Responding to a Take Out Double by Cuebidding the Opponents Suit!

Please read these posts to learn about the take out double.
Introducing the Take Out Double
Responding to a Take Out Double with an Opening Hand
Responding to a Take Out Double with a Six Card Major

I think we all can agree on the fact that when Partner makes a Take Out Double the one suit we DEFINATELY don't want to play in is the OPPONENTS suit.

So say my LHO opens the bidding 1♠ and Partner makes a Take Out Double. If RHO passes the one bid I will NOT make is 2♠. Partner is saying they want to play ANYWHERE but ♠. They don't have ♠. If I truly have a bunch of ♠ in this auction I can always just PASS and let my LHO play in 1♠ Doubled. If I was planning on taking 8 tricks with ♠ as trump they shouldn't do very well. Plus I do not like to play in a trump suit when Partner has no trump and one opponent has FIVE of them. Nope. 2♠ in this auction is a completely useless bid. We will NEVER make this bid.

Hmmmmm. Or will we?

We certainly won't use it as a natural bid. By a natural bid I mean we won't use it to say we want to play in ♠. We won't use it to show ♠. We will use it in a different way. We are going to use this bid to say "We have the values for game Partner but I'm not sure where we want to play! HELP!"

When we bid the opponents suit this is called a cuebid. There are a variety of ways we can utilize cuebids. Here's one way.

On some hands when Partner makes a take out double you have the values for game but don’t really know where to play. Take this hand:

♠AQT2
♥AQT2
♦Q8
♣972

If Partner doubles my LHO opponents opening 1♣ bid I KNOW we want to be in game. We should have a 4-4 fit in a major. But the thing is I'm not really sure what major to play in. Partner could have doubled on either of these hands:

Hand A	Hand B
♠KJ63 ♥KJ3 ♦AJ64 ♣54	♠KJ6 ♥KJ63 ♦AJ64 ♣54

If Partner doubled on Hand A I want to play in 4♠. If Partner doubled on Hand B I want to play in 4♥. How do I ever guess correctly?

You don't guess. You ASK Partner. You CUEBID the opponents suit. So on this hand I will bid 2♣. That IN NO WAY means I want to play in 2♣. Remember Partner doesn't have ♣. If I have lots and lots of ♣ I'll just Pass and let my LHO play in 1♣ Doubled. This bid just asks Partner to bid their four card major. Plus it lets Partner know we are going to game so I don't have to worry about Partner Passing when I don't want them to.

Keep in mind that sometimes we KNOW where we want to play. No need to cue-bid then. Just bid the game you want to play in.

So with that in mind what do you respond with each of these hands when your LHO opens the bidding 1♣, Partner says "Double" and your RHO Passes? Do you cuebid or bid game?

Hand 1

♠KT62
♥AKQ9
♦98
♣J72



Hand 2

♠AQ43
♥AT32
♦K3
♣853



Hand 3

♠AKT62
♥A7
♦AT
♣6532



Hand 4

♠Q973
♥AK85
♦AT94
♣3



Hand 5

♠Q6
♥AJ642
♦Q94
♣A85



Hand 6

♠AKQJ
♥QJ42
♦Q97
♣T4



Hand 7

♠KJT8
♥AKQ4
♦43
♣T73



Hand 8

♠Q862
♥AK93
♦97
♣A63



Hand 9

♠KQT653
♥T5
♦A76
♣KT



Hand 10

♠AK94
♥J842
♦9
♣AK85



Hand 11

♠J8752
♥A2
♦K64
♣AJ5



Hand 12

♠AQ82
♥AT93
♦AJ97
♣9



Hand 13

♠AKJT
♥T942
♦AT4
♣J6



Hand 14

♠AJ54
♥JT75
♦A3
♣A72



Hand 15

♠4
♥AQJT873
♦Q64
♣75



Hand 16

♠AJT5
♥AJ83
♦87
♣A74



Hand 17

♠A9753
♥KJ9
♦AJ4
♣62



Hand 18

♠KQT2
♥KT85
♦Q4
♣K95



Hand 19

♠A763
♥AQJ3
♦54
♣A83



Hand 20

♠A9
♥AKJ95
♦83
♣T976



Hand 21

♠KT98
♥KQJ6
♦83
♣A86