This Week in Bridge
(462) Partnership Bidding: Their Preemptive Opening Auctions
© AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 5 of 10 (2 of 6) robert@advinbridge.com
General
When the opponents preempt the bidding, they are trying to make our life more difficult. This is one of the opponents’ (and our!) favorite bidding tools and is frustratingly effective. That is why it is important for us to have good agreements with partner. Here we look at our bidding tools for dealing with the opponents’ preemptive attacks and make sure we have options for how to deal with them.
Competitive Bidding
When the opponents preempt the bidding they make our life difficult. Let’s look at some of these auctions where it is important for us to have agreements about the meaning of these bids.
Example 1
2♠ P P 2NT?
What does this 2NT bid mean?
A bid of 2NT in the direct seat shows the same as a 1NT overcall – about 15-18 HCP and a ♠ stopper.
A balancing 2NT bid in this auction is the same. We don’t balance with 11-13 HCP and length in the opponent’s suit. We may stretch to bid 2NT with about 14 HCP!
Example 2
2♥ P P 3♥?
What does this 3♥ cuebid show?
This bid of the opponent’s suit is an effort to get to 3NT. It asks partner to bid 3NT if they have a ♥ stopper. It implies that we have a long strong minor suit. It is the same in the direct seat or the balancing seat. This is not a Michaels cuebid over a preemptive opening.
Example 3
2♠ 4♦?
What does this jump to 4♦ show?
4♦ is not a jump showing a long strong ♦ suit (we would try to get to 3NT with that hand, by either bidding 3NT or cuebidding the opponent’s suit). This 4♦ is a “Leaping Michaels” bid, showing an extremely strong hand with both 5-card ♦ and 5-card ♥.
Example 4
2♠ X P 2NT?
What does Advancer’s 2NT bid show in this auction?
When partner makes a takeout double and we have length in the opponent’s suit and a decent hand, then we can pass partner’s double. That means that we can use this 2NT bid to show a bad hand. This 2NT bid is used as Lebensohl to show a bad hand (where a direct bid at the 3-level shows a good hand). This is an important point to discuss with partner.
Conclusion
When the opponents preempt the bidding, they make our life more difficult by reducing our space for communication. We need to make the best use we can of the remaining space. Having good agreements about how to show 1-suited, 2-suited, and 3-suited hands (as well as balanced hands) is extremely important. Make sure that you and partner have the best tools you can for competing in these auctions.