[naskippy]

We are playing East-West. I am West. All are Vul.

South is the dealer and the auction goes as such.

1D Pass Pass Dbl.
Pass 2D Pass 3D
All pass.

So here are the two questions.
1. What does the 2D cuebid by West mean, asking or telling?
2. What does the 3D call by East mean, asking or telling?

Thank your insight.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

#1 2D usually showes 2 places to play, usually 44 in the majors and +8HCP
#2 3D should return the favor, asking partner to bid his better suit

With kind regards
Marlowe

[naskippy]

 P_Marlowe, on 2023-July-07, 13:40, said:

Hi,

#1 2D usually showes 2 places to play, usually 44 in the majors and +8HCP
#2 3D should return the favor, asking partner to bid his better suit

With kind regards
Marlowe

Thank you for your reply and I hope I get several others to chime in. This hand came from the recent Bulletin for July on page 51 and 57 in the Bidding Box article.

In the West I hold.

J93
764
J96
KT63

I am afraid after my partners double to go to 2C. I don't feel that 1NT is a good call and I feel stuck for a bid. Thus I bid 2D asking partner to bid a suit and I can support anything. However, he bid 3D. To me he answered my question and I passed. He exploided! My partners hand was this:

AKQ72
AT93
AT3
J

I feel the obvious call was for him to bid 2S over my 2D and show me his best suit. Had he done that I would have passed and we would have played 2S. Due to this being a hand in the Bridge Bulletin Bidding Box section we don't know the lie of the cards but I think a part score in Spades is most likely. He stated his bid of 3D was absolutely forcng and he wanted to play in game. I say I asked a question with my bid of 2D and he responded with the wrong answer and should have bid 2S instead. Now I could be wrong in my view of this and thus my posting to try and learn what others would do.

FYI, in the Bidding Box they say 2S was the contract to be in for the 7 points in the quiz and 3nt was the 12 points.

[apollo1201]

Over a balancing X, that can be quite light, 2D has to be a « strong » hand that could not act in the 1st place:
- no M’s and probably no great stopper and 12+
- one 4-cd major and 14+ (with a 4-cd major and a bit less, you can jump to 2M, and if you had both M, you’d have Xed instead of passing the round before!)

Over that, 3D should now be GF, but no clear desire to bid a suit (I guess a jump over the 2D cue is GF), and maybe trying to right side NT.

[TylerE]

You're about an Ace (at least) short of a 2D bid, even as a passed hand - an opening hand with their minor is actually a fairly common hand type for W to hold on this sort of auction.

3D is a stopper ask for 3N, catering to such a hand. It isn't some sort of reask. At some point one partner has gotta start offering places to actually play - you're probably ALREADY too high.

[Evies Dad]

2D does have connotations of "please bid your best major partner", but it does imply more strength.

Personally I would have responded 2C and let partner handle it. After all they have promised they can handle any response.

Finally, they don't have a normal t/o X. With that strong hand they must have had a rebid already in mind in case you bid 1NT or 2C.

[Stephen Tu]

 naskippy, on 2023-July-07, 14:01, said:

Thank you for your reply and I hope I get several others to chime in. This hand came from the recent Bulletin for July on page 51 and 57 in the Bidding Box article.

In the West I hold.

J93
764
J96
KT63

I am afraid after my partners double to go to 2C. I don't feel that 1NT is a good call and I feel stuck for a bid. Thus I bid 2D asking partner to bid a suit and I can support anything.

You shouldn't feel afraid to bid 2c. 2c just shows you have 4 clubs, don't have 4+ cds in either major, and doesn't promise any strength because you didn't jump. So partner should expect more or less this hand when you bid 2c.

1nt is indeed not a good call as traditionally this promises solid values ~8+, plus you only have half a stopper.

2D - even if 2D did just mean "you pick", it doesn't make any sense to do so. Partner's double means either "I have support for all unbid suits, YOU pick, I don't care that much" or "I have a huge hand too strong for a simple overcall or 1nt balance and unsuited to jumping in balancing seat". By far the most common is the first meaning, YOU pick. You want to pick clubs, so pick clubs, don't throw the choice back to him. At least you have a 60+% or so chance of a 4-4 or 4-5 club fit if partner passes. While expecting to pass partner's 2M bid you are playing 4-3 fit almost always, which is going to be worse on average.

But the bigger problem is 2D is not only meaning "you pick", it also promises a good hand (maybe 10+), and (in the US at least) promises a rebid. You are showing typically both majors and an invite; you can't jump in one major because your fit might be in the other major. As a passed hand, you can also have some other less common GF hands (one 4 cd major and a GF, not the right shape for you to takeout double in direct seat; with a 5 cd major you would have overcalled.)

Your cue is supposed to be one of: both majors inv+, one major GF, or GF but no D stop so can't bid 3nt.
But in any case you shouldn't want to bid 2d to get partner to pick (he already asked you to pick), and you can't bid 2d preparing to pass 2M because 2M in this position is supposed to be forcing (because 2d is supposed to much stronger).

Quote

However, he bid 3D. To me he answered my question and I passed. He exploided! My partners hand was this:
AKQ72
AT93
AT3
J

I feel the obvious call was for him to bid 2S over my 2D and show me his best suit. Had he done that I would have passed and we would have played 2S.

2S is the right call in his position, but as explained earlier you can't pass this because 2D promised a rebid. He shouldn't feel the need to cue bid because 2S is supposed to be forcing in this position. Which is one of the reasons you shouldn't have bid 2D.

But you shouldn't pass 3D either; this is a cue bid, not a suit. Partner can't have just a minimum hand with long diamonds, because he would have just passed 1d out with this, not make a takeout double which is supposed to show *short* diamonds. 3D should be some weird powerhouse without a major and without a diamond stopper, it should be an extremely rare bid over the cue bid. At this point you've both completely screwed the auction, but passing 3D would also be terrible, if I were dropped in as a replacement in this spot I guess to bid 4c??? When both players make terrible bids jacking up the auction one level each it's basically impossible to recover. Both of you need lessons in that if partner asks you to pick a suit, pick one, don't throw it back to partner when you each have a clear preference.
Even if you had what you were supposed to have for your 2d bid, if he has doubled with 44?? shape, he shouldn't bid 3d to toss it back to you again; he should bid 2H. If you have 4 cd hearts you'll raise hearts to the appropriate level, if not you'll bid 2S then he can raise spades.


The auction should arguably go 1d-p-p-x; p-2c-p-2s-all pass.

[mikeh]

To the OP: you can ignore every post on this thread other than Stephen’s: he nailed it


It can be confusing to inexperienced players, relatively new to the forum, a fairly simple question generates contradictory responses. The new poster may not know enough to recognize the best replies.

So, without intending disrespect to the other posters (with some of whom I agree, but they didn’t provide the detailed explanation that Stephen gave), imo his is THE post on this thread