Jennbridge: The Curious Cuebid

From Jake, traveling bridge pro:  Jenn--We should come up with a name for the cuebid that the expert makes in the middle of an auction to try and create a game force and which the student or intermediate player always finds puzzling and invariably ends up ignoring which causes the auction to fizzle out before it reaches its climax.

At the Scottsdale Regional RHO opened one heart and I overcalled one spade with:

♠ Q10xxxx
♥ AK
♦ x
♣ Kxxx

LHO passed and partner got my attention with a bid of 2 clubs.  RHO passed and it was my call.  What to bid? My hand has gone up in value with partner's 2 club advance and we surely have a game somewhere.  In spades?  Clubs?  Notrump?

As the only forcing bid I could create was 2 hearts, that's what I bid.  Partner bid 2 notrump which wasn't much help as I was still unsure where we belonged.

As it was a team game perhaps I should have jumped to 5 clubs as one of my friends suggested, but I hated to give up on spades.  So I bid 3 spades, praying that partner would take note of the fact that I inserted a cuebid into the middle of the auction before I rebid my spades. 

Nope--he passed.  Sigh.

♠ A9
♥ Qxx
♦ xxx
♣ AQxxx

♠ Q10xxxx
♥ AK
♦ x
♣ Kxxx

It was disheartening to see ace-doubleton of spades in dummy and realize that we could make game in either black suit.  I actually made 6 as the spades were well-positioned and I was able to pitch my diamond on the queen of hearts.  

I finished the match in a funk, dreading the score comparison.  When our teammates read the score for the board they announced "Plus 200!"  "Win 10" I replied. (Whew!)

It seems that our counterparts had an even worse time of it as they wound up in 3NT, down 4!  So instead of suffering a big loss, we actually had an unexpected good result in a rather amusing twist. 

Keep Passing the Open Windows!

You too Jake--keep the faith!  Good idea--if we give the bid a name maybe that will elevate it to the status of a CONVENTION which can then be noted on the convention card.....

Here are some other suggestions:

Gratuitous cuebid
Conspicuous cuebid
Peculiar cuebid
Critical cuebid
Remarkable cuebid

Any suggestions readers?

See you at the table!