[gprentice]

In this article it says that either opener or responder can bid the opposition suit to show support for their partner's suit and ask for more information

unassuming cue bid by opener or responder

On this website it says you can ask for a stopper by bidding the opps suit
Bridge bum western cue bid

How do you tell which is which? Can you do both or do you have to pick one of them?

[Stephen Tu]

Opener - (overcall) - cue bid of overcall, is 100% strong support for opener's suit (most commonly limit raise+), because hands without support have negative doubles and new suits (if not playing negative free bids) to force not having support.

(Opening bid) - overcall - (pass) - cue bid of opener's suit, is *usually* support for partner's suit, but it might not be depending on:
- if you are playing some advanced scheme involving transfer responses (which sometimes shift raises to a different bid)
- whether you have some method of forcing with another suit or not (for some people, cue is 100% support, you have other methods of forcing in other suits, like say jump shifting, or playing new suits at certain levels F1, or playing a transfer scheme; for other people, all their new suits are NF, and jump shifts might be fit-showing, so they have to include some non-support hands in the cue bid)

Now, in response to the above cue bids, if the bid support is a minor, people will strain to show stoppers in the opp's suit anyway, because reaching 3nt is a high priority even with a minor fit, since 9 tricks is often easier than 11. Less so with major fit, though with flat hands and the opp's suit well stopped 3nt should be offered.


Cue bids by *opener* though, after responder has shown some suit of their own, are assumed *not* support, and just show a strong hand often looking for a stopper for 3nt. This is because there are usually a plethora of other ways for opener to show a raise (raise to 2, 3, 4 levels, jump cue as a splinter), but no other way to show just a huge one-suiter of their own. Also cues on later rounds of auction by responder/advancer are often gropes for 3nt, when the cue isn't of the first 2 types mentioned above.

[helene_t]

As a general rule, a cue shows support when you don't need it as a general force because either
- a negative double is available
- you can make a forcing bid in an unbid minor and there is little risk that partner takes that suit too seriously
- you can make a forcing pass
- you can redouble

So for example
1h-(2cl)-3cl
This shows support because a generic strong hand could double or bid 2d. For pairs who play 2di as nonforcing it can be a bit awkward as they might have to bid 3di on a 4card suit, but it is considered important to be able to show support.

(1h)-1s-(p)-2h
Here you rarely have a hand worth a force without spade support, in the rare event that you have you must bid 3cl or 3di. Unless 2cl and 3di is forcing of course. So 2h shows support. As Stephen says above, not everyone agrees with this.

1di-(p)-1s-(2h)
3h
Here, dbl is commonly played as showing 3card support while 3cl is about 16 points so not forcing. 2nt may be forcing for some pairs but it's not practical to have to bid 2nt without a heart stop as 3nt should be played by partner. So 3h is the only way to bid a strong hand without support and without heart stop. A strong hand with support can just bid 4sp. You probably don't have a hand too strong for 4sp when you opened 1di. But you may agree that 4♠ denies a heart control and that hands with heart control can splinter or bid 3♥ first and then 4♠.

(1♦)-x-(p)-1♠
(p)-2♦
Here, there's nothing that is forcing so 2♦ is the only bid you can make with any rock-crusher. It tends to deny 4-card spade suport as you will almost never have a hand too strong for 4♠ on this auction (unless the 1♦ opening was a psyche).

[paulg]

The tricky auctions are where you do not have the space to use both, for example when the auction starts with a weak two.

(2♠) - 3♥ - (Pass) - ?

I think experienced pairs would initially play 3♠ as asking for a stop for no trump here: if they have heart support, then they continue after partner's response.

[pescetom]

helene_t, on 2023-May-07, 22:54, said:

(1h)-1s-(p)-2h
Here you rarely have a hand worth a force without spade support, in the rare event that you have you must bid 3cl or 3di. Unless 2cl and 3di is forcing of course. So 2h shows support. As Stephen says above, not everyone agrees with this.

Most of our senior club players do not agree with this, but I think it clearly makes sense.
I play that 2H shows INV+ 3= card support and 2N shows INV+ 4+ card support.

[DavidKok]

pescetom, on 2023-May-08, 15:15, said:

Most of our senior club players do not agree with this, but I think it clearly makes sense.
I play that 2H shows INV+ 3= card support and 2N shows INV+ 4+ card support.

Slightly off topic but I strongly prefer this style, shape before values and support with support. It also protects partner when they overcall on garbage. It's really a package deal - play new suits as forcing (or use transfers), so that the cue can always be fit, so that the initial overcall can be light since partner won't hang you that easily. I had a disaster board a few months back after my diamonds overcall on the auction (1♣)-1♦-(P)-2♣*; (P)-? where I assumed partner had shown support for diamonds. I decided to bid my undisclosed four-card spade suit despite my middling 11-count, as the hand improved quite a bit with partner's length opposite my so-so diamond suit suit. The auction continued 2♠-(P)-3♥; (P)-3♠ (half stopper in clubs)-(P)-4♥; a.p., partner had a reasonable hand with long hearts and diamond shortage and thought 1♥ first round would have been NF, leading me to greatly misjudge the strength of my hand.

Even if you want to play new bids as NF (and I really don't see why, it is pretty much never good to contract for 7 tricks in a major or 8 in a minor in competition exactly) I strongly dislike hiding shape in strong hands. The time when points were king has long gone, don't punish partner with non-descriptive forcing bids after overcalling on a good 6-count.

[Gilithin]

The simplest way of playing is for the cue to show support directly after an overcall, or directly in response to an overcall, but is a general force asking for more information at any other time. This is not perfect - see other posts for more granularity if you wish - but it works well enough for >95% of pairs. The Opener's UCB in the linked article is more unusual. You can play that way if you wish but I do not see much advantage to it.

[barmar]

You don't have to know for sure. Even if you assume the cue bid shows support, you can often bid NT at the cheapest level to show that you have the opponent's suit stopped. Then partner can decide how to proceed.

[Gilithin]

barmar, on 2023-May-17, 08:27, said:

You don't have to know for sure. Even if you assume the cue bid shows support, you can often bid NT at the cheapest level to show that you have the opponent's suit stopped. Then partner can decide how to proceed.

That has some issues though - is 1♥ - (1♠) - 2♠ -- 2NT - 3NT a sign off or choice of game? Is 1♥ - (1♠) - 2♠ -- 2NT - 3♠ checking on the quality of the stopper for 3NT or a cue looking for 6♥? You do need a real agreement here.