[el mister]

Is there a common meaning for responder cue bidding overcaller's suit in the first round of bidding, e.g.


1♦ 1♥ 2♥ ?

I play acol and don't recall seeing this type of sequence at acol tables, but have seen it played on boards elsewhere in bbo - curious as to what it means.

[boris3161]

It is called an unassuming cue bid and suggests a strong raise (limit or better) in openers suit (minimum 10 points and 4 card support). It is often played that way in acol too.

[el mister]

Thanks Boris - I'm familiar with the UCB in response to partner's overcall, but hadn't seen it in response to an opening bid from p.

So how does this bid compare with a limit raise in acol, say 1♥ 2♣ 3♣ versus 1♥ 2 ♣ 3 ♥ both showing 10+ points and 4 card support? Is it the same idea of freeing up the natural bid to show a weak, pre-emptive type hand?

[helene_t]

One style is to play the cuebid as limit+ and let the jump raise be weak.

Another style is to let the cuebid be a game force and let the jump raise be a limit raise, as it would be without interference.

I think the first style is more common nowadays.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

there is one big difference:

If we have opened, the UCB shows a fit, if we just overcalled,
the UCB just shows a fit if the hand, which made the UCB is
min. for the bid, i.e.

1H - (1S) - 2S (1)

(1) shows a fit

(1D) - 1H - (Pass) - 2D (2)

(2) shows either a inv.+ hand with fit or a arbitary
hand with game forcing values

The reason for the difference:

Change of suit after we opened is quite commoly played as forcing,
additionally you have a neg. X available, change of suit after we
overcalled is quite commoly played as forcing (depends a little where
you live) and you dont have a neg. X available.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Quantumcat]

cue raises show fit and invitational or better values, and you dont have a FSJ or a splinter (or you do have one but are not good enough to force game).

It's good to play these since you can now play that jump raises are all pre-emptive.

When the opps double instead of overcall jump raises are still pre-emptive, and you use NT's to raise. (1NT simple raise, 2NT invitational etc) If you had a normal NT response, you can XX.