Introduction to Gazzilli

NORTH

S x

H K Q J x x

D A 8 x x

C A Q x

SOUTH

S A K J x

H A x x

D Q 10 9

C x x x

Without the aid of Gazzilli, I imagine the auction would start 1♥︎ - 1♠︎ - 2♦︎/3♦︎.

The choice is between a non-forcing a 2♦︎ (which could be passed with game cold) or a Game forcing 3♦︎ (which could easily lead to a no-play game). The problem with reversing to 3♦︎ is that it covers such a a wide range of hands with limited scope for Slam investigation or reaching the correct game.

In the above example we propose an alternative start to the auction using Gazzilli 2♣︎. This is not a contrived example. Most roads seem to lead to 4♥︎ while 3NT is fairly secure played by North. 6♥︎ is a bit of a stretch but has play. In Gazzilli it starts

1♥︎ - 1♠︎ - 2♣︎* - 2♦︎**

The 2♣︎ and 2♦︎ bids are the cornerstone of Gazzilli. There is no need for opener to reverse into 3♦︎ which could take us too high. 2♣︎ is either natural with. clubs (12+) OR any 16+ (some 16's may downgrade) but North, the opener, has a prime 5 loser hand. We class the hand as strong and worth a Gazzilli sequence.

After this start one imagines some sort of mild slam try and signing off in the normal 4♥︎ contract. Most roads seem to lead to 4♥︎. 6♥︎ is a bit of a stretch but has play. This is a hand where we don't need Gazzilli since it is trivial to get to game and hard to envisage a slam.

The 2♦︎** bid shows 8+ HCP and commits us to Game UNLESS opener immediately signs off in 2♥︎. Opener's 2♥︎ bid would promise 5 ♥︎'s and 4 ♣︎'s and 11-15 HCP. So we have a fairly common auction

1♥︎ - 1♠︎ - 2♣︎* - 2♦︎** - 2♥︎ .... Natural an NF and promising 4 Clubs. natural continuations.

Gazzilli variations.

Gazzilli is more of an idea that a convention. The idea is to keep the bidding low to assist bidding tricky hands with 16-19. This also helps hands with distributional strength in the 14-16 range, on which we may jump to the 3-level. I won't describe this further here

1♥︎ - 1♠︎ - 3♣︎* = 5/5 natural and non forcing with 14-16 and two decent suits.

Please refer to here for the complete system. I want now to describe the complexities of Gazzilli and the subsequent methods you may choose after the previous auction.

1. The simple method is just to bid out our hand naturally. Any bid other then a repeat of the Major is Game forcing. We may bid a 3-card suit and then investigate slam or alight in the best game. in our example we would probably bid 3♣︎. Our sequence might ve

1♥︎ - 1♠︎ - 2♣︎ - 2♦︎ - 3♣︎ - 3♥︎ - 3N* - 4♥︎

The more complex methods use secondary relays.

2. In the second method we use 2NT as a relay, which denies 3 Spades.

1♥︎ - 1♠︎ - 2♣︎ - 2♦︎ - 2N - 3♥︎ - 3N* - 4♥︎.

This allows responder to show a 4 card minor of support Hearts or to rebid a 6 Card spade suit. The 2S bid promises 3-card support, and also acts as a relay.

1♥︎ - 1♠︎ - 2♣︎ - 2♦︎ - 2N - 3♥︎ - 3N* - 4♥︎.

3. The third method is more complex. It uses a variant of Kaplan inversion.

1♥︎ - 1♠︎ - 2♣︎ - 2♦︎ - 2♠︎ - 2N - 3♥︎ - 3N* - 4♥︎.

2♠︎ denies 3 ♠︎'s (2N shows 3) and asks responder to further define their hand. 2N is a relay for shape and responder can pinpoint 5431 distribution.