Prepared opening bid

In the game of bridge, a prepared opening bid is a bid which is not usual in the sense that it does not bid the longest suit first. The most common example of this is the better minor or short club opening bid.

Another example is a principle of bidding in bridge popularized by Howard Schenken in bridge columns that he wrote during the 1960s. In his book "Big Club", Schenken refers to the principle as "The Principle of Anticipation (or Preparedness)".[1] The principle states that when choosing an opening bid, a player should be prepared for the possibility that his partner could respond in the opener's shortest suit; he should choose his opening bid and have an appropriate rebid ready for that eventuality. The "Principle of Preparedness" was originally used by Ely Culbertson in the 1930s and is referred to by various writers from that period.

  1. ^ Schenken, Howard (1968). Big Club: A Revolutionary, Highly Competitive and Accurate Way to Bid - For Every Bridge Player. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 18. LCCN 68025753.