1. The In-Out Principle

Which is better, a king or a queen? It seems obvious that kings are better than queens, but if your partner holds  AKJxx x AKJxx Ax, would you rather hold  xxx Kxxx xxx Kxx or  Qxx xxxx Qxx xxx? The queens let you make an easy slam; with the kings, even game isn't cold.

When partner opens 1, which hand is better?

1.  Qxx Axx xxx xxxx
   or
2.  Axx Qxx xxx xxxx?

The ace of trumps is the best card in the game, so most would guess (b), but the answer is (a). If you hold Hand (a), you are pretty sure the Q will be useful to partner. It's real likely that the A is also useful. So you have two good cards. If you have Hand (b), you have one great card, but you have no idea if the Q is good or garbage. Having two good cards is better than one great card.

The general rule is that aces are usually useful no matter what partner holds. Kings are probably useful. Queens and jacks could be great, but could easily be worthless.

2. Evaluating after partner has opened 1M

Side shortness also changes. If you have three cards in partner's suit, the 1-2-3 count still applies. A void is usually worth about a full trick if we have three trumps, so that makes sense. If you have two cards in partner's suit, subtract one from each shortness value; so count 0-1-2 instead. If you have fewer than two cards in partner's suit, your side shortness is worth nothing until you find a fit. For example, let's say partner opens 1 and you hold  x KJxxxx KQJxx x. This could be a great hand if partner fits one of your red suits. But if partner's hand looks like yours only with black suits, you probably won't make anything. For now, take the low road and if a misfit looms, be prepared to bail out.

If you have four or more cards in partner's suit, not only has finding a fit been accomplished, your side shortness goes up in value. Instead of 1-2-3, count 1-3-5 points for side shortness. A void and four trumps is hugely valuable, usually worth a couple of tricks, even if they lead trump. For example, if partner opens 1 and you hold  Axxx — Axxxx xxxx, force to game.

To summarize:

Lower honors are also affected substantially. The queen in partner's major is usually worth most of a trick. Add one point for holding it. Queens and jacks outside of partner's suit may or may not be worth anything. Consider their value dubious. We can't discount them entirely, but we need to find out if they are useful. Aces and kings are still likely to be good.

3. Basic Game Tries after 1M-2M

Is three small a good help suit? No. Partner will think Qxx is useful. It's not very. Even QJx is not necessarily a trick, since the opponents could maneuver a ruff, or it might be too slow.

When should you accept a help suit try? Assume partner has Axx or Kxx. A singleton is pretty good even opposite Kxx; partner was worried about two or three losers in the suit, and that's not going to happen. Yes, his king is not pulling its full weight, but it's hard to distinguish between those two holdings. Qx is good—your dubious value is now known to be working.

Remember that partner is still just inviting game. Even if you have all your cards in trumps and his help suit, if you have a really bad hand, don't accept. For example, after 1-2; 3, if you hold  KJx xxx Qxx xxxx, you know all your cards are working, but you still have junk. Partner won't be as good as  AQxxx xx AKxxx x, and even then, game isn't cold (though we want to be there, and will get there, since partner will already have bid it). If you have a great hand that isn't devalued, say two aces and four trumps, you accept, of course. It's the in-between hands which have to judge. If your dubious cards are in partner's help suit, accept. If they are in a lower suit, one which he could have asked for help in, reject. If they are in a higher suit, you can make a counter-try by bidding where your questionable values lie. For example, after 1-2; 3, you hold  AJx QJxx xx xxxx. You bid 3 and partner can decide.

In summary: After 1-2; 3:

Hand Action Bid  AJx xx xxxx QJxx reject 3  AJx QJxx xx xxxx try 3  AJx xxxx QJxx xx accept 4

2NT is also a game try. It's forcing and natural and shows 16+ high card points and usually 5332 shape. Note that it is unlimited; you could have 19 points and be interested in 3NT. In response, if you have junk, sign off in three of our major. Otherwise, bid where your stoppers are. Maybe that will allow partner to bid 3NT. If you open all these hands 1NT or 2NT, then you won't have much opportunity to use this. I'll suggest sort of repurposing it anyway.

Norman Kay's Rule: at matchpoints (or board-a-match), with 5332 and 16 HCP, generally pass when partner raises your major to two. It is more likely that you'll go minus than find a making game.

4. Kokish Game Tries

1-2; 2NT = where's your stuff?
1-2; 2NT-?
          3: I have honors in clubs
          3: I have stuff in diamonds, but not clubs
          3: All my questionable values are in hearts
          3: I have crap.
          More: I have enough to accept your game try, wherever it is.
          3NT: I have spread out values and a balanced hand. How about 3NT?
          4x: I have an ace or king here and a great hand
          4: I have a max, but no real slam interest.

After 1-2, the structure is similar, but 2 takes the place of 2NT, and 2NT takes the place of spades, so 1-2; 2 asks "where's your stuff," and a 2NT reply is spade stuff.

If responder bids a suit below your intended help suit try, if that works anyway, then you can bid game. But if you really need help, you just bid your real help suit. So 1-2; 2NT-3; 3 is a help suit game try in diamonds. Oh, well, we let the cat out of the bag, but at least partner will be able to evaluate his hand well.

You'll note that this has used up 2NT (the bid to suggest getting to 3NT). But we can try 2NT anyway with those hands. If partner shows stuff where we don't have great stoppers, we can try 3NT. He'll bid 4 of our major with four trumps (or maybe not with 4333) or shortness somewhere, and he'll pass 3NT with a balanced hand.

On the other hand, it frees up three help suit tries. In the original version of this convention, these show shortness. Partner is supposed to accept this try only with no wastage in the short suit. They tend to be lighter tries than 2NT, something like  AKxxxx Kxx x Kxx. If partner has a non-garbage raise with nothing in diamonds, game should be pretty good. Even the A isn't a great card—give partner  QJxx xx Axxx xxx, and game is on two finesses. Move the A anywhere else, however, and game is good enough to bid.

Some theorists have noticed that these short-suit tries don't come up very often and much of the time when they do, we can just use the asking bid anyway. If partner shows stuff in our shortness, we stop; otherwise we go or re-ask in a higher suit. One improvement is to use the other major not as shortness, but as a check for a 4-4 fit in that suit. Usually, a 4-4 fit plays about a trick better than a 5-3, so if we are going to bid game anyway, finding the 4-4 is worth doing, and if we find a 4-4 fit, our game try succeeds automatically. So using this approach, 1-2; 3 shows four hearts. Responder bids 3 with junk (it's still a game try, though it may be better), bids 4 with four hearts (finding the 4-4 fit is usually good enough to accept the try), and bids 4 if he's accepting a game try (note that queens and jacks in the minors are probably worth very little) and does not have four hearts. In hearts, 1-2; 2NT replaces spades and shows four spades. We still have short suit game tries in the minors.

Marshall Miles thinks so little of short suit tries that he plays that all the bids which may have been short suit tries are four-card suits and slam tries. Usually, finding a 4-4 fit will make a slam try into a slam accept, because the 4-4 fit is worth an extra trick, so this makes some sense.