WARNING! The following post talks about Pre-emptive Bidding. Pre-empts are bids used by more experienced players. If you are a new player do NOT bother reading this post. When you have played a bit more and know a bit more you can learn how to use them. For now, do not bother.
A pre-emptive bid occurs when one player JUMPS in the bidding to bid a suit and their partner has not yet made a bid.
You can pre-empt when you open the bidding.
For example, opening the bidding with 3♠ is a pre-emptive bid. You have jumped in a suit.
Opening the bidding 1♠ is NOT a pre-empt. You did not jump.
You can make a pre-emptive overcall.
RHO
You!
1♣
2♦
2♦ is a pre-empt. The opponents opened the bidding and you jumped and bid a new suit.
RHO
You!
1♠
2♦
2♦ is a normal overcall. You did NOT jump in the bidding.
Partner
You!
1♦
2♠
Unless otherwise agreed upon, 2♠ is something called a JUMP SHIFT. Partner opened the bidding. You do not pre-empt your Partner.
The purpose of a pre-emptive bid is to disrupt the opponents bidding. It shows a weak hand with a good quality, long suit.
To make a pre-emptive bid you should have the following:
5 to 10 HCP (or you can play 6 to 11 HCP or even 5 to 11)
At least 3 of the top 5 honors (A, K, Q, J, T) – non-vulnerable
At least 2 of the top 3 honors (A, K, Q) - vulnerable or non-vulnerable
No tolerance for any outside major suit (4+ cards) – your hand is too good
No outside 5 card minor – your hand is too good
At most 1 trick outside the suit
Some players are not as disciplined when they make a pre-emptive bid. Their suit is not as good. I recommend being very disciplined when you first start playing pre-emptive bids. After you are more experienced playing pre-empts you can "relax" the rules a bit as you see fit.
The level you pre-empt at shows the LENGTH in your suit.
Pre-empting at the 2 level shows a 6 card suit
Pre-empting at the 3 level shows a 7 card suit
Pre-empting at the 4 level shows a 8 card suit
and so on...
So with this hand:
♠AQJT65
♥82
♦93
♣973
Open the bidding 2♠. This is a pre-empt.
If your RHO opens the bidding with 1♣ (or 1♦ or even 1♥), you can now bid 2♠ which would be a pre-empt.
With this hand:
♠KQJT652
♥8
♦93
♣973
Open the bidding 3♠.
If your RHO opens the bidding with 1♣ (or 1♦ or even 1♥), bid 3♠ which is a pre-empt.
With that in mind, what will you open the bidding?
Hand 1
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