Cue bid

Last updated October 26, 2019

In contract bridge, a cue bid (also, cuebid or cue-bid) is either a bid of the opponents' suit, or "slam seeking": a slam-investigating bid made during an auction's later rounds that shows control of a suit.

Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, tournaments, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular card games, particularly among seniors. The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the governing body for international competitive bridge, with numerous other bodies governing bridge at the regional level.

Bid of the opponents' suit

After the opponents have bid a suit, a cue bid of that suit is normally intended as a forcing bid. It shows interest in contesting the contract and asks partner to describe their hand.

Immediate cue bid

An immediate cue bid is made directly over opponent's opening bid. Traditionally, it denotes a hand unsuited for a takeout double. For example, after RHO^[1] opens 1♠, a hand such as ♠ — ♥ AKQ10985♦ AQ6 ♣ K85 would prefer not to double for takeout, because partner might make a penalty pass. A cue bid of 2♠, as traditionally used, would be appropriate: it tends to show great high card strength, probably with a hand pattern unsuited to defense. Partner is expected to respond in their longest suit, and the subsequent bidding proceeds naturally.

In the card game contract bridge, a takeout double is a low-level conventional call of "Double" over an opponent's bid as a request for partner to bid his best of the unbid suits. The most common takeout double is after an opponent's opening bid of one of a suit where the double shows a hand with opening values, support for all three unbid suits and shortness in the suit doubled. Normally, the partner of the doubler must bid his best suit but may pass if (a) his right hand opponent intervenes or (b) on the more rare occasions when his hand is such that he wishes to convert the takeout double to a penalty double.

However, those very strong hands are rare enough that the traditional meaning has been largely abandoned, and other meanings assigned to the immediate cue bid. The most common treatment is now the Michaels cuebid, which shows a weakish or moderate hand with at least 5-5 in two unbid suits.

The Michaels cuebid is a conventional bid used in the card game contract bridge. First devised by Michael Michaels of Miami Beach, FL, it is an overcaller's cuebid in opponent's opening suit and is normally used to show a two-suited hand with at least five cards in each suit and eight or more points.

The jump cue bid

The immediate jump cue bid of opener's suit has a specific meaning. It is typically a long totally solid minor with stoppers in the other two suits. Partner is asked to bid 3NT with a stop in the suit opened or else to bid four or five clubs (pass or correct).

Cue bidding in the later rounds

Generally, after the opponents have bid a suit, a cue bid of that suit shows strength, and forces the bidding to continue for at least one round. The following are common situations:

After partner's takeout double or overcall, the cue bid shows a hand with at least the strength of an opening bid:

In contract bridge, an overcall is a bid made after an opening bid has been made by an opponent; the term refers only to the first such bid. A direct overcall is such a bid made by the player seated immediately to the left of the opener, i.e. next in the bidding rotation; an overcall in the 'last seat', i.e. by the player to the right of opener, which is made after two intervening passes, is referred to as a balancing overcall.

West	North	East	South
1♥	Dbl	Pass	2♥

West	North	East	South
1♥	1♠	Pass	2♥

If the pair does not play strong immediate cuebids, the takeout double followed by a cue bid shows a very strong hand:

West	North	East	South
1♥	Dbl	Pass	1♠
Pass	2♥

Immediately after RHO's overcall, it shows a strong hand, probably fitting partner's suit, and is usually regarded as game-forcing:

West	North	East	South
	1♥	1♠	2♠

After RHO's overcall, in a later round but below 3NT, it often shows a stopper in the opponents' suit, so that partner can bid notrump and thus place the contract advantageously (see Antipositional). This situation calls for prior partnership discussion. For example, the cue bid in this context can be used to ask for a stopper, rather than to show one. In the US, the asking approach is known as a "Western cue bid", and in the UK, as a "Directional asking bid" (DAB). Sometimes, the delayed cue bid can be used as an advance cue bid (see below).

West	North	East	South
	1♦	1♠	Dbl¹
Pass	2♣	Pass	2♠

^1. Negative double

Slam seeking

Once a trump suit has been agreed and the bidding cannot die below the game level (e.g. 1♥–3♥, or ... 2♥–3♥, or 1♥–1♠; 3♠), any subsequent bid of a suit other than the trump suit is a cue bid showing first round control of that suit, i.e. the ace or a void.^[2]

Passing a suit that could be bid tends to deny holding first-round control in that suit. Bids of suits already bid show second-round control. Returning to the trump suit shows a lack of interest in slam or not having anything else to bid. For example:

South	North
1♦	1♥
3♥	4♣
4♦	4♥
4♠	4NT

South has shown 16-18 total points, while North's hand is largely unknown. North's bid of 4♣ is a cue-bid showing first-round control of clubs and an interest in slam. After South's bid of 4♦ North bids 4♥, an apparent signoff. It may well be that North wants to bid a slam, but has two fast losers in the spade suit. After South bids 4♠ showing control of the spade suit, North employs the Blackwood convention to proceed further.

The main disadvantage of both Blackwood and Gerber is that they give little information about voids, which can be as powerful as aces under certain circumstances. Cue bidding is designed to pass information on "first round control" i.e. an ace or a void.

In the "Italian" system of slam cue-bidding, the cheapest suit is always bid first. Thus, in the example above North's bid of 4♣ would deny control of spades, and therefore South would only proceed if they had control of spades, which in this case their continuation of 4♦ instead of a signoff of 4♥ would promise. Often, Italian cue bids only promise 2nd round control (a king or a singleton).

Basic cue bidding

Basic cue bidding occurs after the trump suit has been agreed explicitly (example above) or as it is agreed implicitly. The first bid of a side suit by either partner shows a control, and most players extend that to subsequent bids of a side suit so that both may show control in the same suit. The most common approach is that first-round controls are bid first, and second-round controls are bid in later rounds of bidding. Some players, though, bid both first and second-round controls in the first round, and confirm first-round controls only later. Some bid high-card controls first or distinguish short-suit controls by jump bids. Even basic cue bidding therefore requires some partnership agreements.

The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge gives an example^[3] where the first cue bid implies the trump-suit agreement.

♠	A J 8	W E	♠	K Q 10 6 3
♥	K 10 7 6		♥	A 3
♦	A Q 10 7		♦	8 3 2
♣	K 9		♣	A 8 6

West	East
1NT	3♠
4♦	4♥
4♠	5♣
6♠	Pass

"West's 4♦ does not suggest an alternative trump suit; spades are agreed by implication, since without spade support, West would return to 3NT. "

Advance cue bidding

An advance cue bid – not to be confused with "advanced" – is made before the trump suit is agreed even implicitly. Partner does not yet know that the trump fit has been found or whether the suit bid is real or shows a control.

♠	K Q 8	W E	♠	6 2
♥	A J 9 6 4 2		♥	K Q 3
♦	K 3		♦	A Q J 7 5 2
♣	10 3		♣	A 8

West	East
1♥	2♦
2♥	3♣
3NT	4♥
Pass

In the example, 3♣ is an advance cue bid, we may infer East intends, by reference to the club control without biddable club suit and to the excellent heart support. The subsequent preference for hearts by strong correction of 3NT should reveal the advance cue to partner; holding the minor suits without hearts East would pass or raise notrump. The auction should now proceed to the comfortable 6♥.

However, the advance cue bid is a subtle tool, prone to be misunderstood if the partnership is not sufficiently well coordinated and on the same wavelength. The following disaster struck world champion Paul Chemla and Catherine D'Ovidio in the 7th European Mixed Championships (2002):

♠	K J 10 9 8	W E	♠	7 4 3
♥	A Q 3		♥	K J 9 8
♦	A 9		♦	K 3
♣	A K 3		♣	Q J 7 5

West	East
2♣¹	2♦²
2♠	2NT³
3NT	4♦
Pass

^1. Strong and artificial.
^2. Waiting.
^3. Ambiguous but forcing.

D'Ovidio wanted to "refine" the bidding with an advance cue bid of 4♦ before supporting spades, but Chemla got the wrong idea and passed, imagining partner with a weak distributive hand with long diamonds. 4♦ went down three, while 6♠ and 6NT were on, as the spade finesse was working. ^[4]

Related Research Articles

In the partnership card game contract bridge, the Blackwood convention is a popular bidding convention that was developed by Easley Blackwood. It is used to explore the partnership's possession of aces, kings and in some variants, the queen of trumps, to judge more precisely whether slam is likely to be a good contract.

Acol is the bridge bidding system that, according to The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge, is "standard in British tournament play and widely used in other parts of the world". It is a natural system using four-card majors and, most commonly, a weak no trump.

Polish Club is a bridge bidding system which was developed in Poland, where it is the most popular bidding system, and which is also used by players of other countries. It is a type of small club system.

In the card game of bridge, the unusual notrump is a conventional overcall showing a two-suited hand. It was originally devised by Al Roth in 1948 with Tobias Stone, to show the minor suits after the opponents opened in a major.

Calls made during the auction phase of a contract bridge game convey information about the player's card holdings. Calls may be "natural" or "artificial". A bridge convention is an agreement about an artificial call or a set of related artificial calls.

Preempt is a bid in contract bridge whose primary objectives are (1) to thwart opponents' ability to bid to their best contract, with some safety, and (2) to fully describe one's hand to one's partner in a single bid. A preemptive bid is usually made by jumping, i.e. skipping one or more bidding levels. Since it deprives the opponents of the bidding space, it is expected that they will either find a wrong contract of their own, or fail to find any. A preemptive bid often has the aim of a sacrifice, where a partnership bids a contract knowing it cannot be made, but assumes that, the penalty will still be smaller than the value of opponents' bid and made contract.

These terms are used in contract bridge, using duplicate or rubber scoring. Some of them are also used in whist, bid whist, the obsolete game auction bridge, and other trick-taking games. This glossary supplements the Glossary of card game terms.

In the card game contract bridge, DONT is a conventional overcall used to interfere with an opponent's one notrump (1NT) opening bid. DONT, an acronym for Disturb Opponents' Notrump, was designed by Marty Bergen, and is therefore also referred to as "Bergen over Notrump". Although the method is often criticized for being too nebulous, it remains fairly popular. The convention was first published in the September/October 1989 issue of Bridge Today.

Slam-seeking conventions are codified artificial bids used in the card game contract bridge. Bidding and making a small slam or grand slam yields high bonuses ranging from 500 to 1500 points. However, the risk is also high as failure to fulfill the slam contract also means failure to score the bonus points for a game (300-500). Conventions have been devised to maximise the opportunity for success whilst minimising the risk of failure.

The Raptor 1NT overcall over an opposing 1-level suit opening is a contract bridge convention that indicates a two-suited hand with exactly four cards in the unbid major and a longer suit in an unbid minor.

In the game of bridge, Ghestem is a conventional overcall structure, using 2NT, 3♣, and the (non-jump) cuebid over an opposing opening at the one level to denote two-suited hands in two of the remaining three suits.

EHAA is a highly natural bidding system in contract bridge characterized by four-card majors, sound opening bids, undisciplined weak two-bids in all four suits and a mini notrump, usually of 10–12 high card points.

The Useful Space Principle, or USP, was first articulated in a series of six articles in The Bridge World, from November 1980 through April 1981. The USP is expressed succinctly in The Bridge World glossary as: "a partnership's assigning meanings to actions so that the remaining bidding space matches the needs of the auction."

The Baron bidding system in contract bridge was developed in England in the 1940s as a variant of Acol and incorporates several conventions including the Baron Three Clubs, the Baron Notrump Overcall, the Baron Two Notrump Response and the Baron Two Spades and Three Spades.

The Carrot 4NT slam-convention was developed in Carrot Club, but can be used in any bidding system instead of the more common Blackwood or RKC conventions. It is a refinement of an older convention, Culbertson 4NT.

Unusual vs. unusual is a competitive bidding convention used in contract bridge by the opening side after an opponent has made an overcall showing two suits.

Astro is a contract bridge bidding convention used to intervene over an opponent's one notrump (1NT) opening bid. The name is derived from the initials of the surnames of its inventors - Paul Allinger, Roger Stern and Lawrence Rosler.

References

↑ "RHO " = right hand opponent
↑ "Cue-bidding for Slams", Ron Klinger, ISBN 0-304-35768-5
↑ Francis, Henry G., Editor-in-Chief; Truscott, Alan F., Executive Editor; Francis, Dorthy A., Editor, Sixth Edition (2001). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (6th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. p. 426. ISBN 0-943855-44-6. OCLC 49606900.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
↑ "Right idea, Wrong contract". 7th European Mixed Championships, Oostende Bulletin 5, 20 March 2002.

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[1] "RHO " = right hand opponent

[Klinger-2] "Cue-bidding for Slams", Ron Klinger, ISBN 0-304-35768-5

[3] Francis, Henry G., Editor-in-Chief; Truscott, Alan F., Executive Editor; Francis, Dorthy A., Editor, Sixth Edition (2001). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (6th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. p. 426. ISBN 0-943855-44-6. OCLC 49606900.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)

[4] "Right idea, Wrong contract". 7th European Mixed Championships, Oostende Bulletin 5, 20 March 2002.