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Opening three and four-bids by Andy Hung

In this section, we will be looking at opening three and four-level bids which are purely weak (about 6-10 points) and pre-emptive in nature. Important factors such as suit quality, vulnerability, and hand distribution should all be considered in judging whether a hand is suitable for a preemptive bid or not.
Pre-empts at the three-level usually suggest a seven-card suit, and pre-empts at the four-level usually suggest an eight-card suit.
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Question 1

  South
♠ A Q J 9 8 5 3
♥ 5
♦ 7 5 2
♣ 4 3 		 
Q: 1 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♠. A pre-emptive opening bid at the three-level shows a good seven-card suit and little else. Let's hope that this bid ruins West's day. If our left-hand opponent wants to make a bid he'll have to do so at the four-level. Happy days.

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Question 2

  South
♠ 6 5 4
♥ 3 2
♦ 4
♣ K Q 10 9 7 5 2 		 
Q: 2 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♣. Although the suit quality isn't as great as that of Question 1, at least your honors are supported by the intermediate cards (the ♣10 and the ♣9). Without those intermediate cards, the strength of the Club suit diminishes quite a bit and as a result, you might consider Passing. If that were the case you should certainly Pass if you were vulnerable.

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Question 3

  South
♠ 4
♥ A K J 8 7 6 5 2
♦ 8 6
♣ 5 4 		 
Q: 3 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: 4♥. Pre-emptive bids at the four-level tend to show (at least) an eight-card suit. Here, with a nice Heart suit and about seven-and-a-half tricks in your own hand you should not have any trouble opening this hand with 4♥. Let West sort out matters at the four-level.

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Question 4

  South
♠ K J 8 7 6 5 3 2
♥ 8
♦ 5 4
♣ 8 7 		 
Q: 4 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♠. Here, your suit quality is not that great. Contrast this hand to the one in Question 3 - quite a big difference isn't there? Therefore, you do not want to open 4♠ as it might get Doubled for a big penalty, but because you don't want to Pass either, you can 'compensate' with a 3♠ opening with this hand.

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Question 5

  South
♠ Q J 9 5
♥ 4
♦ A J 10 9 8 5 2
♣ 2 		 
Q: 5 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: Pass. A good general rule is to never make a pre-emptive bid when holding a side four-card major. The reason is because you may have a fit in that major suit and you do not want to discount that possibilty of finding that major-suit fit. By opening with a pre-emptive 3♦ bid here, the Spades may be lost forever.

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Question 6

  South
♠ 
♥ K Q 10 9 5 4 2
♦ Q 8 7 5
♣ 6 5 		 
Q: 6 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♥. Despite what some textbooks might say, pre-empting with a side void is more than allowed - in fact, they are considered more as an asset than a liability. It feels very wrong to be Passing with a hand such as this when a 3♥ opening bid can disrupt the opponent's auction if this deal belongs to them. And even if you do get to declare in a Heart contract, you know you will have a secret weapon up your sleeves!

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Question 7

  South
♠ K J 10 8 7 5 2
♥ 4
♦ A 5 4
♣ 8 7 		 
Q: 7 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♠. Similar to Question 6, you are allowed to make a pre-emptive opening bid with an outside ace just as you were allowed with an outside void. The ♦A is a trick on offense as well as defense, and it improves your hand strength quite a bit. Of course we all prefer for the ♦A to be the ♠A, but why must we wait throughout our lifetime until we finally hold the ideal pre-emptive opening hand?

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Question 8

  South
♠ A Q 10 9 8 5 3
♥ A 10 9
♦ 
♣ 7 5 4 		 
Q: 8 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: 1♠. Now your hand is much too powerful for a 3♠ opening. Not only do you have an excellent Spade suit, but you also hold a side void as well as a side ace. With all of these factors combined, you will be better off opening this hand 1♠ instead of 3♠. Even though a 3♠ pre-emptive opening may loosely be defined as "6-10 points", it is highly doubtful that partner will ever play us for such a strong hand if we opened it 3♠. In fact, a more typical 3♠ opening might be something like Question 1 and there is just no comparison between that hand and the hand that we hold here.

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Question 9

  South
♠ 7
♥ 5 4
♦ 4 3
♣ A Q J 10 8 6 5 3 		 
Q: 9 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
?


 Your choice:
A: 3♣. As you have an eight-card Club suit, it would not be unreasonable to open the bidding with a pre-emptive 4♣. However, because your suit is in a minor, sometimes you have to think about the prospect of a 3NT contract. Therefore, it may be best to pre-empt with 3♣ so you don't bypass 3NT if that's where your side belongs.

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Question 10

  South
♠ 7
♥ 5 4
♦ 4 3
♣ A Q J 10 8 6 5 3 		 
Q: 10 - Do you open? If so, what do you open with?
SouthWestNorthEast
PassPass
?


 Your choice:
A: 4♣. Now the situation is different. In Q9 partner's hand was an unknown quantity and it was an even shot whether we might pre-empt him or the opponents. Here, partner has Passed so we know he hasn't got a lot - our objective, then, is to make West's life as miserable as we can by pre-empting as high as we dare. 5♣ would be exaggerating matters but there's little wrong with sticking a spoke in West's wheels by trying 4♣. Let's see if East West can untangle matters now.

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What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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