Polling You #37: Penalty Doubles and Preempts, Day 3, February 7, 2011

Doubles after Preempts: For Takeout or Penalty?

Over the last three weeks in our journey discussing doubles, we’ve covered Takeout Doubles, Negative Doubles, Penalty Doubles against misfits and Balance of Power Penalty Doubles.  Now enters the cursed preempts, leading us to examine a few more agreements.  After opponents’ preempt, sometimes a double is for penalty, sometimes it’s for takeout, and sometimes we’re all on our own.   Who said Bridge was only a game for black-white thinkers, anyway?

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For our discussions, we will assume the opponents are playing Weak Two preemptive bidding.  So in first, second and third seat bidding, opening 2D, 2H or 2S shows a 6 card suit typically headed by 2 of the top 3 honors with no more than 1 useful honor in a side suit (5-11 HCP).   Similarly, three level preempts normally contain a 7 card suit with a weak hand.    First let’s explore doubles in the direct seat after the preempt bid.  Except in high 4 level contracts, doubles in direct seat are normally for takeout: [Read more…]

Make music with your Bridge partner

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlVbEclPj4c[/youtube]
And what kind of music do you make with your Bridge partner?
– Do you learn from one another?
– How do you resolve conflicts?
– Are you both adaptive?
– Do your style complement one another?
– Are you both passionate about your game?