Questions about bidding a new suit over a Pre-empt

I have a few questions from my latest games:

A) I opened with a preemptive bid. Partner bid a new suit. Is this bid forcing?
Go to Answer 1A

B) If it is, how should I bid? Do I raise partner's suit one level if I have support for my partner's suit (3+ cards?)? If I don't have support, do I bid NT or rebid my own long suit one level up?
Go to Answer 1B

C) If bidding a new suit is not forcing, how should my partner bid with a very good hand?
Go to Answer 1C

D) If my partner does not have a very good hand but prefers to play in a different suit than mine, how do they bid?
Go to Answer 1D

Heidi's Answer to 1A

Question 1A) I opened with a preemptive bid. Partner bid a new suit. Is this bid forcing?

Answer to 1A: In Standard American, a new suit by Responder after Partner makes a pre-emptive bid is FORCING. That means that Opener MUST bid again if Responder bids a new suit. Note that the pre-emptive bid could be at the two level or even the three level!

N	E	S	W
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
???

North MUST bid!

N	E	S	W
3♥	Pass	3♠	Pass
???

North MUST bid!

However...

You and your Partner can agree to play it non-forcing (totally up to you) but then you MUST ALERT the Opponents!

N	E	S	W
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
???

North can Pass BUT North must say "ALERT" as soon as South puts the 2♠ bid down on the table. If the Opponents ask North why they alerted, North should say "The 2♠ bid was non-forcing. I am allowed to Pass."

N	E	S	W
3♥	Pass	3♠	Pass
???

North can Pass BUT North must say "ALERT" as soon as South puts the 3♠ bid down on the table. If the Opponents ask North why they alerted, North should say "The 3♠ bid was non-forcing. I am allowed to Pass."

Right now most of us are playing online. Online you must self alert. So South, when they make the 2♠ bid (or 3♠ bid), needs to tell the Opponents that the bid is non-forcing. Note that this information does NOT go to their Partner. Their Partner is already supposed to know!

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Heidi's Answer to 1B

Question 1B: If a new suit is forcing, how should I bid? Do I raise partner's suit one level if I have support for my partner's suit (3+ cards?)? If I don't have support, do I bid NT or rebid my own long suit one level up?

Answer to 1B: You can do all the above!

You can raise Partner with three cards in their suit. You can even raise Partner if you have a doubleton honour in their suit if you don't have anything better to say! You can bid another four card suit. You can bid NT with a maximumish balanced hand. If you've got nothing else to say just rebid your suit.

Let's see some examples:

Example 1:
Take this hand which is North:
♠963
♥AQJ982
♦73
♣T2

N	E	S	W
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
???

On this hand you can raise Partner's ♠ suit because you have three card support.

Example 2:
Take this hand which is North:
♠K3
♥AQ8642
♦873
♣T2

N	E	S	W
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
???

With this hand I would probably just raise to 3♠ because I have a doubleton honour in my Partner's suit and Partner could easily have six ♠. Plus rebid options are not that good.

Example 3:
Take this hand which is North:
♠3
♥AJT982
♦K873
♣T2

N	E	S	W
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
???

With this hand I would bid 3♦ to suggest another place to play.

Example 4:
Take this hand which is North:
♠3
♥QJT982
♦QJ3
♣QJ2

N	E	S	W
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
???

With this hand I would probably bid 2NT to suggest both minors being stopped. I hate to do that with a singleton but I am maximum for my weak 2 bid and Partner did bid that ♠ suit.

Example 5:
Take this hand which is North:
♠83
♥KQT982
♦63
♣762

N	E	S	W
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
???

With this hand I would just rebid my suit. 3♥. I've got nothing else to show them.

Example 6:
Trickier one! Take this hand which is North:
♠3
♥KQT986
♦6432
♣T2

N	E	S	W
2♥	Pass	2♠	Pass
???

With this hand I would probably ignore my ♦ suit. That might encourage Partner to bid 3NT thinking I had the ♦ covered. I am very weak also. I think I'd just rebid 3♥ on this one.

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Heidi's Answer to 1C

Question 1C) If bidding a new suit is not forcing, how should my partner bid with a very good hand?

Answer to 1C: GOT ME!!! I play a new suit forcing. I have no idea what people do if they don't play it forcing and they have a good hand. Maybe they just leap to game. Who knows?

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Heidi's Answer to 1D

Question 1D) If my partner does not have a very good hand but prefers to play in a different suit than mine, how do they bid?

Answer to 1D: They don't. They "Pass" and let you play in yours.

Generally if you are weak and Partner is weak the Opponents step in and start to bid because they have the values. If you have no fit and no points this is a GOOD thing for you! But if you don't have values and you play a new suit as forcing you CANNOT bid. You just get into trouble most of the time.

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Question for Heidi

Hi Heidi,

Can one use Michael's with a strong hand?

If I have a strong hand with 5-5 Major-Minor distribution that fits the Michael's convention, should I still bid Michael's? Like this hand below:

All non-vulnerable, W is dealer:

	North ♠2 ♥KQJ87 ♦A8 ♣AK742
West ♠AKQ9753 ♥A4 ♦Q53 ♣3		East ♠64 ♥53 ♦KJT932 ♣986
	South ♠JT8 ♥T962 ♦76 ♣QJT5

West opens the bidding 1♠. Can North bid 2♠?

Heidi's Answer

The Michaels convention is a direct cuebid of the Opponent's suit. It shows a distributional two suited hand.

So if my RHO opens 1 of a minor and I bid 2 of that same minor I am showing at least five cards in both majors.

If my RHO opens 1 of a major and I bid 2 of that same major I am showing at least five cards in the OTHER major along with a undisclosed minor suit holding of at least five cards.

What is the point count required to make this bid?

Totally dependent on partnership agreement. Some people will make this bid on not much at all as a kind of "preempt". Others think it should be more constructive. Some play something called "Mini-Max" that says they are either really weak or really strong. In any case you can definitely make this bid with a strong hand so Michaels is an option on this hand for sure.

Would I bid 2♠ on this hand?

Sure, I'm good with that as long as you are prepared to raise Partner's 3♥ response to 4♥ to show your big hand.

Partner could have nothing but if they have a fit and have one nice card for you the partnership should be able to make a game.

Now it all depends on whether or not West will let you play it there. You can bet they are going to bid at least 3♠. Will they bid 4♠? Unclear. But I wouldn't let you play in 4♥ with the West hand. Not when I am not vulnerable.

Hand 7 -- 1NT vs 1 Spade

This is chapter 7 in the story of my attempt to determine if it is better to open 1♠ or 1NT with 15 to 17 HCP and a five card ♠ suit.

The journey started with this post:
Later On

Here is the seventh hand I generated:

	North ♠74 ♥J76 ♦762 ♣K8742
West ♠KQ9 ♥82 ♦QT843 ♣QJT		East ♠852 ♥AK953 ♦K95 ♣65
	South ♠AJT63 ♥QT4 ♦AJ ♣A93

Dealer is South and everyone is vulnerable.

Double Dummy:
2♥ makes by E/W
1NT can make by E/W
2♦ makes by E/W
1♠ makes by N/S
2♣ makes by N/S

Analysis

If South opens up 1NT, West will pass and North will pass. Will East come in?

If East does not come to then South will play in 1NT and go down.

If South opens 1♠, again West and North will pass. Will East come in?

If East does not come to then South will play in 1♠ and make.

What if East decides to come in?

What happens then?

If South has opened 1NT and East makes a bid to show a single suited hand then North will probably want to show their ♠ suit. I'm sure they will do that on the other hands (sometimes they need to!) so now they are going to because 2♠ will not make.

If South has opened 1♠ and East bids 2♥ then South no longer needs to show their ♠ suit. They should wait and see if North can raise. (North can't.)

So this one I think is better to open 1♠ because if East does not bid you are better off playing in ♠ and if East does bid you won't need to show your suit (and get too high!) because you already have shown it.

To see the table where all the hands are listed click HERE!