In a non competitive auction the goal of bidding is to determine what suit (if any) the partnership belongs in and also what level the partnership wants to play in – Part Score, Game or Slam.
In a competitive auction that changes. Now the primary goal is to fight for the contract. You still want to find your best fit but sometimes the goal changes to stopping the Opponents from finding their best fit! In a competitive auction you sometimes need to bid higher than you would like to in order to stop the Opponents from playing (and making!) the contract.
Since the goal of bidding changes when the Opponents interfere, the bids also need to change.
The biggest change is that now all JUMP RAISES of Partner's suit are PRE-EMPTIVE. That means that you get to jump to BOTH the 3 level AND the 4 level to show a weak hand. The difference between the two bids is the number of trump you hold.
Why would we want to do this? Why would we want to bid higher with fewer points?
If you have a weak hand chances are the Opponents have more points then you. That means they will want to play the contract somewhere. Take away all that room in the auction so it is not so easy for them to figure out where! You don't have to worry about going down because you need extra trump to make these pre-emptive raises so you should be safe because of those extra trump. You might still go down but going down should be better for you than allowing the Opponents to play their contract.
So basically we are doing this to really mess up the Opponents! It's like a weak 2 pre-empt. Get the bidding up high, quickly so the Opponents have to guess what to do. Sometimes they guess wrong.
However sometimes you have a nice hand (11 or more points) and want to support Partner. What can you do now if any raise shows a weak hand?
Stay tuned. We've got that covered. Let's just review the basics.
Most bids remain the same.
A new suit at the 1 level is still forcing and shows 6 HCP or more.
A new suit at the 2 level after an overcall is still forcing and shows 10 HCP or more. (If the Opponents "Double" instead of bidding a suit things will change here but we shall ignore that for now.)
The point count for bidding any level of NT remains the same:
1NT still shows 6 to 10 HCP.
2NT still shows 11 or 12 HCP -- If you and your Partner play the Jacoby 2NT bid the Jacoby 2NT gets CANCELLED because the Opponents have bid.
3NT still shows 13 to 15 HCP.
However now ALL NT bids show a STOPPER in the Opponent's suit. A STOPPER is a guaranteed winner. You must be able to make sure the Opponents will not take the first five tricks if they lead that suit. After all you never know if Partner will raise your NT bid to 3NT where you will need nine tricks. If the Opponents can take the first five tricks it is impossible to take the next nine!
Not only do NT bids show a stopper but they also show a balanced hand. After all you are no longer forced to bid with 6 HCP like you were if the Opponents did not bid.
You can still make a pre-emptive raise to 4 of Partner's major.
Now you can make a pre-emptive raise to 3 of Partner's major.
How do you show a nice raise of Partner's suit?
To show a limit raise (or better!) of Partner's suit we can CUEBID the Opponent's suit. That means bid the same suit the Opponents bid but at the next level. This will show a limit raise (or better) in Partner's opening suit. (A limit raise is about 11 or 12 points. You still get to count Dummy points also so don't forget them!)
Note that NONE of these new bids require Alerts. They are all considered Standard Bidding.
So let's go over all these bids again with examples:
Bidding a New Suit at the 1 Level
After any interference, bidding a new suit at the 1 level is still forcing and shows at least 6 or more HCP but also does not limit your hand so you could be much stronger.
Example 1
Let's look at this auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♣
1♦
???
Your hand:
♠AK83
♥43
♦T82
♣J862
Bid 1♠. Even if you don't find a fit you might get Partner off to the right lead.
Bidding a New Suit at the 2 Level After an Overcall
After an Overcall, bidding a new suit at the 2 level is still forcing and shows at least 10 or more HCP.
Example 1
Let's look at this auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♣
1♠
???
Your hand:
♠K83
♥KQT43
♦Q82
♣K82
Bid 2♥. Tell Partner you have at least five ♥ and at least 10 HCP.
Bidding Any Level of NT
After any interference, bidding any level of NT guarantees a stopper in the opponents suit PLUS a balanced hand. You are no longer forced to bid and should therefore be descriptive when you do bid.
Example 1
Let's look at this auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♣
1♠
???
Your hand:
♠J83
♥Q42
♦Q962
♣Q52
Pass. You cannot bid 1NT because you don't have the Opponent's suit stopped. If your RHO had not bid you would probably have bid 1NT. You can no longer do that because you do not have a stopper in the suit RHO overcalled.
Example 2
Same auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♣
1♠
???
Your hand:
♠KJ83
♥T43
♦Q82
♣Q82
Bid 1NT. Tell Partner you have a winner in the Opponent's suit and 6-10 HCP.
Example 3
Same auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♣
1♠
???
Your hand:
♠KJ83
♥K43
♦Q82
♣Q82
Bid 2NT. Tell Partner you have a winner in the Opponent's suit and 11 or 12 HCP.
Example 4
Same auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♣
1♠
???
Your hand:
♠KJ83
♥AQ3
♦Q82
♣Q82
Bid 3NT. Tell Partner you have a winner in the Opponent's suit and 13-15 HCP.
Single Raise of Partner's Suit
After any interference, raising Partner’s suit 1 level shows the same 6 to a bad 10 points with a fit.
Example 1
Let's look at this auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♣
1♠
???
Your hand:
♠J3
♥Q43
♦Q82
♣KT862
Bid 2♣. Tell Partner you have a fit for their minor and about 6-10 points.
Here's the new stuff. This will really mess up the Opponents!
Preemptive Raise of Partner's Suit
After any interference, jumping in Partner’s suit is PRE-EMPTIVE and shows extra trump (bid to your LAW Level) plus a very weak hand with little to no defence.
(What is your LAW Level? Count the number of trumps between your hand and your Partner's hand. Subtract six for the book. That is your LAW Level.
If Partner opened 1 of a major they should have FIVE trump. If you have FOUR trump together the partnership holds NINE trump. Subtract six for the book. You get THREE. That is the level you bid to.
If Partner opened 1 of a major they should have FIVE trump. If you also have FIVE trump together the partnership holds TEN trump. Subtract six for the book. You get FOUR. That is the level you bid to.)
Example 1
Let's look at this auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♠
Double
???
Your hand:
♠KQ83
♥3
♦87542
♣862
Bid 3♠. Tell Partner you have a weak hand with four trump for them.
At this point the Opponents have to guess whether or not they have enough to play at the FOUR level. But they are guessing at the FOUR level. You are not allowing them to take the time to explore whether or not they want to be that high. They have to decide NOW.
Example 2
Same auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♠
Double
???
Your hand:
♠KQ863
♥3
♦87542
♣82
Bid 4♠. Tell Partner you have a weak hand with five trump for them.
At this point the Opponents have to guess whether or not they have enough to play at the FIVE level. But they are guessing at the FIVE level. You are not allowing them to take the time to explore whether or not they want to be that high. They have to decide NOW.
Cuebid of the Opponent's Suit
After an Overcall, all limit raises (or better) begin with a CUEBID of the opponent’s suit.
(What is a limit raise? Basically a limit raise shows about 11 or 12 points with support for Partner's opening suit.)
Example 1
Let's look at this auction:
Partner
Your Right Hand Opponent
YOU!
1♠
2♦
???
Your hand:
♠KQ83
♥A3
♦8742
♣KJ2
You've got a nice hand and you do want to get to a game. Problem is that bidding game right now shows a WEAK hand with five trump. That's not good. You would have made a Jacoby 2NT bid (if you played them) but that bid is no longer applicable when the Opponents stick a bid in. You COULD bid a new suit because that is forcing but you can also SHOW PARTNER SUPPORT right away by cuebidding the Opponents suit.
Bid 3♦. Tell Partner you have a ♠ fit with them and limit raise values or better. So at least 11 points with support for their ♠. They will bid again and if they don't bid a game YOU CAN. But this way if Partner is very strong they might explore a slam because they know you have values rather than just a weak hand with lots of trump.
Let's practice. That always helps!
On the following hands Partner is going to open 1♥. Your RHO is going to overcall 1♠. What are YOU going to do???
Hand 1
This is the auction:
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