Bidding
Robert Todd
(556) Competitive Auctions: Anti-Lead ...

Lead-directing doubles can be helpful in getting partner off to a good opening lead. These lead-directing doubles are common when the opponents make an artificial bid. But when the opponents make a cuebid of our suit, then a lead-directing double is also very common. Here we focus on this situation in detail in order to structure our agreements to allow us to communicate in the most effective way we can.

(556) Competitive Auctions: Anti-Lead Directing Doubles
Bidding
Robert Todd
(555) Competitive Auctions: Scrambling 2NT

In competitive auctions where the opponents have found a fit, we will compete aggressively – especially at matchpoints. We will frequently use double (for takeout) with three-suited hands and sometimes with two-suited hands. To handle these situations, we want partner (Advancer) to have a tool to help us find our best fit. As usual, in competitive auctions our choice of convention will be 2NT. This gadget is called Scrambling 2NT.

(555) Competitive Auctions: Scrambling 2NT
Bidding
Robert Todd
(554) Competitive Auctions: Good/Bad 2NT in ...

Good/Bad 2NT gives Opener two ways to compete to the 3-level – by bidding directly with a “Good Hand” or by bidding 2NT first with a “Bad Hand”. By using 2NT as a relay bid, instead of a natural call, this allows for a more precise description of Opener’s hand. Let’s see how it works through examples.

(554) Competitive Auctions: Good/Bad 2NT in Competition
Bidding
Robert Todd
(553) Competitive Auctions: 4NT in Competition

When the opponents stay out of our auctions then we usually have clear agreements about the meaning of a 4NT bid – usually Quantitative in a NT auction and Keycard in a suit auction. But in a competitive auction we are more likely to use 4NT as a bid showing 2 places to play. Let’s look at some of these auctions so we know what partner is trying to do to when they use 4NT in a competitive auction.

(553) Competitive Auctions: 4NT in Competition
Bidding
Robert Todd
(552) Competitive Auctions: More Bidding over ...

When the opponents open the bidding with a 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.

(552) Competitive Auctions: More Bidding over 3-Level Preempts

Is It Forcing Webinar

(105) More on Fits: 4th Suit Forcing in Depth

(105) More on Fits: 4th Suit Forcing in Depth

We round out our discussion of finding fit with Responder by looking at Responder's tool for finding fits (forcing the auction) after the Opener has shown an Unbalanced Hand - 4th Suit Game Forcing!   We will see its traditional use of looking for a 5-3 fit for game, as well as using it to allow us to explore for slam.