H,  asking for help there. So, theoretically, an auction might go like this

1  - 2 - 2N [asking] - 3  [stuff in clubs]; 3  [do you have stuff in diamonds?] - 3H [Not really, but I have some goodies in hearts!]; - 4

It gets just a bit trickier for a lot of folks when hearts are trumps. If we were to use 2NT as the "help-suit ask" over 2, there would be no way to show spade help-- so we use 2 as the asking bid.

1 - 2 -
2 = asks partner where he would accept a help-suit game try.

• 2NT = short-suit game try in spades.
• 3= short-suit game try.
• 3 = short-suit game try.

One more little space-saving maneuver: When partner asks with 2S, to show spade help we bid 2NT. So if the auction goes 1 -2 -2 [asking] - 3 [stuff in clubs], denying help in spades (the "cheapest" suit).

Lastly, the adoption of help suit game tries means that opener's 3/ rebids ask for help in the trump suit  or NT try?

TWERB Against strong 1C

	When the opponents open a strong 1♣(say Precision, 16+) then it is desirable to compete with shapely hands. TWERB (Two-Way Exclusion Relay Bids) is a convention that shows all single-suited and two-suited hands and may sometimes exploit the fundamental weakness of strong 1♣ systems – that playing Precision etc. the first two bids are totally artificial (stating points and not suits/distribution).
	As a defender, if you can find a fit quickly and pre-empt to the limit then that makes life difficult for the Precision side as they have no idea what suit(s) partner has nor if there is a fit.
	The scheme for TWERB is that any suit bid shows either the next suit up or the two suits above that. The two non-touching suits are shown by bidding NoTrumps and double shows a strong hand: -
	Over RHO 's 1♣ opening: -
	dbl = strong, at least as strong as opener's hand  1♦ = ♥'s OR ♠'s and ♣'s 1♥ = ♠'s OR ♣'s and ♦'s  1♠ = ♣'s OR ♦'s and ♥'s  2♣ = ♦'s OR ♥'s and ♠'s  1NT = ♣'s and ♥'s  OR ♦'s and ♠'s  The convention also applies after the bidding has started 1♣ pass 1♦ : -  Then, after the negative 1♦ response we have, by the next player: -  dbl = strong, at least as strong as opener's hand  1♥ = ♠'s OR ♣'s and ♦'s  1♠ = ♣'s OR ♦'s and ♥'s  2♣ = ♦'s OR ♥'s and ♠'s  1♥ = ♠'s OR ♣'s and ♦'s  1NT = ♣'s and ♥'s  OR ♦'s and ♠'s
	The convention can also be used over a 2♣ opening and 2♦ response .