Bidding after Partner Overcalls
NEVER PREEEMPT OVER A PREEMPT. IF YOUR HAND IS A TWO SUITER WITH 11+ POINTS. YOU MAY BID IT, IF IT IS 10 OR LESS you may not.
Let’s look at the following bidding, then ask some questions:
1 spade by south, 2 diamonds by west, pass by north. It is now OUR TURN TO BID
Questions:
2. Second question: DOES HE WANT TO PLAY IN A DIAMOND CONTRACT? HE BID THE TWO DIAMONDS TO TELL YOU TO LEAD THEM. THAT IS ALL HE BID THEM FOR.
3.
Third question: what do the opponents KNOW ABOUT
DIAMONDS? All they know is that
West has five good ones AND THAT IS ALL THEY KNOW.
4. FOURTH QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PARTNER’S HEARTS? YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT PARTNER’S HEARTS, YOU CAN NOT ASSUME HE HAS ANY. You can NOT ASSUME THAT YOU AND PARTNER HAVE A BETTER FIT IN HEARTS THAN IN DIAMONDS.
You have asked four questions, and figured out four correct answers...what should your bid be? PASS. Do NOT try to rescue partner from his overall.
Rules and Examples:
1. If you have 8 + points and your partner overcalls, you MUST TRY TO SHOW PARTNER THOSE POINTS WITH A BID.
NOW WITH OUR NEW HAND, WE IN FACT HAVE SUPPORT FOR PARTNER’S DIAMONDS, but OUR STRENGTH LIES NOT IN DIAMONDS BUT IN HEARTS.
A HEART CONTRACT IS SUPERIOR TO A DIAMOND CONTRACT, SO
INSTEAD OF A law raise in diamonds, we make a forward going bid of TWO HEARTS. THIS BID REFLECTS 8+ POINTS, AT LEAST FIVE CARD SUIT, and
PROMISES PARTNER THAT IF SHE NEEDS TO, SHE CAN RETURN TO HER DIAMONDS AT THE THREE LEVEL.
HAD WE JUST SAID THREE DIAMONDS, WE WOULD BE SHOWING AT LEAST FOUR DIAMONDS (LAW) AND 8+ POINTS. WITH four diamonds and less than 8 points, WE WOULD NOT BID since partner’s suit is a minor.
EXAMPLE:
King, x, x of spades...five hearts to the king, jack, three clubs to the 10 and queen, x of diamonds, total of 8 points. With this hand, our bid WILL NOW be 2 NT, showing the good spade stopper, the 8+ points, and the TWO CARD DIAMOND SUPPORT. This 2 NT bid should SHOW WARN PARTNER NOT TO RAISE DIAMONDS WITH JUST A FIVE CARD SUIT. WHEN YOUR PARTNER OVERCALLS, THE LESS NUMBER OF CARDS YOU HAVE IN HER SUIT, THE LESS REASON YOU HAVE TO BID. DO NOT TRY TO RESCUE PARTNERS OVERCALL CONTRACT!
EXAMPLE of DOUBLE:
1 SPADE BY OPPONENT...TWO DIAMONDS BY PARTNER...TWO SPADES BY SECOND OPPONENT...double by you. Technically, this double must be called RESPONSIVE. IT IS JUST LIKE THIS SEQUENCE:
1 SPADE BY FIRST OPPONENT...double by partner...two spades by second opponent...double by you. YOU ARE ANNOUNCING TO PARTNER THAT YOU HAVE 8-11 POINTS..AND NO CONVENIENT SUIT BID SINCE PARTNER HAS BID A SUIT. You can also assume that the responsive double WILL DENY THREE OR MORE IN THAT SUIT, unless PARTNER’S SUIT IS A MINOR. IF PARTNER’S SUIT IS A MINOR, YOU MAY IN FACT HAVE VERY GOOD SUPPORT FOR THE MINOR SUIT AND STILL WISH TO MAKE THE RESPONSIVE DOUBLE THAT WOULD MEAN THREE OR MORE, THREE OR LESS WITH A FOUR CARD MINOR SUIT SUPPORT, AND 8-11 POINTS MAKE THE RAISE TO THREE..
FOR BOTH POINT SHOWING AND LAW PURPOSES.
MAXIM THREE OF THE LAW of TOTAL TRICKS:
You may safely (scorewise) bid to the level of your trump!
We use transfers in two ways: we use them in a rare way involving preempts that MOST PEOPLE DO NOT USE, and we use them in a way THAT MOST MODERN BRIDGE BIDDERS USE THEM, and that is THE TRANSFER OVER A NOTRUMP OPEN.
THERE ARE BASICALLY TWO SETS OF TRANSFER BIDS USED OVER THE NOTRUMP OPEN. Jacoby transfers are done at the two level, and and Texas transfers are done at the four level. I teach only the use of the Jacoby transfers at the two level and ONLY FOR THE MAJOR SUITS.
The requirements for making either of these two transfer
bids is the same:
THE REASON FOR THE TRANSFER IS THAT IT ALLOWS THE HAND WHICH IS MORE LIKELY TO HOLD TENACES TO HIDE THOSE TENACES.
IF YOU PLAY TRANSFERS,
PUT IT ON YOUR CONVENTION CARD AS "JACOBY TRANSFERS FOR THE MAJORS"
AND EVERY TIME YOU BID 2 DIAMONDS OR 2 HEARTS OVER A 1 NT OPEN, IT MEANS YOU
ARE MAKING A JACOBY TRANSFER.
BE CAREFUL – SOME PEOPLE PLAY TWO SPADES AS A TRANSFER TO CLUBS. ALL TRANSFERS ARE ALERTABLE.
You do not transfer to minors because you can use 2 spades as a minor suit Stayman.
Lebenshol is probably the most versatile convention in all of Bridge. There are
FIVE DIFFERENT WAYS YOU CAN PROFITABLLY USE THIS CONVENTION, but I will only teach you two of them. YOU CAN ALWAYS IDENTIFY A LEBENSHOL SEQUENCE BY IT SIGNATURE, AND THE SIGNATURE IS ALWAYS THE SAME: it is the TWO NOTRUMP-THREE CLUB RELAY. WE ARE GOING TO USE THIS RELAY IN BIDDING OVER OPPONENTS OPEN OF A WEAK TWO.
THE LEBENSHOL DOUBLE OF THE WEAK TWO IS MADE WITH ONE OF
TWO HANDS, either:
Now that you have doubled the Weak 2, let’s see what
partner’s responsibilities are:
STEP 1:
CATEGORIZE YOUR HAND
This is the LEBENSHOL TWO NOTRUMP THAT ASKS PARTNER TO
BID THREE CLUBS AUTOMATICALLY.
TO OVERCALL A SUIT YOU NEED ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SCIENTIFIC BIDDING. IT DOES NOT EXIST
SO WE USE WHAT IS CALLED CRASH. CRASH MEANS: YOU CRASH INTO THE MOST LIKELY GAME OR SLAM CONTRACT. YOUR CRASH MUST ALWAYS BE INTO EITHER GAME OR SLAM.