Opponents calls are noticed but further neglected with respect to interpretation of the bids made by and your partner after the intervention, in the same way as it is done else where too.
A hand with two 5+cards in each of the major suits is never opened in ª, but commonly with the conventional 2NT. It is imaginable to open the hand sometimes in ©, to enable a weak partner to show his possible 4-suiter in ª. Strong hands hands holding the two 5-suiters can be shown through a "cheap" reverse bid after the hand has been opened in hearts. Conventional strong 3-level suit openings may also be considered when such a hand is very strong.
It is recommended to read first the now following general reflection about responding a major suit openings before studying the diagram.
If you arrived here because you wanted to read about the "sohl principle" then we give you the opportunity to link to various other paragraphs where remarks are made about "sohl":
| 1§-Sohl | 1¨-Sohl | 1ª-Sohl | 1NT-Sohl | 2©/ª-Sohl | 2NT-Sohl | 3NT-Sohl | |
| the SOHL overview | |||||||
The partner of the opener must respond the question: Will, knowing partner's hand, © be a good trump suit? You can imagine three possible responses:
Untill now the text has been nearly the same as at the 1ª opening bid.
The application of the sohl-principle on an opening in hearts is exactly similar to the application on spades. Therefore the description of it is not repeated here. There has been repeated far to much already.
If you do not understand the convention yet, please read the relevant paragraph in the previous 1ª chapter again thouroughly.
You may use one of the buttons above to go to the Sohl description. You'll always find button which enables you to return here.
The final part of this chapter will be devoted to the differences between the two major suit opening bids, and the agreements that have been made as a inevitable consequence of this.
The rules of bridge have appointed that the spades suit ranks higher then the hearts suit. Due to this fact the bids are not completely inter-exchangeable.
To a 1© opening bid 1ª can be responded.
This bid shows >=6 hcp's a 4+card spades. It should be responded as if the 1NT Sohl response had been given. As a matter of fact the bid is "a spades showing sohl-response".
You must respond obligatory 1ª. So if you would give a Sohl-response of 1NT, this is "a spades denying sohl-response". Here there are several Sohl-calls, just like there are several Jacoby-calls after 1NT.
It is a pity that you cannot show a weak heart suit after a 1ª opening bid.
This disadvantage is compensated by fact that after the 1ª opening the opener must rebid hearts on a sohl-response if he holds 4 hearts. After the most frequenly occurring different responses it it still possible to show the hearts by a 2-level call. Thus the fit 4,4 fit in the other major suit will never get lost after a miss fitting major suit opening.
For the 3,5 fit in the other major suit counts the same if the responder is strong (>=10 hcp's). After a 1© opening the spades can be recalled, if there is no fit. After a 1ª opening you can, only if you have no spade support, respond 2© with nice 4-card or a five suiter.
It is safer to examine for a 4-card © through the 1NT-sohl-response with a doubleton spades.
If you plan to call a limit bid of 3ª and you hold 4 hearts you can also show this valuable information. Because 2© is forcing, this always enables you to do the planned 3ª on your next turn.
May be the above agreements look complicated, but it is all very logical and natural. If you think a little bit, you can reconstruct everything easily, even "life" at the bridge table.
Another small difference between hearts ans spades can be observed at the splinter calls. After 1ª they are all 3-level calls. After 1© a singleton or void in spades is shown by calling 2ª and only the minor suit splinters are 3-level calls.
All real differences between the two major suit openings are described above. In the 1© diagram you may observe that there are no further basic differences.
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| return to : LINKS GENERAL OVERVIEWS |
If you want to see examples of bridgames in which the matter, treated in this section, is practiced you should click on examples and choose for the appropriate convention or for any typical opening bid.
The introduction of the sohl responses makes the system very vulnerable to bidding disturbances by the opponents. The defense system contains agreements how to handle these disturbances. As to the subject of this page, you should have a look at overview DEFENSE after 1©/ª openings where most of the possible interventions are discussed shortly.