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Preemptive Openings
This collection of hands is all about when to preempt, and how high. Vulnerability is a common consideration, as are suit quality, amount of defense, and position. Please read on.
5th January, 2011 Both Vul
Yes, bidding 4♥ here would suggest an 8-card suit but when the suit is that good it almost looks like eight, don’t you think? Opening 3♥ seems unutterably feeble, but how about opening 1♥ on the grounds that the hand passes the Rule of 20? Not a good idea in our opinion, and on the actual deal that will just lead to a protracted auction which is likely to help South find the best opening lead. The East hand has no defense outside the Heart suit, so better just to bid some large number of Hearts immediately.
After a 4♥ opening bid, South has a blind lead and will probably choose wrongly, gifting Declarer with 13 tricks. If East opens 1♥, the informative auction that follows will tip off South to the winning lead, holding Declarer to 11 tricks.
5th January, 2011 E-W Vul
It might seem obvious to open the South hand with a Weak Two. After all, the 8 HCP are right in the middle of the point range for a Weak Two, and South has six Spades. End of story? Not quite! Preempts work best when they have lots of offense and not much defense, and the South hand certainly qualifies in that regard … outside of the long suit there is no defense to speak of … and that lovely 6-4 shape provides extra offense (remember, “Six-four, bid more!”). But that’s not all! Those Spade and Club intermediates provide extra offense, but precious little defense. Wait, there’s more! N-S are White vs Red, that’s yet another reason to be adventurous. So, when all is said and done, don’t you think that it might be worth trying 4♠, er, sorry, we mean 3♠, with this hand?
If you do open 3♠ then Partner will put you in game which makes with good play. If you open only 2♠ you won’t get to game.
5th October, 2011 E-W Vul
How many Hearts would you open in the North seat? - A Straight-Arrow 1♥? This hand passes the Rule of 20, and that will be enough for many to prefer 1♥ to a Weak Two bid. In fact, any hand with a six-card suit and 11 points passes the Rule of 20, which is why many players have lowered their Weak Two upper limit to 10. - A Retro 2♥? Well, maybe not that retro, after all this hand is all about Hearts, isn’t it, and a Weak Two is quite reasonable, despite the 11th point. - A Swashbuckling 3♥? Yes, that’s the ticket, at least given the favorable vulnerability. White vs Red, it’s often a good plan to preempt one more than usual, and when the suit is that good it’s an even better plan. Note that the North hand, while by some measures a one-of-a-suit opening bid, does not have much in the way of defense, another good reason to preempt.
If North is of the swashbuckling persuasion, then she’ll get a great result. 3♥ will be passed out, and E-W will score six tricks and will be plus a rather feeble 100, instead of +170 or +620 in a Spade contract.
4th November, 2009 Both Vul
How about South? We really do think that passing here is utterly feeble, a 3♣ preempt is surely required. True, N-S are vulnerable, but then so are the opponents. Worried about preempting with a 4-card major on the side? There’s no need, it’s the opponents’ hand, and N-S will never be playing this one in Hearts. Worried that South has only 4 HCP? Bad thinking, that weakness makes the preempt all the more appealing! Surely the opponents have game somewhere and passing here would make their life altogether too easy. On the actual hand, the opponents belong in 4♠ which makes an easy 10 tricks, but a 3♣ preempt might well propel them into the grossly inferior 4♥ contract, which on this sad occasion happens to make 10 extremely lucky tricks. Not to worry, you’ll get ‘em next time!
6th August, 2008 E-W Vul
Yes, South’s Club are somewhat lacking in quality, and there are only 6 of them, but that 6-4 shape adds some extra offensive potential. And, let’s face it, that favorable vulnerability is like a red rag to a bull for energetic preemptors. On the actual deal, the 3♣ preempt works like a charm! E-W are frozen out of the auction and end up defending 3♣ (making) when they could have been making their own 3♠ contract.
15th November, 2006 Board 19 E-W Vul
We don’t know about you, but we would open 3♦ with that South hand. At favorable vulnerability, we like to kick it up a notch in our preempts. Here, that good Diamond suit almost looks like a 7-card suit, anyway, so why not? Of course, aggressive preempting sometimes pushes the opponents into contracts that they otherwise would not reach … and sometimes these contracts make! Nonetheless we do believe that harassing and chivying our vulnerable opponents is, on balance, a winning strategy.
On the actual deal, 3♦ is the winner, giving E-W nothing but losing options: - They can pass it out, and if they are at the top of their defensive game, they’ll nip it a trick but still get a bad score. If their defense is not top-notch, 3♦ will make. - East can compete to 4♣ but that’s too high and it could get even worse if West, not unreasonably, takes a call over 4♣.
2♦
would have made things altogether too simple for E-W. East would
weigh in with a
3♣
call, and West does not have quite enough to participate in the
proceedings. So, an easy ride to
3♣
making 3. 10th January, 2007 Board 17 None Vul
This hand passes the Rule of Twenty, but “So what?” is our answer to that! This one looks like a preempt to us, what with that fine suit and not much in the way of defense. But not just a 3♠ preempt, we’d go directly to 4♠, applying maximum pressure. North has great offense, and we’d say that the lack of an 8th Spade is nothing more than a trivial detail!
In fact, we would rather open 1♠ than 3♠, the latter will result in too many missed games. On the actual board this is what will happen in each of the 3 scenarios: - If North opens 4♠, she’ll play in there, making 10 tricks for +420 - If North opens 3♠, she’ll play it there for +170 - If North opens 1♠, she’ll at least get to game, but, alas, along the way, the opponents will find their Diamond fit and take a profitable sacrifice in 5♦, and N-S will score +300.
Bridge is not always a fair game, but we would say that those three outcomes are full justice for the bids in question.
5th July, 2006 Board 12 N-S Vul
In most situations, East’s hand would be something of a tweener, and either 1♠ or 2♠ would be quite reasonable. But, when we realize that we are White versus Red, we should be leaning in the direction of the preempt. And, when we also realize that we are in 3rd seat, we should ratchet things up another notch and bid 3♠.
P.S. 3♠ works out rather well, as it happens, giving the opponents an excellent chance to go wrong ... opening 1♠ or 2♠ just doesn't get the job done.
14th March, 2007 Dealer East Both Vul
How did this one get into the Bidding Quiz, you might be wondering. Simply because you might want to consider a bid of 4♠ here. True, we are vulnerable, our support is minimal to say the least, and we also appear to have an astonishing shortage of tricks in our hand. But it’s that shortage of values that makes 4♠ so attractive! If we can trust our Partner not to have two defense tricks for his 3♠ bid (and we hope we can), then the opponents have a slam in Hearts which will bring us -1430. In 4♠ doubled we will surely get out for less than that, and if the opponents bid on over 4♠ we shall at least have cramped their slam auction.
On the actual hand, 4♠ doubled would have been down four (Spade stack with South) for -1100, but, more likely the opponents would have bid on to slam. However, they are cold for a grand slam in Hearts or Clubs, and our nudge to 4♠ will make the grand very difficult indeed to reach.
9th August, 2006 Board 3 E-W Vul
N-S are White versus Red, North has a maximum of one trick on defense, and a fit for Partner’s Club preempt. Surely the opponents can make at least 11 tricks in a major, probably 12. How many Clubs should North bid? (a) 4♣? No, that would be altogether too feeble … you can be sure that the opponents will get to 4♥ or 4♠, after which you will want to sacrifice in 5♣ … so, why not go to 5♣ directly, and apply more pressure? (b) 5♣? This is surely better than that pusillanimous 4♣ bid, but is it enough? (c) 6♣? This applies maximum pressure right away. Of course, if LHO now confidently bids 6♥ or 6♠, you’ll have to make the final guess.
At times like this you will be on much safer ground if you can rely Partner not to preempt in first or second seat with defensive tricks. Then again N-S are White versus Red, and most red-blooded players like to preempt frequently in this situation. So North is entitled to look askance at Partner's 3♣ opening ... who knows what atrocity South might have committed in the name of favorable vulnerability? She might well have a 6-card suit and a defensive trick (or two), in which case 5♣ is (hopefully) a good save against their game, but bidding more than that might be too expensive. Alternatively, she might have a pure, true-blue preempt (such as the one she was actually dealt), in which case we want to get to the 6-level or 7-level as quickly as possible.
It's all well and good to toss out White versus Red preempts with a high frequency, on a variety of hand types, but the downside is that, on hands like this, North will be at a disadvantage. As North, opposite a stolid preemptor, we'd bid 6♣ to apply maximum pressure. But if Partner is known to be quite adventurous in these situations, perhaps 5♣ is sufficient.
A Gadget for Energetic Preemptors If you and your Partner like to preempt high and often in White versus Red situations, even in first or second seat, then you might want to try the following gadget, one which allows the Partner of the preemptor to check on the soundness of Partner's preempt. Here it is: After Partner opens (or overcalls) with a preempt, a bid of 4NT is a raise to 5 of Partner's suit, and gives the preemptor the license to bid to the 6-level if his preempt is "pure".
See how well this gadget works on the actual auction. After 4NT, South can choose between 5♣ and 6♣ depending upon just how kosher is the opening preempt. South's actual hand is: ♠ 5 ♥ T97 ♦ T6 ♣ KQJT875 That's about as kosher as a 3♣ preempt can possibly be! No A♣, solid Clubs otherwise, a 7th Club, a singleton, absolutely zero defense, but good offense. Over 4NT, Partner is clearly not going to bid just 5♣. Is he allowed to bid 7♣, as his hand is such a perfecto? No! He's only allowed to bump it up to 5♣ or 6♣. Or, if he's really imaginative he might bid 5NT! Yes, this tells Partner, "I'm going to the 6-level, but my hand is a perfecto, don't be afraid to bid 7 if you think it's right!"
Of course, if South is an adventurous preemptor when White versus Red, he might hold this horror: ♠ 54 ♥ Q97 ♦ K6 ♣ KJT875 Yes, a somewhat offbeat 3♣ preempt to say the least, with an abnormal amount of defense and poor offense. After Partner's 4NT, this would be an obvious 5♣ bid.
If you use 4NT in the manner described here, how do you get to trot out Roman Key Card Blackwood when Partner preempts 3♣ or 3♦? Regardless of whether they use the gadget above, many players use the sequences 3♣ 4♦ and 3♣ 4♦ for this purpose ... a treatment well worth playing, in our view.
20th December, 2006 Board 1 None Vul
It looks as if N-S have a 10-card fit and the balance of the points so North will surely want to bid up to 4♥ before she starts doubling the opponents. Is that a reason to bid 4♥ directly? That’s one possibility, but we suggest a Redouble here, the purpose being to get Partner involved in the decision. The Redouble creates a force, and now N-S will either play the hand or defend a doubled contract. If Partner can double their next bid (she might have some unexpected defense for her preempt) we’ll pass, otherwise we’ll bid on to 4♥.
Yes, it would be awfully tempting for South to double their 3♠ unilaterally (and also the winning bid on the actual hand), but we’d rather bid up to our total trumps level of 4♥ before we start doubling.
20th December, 2006 Board 8 None Vul
How many Hearts do you bid here? It looks as if the opponents may have slam on this board so preempting to the 4-level is not likely to inconvenience them greatly. How about going directly to 6♥? We think that is a bit too much, especially as 6♥ doubled may go for more than the value of the slam (down 5 is not unimaginable). Our own choice would be the middle course of 5♥ which hopefully will be high enough to turn the rest of the enemy auction into something of a guessing game.
13th June, 2007 Board 18 N-S Vul
East has almost the purest preempt imaginable: - The suit is good, if we also had the Ten it would be perfect. - East does not have the A♥ … the absence of the Ace reduces East’s defense, and that’s good when we preempt. - Nothing outside the trump suit - Some distribution, namely that singleton.
Who would not want to bid 3♥ with this hand? Well, actually, we wouldn’t! No, at favorable vulnerability, this is a 4♥ bid! 3♥ would be criminally pusillanimous.
16th April, 2008 Board 8 None Vul
This looks like an obvious 2♠ bid. Or is it? With that 6-4 shape we would be tempted to bid 3♠ here, the 4-card suit gives us some extra offense without adding much to the defense. We’d like 3♠ even more if we did not have that Q♣. Anyway, 3♠ is at least worth consideration and it works like a charm on the actual deal, as Partner has ♠ KQ7, ♥ AQ4, ♦ 72, ♣ T9753. Once the opponents get to 4♥ West must decide whether or not to sacrifice in 4♠. Opposite a 2♠ bid it won’t be so obvious, there’s a reasonable chance that 4♥ is going down. But opposite a 3♠ opening the sacrifice looks like a better proposition. As it happens, 4♠ doubled is down one, whereas 4♥ makes 10 tricks.
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