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Preemptive Bidding - Take that, opponent!
Early in our Bridge career we learned the
value of honor cards, 10 High Card Points (HCP) per suit, 40
HCP in the deck. So on balance each player holds 10 points.
Opening the bidding assumes a hand better than average,
typically 12-13 points. We've also learned how long suits
can develop extra tricks by promoting the suit. Imagine
holding an eight card suit headed with the
Ace-King-Queen-Jack; except with the worst trump split
(8-5-0-0), we are assured to make 5 tricks even though we
only hold 10 HCP. Thus, we've learned to reassess hands
containing suits longer than four cards on length. This
realization is doubly beneficial, allowing us to:
1. Open marginal hand with less than normal
values
2. Invoke a preemptive "first strike" bid when holding a
substandard hand with extra length and strength in one suit
Depending on partnership agreements,
preemptive bids come in various sizes and shapes. Certainly
3 level opening preempts have been around for some time.
When Charles Goren initially wrote "Goren's Bridge
Complete," 2 level bids promised 23 or more points. But
times have changed - in Goren's 1985 book rewrite, his "new"
method advocated weak two bids, preemptively opening 2
Diamonds, 2 Hearts, or 2 Spades. Similar to the 3 level
preemptive opening bid with a seven card suit, the weak two
opening bid (or overcall) shows a six card suit with 6-12
points including distribution (except 2 Clubs, which becomes
the catch-all strong opening bid).
In addition to weak two and weak three bids,
other preempts include weak jump overcalls, weak double-
jump game raises, and perhaps weak jump shifts. How about
you and your partner? Are your preempts "heavenly" or do you
find jump bids more like a boomerang, missing the intended
target and heading back to whack you? In our series, we will
take a look at preempt strategies, environmental factors,
hand evaluation consideration, risk-reward factors, and what
to do after you or partner has "cast a preemptive spell."
Let's begin this lesson by asking the obvious
question: why should we make preemptive bids? A preemptive
bid has several benefits:
1. Communicate to partner both the length and
strength attributes in preemptive suit, where we would
otherwise had to pass the bidding.
2. Consume bidding space to inhibit accurate bidding by
opponents - if we have a long suit, it stands to reason
others will also have offsetting length and strength in a
suit of their own.
3. Provide lead direction to our partner should opponents
ultimately win the contract.
4. Potentially provide partner the opportunity to raise the
preempt suit when opponents enter the auction bidding
another suit.
Before delving into the dark side of
preemptive bids, we should set the record straight - like
other aspects of Bridge bidding and play, preemptive bids
are not guaranteed to get the best results in all
situations. Bridge is a game full of variables. Our results
are influenced by factors including the placement of the
cards (honors and suit distribution), the partnership and
opponent vulnerability, the attitude of the players on a
given hand, the interpretation bidding around the table,
perceived bidding and play ability, and numerous other
considerations.
We should also stress that our failure to
make a contract is not always a dishonorable event. Bridge
scoring only allows one side to enter a positive or negative
score (excepting honor bonuses in Contract Rubber Bridge).
So if your partner makes a preemptive bid that ultimately
goes down one trick, that result is certainly better than if
partner passed and the opponents made game or slam. Yet
perhaps you have had some unpleasant experiences getting set
in a contract and are a bit hesitant making a preemptive
call. Fair enough, in this lesson we will examine the "good,
bad, and the ugly" in assessing the time is ripe to make a
preemptive bid. But right off the bat, we profess there are
at least two situations where making a preemptive bid is
unwise:
1. When you're playing with (or against) your
future in-laws!
2. When you're playing a high-stakes money game and can't
cover possible losses!
In our discussion, we will focus on sound
preemptive bidding theory that balances the risk/reward
relationship of preemptive bidding, i.e., bids that should
work well most of the time. Additionally, our partner is
entitled to have a reasonable assurance of our length and
strength holding when we make a preemptive bid - after all,
Bridge is a partnership game so our preempts should be
disciplined. Otherwise, our poor partner will be clueless
when to pass or bid onward to game and beyond. And just
because we have made a preemptive call, it's not
unreasonable to envision our partner holding a strong hand
with interest in making either a game or slam contract.
Further, when the opponents make an overcall after our
preemptive bid, our partner may wish to make a penalty
double. So our preemptive bidding should provide partner a
good assessment of our holding.
So what constitutes a good preempt hand and
when should we make a preemptive bid? As we would expect, a
preemptive hand is one that generally has less than the
12-13 points required to make a normal opening bid.
Disciplined preempts promise we have both strength and
length limited to the preempt suit. Most players consider
two of the top three honors (A-K-Q) a prerequisite for a
preemptive bid or at least hold 5 HCPs in the suit (K-Q or
A-J-10). However some players stretch a bit, opening
preemptively holding only the Q-J-10-9 in the preempt suit;
later, we will discuss other factors to consider when making
a preemptive bid. Why do we emphasize the trump quality of
the top three trump honors? A fair question - because we do
not expect to lose the fourth trick or beyond when we hold a
long suit; it's the first three tricks that deserve
attention. Here are some hands to illustrate the point
(assuming partner has not made a bid):
A great suit, six tricks seems certain:
A K Q x x x
We anticipate 5-6 tricks:
A K J x x x
A Q J x x x
We hope for 5 tricks on a good day:
A K x x x x
A Q 10 x x x
A J 10 x x x
K Q 10 x x x
We realize the hand will only take 4-5 tricks
without help from partner:
A Q x x x x
A J 9x x x
K Q x x x x
K J 10 x x x
Finally, here are some marginal 4 trick suits
reserved for the bold and desperate:
A 10 9 x x x
K J x x x x
K 10 9 x x x
Q J 10 x x x
Q J 9 x x x
When we make a preemptive call, we advise
partner that we envision taking most of the tricks in the
preempt suit. Further, our preemptive call implies our hand
does not contain more than one trick in our side suits. If
we hold two or more defensive tricks and a long trump suit,
we should either make a normal opening bid or pass knowing
we have enough tricks to keep the opponents out of game.
Thus, our disciplined preemptive hand is essentially
valuable to make offensive tricks in the preempt suit, with
little trick-taking opportunity in the side suits. Of
course, in some situations preemptive bids may be made with
an opening hand. Let's say our partner has passed the
bidding and we can judge from our values that game is very
unlikely. Or perhaps we see a benefit making a jump overcall
after one or both opponents have bid. Some advanced players
even go so far as to play responder's jump-shift bid in a
new suit as weak (typically after an opponent has made an
overcall). But at our level, let's avoid those sexy advanced
bids and master the basics of preemptive bidding.
Before we continue, let's review how to
evaluate our effective points in the preempt suit. Perhaps
you have already been exposed to the concept of "length
points" in addition to traditional HCP. When we hold a 5
card suit, we add an extra length point since the hand
should enjoy extra tricks once the preempt suit has been
promoted. Holding a seven card suit, we add 3 length points
to our effective point count: seven cards minus a 4 card
baseline equals 3 extra distribution points. If we play 2
level preempts, we add two points (6 - 4 = +2 points), and
so on.
Holding a seven card suit, we typically
preempt at the 3 level. Playing the modern Bridge bidding
style, we may also preempt at the 2 level holding a six card
suit (2 Diamonds, 2 Hearts, or 2 Spades), also known as 2
level preemptive bids. Since 2 Clubs is reserved as our all
purpose strong bid with 22 points or more, holding a weak
six card Club suit we must pass or aggressively make a
preempt call of 3 Clubs. Okay, off to the table to discuss
some hands:
A K x x x x x
x
x x x
x x
An ideal hand to open 3 Spades with a nice 7 card suit.
x
J x
x x x
K J 10 9 x x x
3 Clubs is fine with our fair suit and no
defensive tricks.
Q x x
A K Q x x x x
x x x
--
Open 1 Heart with 11 HCP plus 3 length
points. Game is still within sight.
A K Q x x x
x x
x x x
x x
Playing preemptive weak two bids, we would
proudly open 2 Spades. But what if partner only plays weak
three bids as preempts? With such solid values, we recommend
opening 3 Spades as though the suit held seven cards -
without much help the suit will take six tricks. And on a
bad day when your side goes down, you can feign ignorance,
claiming you could have sworn you saw 7 Spades. Perhaps a
Club was mixed in with all those Spades - after all, the
lighting is a bit dark where you are seated!
So if 3 level bids show weak hands and most 2
level bids are also preemptive, what does it mean when a
player opens the bidding at the 4 or 5 level? If you said an
eight card suit or longer, great - you have a good grasp of
opening preempts. Still, let's explore some of the
subtleties of these bids. As our regular BridgeHands readers
will attest, whenever we look at our hand we should consider
the "Rule
of Anticipation." This rule advocates we consider other
players will likely hold the compliment of our hand
(strength and suit shape). So when we hold an eight or nine
card suit, it's likely other players will either hold a suit
of similar length or the opponent's combined suit length
will be very long. The implication here is that holding
either an eight or nine card minor suit, we should strive to
open the suit 5 Clubs or 5 Diamonds. The opponents are
likely to be bidding a major suit game with length and
strength; so a 4 level weak bid in a minor suit is much less
effective compared to a preemptive 5 level opening call. Of
course, from time to time the opponents may make a penalty
double so, as always, we should consider possible defensive
tricks, vulnerability and other environmental factors. More
on this later.
Okay, are you ready for a trick question?
What should you open when you're lucky enough to hold a nine
card major suit? Actually, 4 Hearts or 4 Spades is already a
game bid. Since its unlikely most sane opponents will make
an overcall, bid your major suit game at the 4 level. Some
advanced players have fancy methods for rare calls at the 5
level, but they seldom come up. And since it's unlikely we
will remember the agreements at that time, let's forgo
discussing such obtuse bids.
Next let's talk about your shape. Of course
we are talking about the card length in each suit! As you
might guess, we have the "good, bad, and the ugly" hand
shapes in Bridge. In essence, a "flatter" hand is less
likely to take tricks. So a more balanced hand shape like a
6-3-2-2 hand will take far less tricks than a 6-5-2-0 shape.
Bottom line - do not preempt two-suited hands that have a
strong potential to make a major suit game (i.e., don't
preempt the rare hand). Statistically speaking, here are the
possible holdings of various hand patterns associated with
preemptive bids.
Six card suit:
6-3-2-2 5.6 percent
6-4-2-1 4.7 percent
6-3-3-1 3.5 percent
6-4-3-0 1.3 percent
6-5-1-1 0.71 percent
6-5-2-0 0.65 percent
6-6-1-0 slim!
Seven card suit:
7-3-2-1 1.9 percent
7-2-2-2 0.51 percent
7-4-1-1 0.39 percent
7-4-2-0 0.36 percent
7-3-3-0 0.27 percent
7-5-1-0 0.10 percent
7-6-0-0 almost nil!
Did you notice the combined percentage of
possible preemptive six card suits? The total of 6-3 and 6-4
hands is 5.6 + 4.7 + 3.5 + 1.3 = 15.1 percent of total
Bridge hands (remember, we avoid preempting two- suited 6-5
hands). No wonder 2 level preempts with a six card suit are
so popular! Assuming you will not have opening points about
half the time yet hold decent honors in your long suit, you
can enjoy entering the auction with a preemptive bid. And as
we know, all red-blooded Bridge players simply love to bid
something.
Now let's cover some additional guidelines
associated with preemptive bids. While we'd like to call
them rules, the fact of the matter is that there are not
many universal agreements by Bridge players - yes, we are
such a fickle group. Here's some friendly advice when
preempting in the first and second seat:
As previously discussed:
1. Strive to hold at least 5+ HCP in your
preempt suit (or at least
Q-J-10).
2. Do not open preemptively with a two-suited
hand. In fact, there's even a poignant saying, "With 6-5,
come alive" (meaning strive to bid game).
3. Do not open preemptively with more than
one useful outside honor (likely defensive tricks).
Here are some additional recommendations:
4. Never mix preempts with your opponents -
if they make a preemptive bid, you should pass with
preemptive values. If you directly make an overcall, your
partner is entitled to assume you have an opening hand and
will probably bid on to game or slam. Holding a substandard
hand after an opponent preempts, relax and let your partner
decide the best action.
5. Two-level preempts are acceptable with an
Ace in an outside side suit, provided the hand evaluates to
less than 12 points (including 2 distribution points for a
six card suit).
6. Three-level preempts should not hold an
outside Ace. That hand would include 4 points for an Ace, 3
length points for a seven card suit, plus our trump honors -
rather than preempting, we should make a normal opening bid.
7. Side suit voids are okay (some would
disagree), although we profess such a hand is indeed
shapely.
8. Preempting with a weak two bid and a four
card side suit is questionable, especially if the side suit
is Hearts or Spades. Most good players certainly would not
open with a weak two bid if the side suit major contained a
useful honor.
9. Never preempt when you're having a bad day
or your partner will subsequently punish you. Of course we
are jesting! Yet all frequent Bridge players certainly will
have some stories to share regarding the emotional side of
our game!
Okay, now let's consider some of the
environmental factors - when the stars are in the right
position to make our preemptive call. Here are some primary
considerations:
1. Vulnerability
2. Relative seat position (how many players have previously
passed)
3. Prior bids by others (opponent/s, partner)
4. Table presence
5. Fourth seat bidding
1. Vulnerability - When our side is
vulnerable, the good news is that we obtain a premium score
for making game or slam; ditto for the opponents making game
or slam. Of course, the downside is that when we fail to
make our contract the
penalty for undertricks is higher (also
see Duplicate scoring) - significantly higher when the
opponents double our final contract. Generally speaking, we
have three scenarios from a preemptive bidding perspective:
a. Favorable vulnerability - opponents
vulnerable, we are non-vulnerable
b. Neutral vulnerability - both sides vulnerable or both
sides non-vulnerable
c. Unfavorable vulnerability - we are vulnerable, opponents
are non-vulnerable
From a risk-reward basis, we feel a greater
sense of impunity with favorable vulnerability. A good
analogy is the green light - go ahead with reasonable
preempts. With neutral vulnerability (yellow light), we
proceed with caution. Thus, with adverse/unfavorable
vulnerability, we'd better look both ways (figuratively
speaking) before making a preemptive bid - here's a good
time to double-check the quality of your preempt suit.
Here's a twist on preemptive bidding used by
some players. We try to avoid burdening you with lots of
arithmetic formulas, but it's probably worth at least
acquainting our frisky bidders with the Rule of 2-3-4.
Here's how it works - we open preemptively at a varying
level (2 level, 3 level or 4 level) based on the
vulnerability. Indeed, that's certainly different than what
we've been advocating elsewhere. By the way, some limit this
approach to the Rule of 2-3, believing you should always
restrict your losses to 500 points. But for the sake of
completeness, let's review the complete 2-3-4 method to
witness how it works.
With favorable vulnerability, open
preemptively to the level you'll lose 4 tricks.
With neutral vulnerability, open preemptively to the level
you'll lose 3 tricks.
With adverse vulnerability, open preemptively to the level
you'll lose 2 tricks.
The notion here is that when you have a weak
hand, on average partner will have at least two playing
tricks. This is a reasonable proposition, provided you can
properly evaluate the likely losers you hold when making a
preemptive bid. Here's a few hands:
Favorable vulnerability = 4 losers:
Q J 10 9 x x x
x x x
x x
x
Assume 5 Spade tricks 5 tricks plus 4 losers
equals 9 tricks, so we bid 3 Spades
Neutral vulnerability = 3 losers:
x x x
x
Q J 10 9 x x x
K Q
Assume 5 Diamonds and 1 Club 5+1 tricks plus
3 losers equals 9 tricks, so we bid 3 Diamonds
Unfavorable vulnerability = 2 losers:
x x
x
Q J 10 9 x x x
K Q x
Assume 5 Diamonds and 2 Clubs
Wait a minute! With two defensive Club
tricks, we should pass.
Unfavorable vulnerability = 2 losers:
x x x
x
Q J 10 9 x x x
K Q
Assume 5 Diamonds and 1 Club (reprint of
prior hand) 5+1 tricks plus 2 losers equals 8 tricks, so we
cautiously bid 2 Diamonds
Let's stress one important point before we
proceed. When we make a preemptive call, we must not bid
again unless instructed to do so through partner's forcing
bid (see upcoming newsletter). Once we've cast our
preemptive spell, we turn over captaincy to our partner to
pass, bid onward or perhaps penalize the opponents. In
Bridge as in life the saying goes, "Speak now or forever
hold your peace."
2. Relative seat position - here again, we
have three basic scenarios:
a. Preempting in third seat (two passes so
far)
b. Preempting in first seat (no one has bid)
c. Preempting in second seat (only Right Hand Opponent has
passed)
Did we trip you up ordering preempts in this
sequence? For a moment, let's look at preempts from our
partner's perspective. When are we least likely to make a
preemptive bid that will influence partner holding a good
hand? That's right, it's the third seat - our partner has
already passed so the only person we can affect with our
preemptive bid is the unfortunate opponent in the fourth
seat. Sitting in the first seat as dealer, three players
have the opportunity to bid: two opponents and one partner.
So the odds are one in three (33 percent) that our
preemptive bid will stress our partner. Now do you see why
we show second seat preempt at the bottom? With two
remaining bidders, the odds are one in two (50 percent) that
we will preempt our partner's ability to accurately bid. So
does this mean that we should not preempt in second seat?
No, not at all. But when considering all the various factors
of making a preemptive bid, be sure to at least give some
weighting to the relative seat when bidding. Naturally we
are much more comfortable preempting with great trump honors
in third seat with favorable vulnerability as opposed to a
poor trump suit in second seat with unfavorable
vulnerability. Here's an interesting hand to illustrate our
point:
x
K x
K xx
Q 10 9 8 x x x
We would pass in 1st and 2nd seat with two
useful honors in side suits, but consider opening 3 Clubs in
third seat. However, please watch your vulnerability - your
mileage may vary!
Now let's tackle the featured hand pictured
at the beginning of this newsletter - what's your bid?
2
K Q 10 9 4 3 2
2
A 4 3 2
Hopefully you said, "it depends on the
relative seat!" In first or second seat we'd be inclined to
open 1 Heart with 9 HCP plus 3 distribution points for an
acceptable suit with working honors. But what if you held
this hand in the third seat? That's a more difficult
decision. If partner holds 2 Hearts and an Ace and King, a 4
Heart game should be in the bag. On the other hand, it's
conceivable the opponents might make a 4 Spade game if we do
not make an obstructive call. So we will be happy to support
your third seat decision to open 1 Heart or 3 Hearts. And
for our patient black-white thinkers that have hung in here,
we have a treat for you! Since we were not sure of this hand
ourselves, we entered the hand into
Dealmaster Pro, a Bridge simulator that additionally
performs double-dummy analysis. For the criteria, we
assigned North and East holding less than 12 points and our
above hand to South. We then instructed Dealmaster Pro to
randomly deal 1,000 hands - all three hands could hold any
values except our given cards, and North-South will be
assigned passing hand strength. And the results are:
Heart tricks by South: 12 = 1%, 11+ = 10%,
10+ = 35%, 9+ = 68%
Spade tricks by E/W: 12 = 5%, 11+ = 17%, 10+ = 36%, 9+ = 57%
So what does this mean? First off, regardless
of partner's hand, making 3 Hearts is fairly safe, likely to
make two-thirds of the time (68 percent). Game is possible
about one-third of the time (35 percent). At game levels and
above (10 tricks), the odds are slightly better for
East-West to make a Spade contract than our Heart game. Yet
at the 3 level, our 3 Heart contract is 11 percent more
likely to win 9 tricks than East-West playing in 3 Spades.
In summary, if you are trying to "buy the auction" then
opening 3 Hearts is probably your bid of choice. On the
downside, making the tactical preemptive bid inhibits our
opportunity to enjoy a game contract. So in balance, here's
a situation where we should consider the likelihood of
opponents to enter the auction based on our various bids.
Don't say we didn't warn you in our introduction -
preemptive bidding is sometimes more of an art than a
science!
There are numerous scenarios where opponent
bidding influences our action - more than we can discuss
here but let's consider one provocative situation. Let's say
you are sitting in the third seat with a very poor hand and
the bidding has gone: Pass - Pass - ? What do you know?
Assuming your partner and RHO are not sleepy, neither player
has 12+ points. What would you bid holding this hand?
Q J 10 x x
x
x x x
Q J x x
Of course, we would never admit our dirty
little secret that in third seat we love opening 2 Spades
with such a trashy hand. But certainly we know our LHO holds
a very big hand with 15+ points, correct? So depending on
your sense for adventure making frisky bids, let your
conscience be your guide (and partnership trust).
3. Prior bids by others - in prior
newsletters, we have discussed finesses. Suit promotion,
ruffing (usually in dummy) and finessing serve as our three
fundamental techniques to develop extra tricks. Let's say an
opponent opens in a major suit showing 5+ cards in the suit
with 12+ points, and you hold a King and two small cards in
the suit.
A Q 10 x x x
K x x
x x x
x
Are you more likely to win a trick in the
suit when your RHO or LHO bid Hearts? Correct, when your
Right Hand Opponent opened 1 Heart. Holding most of the
cards in the suit and likely holding the Ace, we hope to
play a low card from the dummy through RHO and win a trick
with our King. So when one or both of our opponents have
been bidding, we should double-check our honors and
re-evaluate the opportunity to score extra tricks by
finessing. Are you ready to think outside the box? Okay,
let's hold the same cards but swap a few suits:
x x x
x
A Q 10 x x x
K x x
As far as the Heart suit goes, our partner is
more likely to take tricks when our LHO bid the suit - that
will be partner's RHO. Unfortunately, our King may now be
poorly placed and lose the finesse. The point here is that
we should vigilantly reevaluate our hand as the bidding
progresses. And you can always impress your Bridge buddies
throwing around terms like elastic hand evaluation.
4. Table presence - For a variety of reasons,
some folks live life more boldly than others and they
usually bring such attributes to the Bridge table (assuming
Bridge isn't their alter ego). This influences their
willingness to bid and make overcalls, as well as their
decision to double a preemptive bid by you or your partner.
Or perhaps they would like to penalize you but are afraid
their partner will interpret their double as a "takeout"
bid, forcing their partner to make ill-advised call. For
better or worse, intimidation is another factor - if we
judge our opponent to be a better player, we are probably
not as likely to make a penalty double. Then again, after
spectacular results on a prior hand, both sides may feel
some form of mysterious energy compels them to make an out
of the ordinary bid. Welcome to our fascinating game of
Bridge.
5. Fourth seat bidding - After three passes,
preemptive bidding is a moot point (we can simply pass), so
a 2 level preemptive bid should serve another purpose. And
what might that be, you ask? Well, here's another
specialized bid used by advanced players but we will throw
it in should you and your partner wish to play it. Of
course, never make a conventional bid unless your partner
clearly understands the meaning of the call. For these
players, opening 2 Hearts or 2 Spades in the fourth seat
actually shows an opening hand with a very nice suit
(usually 6 card suit with one loser), and two defensive
tricks. Here's are some examples:
A K J x x x
x
Q x x
A x x
Classic 4th seat 2 Spade opener for those who
play it.
A Q J x x x
x
K Q x
x x x
2 Spades here. Incidentally, in third seat we
would open 1 Spade - even though partner is a passed hand,
three honors in the minors could score a game contract.
A K J 10 x x
x x
Q x x
x x
Open 1 Spade with only one defensive trick.
Rebid 2 Spades next time around.
x
A K J 10 x x
x x x
x x x
Pass (same as above w/o Diamond Queen). In
any other seat we would preempt but that doesn't work here.
Don't open Pandora's box bidding 1 Heart - the opponents
will certainly outbid you in Spades.
Finally, for the curious players, opening at
the 3 level in the fourth seat is a "shutout" bid with
unspecified values. Obviously, this is a gambling bid
anticipating the opener will make the contract, bidding so
high the opponents will not find their contract. But do they
feel lucky, ask you? See item 4 above!
Stay tuned - in upcoming newsletters we will dig into
responder forcing and non-forcing bids after opener's
preempts, opener rebids, overcalls, and more.
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