You in Our Case

Both Vul
MPs
Dealer: South
Lead: 9

	Maestro A 10 3 A 10 8 7 4 K 10 9 5 7
sasscat Q 6 5 2 9 6 J 6 2 J 9 8 2		danb J 9 7 4 K Q J 3 2 Q A 5 3
	sensj K 8 5 A 8 7 4 3 K Q 10 6 4

West Pass Pass Pass Pass

North 1 2 3

East Pass 2 Pass

South 1 2 Pass Pass

Again, as much as the answers to give to the captain’s questions are precise, the captain’s questions do not have for feed you with information about his/her hand, though it is preferance incase captainship is picked by the crew, you in our case.
–G. Cohen, Bridge Is a Conversation

When is a preference not a preference?

After South opens 1D in first seat, Gee holds four-card support to the K10, a decent 5-card heart suit, two aces and a stiff — pretty good-looking hand on first glance. He bids an unexceptionable 1H. South rebids 2C, and Gee has a few choices. A fourth-suit game-forcing 2S would be my choice, leaving plenty of room to explore 3NT, 5D or even 6D. (Even with South’s 12-point hand 6D has chances, and it makes on the actual layout against best defense provided declarer guesses trump.) 3D is another possibility.

Then there is the actual bid, 2D. This appears to be a preference — it walks like a preference, it quacks like a preference — but is actually a “preferance incase.” That’s in case your partner complains that you took a preference with a game-forcing hand.

East, however, decides to give Gee another chance and overcalls 2H. You can’t really blame him. He figures North and South for minimums and knows any trump holding will be in front of him. 2H is passed around to Gee. He could double: this nets anywhere from 1100 to 500, depending on whether the defense is perfect, adequate or woeful. He could bid 5D. He could bid 3NT. If he still isn’t sure they have game, he could bid 2NT.

Or he could bid 3D. As sensj chalks up 170, and none of the matchpoints, for making 6, he remarks, with notable restraint, that Gee’s hand is “too strong for a preference.” Gee doesn’t answer. “Preferance incase” theory would take too long to explain.