Justin Lall

One of the biggest problems of modern science is giving the opponents the chance to double (or not double) artificial bids. However, since the doubles give us extra bidding room we should be well versed in turning the tables on the opponents. These opportunities come in four categories: stoppers, competitive bidding, slam bidding, and Stayman. I’ll discuss each:

In stopper ask auctions often you cannot diagnose when both players have a half stopper and sometimes you cannot rightside the contract. These issues are easily solved when they make a lead directing double. Suppose the auction goes

1-(2)-3-(P)-3-(X)

Now a redouble by responder shows the ace so opener can bid 3N with Qx and rightside the hand. Responder can pass with an unremarkable hand which gives opener the chance to redouble with a partial stop. This requires discussion, but common sense dictates that both sides should not be redoubling with the ace. Here if opener had the ace he’d bid 3N himself to try and rightside opposite responder’s possible Qx. Finally if opener XXs responder bids 3N with a partial stop himself (think Qx and Jxx). This is a little tricky, but well worth the effort.

Next are competitive auctions. For Instance,

(1)-1-(P)-2-(X)

Most experts play 2 is weak and pass is a little stronger. In my opinion a superior distinction is between offensive and defensive minimums. This prepares for a 3 level decision. So with 5332 or (gasp!) a 4 card overall, pass, and with 5431 or 6322 bid. Of course use your judgment based on honor location as well. With extra values you have a lot more bids you can make (like XX for starters, which most people have not defined).

In Slam bidding sequences when they double your cuebid going back to your suit is definitely the weakest action. Redoubling shows a first round control. That may seem strange, but you don’t want to redouble with a second round control only to find out your partner has one as well! You should often pass to show interest and see if partner can redouble (first round control since he’s already cuebid the suit) or not, but you may want to cuebid yourself lest you never get the chance.

When they double Stayman the main issues become club stoppers and rightsiding. Remember if opener has no club stopper, responder is the right side.

Here is my favorite structure:

1N-(2)-X-

P- No stopper. Then responder XXs as restayman, and opener responds with the major he doesn’t have (remember who the rightside is!). If opener has no major he responds 2 as usual. If responder does not redouble he’s showing a garbage stayman hand type.

XX- Business, at least 4 very good clubs.

Other bids- Normal Stayman responses and promise a club stop.

As you can see, there are many ways to fight back against these doubles. Sometimes they direct the killing lead, but sometimes they help us find the best contract. If you know how to handle these situations, they’ll probably start doubling less!

Nobody is vulnerable and you pick up K9742 74 6 KJT87. LHO passes, partner opens 1 and RHO makes a takeout X. You’re not sure how to describe your hand, but luckily you have you have a 4 gadget at your disposal to show 5+ clubs, 4+ spades and a game going hand. In fact, this would be the textbook hand for that auction. This “fit jump” enables partner to accurately judge what to do if the opponents compete to the 5 level and can get you to a low HCP slam opposite a prime double fitter. It’s the perfect bid right?

WRONG!

A bid being the perfect description of your hand does not necessarily make it the right bid. Though in constructive auctions I advocate describing your hand as well as possible, competitive bidding is a completely different matter. Tactical approaches that will make life hard for the opponents should often be adopted, even at the cost of some accuracy.

The biggest problem with the 4 bid is that it gives LHO entry to the 4 level to introduce a save-suggesting bid. For example, with a hand like 63 KQ853 Q542 94 LHO can bid 4 to invite his partner to save in 5. This way they get to communicate and judge intelligently whether they should be bidding at the 5 level or not. Had you just bid an immediate 4 your left hand opponent would be forced to pass with that hand, and your RHO would also pass without significant extra values.

The other problem with 4 is that you aren’t just telling your partner what your hand looks like, you’re telling the opponents. That information gives them an even greater ability to judge whether to bid on, double you, or pass. If RHO has a balanced 18 count with most of his values in the red suits, he would have to double back in if you jump to 4. However, by jumping to 4 you alert him that his red suit tricks are not cashing so he will no longer feel compelled to double you. Likewise, LHO will not X 4 with a random 10 or 11 after a 4 bid unless he has values in the black suits. He will even know that his red suit values are likely to be working on offense and may save or suggest a save that he wouldn’t have done after the more straight forward jump.

What about the potential downsides of disguising your hand with an immediate jump to 4? If the opponents do go on to the 5 level then you will be poorly placed. You will guess right some of the time, but not as much as you would have had you started with 4. This risk is not as great as it seems though. With LHO being a passed hand he is unlikely to have a long enough suit or a good enough hand to bid at the 5 level. If he does bid, it will most likely be a card showing X which will generally be passed out at such a high level. You also might miss a slam, but that would be a rare occurrence after RHO has shown opening values. Partner would need to have a great fit, and in that case the opponents may have one as well and might have a cheap save at the 7 level.

It is worthwhile to note that the problems of making a fit jump in this auction are so severe because the suits involved are spades and clubs. If you made the hand 6 K9742 KJT87 74 after partner opens 1 and RHO Xs, a 4 bid would have a lot more appeal as you now give the opponents very little additional useful room. Since you need to prepare for the likely 4 bid it now becomes a good tactical maneuver to describe your hand. However, in the original example a fit jump is clearly a tactical blunder.

Preempting is a very important part of the modern game. Bidding is so accurate these days that if you allow your opponents to have a free run they will almost always go right. By preempting you sometimes force them to guess, and the more they have to guess the more they will go wrong.

If that were the whole story, people would be preempting randomly with all types of hands. Unfortunately there are also dangers in preempting, the main one being your pesky partner. Since partner may wake up with a good hand or want to further the preempt, they must maintain some constructive element. Also, if they are too wild you are going to risk getting doubled and going for a number every now and then. Such is life, but you don’t want it to happen too often. The other big risk is that you are going to help the opponents play the hand. Remember, when you are preempting it is probably the opponent’s hand and you are volunteering information to them.

The key is to find a balance between the constructive and destructive elements of preempting and between the risks and rewards associated with it. This can be very difficult and require good judgment and a lot of experience.

The main thing a preempt should say is that the hand is offensively oriented. If partner wants to save, that’s great, if he wants to bid game, that’s great. If the opponents want to double me that’s not a complete disaster because I can take some tricks and they’ll probably make something. If partner wants to double them… well he’s on his own. A hand that screams a certain suit is a good candidate for a preempt.

To determine whether a hand fits with my definition of what a preempt should look like, I look at these 3 factors:

• Purity. Are my honors located in my long suits or my short suits? Do I have a lot of stray values? QJTxxx x Qxxx xx is an excellent preempt. However, Axxxxx K Jxx Qxx is awful. The purer the hand is, the better it is for a preempt.

• Suit Texture. Let’s say the auction were to go 2-p-p-X-p-p-p. Would you rather have KQ5432 of spades, or QJT876? I would definitely prefer the latter. The texture of a suit is what makes it playable with a bad split, or when partner raises you to game with a lot of controls and a stiff trump.

• Shape. 6322 and 7222 are the kiss of death. If you are 6-4 or 7-4 your trick taking potential increases and so does the opponents. This is a very overlooked factor by most people.

Let me dispel some myths while I’m at it. Voids are not a bad thing when preempting. They add to the offensive potential of your hand. Preempt MORE aggressively with a void, not less. Side aces are also not a bad thing. They’re much better than say, side queens. They serve offensive purposes as well as defensive ones.

Note that high cards were never mentioned. High cards are irrelevant when it comes to preempting if the hand is less than opening bid strength.

Does this mean I would preempt with 0 points? Yes, I would consider T98765 2 T932 52 white/red in first seat to be a 2 opener. I wouldn’t do this red since the playing strength of the hand is just too low, but you will note it does well on purity, suit quality(!!) and shape.

Regarding 5 card weak 2′s, I will rarely do it unless in 3rd seat. If I have an extraordinary suit and 5431 or 55 then I might, but 5332 preempts are losing bridge in my opinion. The hand is balanced, not a 1 suited offensive hand. If you do open 5 card weak 2′s liberally, your partner needs to know this so that he doesn’t always misjudge later in the auction.

How much playing strength is required to preempt in first or second? I’ve never followed the rule of “2, 3, or 4″ or anything like that, if it looks like a preempt just preempt. I do recommend your 3 level openers to be about a trick heavier than your 2 level openers, despite a minority style of 2 bids being constructive and 3 bids being garbage. It just seems logical to me that if you contract for 1 more trick, you are showing the same hand type except a trick (generally in the form of a trump) better. I also suggest that any hand you open at the 2 level with red/white should be opened at the 3 level white/red. That is another way of saying that red/white preempts should be a trick better than white/red ones. At equal vulnerability, just use your judgment.

Nothing is perfect, the main goal of preempting is to make life hard on the opponents. If your requirements are too rigid, you aren’t preempting enough. However, the hands need to be offensive and able to take some tricks. 5332 just won’t cut it.