Pre-empts are irritating. Among other things they rob you of bidding room to show two suiters. The Italians use jump overcalls over pre-empts to show two suiters. A weak 2 and a jump overcall of 4
/4
shows that suit and the other major. The jump is normally a wasted bid so why not use it to describe the difficult to describe two suiters?
Over a 2 pre-empt:
Over a 2 pre-empt:
Eric Kokish also plays Roman jumps over 3/3
pre-empts. The rank of the minors leave enough room for jumps to describe two suiters. Here is how his structure works.
Responding to the 4 bid needs some understandings. If you a willing to look for a heart slam but not a spade slam bid 4
. A 4
bid says just bid your suit or pass.
A reader sent in this hand AKx
KJ10xx
AKJ10x
void and they opened 3
. The reader doubled and they ended up in 6
down 2 cold for 7
or 7
. Using Roman jump overcalls you would bid 4
and getting to 7
is a possibility with
10xxx
AQx
Qxx
Axx .
A bid that pin points your suits after a pre-empt is useful. Any help in pre-emptive auctions is gratefully accepted.
Roman jump overcalls can be played over bids at the one level but most prefer the jump to be weak & pre-emptive one suiters, as they come up more often.