The Unassuming Cue Bid.
Because Simple Overcalls are wide ranging (8 -14) and non-forcing how do you tell Partner you have
support for their suit and how good it is.
The Unassuming Cue Bid provides one possible solution.
Taking as an example an overcall
of 1 ♠ after an opening bid
of 1 ♦
Any raise in Spades by you is pre-emptive, less than you would have to raise to that level if Partner
had opened 1 ♠ .
Suppose you have 8 or 9 points and at least 3 card support.
A bid of 2 ♦ would effectively say that you would
have raised 1 ♠ to 2 ♠ if Partner had
opened 1 ♠ (with the added knowledge that Partner has at least a 5 card suit.)
and a bid of 3 ♦ would say you would have raised to the three level.
These bids have a double advantage
Partner can judge how high to compete against the opposition’s bidding or bid to game on a suitable hand.
One final point: sometimes you can’t always do this because the opposition bid before you can.
If the bidding goes 1 ♦ -
1 ♠ - 2 ♦
a 2 ♠ bid from you now shows
the same as 2 ♦ would have as it has no pre-emptive
value and 3 ♦ is as before
Remember to
alert an Unassuming Cue Bid.
Some people play that if Partner has opened the bidding and RHO overcalls, the Unassuming Cue Bid shows four card support and a good raise to the next level in the opening suit.
This however precludes the use of a cue bid in those sequences to look for No Trumps.
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