Responses to a 1♣ or 1♦ Opening

A 1♦ opener suggests a four-card or longer suit, since 1♣ is preferred on hands where a three-card minor suit must be opened. The exception is a hand with 4-4-3-2 shape: four spades, four hearts, three diamonds, and two clubs, which should be opened 1♦.

There are other variations of Standard American where the minor suit openings are slightly different. Two common variations are 'Preferred Minor' in which opener might more freely open 1♦ with 3-3 in the minors with better diamonds than clubs and 'Short Club' where a one diamond opening always promises four-cards and therefore 1♣ can be as short as two in a 4=4=3=2 hand.

Responses and later bidding generally follow the ideas set down in the previous section. Bidding at the one level is up-the-line in principle. Responder needs more trumps to raise (4 to raise 1♦; 5 to raise 1 ♣, though one less trump will do in a pinch in a competitive sequence). Responses of 2NT and 3NT are standard:

1♣	2NT	13-15, game forcing
	3NT	16-17

There is no forcing minor-suit raise.

This is a weakness of the SAYC system. A simple idea for a forcing raise is a method called 'Criss-Cross' or sometimes more descriptively 'Other Minor'. In this method responder jumps in the other minor as a forcing raise.

1♣

2♦

Forcing club raise

1♦

3♣

Forcing diamond raise

This method gives up on strong jump shifts into the other minor. These are relatively infrequent and can be bid other ways.