ROMAN GERBER

The Gerber convention was devised by Mr. John Gerber in 1938. This convention is sometimes referred to as the Four Clubs Blackwood. However, the concept was devised independently by Dr. William Konigsberger and Mr. Wim Nye, and was also published by them in Europe in 1936.

Since 1938, bridge players around the world have altered, modified, and expanded the concept of Mr. John Gerber. This is the right of all bridge players to attempt to improve and modifiy a concept, an idea, an agreement.

The basics of the Gerber Convention can be reviewed by clicking on the link. After a short review, we can progress to the basics of the Roman style responses to the Gerber convention. The following chart gives the bid of the responder and the rebids of the opener. Roman Gerber is normally used after a No Trump opening.

Opener				Responder
1 NT				4
4		0 or 3 Aces
4		1 or 4 Aces
4		2 Aces

If the responder, the 4 Clubs bidder, continues the auction to ask for Kings, he will bid the cheapest possible bid.

Opener				Responder
1 NT				4
4		1 or 4 Aces		4 : asking for Kings
4 NT		1 or 3 Kings
5		1 or 4 Kings
5		2 Kings

The next to cheapest bid by the responder, in this example 4 No Trump, asks for clarification of the previous response. With 1 or 3 of the specified honor cards bid by the opener, the responder bids the control he has or does not have. With two honors to be identified, the responder makes the minimum bid if they are of the same color. The responder makes the second possible minimum bid if they are unmatched in color and rank. The responder makes the third possible minimum bid if both honors are Majors or Minors.

To clarify this explanation, the following guidelines may be useful. The 4 bidder, with the first relay bid, is requesting additional details on the previous bid made by partner and this is accomplished by a Super Relay, which is a bid two Steps over the response. Therefore, depending on the number of honors shown by the previous bid, the bids clarifying the reponse are:

With 1 Honor:	The partner bids the suit, in which the honor is located.
With 3 Honors:	The partner bids the suit, in which no honor is held
With 2 Honors:	The partner bids by Steps as follows:
	First Step: Promises two Honors of the same color.
	Second Step: Promises two unmatched Honors.
	Third Step: Promises two Honors of the same rank.

Note: Some partnerships have agreed that the next relay after asking for Kings asks for Queens. This means that the 4 bid asks for Aces, the next Relay bid asks for Kings, and the next Relay bid asks for Queens, not for honors. This is a second option of the partnership.

As the reader can imagine, the auction becomes progressive according to the responses of the 1 No Trump bidder. The continuing bidding procedure of the responder is totally dependent upon these responses, and he must adjust his bidding accordingly. In turn, the opener can also learn about the holding of the responder, who makes the appropriate, informative bid.

Since the auction is progressive and the bidding sequences become dependent upon the responses, it is necessary that both partners become attuned to the alternate bidding procedures possible to show certain controls. They must have a functioning partnership agreement, which can carry the magnitude of this progressive and changing bidding auction.

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