Preemptive Bidding

T1.   In general terms, to preempt is to take an action which forestalls others, to make a move which greatly reduces your opponents choice of action, or to steal by force. In bidding parlance, you aim to crowd the auction by bidding at a high level ( usually 3 or 4 ) so that it is difficult for the opponents to judge what to do. You do not expect to make your contract but you are preventing your opponents from making theirs.

The requirements are:-

1. A long suit with at least 7 cards in it, and
2. A weak hand. This can be evaluated in terms of either

•  Points. About eight is the maximum. Anything stronger is probably worth opening at the level of one or two, or
• The losing trick count (count A, K, Q missing, taking suit length into account, and take total losers away from 13 to give 'playing tricks'. See this page ). A hand with 6 or 7 playing tricks is suitable for a preemptive bid.

T2  Sacrificing.

A contract which fails may  nevertheless be a good result if it prevents the opponents from scoring a part-score or game. This is called a sacrifice eg you go 2 off doubled in a contract of 3 spades, non-vulnerable, giving away 300. If the opponents have 4 hearts on, this is a good sacrifice.

Some books talk of the rule of 2 or 3, meaning that you can afford to go 3 off at favourable vulnerability (you NV, they V ) but only 2 off at unfavourable vulnerability ( both V or both NV ). It is rarely worth sacrificing if you are vulnerable and they aren't.

T3  The following hands are all suitable for a preempt, (1) having 6 losers and (2) (3) and (4) having 7 losers. 

NB1. Don't preempt partner ie in (1) above, if partner opens 1 D, then 1H is probably best.

NB2.  If opponents are bidding, over 1C, 3S is preemptive but over 1S, 3C isn't--it needs to be 4C.

NB3. There is a school of thought that argues for a different approach to a preemptive opening bid if your partner has not spoken. Paul Mendleson argues a cogent case for this in his latest book "100 tips for better bridge."

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