Learn About Full-Step Bidding in Bid Whist

Video Transcript

"Full step bidding is an integral part of the Bid Whist process for competing in the auction. Full step bidding delineates the different types of bids. For example, you have uptown, which we talked about where you want high cards to win. You have downtown, in which we want low cards to win and you have no trump. If you're going to go half step bidding, and it is an option in Kitty Whist. Where you say, okay, you can keep it on the same level, for uptown, for downtown, for a no trump. It just doesn't work; it's really not a good system. Because the game basically starts out with a minimum bid of four. You're never going to hear, and I don't think anybody uses a variation where you can bid anything you want. I mean, nobody's going to be making a one bid in Kitty Whist, Bid Whist, I mean Kitty Whist. Because it's just too timid. So most people start with four. So you're going to force the person to go up the next step. In other words, if I opened four uptown, rights, you have two options. Well you have three options. You can pass, if its four uptown here and it's your turn to bid. You can either go, pass, or you have to go four no trump and if you have a downtown hand, you have to go to the next level which is five. Okay, you can't say four downtown supersedes four uptown. That's full step. Well there's not a heck of a lot of room between four and seven. You can't bid higher than seven, because seven is a contract and win all the tricks. The kitty, plus the twelve tricks. So full step bidding means going to the next level. Numbers first, four, five, six, seven. So, if you bid four downtown, your opponent, or remember your partner if he passes can either go four no trump. Remember, no trump rules, or has to go to the five level or to the six level or whatever level and there's no such thing as a bid of eight. Although sometimes an eight bid against a cold seven bid would be a good sacrifice, it doesn't work. So, Full Step, go to the next level except for no trump."