When you were first learning to play bridge, what were you advised to respond when partner opened 1H and you held ♠J6 ♥Q753 ♦AKJ4 ♣765 ? Would you have made the same bid if your RHO had overcalled 1S? Or if partner’s 1H had been an overcall instead of an opening bid?
For most, the answers are 3H (limit raise), “Yes" and “Yes”. Bridge teachers know that beginners need simple, logical rules and that the easiest idea to understand is that the higher you bid, the stronger your hand. Recognizing exceptions, exercising judgment and adopting more sophisticated bidding methods come later.
You’ve no doubt made numerous changes to the bidding system you learned as a beginner. Advancing players have to make careful decisions about how many improvements are needed and how fast to add them. Although no new convention or treatment is absolutely necessary, some are so widely played that they're now considered standard. At duplicate scoring, you may be at a disadvantage if you don’t adopt them, too.
Some of the most significant changes in the modern game have been in how we support partner’s suit in competitive auctions. You can get by with just the natural, point-showing raises you learned in bridge class, but most pairs in club and tournament events will have more options for describing their hands.
Successful players have found that the more ways they have to raise, the easier it will be for partner to make decisions – and in some auctions, the tougher it will be on the opponents. Here are simple, widely played agreements for raising partner’s overcall in this type of auction:
LHO Partner RHO You
1C 1H 1S ?
Cuebid raises allow you to show limit-raise values without jumping to the 3-level. Here, your cuebid of the opponent’s suit (2C) shows support and at least 10-11 points – a hand such as ♠K4 ♥K75 ♦AJ104 ♣9764 . With a minimum overcall, partner will retreat to 2H. With more, he can bid 4H or make a game-try bid.
When the opponents have bid two suits, you can also distinguish between 3-card and 4-card support. In the auction above, a cuebid of their lower-ranking suit (2C) shows the 3-card limit raise. A cuebid of their higher suit (2S) shows the same strength with 4+ trumps -- ♠K4 ♥K754 ♦AJ104 ♣976 .
Although the higher cuebid will force you to the 3-level, you expect to be pushed there anyway when you have a 9-card fit. The 2S cuebid immediately tells partner that you have the values to compete to that level. It also takes away your LHO’s 2-level rebid.
Jump raises are no longer needed to show invitational values, so they can be used as preemptive blocking bids. A jump raise in competition shows a weak hand with extra playing strength – 4+ trumps and around 4-7 high-card points, usually with no ace or king outside trumps.
Playing standard methods, your only alternatives with ♠84 ♥KJ65 ♦J10764 ♣62 are passing or raising to 2H. With the preemptive raise available, you can describe this hand by jumping to 3H.
Preemptive raises are most effective when you’re not vulnerable. Vulnerable, you’ll want to have extra playing strength (a singleton and/or stronger trumps), not necessarily extra high-card points. Used wisely, these jumps get you to your “safe” level right away while giving partner an accurate picture of your support and lack of defensive strength.
Raising partner’s opening bid. The same meanings apply after partner opens and your opponent makes an overcall. After 1H by partner, 1S by RHO, your cuebid of 2S shows heart support with invitational-or-better values. A jump to 3H is the preemptive raise. All other bids are natural.
These are the most common updates to basic raises in competitive auctions. If you’d like to add more types of supporting bids to your system, there are also a number of popular conventions that are worth considering. More about these in the next issue.
© 2022 Karen Walker