This section explains what to bid and why. Bidding conveys information and serves as a means of competing for the auction.
Roles
For each hand, players take on the mutually exclusive role of Opener, Overcaller, Responder, or Advancer. Any given bid conveys different information based on the bidder’s role. For example, an Opener’s 1♠ bid promises a stronger hand than an Overcaller’s 1♠ bid. Bids become babble unless you know the role of every bidder. Get a tattoo on your forearm to remind you of this fact.
The first person to bid something other than “pass” becomes the Opener. The Opener’s partner becomes the Responder. The Opener’s first opponent to bid something other than “pass” becomes the Overcaller. The Overcaller’s partner becomes the Advancer.
Captaincy
Each team’s captain has responsibility for determining the team’s most advantageous suit (or no trump) and how high to bid; i.e., part-score, game, or slam. By default, the partner who knows the most about both of the partnership’s hands becomes the captain. For example, the Opener initially knows nothing about the Responder’s hand and thus, the Responder becomes the team’s captain after the Opener’s first bid. While captaincy can transfer between partners during the course of the auction, the partner with the weakest hand usually retains responsibility for captaincy. Most often, the Responder and Advancer serve as their respective team captains.
