Neutral auctions can be disturbed by the opposition in two ways: they can bury two or more of our suit-showing bids, or they can reach 1NT or higher before we show a suit. 'Bury' means to take away the possibility of us bidding a suit naturally that they have not already shown.
We can also disturb our own auction: by passing after partner has called, or if our first suit-showing bid is 2
or above.
Disturbed auctions are the least exotic of the Chilli auction types, but disturbed bidding remains faithful to the basic concept of simplicity and universal rules.
| West | North | East | South | |
|---|
| | | 1 | 1 | |
| ? | | | | |
Neutral. South hasn't buried any suit-showing bids, merely bid his own. If we actually held spades, we might pass and await partner's re-opening double, or bid some number of no-trumps, or just ignore the suit.
| West | North | East | South | |
|---|
| | | 1 | 2 | |
| ? | | | | |
Neutral:
2 has buried only spades. Obviously we cannot respond
1 or 1NT, but we can double, and we will use their bid to modify and adjust our valuations and strategies. That apart, we proceed as if they had said nothing.
| West | North | East | South | |
|---|
| | | 1 | 2 | |
| ? | | | | |
Disturbed:
2 buried two suits, spades and clubs.
| West | North | East | South | |
|---|
| | 1 | 1 | pass | |
| ? | | | | |
1 has buried only hearts –
1 is never a suit-showing bid for us – and the auction is still neutral. This is the case even if (as is quite common in tournament practice)
1 is artificial – say a transfer to clubs; if we have spades in this situation, our initial move will probably be to pass. This is the first example of Chilli's
naive style of interpreting their calls – in the first instance, we take them at face value.
Disturbed: they have reached 1NT without us showing a suit. Any opening bid by them from 1NT up will disturb the auction.
Neutral. Their
1 did not disturb us (neither
1 nor
1 by us would be suit-showing bids), and neither did
2. Structurally the auction is treated as if we had opened
1.
| West | North | East | South | |
|---|
| 1 | pass | pass | 1 | |
| ? | | | | |
Disturbed: partner's pass made it so.
| West | North | East | South | |
|---|
| | 1 | 2 | pass | |
| ? | | | | |
Disturbed:
2 is our first suit-showing bid, and it is
2 or above.