In the previous article in this series, we looked at situations where it can be advantageous to get to your final contract in as few bids as possible. Jumping to a reasonable game can be a good choice when you recognize that searching for the perfect game or slam is futile, especially if there's a danger that a slower advance will confuse partner or allow the opponents to compete.
Preemptive bidding is based on the same idea and can involve similar tradeoffs. In general, the wilder your distribution, the greater the benefits of getting in (and out) quickly. Your goal with weak "freaks" is to describe your trick-taking potential to partner and make it difficult for the opponents to find their best contract. If you impose too many rules on your preempts, though, you'll seldom do either.
What's your call
in first seat, neither side vulnerable, holding
♠J1043
♥2 ♦KQJ108654
♣Void ?
You might worry that a high-level opening could preempt partner. What if he has a good hand with spades? Or enough diamonds and stoppers to make 3NT? These "what-if" questions don't have answers, so you have to focus on more practical issues. How likely is it that the opponents have a game or slam? Is a preempt an accurate description of my playing strength? If I pass and partner opens, how would I ever describe this hand?
The answers to those questions should convince you that even though an opening preempt isn't ideal, it's reasonable. How high? Goren's old Rule of 2, 3 and 4 can still be a handy guideline for these decisions:
White vs. red: Overbid by four tricks
Equal vulnerability: Overbid by three tricks
Red vs. white: Overbid by two tricks
The guidelines have some leeway, and aggressive bidders often inflate the trick margins when not vulnerable. This hand has five losers (eight potential winners), so opening 5D seems about right at equal vulnerability. Red vs. not, 4D would be the "safe" level.
Your considerations are different when you hold stronger distributional hands. Your first goal on these deals is to declare, and to improve your chances, you may have to give up on finding the highest-scoring contract.
You LHO Partner RHO
1S Pass
2S 2NT*
* Two-suiter (any two unbid suits)
What's your call holding ♠AKJ952 ♥Void ♦KQ1065 ♣Q5 ?
A slam is barely possible if partner has perfect values, and you might choose to investigate by bidding 3D or 4H (a "self-splinter" showing shortness). If partner has the wrong cards, though, even a 4S contract could be in jeopardy.
If you want to declare at a comfortable level, your best strategy is a direct jump to 4S. Any slam expedition will probably be a guessing game, and you don't want any guess forced on you at the five-level. At this point in the auction, your LHO doesn't know which two suits his partner has. If you give him room to search -- or tell him which suits you hold -- you'll make it easier for the opponents to find a profitable sacrifice or even a making game.
Higher-level decisions sometimes require you to make less-informed guesses. This hand from the Bridge Bulletin's "It's Your Call" column generated five solutions from the expert panel:
Matchpoints,
vulnerable vs. not, your RHO opens 4H and you hold
♠AKQJ865
♥Void ♦A5 ♣AQ93 .
Some panelists started with 5H, hoping to suggest a grand slam by bidding 6S over partner's 6C or 6D. Others bid 5S as a general slam try, inviting partner to bid 6S with help in the unbid suits. The plurality, however, thought there was no accurate way to locate the right cards in partner's hand, so they opted for what they called the "practical" jump to 6S.
All three approaches have merit, and each has risks. 6S is essentially a gamble that partner has a minor-suit king and a suitable club holding (jack, ten, length or shortness). The more scientific 5H and 5S bids gamble that partner will understand your message.
The best choice
depends on your knowledge of how your partner thinks. A 5S bid won't work if he
interprets it as asking for a heart control. The 5H-then-6S auction may be a
disaster if he thinks one king is enough for him to bid 7S. If you have doubts
about the outcome of those auctions, the "unbrilliant" jump to 6S
rates to be a clear, sensible and potentially successful compromise.
© 2007 Karen Walker