Ogust Responses
Two questions about a six-card suit, answered by a single step.
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Two Questions at Once#
A weak two shows about five to ten points and a six-card suit. That range is far too wide for partner to place the contract blind: the same response is right opposite a maximum with a solid suit and badly wrong opposite a minimum with a ragged one.
2NT asks, and playing Ogust the answer codes both halves of the question into a single step: how good is your hand, and how good is your suit?
It is the default answer in both systems in this app, and it only exists at all when your two-level openings are weak — with strong two-bids there is no wide range to enquire about, and the setting does not appear.
The Five Replies#
| Reply | Hand | Suit |
|---|---|---|
| 3♣ | Minimum | Poor |
| 3♦ | Minimum | Good |
| 3♥ | Maximum | Poor |
| 3♠ | Maximum | Good |
| 3NT | A solid suit | |
Both terms have definitions in this app rather than being left to taste. A maximum is eight points or more, and a good suit is one holding at least two of the top three honours — two of ace, king, queen. Below either bar, the answer steps down.
Reading the ladder is easier than memorising it: the two lower steps are minimums, the two higher steps are maximums, and within each pair the higher one has the better suit.
When the Ask Is Worth Making#
Most hands opposite a weak two should not ask anything, and Rase's robots enquire from a deliberately narrow window. A hand that already knows to bid game bids it; a hand that knows to pass passes. The ask is for the values in between, where five-to-ten is too wide to guess.
Two shapes qualify:
- A fit that is worth a game if partner is maximum — at least two cards in their suit and around 14 to 16 support points. Whether to bid the game genuinely turns on their answer, which is the definition of a question worth asking.
- A strong misfit — a singleton or void in their suit, 15 or more points, and a suit you cannot guard. Here 3NT depends entirely on whether partner holds a side control, and there is no way to find out by guessing.
Everything else is better served by bidding what you think you can make. Asking costs a round of bidding and tells the defence a great deal about a hand that was trying to be obstructive in the first place.
What to Do With the Answer#
The two maximum steps — 3♥ and 3♠ — are the ones that change anything:
- With a fit in their major and a maximum opposite, bid the game in their suit.
- With every other suit guarded and a maximum opposite, 3NT, playing for partner's long suit to run.
- Otherwise, sign off in partner's real suit at the cheapest level.
A minimum answer is nearly always the end of the auction. You asked whether there was more, and there is not.
The Answer You Must Not Pass#
The steps are artificial. 3♦ says nothing whatever about diamonds, and passing it leaves you playing a contract in a suit partner may hold two small cards in, having asked a question whose answer you then ignored.
So responder signs off in opener's suit, never in the suit the answer named — with one exception, worth knowing because it looks like the rule being broken. When the step happens to be opener's own suit, leave it alone. A maximum with a good suit answers 3♠ over a 2♠ opening; opener has six spades and 3♠ is already the right contract. Correcting that one to the four level is how this went wrong in play here, opposite a void.
Ogust or Feature-showing#
The app offers a second answer to the same 2NT ask. Feature-showing replies with a side suit containing the ace or king when opener is maximum, rebids the suit with a minimum or with nothing worth showing, and bids 3NT with a solid suit.
The two are a straight trade and neither is better in the abstract:
- Ogust tells you about the trump suit. Use it when what you mostly need to know is whether their six cards will run.
- Feature tells you where the outside values are. Use it when your hand is a potential 3NT that needs one specific stopper.
Feature-showing has one passable answer — three of the opened suit, denying anything outside — which Ogust does not. Every other reply in either scheme must be corrected rather than left in.
Common questions#
What does 2NT mean over a weak two?
It is an asking bid, not a natural invitation. Playing Ogust, partner replies with a step describing both the strength of their hand and the quality of their suit.
What are the Ogust responses?
3 clubs is a minimum with a poor suit, 3 diamonds a minimum with a good suit, 3 hearts a maximum with a poor suit, 3 spades a maximum with a good suit, and 3NT a solid suit.
What counts as a good suit for Ogust?
In this app, at least two of the top three honours — two of ace, king and queen. A maximum means eight points or more.
Can you pass an Ogust response?
Not usually — the steps are artificial and say nothing about the suit they name. Sign off in opener’s real suit instead. The exception is when the step happens to be opener’s own suit, which is already the right contract.