Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articlesavailable from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Preempt (alsospelled 'Pre-empt') is a bid in contract bridge whose primary objectivesare (1) to thwart opponents ability to bid to their best contract, withsome safety, and (2) to fully describe one's hand to one's partner in asingle bid. A preemptive bid is usually made by jumping, i.e. skippingone or more bidding levels. Since it deprives the opponents of thebidding space, it is expected that they will either find a wrongcontract (too high or in a wrong denomination) of their own, or fail tofind any. A preemptive bid often has the aim of a sacrifice, where apartnership bids a contract knowing it cannot be made, but assumes that(even when doubled), the penalty will still be smaller than the value ofopponents' bid and made contract. A preemptive opening bid is an openingbid on level 2 or higher, typically made with a weak hand containing along, strong suit. Preemptive opening bids on level 3 and higher arecommon for most bidding systems in the world.
