Five-card majors for offensive purposes. However, if the trump cards break 4-1 or 1-4, then drawing trump will result in no trumps left for offensive purposes. The value of five-card majors can be understood then on two levels: But five-card majors have several drawbacks: Both partners must agree to follow the five-card major bidding treatment on their opening bid. Opener must have at least five cards in hearts or spades to start the bidding with that suit. Responder is expected to show support with three-card support, indicating an eight-card fit. With only four cards in a major suit, the opening bidder is
Auction bridge Auction bridge The card game auction bridge, the third step in the evolution of the general game of bridge, was developed from straight bridge (i.e. bridge whist) in 1904. The precursor to contract bridge, its predecessors were whist and bridge whist. Auction bridge trick scoring, bonus scoring, and penalty scoring are radically different from contract bridge, and there is no concept of vulnerability in auction bridge. Bidding rules are nearly the same, although in contract bridge bidding many complex artificial bids and bidding systems have evolved. It is not certain to whom auction bridge should be credited. A letter in