Class No. 13 – Wednesday, Apr 21, 2010

Cuebidding to 3Nt - One Asks, Two Tells
It is generally accepted in modern bridge that bidding priorities first go to finding 8 card major suit fits. In fact, much brain power and ink has been devoted to modern major suit bidding agreements. Oddly enough, in team games and tournament play it is not the major suit game that reigns supreme, but the 3Nt game. Yet, little has been devoted to agreements to reach good 3Nt contracts.

Bidding Stoppers to 3Nt One of the most neglected bidding agreements, albeit one of the most important is once the auction denies an 8 card major suit fit how to show stoppers and half stoppers below the level of 3Nt.

This workshop explores the ‘stopper cuebid’ agreement of One Asks, Two Tells and covers:

1. Cuebids we will first need to expand or at least clarify our understanding of a cuebid.
2. Stopper Cuebids we will define the stopper cuebid and when it applies.
3. Half-Stopper Cuebids we will define the half-stopper cuebid and when to ask for half-stoppers.
4. Minor Suit Raises we will discuss how to show stoppers and half stoppers after forcing minor suit raises.
5. Competitive Auctions we will define cuebids in competitive auctions including the popular Western Cuebid and the lesser known Eastern Cuebid.
6. Advanced Cuebids we will explore some of the more exotic cuebids such as morphing from stopper cuebids into control cuebids.