This Week in Bridge
(552) More Bidding Over 3-Level Preempts
© AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 9 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
When the opponents open the bidding with a the 3-level preempt then much of the tension in our decision-making process comes around “Should we bid beyond 3NT?” This is especially true when the opponents open the bidding with a 3-Major preempt, because when we have one long minor suit then we likely want to play in 3NT or 5-minor. This allows us to use 4-minor in some interesting conventional ways, just as we do vs. a 2-level preempt.
Overcalling a Major Suit
When we have length in at least one Major suit and a good hand, our focus is on showing our Major.
Against a 3♠ preempt, we only have one way to show a long ♥ suit:
4♥ Good 5+card ♥ suit and a good hand, usually about 15+ points
Against a 3♥ preempt, we have two ways to directly show a long ♠ suit:
3♠ 5+card ♠ suit and more than an opening hand
4♠ Great 6+card ♠ suit, about 9+ tricks in our hand
Against a 3♣ (or 3♦) preempt, we have:
3♠ 5+card ♠ suit and more than an opening hand
4♠ Great 6+card ♠ suit, about 9+ tricks in our hand
3♥ 5+card ♥ suit and more than an opening hand
4♥ Great 6+card ♥ suit, about 9+ tricks in our hand
4♣/♦ Cuebid of the opponent’s suit; Michaels cuebids showing at least 5-5 in the
Majors and about 9+ tricks in our hand
Non-Leaping Michaels vs 3-Major Preempts
When our RHO opens the bidding with 3-Major then we can define 4-minor as “Non-Leaping Michaels,” showing game forcing values and a 5+card minor and 5+cards in the other Major. This is a game forcing action and forces partner to choose which game we would like to play. If we agree to play this convention, then we have no way to bid a minor naturally at the 4-level over the opponent’s 3-Major preempt – we do give something up by adding this convention. But the idea is that with a long minor suit we either bid 3NT (where we are most likely to want to play), make a takeout double, or jump to 5-minor.
Example 1
3♠ __?
4♣ 5+card ♣ and 5+card ♥, game forcing, usually about 9+ tricks
4♦ 5+card ♦ and 5+card ♥, game forcing, usually about 9+ tricks
Example 2
3♥ __?
4♣ 5+card ♣ and 5+card ♠, game forcing, usually about 9+ tricks
4♦ 5+card ♦ and 5+card ♠, game forcing, usually about 9+ tricks
Note: If we play the RST version of Leaping Michaels, where a 4-level cuebid is keycard in the minor and 4NT is keycard in the Major, then we can play the same version of Non-Leaping Michaels.
Showing Both Minors vs. 3-Major Preempts: 4NT and 4-Major Cuebids
After a 3-Major preempt if we have a strong hand with length in both minor suits then we actually have 2-ways to show this hand:
4NT At least 5-5 in the minors and strong, about 9-10 tricks in our hand
4-Major Cuebid At least 5-5 in the minors, slammish, about 11+ tricks in our hand
Example 3
3♠ __?
♠ 92
♥ A
♦ AJT98
♣ AKQ84
With this hand we bid 4NT to make sure of our side reaching a minor suit game and to get some input from partner about which minor we should play, and to show a good hand.
Example 4
3♥ __?
♠ 9
♥ 2
♦ AKJT92
♣ AKQ84
With this hand we are interested in slam, even opposite not very much from partner. Here we bid 4♥ to find out which minor suit partner prefers and invite partner to bid slam if they have a couple of tricks. This 4♥ bid is not a Michaels cuebid, because with that hand we would use “Non-Leaping Michaels” to look for our fit.
Conclusion
Just as we use a jump to 4-minor over a 2-Major preempt as a game forcing 2-suited strong hand, (Leaping Michaels), we can use this 4-minor convention vs. a 3-Major preempt. If we choose to do so when we hold a hand with a long minor suit then we will no longer be able to bid it at the 4-level; we are forced to either overcall 3NT (our best bid if we have a stopper), make a takeout double (if we have the right shape), or to just jump to 5-minor (a practical action). Dealing with these 3-level preempts from the opponents is extremely annoying, so you should make sure that you and partner have good agreements about how to deal with them.