The auction has begun (1 ♥)-1 ♠-(P)-? Your partner has overcalled 1 ♠ and you have a fit. As we have seen, you should bid to the level of your spade fit (on preemptive grounds), even with virtually nothing. So the question arises: what do you do when you have a genuinely good hand with spade support?

The answer is to use a redundant bid, that of opener’s suit, at the lowest level, to show 10+ points and three+ cards in support: 2 ♥ in the above auction. Or 2 ♦ in this auction: (1 ♦)-1 ♠-(2 ♣)-? This is termed an Unassuming Cue Bid (UCB).

What would you bid in response to your partner’s 1 overcall in this auction: (1 ♣)-1 ♥ - (1 ♠)-? with these three hands:

Hand A		Hand B		Hand C
♠ A Q 6 4 2 ♥ Q 4 2 ♦ Q 4 2 ♣ J 6		♠ 8 3 ♥ Q 9 6 2 ♦ 7 4 ♣ K 10 8 4 2		♠ A Q 10 ♥ Q J 10 ♦ 10 9 7 4 2 ♣ 8 7

(A).  2 ♣. (B). 3 ♥. (C). 2 ♣.