Competitive Bidding: Fighting for Partscore and Knowing When to Defend

Most bridge hands are competitive. You and partner have 20 points, they have 20. Neither side can make game, but you’re fighting over partscore. Who declares at the two level matters a lot. Making 2♠ for +110 is way better than defending 2♥ making for -110. That’s a 220-point swing.

Competitive bidding is messy. You don’t have clean auctions with unlimited bids to describe your hand. Someone’s always in the way. You need to know when to fight, when to fold, and how to push opponents one level too high.

The Basic Principle

When both sides have a fit, the hand belongs to somebody. Your job is to figure out if it’s yours or theirs.

Three clues tell you:

1. Who has more trumps? Nine trumps usually beats eight trumps.
2. Who has more high cards? 22 HCP beats 18 HCP.
3. Where are the high cards? Points in your long suits are great. Points in their long suits aren’t.

If you’ve got a nine-card spade fit and 20 HCP, keep bidding. If you’ve got a seven-card fit and 16 HCP, think about defending.

Law of Total Tricks

The Law of Total Tricks is your best friend in competitive auctions. It says: the total number of tricks available (for both sides combined) roughly equals the total number of trumps (both sides combined).

Your side has nine spades, they have nine hearts. That’s 18 total trumps. The Law says there are probably 18 total tricks available. If you can take nine spade tricks, they can take nine heart tricks. If you’re taking ten spade tricks, they’re taking eight heart tricks.

How this helps:

Say you’ve got nine spades and they’ve got eight hearts. That’s 17 total trumps. If you can make 2♠ (eight tricks), and they can make 2♥ (eight tricks), that’s 16 total tricks. Close enough to 17. You should compete to 2♠ if they bid 2♥.

But if they bid 3♥? Now they’re at the three level, bidding to take nine tricks. With 17 total trumps and them taking nine, you’re taking eight. So 2♠ is your limit. Let them play 3♥. They might go down.

The Law isn’t perfect. Distribution matters. High card location matters. But it’s a great guideline when you’re staring at a competitive decision and have no idea what to do.

When Opponents Interfere

You open 1♥, LHO overcalls 1♠. Partner wants to show heart support. What are the options?

Raise to 2♥: Shows 6-9 points and 3+ hearts. Weak raise, competing for partscore.

Jump to 3♥: Shows 10-12 points and 4+ hearts. Invitational. You might have game if opener’s got extras.

Cuebid 2♠: Shows 10+ points and 4+ hearts. Game-forcing or strongly invitational. Says “we might have game, tell me more about your hand.”

Negative double: Shows 4+ cards in the other major (spades if they overcalled hearts, hearts if they overcalled a minor). Also promises some values, usually 6+.

The system changes when they interfere. No more leisurely exploration. You have to show support fast or it might be too late.

Balancing

You open 1♦, LHO passes, partner passes, RHO passes. Do you let them play 1♦?

Probably not. That’s a making partscore for them, and you might have a better spot.

Balancing means bidding in fourth seat after opponents stop low. You can balance with less than a normal bid because partner’s sitting over their opening bidder with some values. Partner couldn’t bid, but they’ve got something.

Balancing double: Shows an opening hand (12+ HCP), usually shortness in their suit. Says “partner, I think we have a spot somewhere, pick your best suit.”

Balancing 1NT: Shows 11-14 HCP (not the usual 15-17). You’re borrowing a couple points from partner.

Balancing new suit: Shows 8-15 HCP and a five-card suit. Decent suit, not trash.

The risk is that partner’s got nothing and you’re balancing into a disaster. The reward is that you find your fit and push them around. You’ll get this wrong sometimes. Balance anyway. Letting them play 1♦ making +90 is usually worse than going down one in 2♣ for -50.

Competing vs Defending

This is the million-dollar question. They bid 3♥, you’ve got three spades and 8 HCP. Do you bid 3♠?

Ask yourself:

1. Do we have a fit? If partner opened 1♠, yes. If partner opened 1♣, probably not.
2. How many trumps? With nine trumps, compete. With seven, think about defending.
3. Are we outgunned? If they’ve shown 22+ HCP and you’ve got 16, you’re defending. Let them bid too high.
4. What’s the vulnerability? Not vulnerable, you can afford to compete. Vulnerable, be more careful.

When in doubt, count your trumps. Nine trumps means bid. Eight means maybe. Seven means defend.

Penalty Doubles in Competition

They open 1♥, you overcall 1♠, LHO bids 2♥, partner doubles. Is that penalty or takeout?

Low-level doubles are takeout. Through 2♠, if partner doubles, they’re saying “let’s compete, I have support for the unbid suits.” Not “I’m loaded in their suit, let’s defend.”

High-level doubles are penalty. If they bid 4♥ and partner doubles, that’s penalty. They think 4♥‘s going down.

The crossover is usually around 3♠. Doubles of games are penalty. Doubles below that are takeout unless you’ve agreed otherwise.

Push or Defend?

You open 1♥, they compete to 2♠, partner raises to 3♥. They bid 3♠. What now?

This is a pure judgment call. You need to decide: are we making 4♥, or are they going down in 3♠?

Think about shape and fit. If you’ve got 5-5 in the reds and partner’s raised hearts, you probably have tons of tricks. Bid 4♥. If you’ve got a balanced 14 HCP and partner’s already stretched to compete, maybe they’re going down in 3♠. Pass and defend.

The worst result is bidding 4♥ down one when 3♠ was also down one. You just turned +50 into -50. That’s a 100-point swing.

Fit-Showing Jumps

You open 1♦, LHO overcalls 1♠, partner jumps to 3♣. What does that show?

Many pairs play this as a fit-showing jump: clubs and diamond support. It shows a limit raise in diamonds (10-12 points) plus a good club suit. It’s a way to describe two features at once in a competitive auction.

If you play fit-showing jumps, you can find games you’d otherwise miss, and you can judge competitive decisions better. If you don’t play them, these jumps are just natural and invitational.

Discuss with partner. It’s not standard for everyone, but it’s increasingly popular.

The Opponents’ Auction Tells a Story

They open 1♥, responder bids 1♠, opener rebids 2♥. What does that tell you?

Opener has six hearts and a minimum hand (12-15 HCP). Responder has four spades and 6+ HCP. They don’t have a spade fit. They probably don’t have game unless responder has extras.

Use their bidding to guide your decisions. If they’re unlimited and exploring, stay out of their way. If they’ve limited out and stopped at the two level, maybe you can balance.

The Vulnerability Math

Not vulnerable vs vulnerable: Compete. You can go down 3 for -500 to stop their vulnerable game worth 620. You’ve got room to be aggressive.

Vulnerable vs not vulnerable: Careful. Down 3 is -800. That’s a disaster. Don’t push unless you’re confident.

Equal vulnerability: Normal rules apply. Compete with a fit, defend without one.

Sacrifice Bidding

They bid 4♠. You’ve got five hearts, partner’s shown heart support, and you know they’re making 4♠. Do you bid 5♥?

If 5♥ goes down 2 for -300 (not vulnerable), and they’re making 4♠ for +420, you’ve saved 120 points. Good sacrifice.

If 5♥ goes down 3 for -500 (vulnerable), and they’re making 4♠ for +420, you’ve lost 80 points. Bad sacrifice.

Sacrifice bidding is about arithmetic. Count tricks. Know vulnerability. Make an educated guess. You won’t always get it right, but at least you’ll know why you did it.

The Golden Rule

When you have a fit and they have a fit, don’t sell out at the two level. If partner opens 1♥, you raise to 2♥, and LHO bids 2♠, partner should usually compete to 3♥. You’ve got a nine-card fit, they’ve got a fit. The hand belongs to somebody. Make them guess at the three level.

Competitive bidding isn’t about being right every time. It’s about making good guesses, trusting your partner, and making life hard for the opponents. Bid your fits, count your trumps, and don’t let them play cheap contracts when you can compete.

Sometimes you’ll push them into a making game. Sometimes you’ll go down when you should’ve defended. That’s bridge. But if you’re never wrong, you’re not competing enough.