PITA Preempts

March 15, 2014

Greg Foltz

 

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war

—Antony predicts the revenge of Caesar's spirit upon the conspirators.

 

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look

—Caesar's suspicious comment.

 

Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar;

—Brutus, explaining why Antony need not be killed.

 

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once

—Caesar tells Calpurnia that he is not afraid of death

 

I.  The most important things to remember about preempts:

 

     The main purpose of preempts is to obstruct the opponents auction..

     They work.  They cause pain and uncertainty in the auction.  PITA.

      Hopefully this pain is mostly inflicted on the opponents and not your

      partners.

 

     The higher the preempt, the better.  Preempt as high as you dare. 

     One level higher can make a world of difference.  For example:

     You Hold: 

           ♠  87 ♥ AQ ♦ K96 ♣ AQJT87

                    Right Hand Opponent opens 2 ♠  -- Your call?

                    Right Hand Opponent opens 3 ♠  -- Your call?         

 

               In the first case, you have an easy 3♣ call allowing partner to pass,

               bid 3♥ with a ♥ suit, or bid 3NT with a Spade stopper.   In the second case,  there seems to be no good alternative.

 

    The Universal Rule of Preempts -- 1 and Done

    Bid again only if partner forces you to bid.

    Know your Partnership style – 2 dimensions

          Sound vs. Light

          Disciplined vs. Unpredictable (variable)

          The recommended Style is:

                Disciplined in 1st 2nd and 4th chairs.  

                 3rd seat preempts have more latitude because partner is a passed

                 hand and game is unlikely.

 

The single most important thing in Preempts:  (Circle and Underline this)

 

               Have the hand that your partner expects.

 

This is something that you and your partners will need to work out.  I am not going to tell you what to bid with every possible preemptive hand that can come up.  Your partner is the one taking any further action based on your initial bid.   I hope to give you and your partner some guidance and tools and techniques to be better preempters.

 

II.  Weak 2s vs. Weak 3s/4s – There is some overlap here.  Todays lecture is mostly about weak 3 and 4 bids.   Some of the issues also relate to weak two bids and to weak jump overcalls.  Here’s a capsule summary of the differences between weak 2s and weak 3s and 4s.

         

Weak 2s

                   5 to 10 HCP.

                  Usually contains some defense -  Figure 1˝ to 2 Quick tricks. 

                  Usually 6 cards; but may be 5 or 7.

                  Allows for partner to ask about the quality of the hand.

Weak 3s/4s

                   3 – 10 HCP

                    Concentrated values in 1 suit.  Rarely an outside Ace.

                    Usually 7 cards;  but may be 6 or longer than 7.

                   Partner doesn’t get to ask you any questions.  You have the hand

                    that partner expects (sound familiar?)

 

III. Evaluating your hand:

 

     Suit Length and Quality – The more intermediates in your suit, the better.  QJT9532 is much better than QJ86532.  It is even better than AT86532.

 

     Shape -- More shape is better: 7330 is better than 7321 is better than 7222

 

     Outside stuff (defense) - Bad - Scattered Qs and Js may be enough defense to keep the opponents from making their contract.  Caution advised.  If most of your strength is outside your long suit, just pass.

         

     Major suit support – Especially if partner is an unpassed hand.  Honor fourth in a major a definite no-no if partner has not passed.  3 or 4 small may or may not be OK.   Would partner be disappointed in your hand as a dummy?

 

    Count your playing tricks:

1) Count every card after the third card in a suit as one playing trick.

2) In the top three cards of each suit, each ace and each king = one trick.

3) Count each queen as a trick if there is a second honor card in that suit.

4) Count no trick for a singleton king, singleton queen or queen doubleton.   Count only one trick for holding K-Q doubleton.

 

In some cases this requires only common sense:

 

1) ♠ KQJT754 ♥ 832 ♦ 3 ♣ 73 

Clearly you will win 6 tricks in your own hand if spades are trumps.

In other cases it requires a guess. The best procedure is to estimate how many tricks your honor cards will win then add 1 additional trick for each card over 3 in a suit:

2) ♠ 8 ♥ AQ87642 ♦ Q862 ♣ 3

Figure 2 playing tricks for the ♥ AQ. 4 more tricks for the heart length and 1 for the fourth diamond.  Hence 7 tricks.

3) ♠ 9 ♥ T3 ♦ QJT853 ♣ J842

 

The ♦ QJ10 will win 1 trick; ignore the ♣ J. Add 3 more tricks for the diamond length and 1 for the fourth club.  Hence 5 tricks.

4) ♠ 952 ♥ - ♦ K73 ♣ KJ97652

The ♣ K and the ♦ K are 2 playing tricks. Add 4 more tricks for the club length.  Hence 6 tricks.

 

IV. Other Important things to think about:

         

        Vulnerability is 1st key to deciding how high to bid.

             A middle of the road approach is the Rule of 2-3-4.

             Red – unfavorable vulnerability – You are vulnerable, they’re not.

                    Overbid by 2 tricks

             Yellow – equal vulnerability – Both vulnerable or both not vulnerable

                    Overbid by 3 tricks

             Green - favorable vulnerability – They are vulnerable,  you’re not.

                    Overbid by 4 tricks

           Our 4 example hands:

              1) Open 2♠ at Red; open 3♠ at Yellow; open 4♠ at Green

             2) Open 3♥ at Red; open 4♥ at Yellow or Green

              3) Pass Red or Yellow; open 3♦ at green.

             4)  Pass at Red; open 3♣ at Yellow; open 4♣ at Green.

      Position may modify how high you choose to bid.

          1st Position - you know nothing about the hand – no modifications.

          2nd Position – Be conservative, it may still be your hand.  One opponent has passed. Partner may still have game-going tickets.

          3rd position – Game is unlikely, it’s probably their hand.  Full speed ahead.  Partner should realize that you are overbidding.

          4th position – Open promising hands from the top of your preempt range up to an opener.  You hope to buy and play the contract.  A weak 2 has 10-13 HCP and a good 6 card suit.  An opening Game bid may be a pretty good opening hand or better (but slam is unlikely)

 

IMPS vs matchpoints scoring should also influence how frisky your preempts are.  Survey says…  Be more conservative at IMPs than matchpoints.  Preempts don’t always work as intended.  You can go for a large penalty against nothing.  Its also harder to explain telephone numbers to four people than it is to two. 

 

V. Some things to not think about:

 

          The state of your game. 

          Who your opponents are.

 

          Recommend:  Maintain your discipline in opening preempts.  Leave these things for your partners’ consideration in further competition. 

 

VI. Responding to preempts – Think tricks, not point count.  Partner has the hand that you expect (that again?), making your responses much easier.  Partner has already overbid by 2, 3 or 4 tricks (you should know which). 

 

Raises - Be direct.  Decide where and how high and bid it immediately.

Some examples:

   None Vul. Auction: 2♠, Pass ?; or 2♠, Double ?

      ♠ A92 ♥ K9 ♦ KQ92 ♣ AJ98 bid 4♠, hoping to make it or defend.

      ♠ AT86 ♥ 5 ♦ T872 ♣ K762   bid 4♠, hoping to raise the pain level.

      ♠ 986 ♥ Q7 ♦ KJ532 ♣ T94   bid 3♠, total tricks.

      ♠ J98 ♥ K54 ♦ AQ3 ♣ Q852  bid 3♠, total tricks.

 

 New Suits are Forcing by an unpassed hand.

  None vul.  Auction: 3♣, Pass  You hold:

          ♠ AK7543 ♥ A73 ♦ 6 ♣ K84.   Bid 3♠. You’ll play 4♠ if partner can support otherwise you’ll bid 5♣.

 

3NT is to play.  Over a minor suit preempt this promises some useful cards in partner’s preempted suit plus some outside stoppers.  Over a major suit preempt this is probably a running minor plus outside stoppers.

 

Don’t try to rescue partner.  With a weak hand and no fit for partner just pass and hope the opponents can’t sort it out.

 

The Last Guess – a short Digression.  In competition, you should bid to a level where you don’t know what the opponents should do.   Make them take the last guess.  They may get it right but sometimes they’ll get it wrong.  Pay attention to the vulnerability.  Here’s a recent example of my having to take the last guess at the 6 level.…

 

  Vul vs. not I held:

       ♠ AJT963 ♥ AKQ6 ♦ A7 ♣ 9

 

I evaluated my hand at 4 losers and quite properly opened it 2♣.

My plan was to get both of my suits into the auction and play the best major fit.  My Left hand opponent overcalls 2♦; my partner passed; Now my right hand opponent bids 6♦!  Your call? URK.  What a horrible guess to have to make.

 

In preemptive auctions, the last guess seems to occur most often at the 3 level or the 5 level.  The opponents need to guess to bid game at the 3 level or to double you or bid on at the 5 level.

 

Here are some 3 level examples:

 

None Vul. Partner deals and opens 2♥,  the next player doubles or passes. 

You hold:

      ♠ Q4 ♥ J73 ♦ A984 ♣ A752

      ♠  JT94 ♥ K6 ♦ QT75 ♣ AT9

      ♠  AQ83 ♥  9854 ♦ 642 ♣ 94

In all cases, 3♥ seems to put the last guess to the opponents.  They may or may not double you for penalties.  If an opponent now bids 3♠, then its not clear if their partner should go on to 4♠.  We have introduced a level of uncertainty into the auction.  Note:  It is perfectly OK to raise partners weak 2 bid with honor doubleton in their suit (Billy Miller).

 

Here’s an example when you’re making the opponents take the last guess at the 5 level…

None Vul.  Auction: 3♥, 3♠ ?; or Pass, Pass, 3♥, 3♠, ?

You hold:

      ♠ 93 ♥ K954 ♦ AJT ♣ 9875  

Bid 5♥ immediately.  The opponents rate to make 4♠. Make them take the guess to bid on or double your contract.

 

VII. Introducing the Partnership Preempting Worksheet -- click HERE

 (HOMEWORK ALERT)

 

 

Final Quote:


“You don't learn to hold your own in the world by standing on guard, but by attacking, and getting well-hammered yourself.”

  -- George Bernard Shaw

 

 

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