Weak-Two Defence

From Wednesday 09/11/2016.
Weak twos can be a double-edged sword. Fortunately for most who play weak twos, opponents are seldom capable of making the most of it in defence against the weak two. That is because they have little understanding of the TAKEOUT double. Here is a good example of how the weak two can bite the user in the bum.

Board 5 Dealer N NS Vul

AJT965
QT9
Q74
3
AK654
KJT83
KQ7
KQ87
3
A52
98654
432
J872
96
AJT2

The general guideline for a weak two is 6-9 high card points and a decent suit. You could say that the North hand matches that guideline perfectly. I have opened many worse hands than that with a weak 2. The trouble is that NS are VULNERABLE and EW are not. Look at what SHOULD happen if North opens a weak 2S. East of course passes, as does South. West has a very good hand and is happy to take the bidding to the three level. But rather than bid 3H, West has a much better alternative: DOUBLE.

This is a TAKEOUT double, and West will be happy to bid 3H IF East responds by bidding 3C. Nothing can really go wrong whatever East bids, but as it happens East has great defence against 2S, given that partner has shown strength in the other suits: two certain trump tricks and almost certainly a third trump trick via a possible heart ruff if needed. Therefore East is only too happy to PASS West's double, thus converting it into a PENALTY. The vulnerability is very much in favour of EW and so it proves: North, despite what looks like a very good weak two, can not do better than down two and 500 to EW, which will beat any successful game that EW might bid.

I cannot tell from the results how many Norths might have opened with a weak 2S, but not one North was in 2S doubled. I can guarantee that in a higher grade competition, there would have been many scores of 2S doubled down two. Learning how to make use of the TAKEOUT double will give you a good advantage even at the level that this deal occurred.