[Liversidge]

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The terms 'competitive bid' and 'competitive auction' come up regularly. I have a rough understanding of what they mean, but would welcome clarification.

I have read that in the first example there is no room for West to show both a competitive and an invitational bid. East should assume that West's 3♥ is competitive, i.e. stretching a bit and prepared to make a profitable sacrifice, so East should pass.

I assume that in the second example, as South has passed, the auction is no longer competitive (for the time being), and West's bid is invitational.

[NickRW]

It depends on what you have agreed.

What would 2NT, 3♣ and 3♦ have meant? What would X have meant? If you have no agreement for these things, then frankly it is potentially ambiguous whether both auctions are invitational or merely "getting in the way".

[Cyberyeti]

On the second auction, many people would play this as merely competitive and use 2♠ or something else as the invite.

For many people unopposed 1♥-2♥-3♥ is not invitational.

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

2nd auction depends on the way you play a 3H bid in the uncontested auction

1H - 2H
3H

for simplicity, it should have the same meaning in both auctions, either play
it as blocking (LoTT based ... which I dont really understand, but this is a wide
field, and the views may border on religiously believing something), or as some kind
of trial bid, e.g. asking for trump quality.
Playing it as old fashioned general try (asking for min / max) is not the worst idea
either, because it gives not much away, and is the most common question you will ask.

In the first auction, 3H is to play, ... assuming you have a way of inviting,
e.g. via trial bids (2NT, ... ) or via X showing a maximum hand.
But without prior discussion, a good chance is, that the bid is purely to play.

Basically both auction are not that much different from each other, and not so far
away from the uncontested auction.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Trinidad]

I would generalize the situation a little bit. When the opponents are quiet, there are basically 3 types of natural bids: non-forcing, invitational and forcing.

When the auction becomes competitive, you often have less than 3 ways to make a bid, so these 3 don't all fit in the system. This means one of them has to go. It is best to sacrifice the invitational meaning. If you have an invite, without the room to show it, simply round up (game force) or down (non-forcing). And don't forget to keep smiling. No sense in letting the opponents know that you have a problem.

Rik

[mycroft]

I think your "I have read..." sentence (or the auction) is wrong. There's lots of room between 2♠ and 3♥ to make a game try of some sort. The way I play, that means 3♥ is "strictly competitive, no game interest" (which doesn't mean we won't get forced to game, or ...)

As their suit becomes "higher" relative to yours, is where the issue is.

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Here, you've lost 2NT and 3♣; now what? (I play here that double, especially at MPs, is "discouraging 3, but we were making 2"; 3♦ is "only game try"; and 3♥ is "strictly competitive" as before).

The interesting situation is:

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. Now you don't have any bid left (or, in your original post, "there is no room") to pretend to be a game try. You have two choices:

• make 3♥ a game try, keep the "penaltyish" double
  
• make double the game try (and try not to forget, as it's almost always -X30!) and keep 3♥ as competitive. This is the "Maximal" (orignally "maximal overcall" - they made the maximal overcall that wasn't a jump, right?) double.