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Preemptive Bidding (continued)

T4  Responding to a preemptive bid

Suppose partner has opened 3 hearts. You have 4 options as shown below. It rarely pays to bid your own suit.

(1) S A 3 2 Raise to 4 hearts. You have 8 cards between you in the heart suit, and you are giving partner 4 or 5 tricks. With her expectation of going 2 or 3 light on her bid, your hand should help her to make 10 tricks.
H 2
D K Q J 9 6
C A K 8 5

 

(2) S 5 4 Raise to 5 hearts or even 6 hearts, a greater sacrifice: a bold move, but if you don't, they will easily find their best contract.
H Q 10 8 6 5
D 2
C Q J 10 4 3

 

(3) S K J 6 Raise to 3NT. You must have 15+ points and at least 3 cards in partner's suit. There is often a great temptation to make this bid with only 1 or 2 cards in partner's suit. You will live to regret it.
H A 10 9
D A Q 8
C K Q 10 2

 

(4) S Q 9 7 Pass. Most of the time this will be your response. You may have some points but tricks are uncertain. You are happy if the opponents win the auction as your partner has probably pushed them too far.
H J 8
D K J 10 4
C A J 7 6

T5  Defence to preemptive bids

How do we get into the auction? We certainly need 15+ points to start bidding at this level. There are several conventions available but the most common is to double for take-out, asking for partner's best suit. A suit overcall would show 6 cards or more while 3NT shows good cover in the opponents suit. In the hands below, the opponent on your right has opened a preemptive 3 hearts. What is your bid? For answers, see end of this page.

(1) S A J 10 5 3 2 (2) S A 2
H A 7 H K Q 8 3
D 8 3 D A Q 9 4 2
C K Q 6 C 10 7

 

(3) S A Q 8 (4) S K 9 5 3
H 9 5 H K Q 2
D A K 7 4 D Q 10 8 5
C K 8 7 6 C A K

T6.  Finally(!)  Partner has doubled an opponent's preemptive 3 hearts. What do you do with the hands below? Bid the limit of your hand knowing he has 15+ points. You'll find the answers here.

(1) S A 10 9 8 7 2 (2) S K 9 7 5
H 2 H 2
D K 3 2 D Q 4 3 2
C K 3 2 C K 10 8 6

 

(3) S K 3 2 (4) S A K 2
H K Q 10 4 H none
D 10 8 4 D A 10 8 6 4
C Q 8 6 C A 10 8 6 4

Preemptive bids are exciting. You only get 7-card suits about 3% of the time so make the most of them when they do crop up. Don't forget that a 7-card suit isn't automatically a preempt. It may be good enough for you to seek a good contract yourself rather than just get in the way. In the hand below, you have 8 playing tricks and would open 2S, hoping for a spade game. See this page.

 S A K 9 7 5 3 2
H none
D A 3 2
C A 3 2

Answers to T5 and T6.

T5  (1) 3S  (2)  3NT   (3)  *   (4)  * or 3NT.

T6  (1)  4S  (2)  3S  (3)  3NT or leave the * in.        (4)  There are slam possibilities here. Make the strongest bid in the book--3H. 

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