Brian Davies
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I have sympathy with the East players leading the ace of clubs. Any void is likely to be in the suit that we both bid, not the unbid suit. A passive heart would also not be good enough.
I would not expect the ace of spades lead to stand up. But no other lead is appealing. It is usual to lead passively against a grand slam – often a trump. But Qx is hardly passive. Since the opponent’s are clearly sacrificing, South should probably be more ambitious and try and set up tricks in hearts or clubs.
Interesting hand, thanks.
I’m sorry Eleanor, I wrongly assumed that you were either North or South! Yes, if you were east, then agreeing the range of the jump overcall is one of the discussions that you should have early on in a partnership.
In my experience Weak Jump Overcalls have been the default assumption for rather more than the ten years suggested by Bernard. But Intermediate Jump Overcalls are certainly a reasonable alternative. Almost nobody plays true Strong Jump Overcalls anymore – defined as hands that are too strong for a simple overcall. Some partnerships vary the overcall according to vulnerability (weak if non-vulnerable, intermediate if vulnerable), but that is probably an unnecessary level of complication! 🙂
I’ve played the hand now and as you say, the queen in opener’s suit is a very important card.
You asked a very interesting question: “Is a 1N bid different from a 1 of a suit bid?”. It does highlight a bit of an inconsistency, consider:
- 1♠-1NT-2NT: shows about 17-18 Evaluated Points, because it is asking partner to bid 3NT if top of the 6-9 point range for a 1NT response.
- 1♥-1♠-2NT: shows 18-19 points in the modern style. When I first learned bridge we played that a 1NT rebid was 15-16; a 2NT rebid was 17-18 and a 3NT rebid was 19 (or 19-20). In the old style, a 2NT rebid after a one-level response in a suit or no trumps (promising 6+ points in either case) was always 17-18 and there was no inconsistency. But the 3NT rebid with 19 was always awkward, because there was no room to explore whether there might be a fit in hearts or spades rather than playing in no trumps.
I haven’t played the hands yet.
But 19 evaluated points is too strong for an invite, I would jump straight to 3NT. An invitational 2NT would show 17-18 evaluated points. The difficult number is 16 – it is possible to have a combined 25 if partner is the maximum nine, but partner will often bid a 2-over-1 with a good 9, so I tend to pass with an evaluated 16 – although vulnerable at IMPs I invite.
It is normal to play that 1D-2C-2H/2S shows a five-card suit in hearts/spades respectively. It would be nice to be 4-4 for the double, but this will make many holdings unbiddable, so the usual rule is that you need to cope with partner bidding either suit. Here the double is safe because you have diamond support.
West does not have a Weak Jump overcall. Very broadly I would say:
- 0-10 Points = weak
- 11-15 Points = Intermediate
- 16+ Points = Strong
This might vary a bit, according to vulnerability, level of the bid etc. but if West described the Jump Overcall as weak, then I would say that you have been misinformed and Intermediate to Strong would be more accurate. Having said that, I’m not sure that a different explanation will change the North / South bidding – if anything knowing that West is stronger will make a pass more obvious.
Thanks Julian. So 2NT-3♣-3♠-4♥ is a generic slam try in spades. Would 2NT-3♣-3♥-3♠ be a generic slam try in hearts?
I was East. I have no idea why she didn’t open thee West cards, but I would have!
Interesting Charles. This shows how bidding theory has changed over the years! My first Acol text books did not include Michaels Cue Bids. A direct cue bid was a monster hand – the type which would have opened two clubs if the opponents hadn’t already opened. Gradually over the years, an increasing number of cue bids are used for other purposes and are no longer this “Strong and Excited” meaning.
Here was an interesting hand from a few weeks ago. The important point is that East/West open one diamond with a 4441 shape with a singleton club. I wasn’t at the table but I was sent the hand since it is a system that I advocate.
West thought that the 3C cue bid was searching for the best fit in a major. East thought that the bid was “Strong and Excited” with diamond support. The slam was not a success!
I have tried this a few times now and it is generally very impressive.
But how do I search for a two-word term? For example, how do I search for everything related to Support Doubles? If I type in the term, I get results that include the words somewhere in the postings, but Double is a frequent term in bridge and so is Support. Using Google etc. I would enclose the term in inverted commas: “Support Double”, but this doesn’t seem to be effective.
Both of these hands have stops in both of the opponent’s suits! I would only double when I have no other natural bid available. Here 2NT would be available. Your second construction is very unlikely by the way. As I argued above, I am expecting RHO to have club support as well as a heart suit and he is bidding hearts partly to suggest a lead.
You list the categories of double that you approve of. I am rather surprised at the inclusion of Support Doubles in the list. These do not work at all well in a weak no trump system and most writers on the subject are careful to state that Support Doubles are great in a strong no trump context but much less valuable in a weak no trump system. This is the classic situation where a double to show the strong no trump hand is so important. What do you bid with:
1072
A4
AQ9
KQJ42
After the auction starts: 1C-(pass)-1H-(1S)-?
- If you play a strong no trump you will have opened 1NT.
- If you play a weak no trump you need double to show this hand type.
Hi Brian, I am not advocating a takeout double here and I agree that there are no suits left. As I stated above, I believe that the best use of the double is to show a strong no trump type hand.
It depends on the specific sequence and on partnership agreements of course, but usually it would be the values to guarantee at least game. There can be sequences where it is even stronger and inviting slam.
But there are sequences where a partnership might not play it as forcing to game. For example:
(1D) – DBL – (Pass) – 2D
This was traditionally forcing to game. But many, including me, would now play this as a one-round force only. The objective is to find the best major suit fit.
