Bridge lessons · Lesson 12 of 26
Opening One of a Suit
Updated 16 October 2026
Open one of a suit with 12 or more high card points, and name your longest suit, or the higher-ranking of two equally long ones. In Standard American a major needs five cards, so a hand with no five-card suit opens the longer minor. The opening tells partner you hold 12 to about 21 points and at least five cards in a major, or three in a minor.
Is your hand strong enough to open?
Count your high card points as in lesson 5. A hand of 12 or more is worth an opening bid. There are 40 points in the deck, so an average hand holds 10, and 12 means you have a little more than your share. If partner holds about the same, your side has the 25 or so points a game needs, as you saw in lesson 6.
Some players also open a few 11-point hands that have long suits, using the Rule of 20. It adds your points to the number of cards in your two longest suits and opens when the total reaches 20.
Pass with fewer points. A pass at your first turn does not end your part in the auction. Partner may open, and you will still get the chance to show what you hold. One of a suit covers hands from 12 to about 21 points. Balanced hands of 15 to 17 have their own opening, 1NT, which is the next lesson, and hands above 21 open 2♣, which comes in lesson 19.
Which suit do you open?
This course uses Standard American, the system taught in most clubs. Its main feature is five-card majors. You open 1♥ or 1♠ only when you hold at least five cards in that suit. A major scores more per trick than a minor, and four of a major is a game at ten tricks, so partner wants to know early when a major fit of eight cards is close. Five cards in your hand and three in partner's make eight.
To choose the suit, run through these three rules in order and stop at the first one that applies.
- 1.Open your longest suit. A six-card minor comes before a five-card major.
- 2.Holding two long suits of the same length, open the higher-ranking one.
- 3.Holding no five-card suit at all, open the longer minor. Four cards in each minor opens 1♦, three in each opens 1♣.
| Your hand | Open | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ♠AQ1074 ♥K5 ♦Q83 ♣K62 | 1♠ | Five spades are the longest suit |
| ♠K3 ♥AJ953 ♦AQ1084 ♣7 | 1♥ | Two five-card suits, so the higher |
| ♠8 ♥KQ1063 ♦A ♣AQJ952 | 1♣ | Six clubs are longer than five hearts |
| ♠AK74 ♥Q1063 ♦K5 ♣J82 | 1♣ | No five-card suit, and clubs are the longer minor |
| ♠KJ62 ♥8 ♦AQ75 ♣K1043 | 1♦ | Four cards in each minor |
| ♠A92 ♥KJ84 ♦Q73 ♣K62 | 1♣ | Three cards in each minor |
A four-card major is never the opening suit in this system, however good it looks. You will often get to show it on your second turn, after partner has replied.
What partner learns, in a deal
An opening of one of a suit tells partner two things. The first is strength, 12 to about 21 points. That is a wide range, and your second bid will narrow it in lesson 17. The second is length, and here the four suits differ.
A 1♦ opening holds four or more cards almost every time. It has only three on one shape, four cards in each major with three diamonds and two clubs, where the third rule sends you to the longer minor. A 1♣ opening has three cards more often, since every hand with three in each minor and no five-card suit opens there.
Follow South through a deal from the first call. The play is short, because the work of this lesson is done in the auction.
South deals and counts 14 points, from the ♠A and ♠Q, the ♥K, the ♦Q and the ♣K. That is enough to open. Spades are the longest suit with five cards, so South opens 1♠.
The habit to keep
Before your first call, count your points and look at your longest suit. Open with 12 points or more and pass with fewer. Then run the three rules in order: the longest suit, the higher of two equal long suits, and the longer minor when you have no five-card suit at all. Partner builds every later bid on what your opening promised, so keep those promises every time, above all the five cards in a major.
For the borderline 11-point hands, see the Rule of 20. For every opening on one page, see the bridge bidding cheat sheet.
Practice: opening one of a suit
Eight quick questions on what you just read.