Forum Question 30 – Bid of opponent’s suit asks if partner has that suit stopped?
Forum Question 30 - Bid of opponent’s suit asks if partner has that suit stopped?
This question was asked to: Julian Pottage
Question
I thought a bid of the opponents’ suit showed “strong and excited”. But in Harder Hand 131, BM uses it to show that AND to ask if partner has a stopper in that suit. I would not have understood it that way.
When does it mean this and how does partner reply with and without such a stopper?
The bidding went
P 1D P 1S
2H 3D P 3H
Answer
If you bid the opponent’s suit below the level of 3NT and it is not a bid defined as a raise of partner’s suit (which quite a lot of such bids are) then typically it does ask for a stopper in their suit - though as you rightly point out sometimes you will use the bid simply to show a strong hand with the intention of bidding on even if partner shows a stopper.
On the auction you give, the 3H bidder initially suggests a hand that wishes to bid 3NT but lacks sufficient heart cover.
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