September 2010 - 44

Upgrading Your Game

Lynn Berg

the tolerance of your partnership?
You should set the limits which make
you comfortable.
One reason for bidding - perhaps
the most common - is to advance
the preempt. Say partner opens 2.
Over a takeout double on your right,
bid 3 with:

lberg@cfl.rr.com

A 6 2 9 4 3 K J 9 6 2 K 6.

Preempt protocols
(continued)
When your partner has preempted,
remember the primary message of
such bids is this: "If my suit isn't
trump, my hand won't take many
tricks." A preempt does not deny
three-card support for another suit,
and many players would even preempt with a hand such as:
A K J 9 6 4 2 J 7 6 5 2 3.
How does your partnership feel
about this? It's not a question of rules,
but rather one of the comfort and understandings of your partnership.
Most of the time when partner has
preempted, you'll just pass. Say partner opens 2 and you hold:
Q 9 7 8 3 J 9 6 4 2 K 8 6.
Try to pass as "normally" as possible. You know they can probably
make game in spades, maybe even in
notrump, but your partner's bid has
jammed the bidding. Don't squirm!
Marty Bergen used to say that if he
opened 2, especially in first or
second seat, his partners just had to
stand mute: He had jammed the bidding for the opponents and could
have a very bad hand indeed. What's
44 Bridge Bulletin September 2010

You really don't want to defend at
a lower level, and your side should
be safe at the nine-trick level with
your nine-card trump suit. If you have
four trumps (and are not vulnerable)
you might even jump to the 10-trick
level. Vulnerable vs. non-vulnerable
opponents would be far too dangerous. On equal vulnerability, you have
to decide how likely it is that they
can make their game. If you have too
much defense, don't volunteer to go
down when they might go down instead.
What about bidding game because
you have a good hand? I don't know
a magic formula or a specific point
count that will always work (wish
I did!). A reasonable approach is to
remember that partner can probably
take five to seven tricks, depending
on vulnerability and the aggressiveness of your style. If it's a major, you
have to supply the rest of the tricks
to get to 10. For notrump, you have
to get to nine. That may seem like an
obvious point to make, but it's forgotten far too often. Partner probably
has several relatively short suits, so
you need aces and kings (or shortness and trumps) to prevent losers.
"Quacks" - queens and jacks - may
be of little use because they are slow
winners.

If partner has preempted in a major,
his suit probably should be trump so
you'll get the maximum value from
his hand. Over a weak two-bid, a common approach for asking if partner
holds a high card (sometimes called a
feature) outside the long suit is 2NT.
Partner responds in the suit which
has the feature, typically an ace or
king, which will provide access to his
hand. With no such card, and he certainly doesn't promise one with the
preempt, partner will rebid his suit,
so you need to be prepared for that.
Asking with a singleton in partner's
suit is usually a very bad idea. Lastly,
partner might have been dealt a great
suit, such as A-K-Q-x-x-x (and,
of course, no side winners or he'd
have opened with a one-bid). If you
ask about a feature with 2NT, he can
show a solid suit by bidding 3NT: "No
entry, pard, but my suit will probably
run if you have a couple of low ones."
Unless you have an agreement to
the contrary, a new suit by an unpassed partner is forcing for one
round. If you've agreed, for instance,
that a new suit at the two level is not
forcing, be sure to check the appropriate box on the card and remember to
Alert. Over a 2 bid, you might want
to bid a five-card major to see if partner perhaps has three-card support:
 A K J 9 5  A 6 3  8 7  Q 6 2.
You might have a partscore or even
a game in spades, but surely not in
notrump or diamonds. And you have
a tolerance for diamonds, so you
won't be distressed if partner doesn't
have three-card spade support and repeats her diamonds.
r
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2010
