[Peter357]

I haven't played bridge much, over the last 40 years.

What does it mean when I see a player bid hearts, with
no heart strength,
while the opponent's have already agreed that hearts is their suit?
Thanks, Pete

[relknes]

Peter357, on 2017-January-04, 16:21, said:

I haven't played bridge much, over the last 40 years.

What does it mean when I see a player bid hearts, with
no heart strength,
while the opponent's have already agreed that hearts is their suit?
Thanks, Pete

Usually it is a cue bid, showing a strong raise of their partner's suit.

[smerriman]

There are a large number of meanings of cuebids. This PDF is a good summary of all of the common scenarios and meanings.

[billw55]

It might mean several things, such as:

two suited takeout
generic strong takeout (usually after starting with double)
forcing raise of partner's suit
asking for stopper in opponents' suit
showing stopper in opponents' suit
control in opponents' suit

.. or others. Which one will depend on the specific auction, and which agreements are in use.

[helene_t]

It may even just be natural (although that is not the situation you were referring to):
(1♣)-pass-(1♥)-2♥*
shows a very good heart suit (happy to play hearts even though one of the opponents is known to have at least four hearts).

What the bid in opp's suit means depends on the situation and your agreements, but in general, if you haven't discussed the specific situation, assume that partner has some strong hand which can't find a more descriptive bid. So now you try to make the most descriptive bid you can find. Similarly to when you respond to his take-out double.

[ggwhiz]

On the flip side, the biggest change over the years imo is the ability to bid a lot with very little. These are a couple I find to be the most frequent.

1♣ - 1♥ - 3♣ typically means I have (almost) nothing except long clubs. Against most normal openers the opponents may have a lot of trouble finding the right contract with much less bidding room.

Compare that to 1♣ - 1♥ - 2♥ I have a 3♣ bid that I expect you to make or even better which I will show next since you can't pass this.

When they open 1♥ - 1♠ - 2♥ - 3♥ I like to think of it as a +1/2 bid as in 3 1/2♠. I'll respect a sign off in ♠ by partner (unless I'm loaded, note again that partner cannot pass this) who these days may have a much weaker 1♠ overcall than was popular in the past.

In that vein if I bid 3♠ instead of 3♥ I have long spades in a weak hand and if both of us are weak OR partner has the goods it can give the opponents fits.

[Zelandakh]

Peter357, on 2017-January-04, 16:21, said:

I haven't played bridge much, over the last 40 years.

What does it mean when I see a player bid hearts, with
no heart strength,
while the opponent's have already agreed that hearts is their suit?
Thanks, Pete

Hello Peter and welcome to the BBO forums. 40 years ago it was also completely normal to bid the opponents' suit without holding it, so (1♥) - 2♥ (the brackets are a useful shorthand way to say that the opponents' made that bid, so this means 1♥ on our right and 2♥ by us) back then was typically used for an extremely powerful hand without any losers in hearts (heart void or bare ace). That was naturally not a common call to make so some alternative uses were considered, with the most popular one nowadays being to show a 2-suited hand of spades and a minor. There are a number of other possibilities for such a bid of the opponents' suit depending on the auction. Two that are particularly worth knowing are to gather information about partner when holding a good hand (similarly to fourth suit forcing) and to show support for partner's suit with a decent hand.

There are other possibilities too, so my suggestion would be to post the specific auctions where this has come up in the N/B (Novice-Beginner) forum and get some direct feedback. From that, you might have additional questions and the N/B forum is the ideal place to obtain friendly answers to such questions and bring you back up to speed for the 21st century. Above all, I hope you start playing again and have lots of fun at the bridge table in 2017!

[Peter357]

smerriman, on 2017-January-04, 16:34, said:

There are a large number of meanings of cuebids. This PDF is a good summary of all of the common scenarios and meanings.

Thanks a bunch. Pete