Bidding
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.
Bidding
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.
Bidding
When RHO opens a 2-level preempt, they have started eating up our valuable bidding space. But this is just the start of their attack on us. LHO may join in the attack and raise the preempt, making our life even more difficult. When we are bidding over RHO’s 2-level preempt we should keep this in mind. We need lots of tools to deal with this situation. Let’s look at these options.
Bidding
One of the most common gadgets that we use when partner opens 1NT is Stayman. We primarily use Stayman to search for a 4-4 Major suit fit. After Stayman sometimes we want to have a way to raise partner’s suit where they cannot pass. We will want a “Forcing Raise” (similar to Jacoby 2NT or Inverted Minors) in order to find out more about Opener’s hand. This is missing from a standard bidding system. It is a valuable tool for making a slam try while keeping the auction from getting too high.
