Precision system players have devised a number of specialized asking bids, and we use three of them: These bids are sometimes referred to as the Alpha, Beta and Gamma bids.
- TAB - The Trump Asking Bid
- CAB - The Control Asking Bid
- SAB - The Support Asking Bid
followed by a positive response. These
bids are not used if responder shows 0-7 points by bidding 1
Below is a description of TAB... If responder shows 8+ points and a 5+card suit in response to our strong club, then a simple raise is the Trump Asking Bid. The question is this: How lomg is your suit, and how many of the top three honors do you have? There are six steps for the responses:
| Step 1 | 5+ card suit with 0 honors |
| Step 2 | 5 card suit with 1 honor |
| Step 3 | 5 card suit with 2 honors |
| Step 4 | 6+ card suit with 1 honor |
| Step 5 | 6+ card suit with 2 honors |
| Step 6 | 5+ card suit with 3 honors |
| South | West | North | East | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
P | 1 |
P | |
| 2 |
P | 3 |
P | |
The 2
call by the opening bidder is the TAB bid, which agrees that spades will be the trump suit.
North's 3
is the third step, which tells her partner that she has exactly a 5-card suit and two of
the top three honors.
If the opener jumps to 3NT after the TAB response, that's Baby Blackwood, with MSK responses.
If the opener bids a new suit, that's a first-round control bid, and asks responder to cue bid either an ace or a void in a new suit. With this particular hand, responder would simply repeat spades because she does not have a outside ace nor void. (That is, unless opener's cue bid was diamonds. Responder could then cue bid the
K as second round control.)