Jean-Pierre DESMOULINSJean-Pierre DESMOULINS

Discover bridge

THE FIRST OF THE 3 GREAT SECRETS TO DRIVE THEM CRAZY

Section 20 of 31 in the Getting Started course.

AH playing cardKD playing cardQS playing card

Imagine your hand:

South
♠AKQJ1098765
♥2
♦5
♣3

10 solid Spades, that will make 10 tricks in Spades trump, right? So what if we open with... 4♠?

You see that you're not sure to have 27 HCP on your side to play 4♠ normally. But you have lots of Spades, so it will work.

Now, look at the 4 hands that day:

North
♠42
♥965
♦10864
♣9765
West
♠—
♥AQ874
♦AK93
♣KQJ2
East
♠3
♥KJ103
♦QJ72
♣A1084
South
♠AKQJ1098765
♥2
♦5
♣3

In East-West, they make the grand slam in Hearts, Diamonds, or Clubs (look at the suits one by one and add the sure tricks: 5♥ + 4♦ + 4♣ = 13 tricks). But how can they bid them if you open with 4♠?

They don't have enough room to exchange information, so they will have a lot of trouble bidding a grand slam (and thus scoring the biggest bonus).

Your 4♠ is a preemptive opening: a high bid with a long suit and less than 10 HCP, to inconvenience the opponents. And the good news is, the suit doesn't need to be solid, it just needs to be decent, like with an honor. More precisely:

Two players each have 7 HCP. One has seven good Hearts; the other has a 4-3-3-3 hand. Which one has a hand suitable for a preemptive opening at 3♥?

Section quiz
Choose an answer

You have a weak hand with six good Spades. Which preemptive opening do you choose?

Section quiz
Choose an answer

You just learned 10 openings at once: a worthwhile read. So stay with me a little longer.

It's up to you to disrupt them as much as possible.

Deal 1

Deal 2