Constructive Raises

From BridgeWinners.com:

    1) I would define "constructive" as "expecting partner to proceed beyond the level to which we are already committed with a suitable minimum or better for previous actions".

    2) My definition would be something like "Primarily attempting to get to our best contract, as opposed to preventing the opponents from getting to their best contract." So constructive is the opposite of destructive

From ACBLUnit390.org:

    A Constructive Raise is an attempt to narrow the 5-9 range of the normal 1 Major - 2 Major sequence.

    After a 1 opening, playing Constructive raises,

    • Responder shows the 5-7 range by first bidding 1NT forcing then rebidding 2.

      He shows the 8-9 range by directly bidding a constructive 2. The disadvantage to this method is that opener cannot know, after a 1NT response, whether the 2 is simply a preference with 2 Spades, or a 'real' minimum raise with as many as 4 Spades.

Constructive raises require the use of a forcing 1NT, which makes it fit right in with 2/1 Forcing where 1-2 shows 5-10 HCP and 3-4+ Spades while 1-1N-2any-2 shows 5-10 HCP and 2 Spades.

Using consructive raises with 2/1 Forcing, the bidding would go 1--2 with 8-9 HCP and 3+ Spades while the bidding would go 1-1N-2any-2 with 5-7 HCP and 3S or 5-9 HCP and 2+ Spades.

There are several problems with this as pointed out in the 2nd link above. One is that 2/1 Forcing says to bid low/slow with good hands and fast arrival with minimums. Constructive raises follow the opposite approach since with the weaker raise, you have to bid 1N before raising to 2. This gives the opponents time to intervene before the weak hand gets a chance to show trump support.

That's easily fixed by reversing things so that 1-2 shows 5-7 and 3+ Spades or 5-9 and 2 Spades while 1-1N-2any-2 shows 8-9 HCP and 3+ Spades.

Note that using 1-2 for the weaker hand has a preemptive effect, making it more of a destructive bid than 1-1N where opponents can overcall on the 2 level.

Constructive Preempts

I have yet to find an actual definition of constructive preempt anywhere. Using the definition of "constructive" above, it would seem to mean a preempt which is intended (or at least hoped) to be forward moving while at the same time hindering the opponents.

In the Jan.2017 Bridge Bulletin, page 41, the hand KT542 A653 J65 5 is shown for South with North opening 1.with the comment:

    In a natural system, 3NT over partner's 1 opener shows 13-15 balanced... Modern bidders use 3NT to show a constructive preempt to 4 with a singleton. (Likewise, 3-3 shows a good preempt to 4 with unspecified shortness.)

    3NT (or 3) allows opener to ask about shortness at the four level without going past game and without giving up much in the way of a natural bid.

Since no web pages have turned up discussing Constructive Preempts in depth, things like point ranges are a guess. Since the hand shown has 8 HCP and 5 Spade support, and since 2-level constructive raises require 8-9 (or weak 10) HCP, it appears that range could also be applied here.

Bidding 3NT as a constructive preempt leaves 4 for use as an actual preempt with 5+ trump support and 5-7 HCP.

Mixed Raise

The October 2010 Bridge Bulletin, page 37, #5, has the hand 64 AQJ4 JT754 72 in fourth seat with bidding of 1-1-1-??.

The top vote getter was 3 which was called a mixed raise. The description is that after partner makes an overcall, a jump, 3-level cuebid in a lower ranking suit shows 4+ trumps and 6-10 points.

This is called a "mixed" raise because it is both a constructive and a preemptive bid.

A non-jump cue bid would be a limit raise. A variation of that is that cue bidding the lower ranking suit shows 3-card support and the high suit would show 4+ card support.

A double in this sequence would be a Snapdragon Double, but if not playing Snapdragon, the double could be used to show 4 hearts.