This deal comes from Friday 30/01/25. The bidding by NS was pretty tame but was as described in YC19, with North overcalling 2C and passed back to West. This was the first problem I posed to my panel of club players, with many opting to continue bidding and only one or two leaving North in 2C. Considering NS can make 7C passing would have produced a reasonable outcome. This was the scenario at one table when West decided to bid 2H after North’s overcall and two passes: North bid 3C, East 3H, South 4C, pass, pass and East then kept competing and bid 4H. North, despite being a died in the wool conservative, having ventured a mere 2C overcall with his first bid, was now more confident and doubled 4H. The NS defensive play was far superior to their bidding and West was down five for 1100 and not a happy declarer. East is recovering in A&E from tomahawk blows to the head following a late night discussion with West.
Board 24 Dealer W Nil Vul
Of course the reader will blame East for bidding to 4H with a three count but the same East was chastised some years ago for NOT bidding 4H with an almost identical hand. Then, the bidding was almost the same but the West hand and the NS ones were a bit different. The East hand was almost identical. Let me reproduce that deal as closely as I can remember it: I have given East the same hand as East had in YC19.
West opened 1S and North overcalled 2C. East passed. South should have raised clubs and then West would have had an easy bid of 3H, but when South passed, West saw no reason to bid more than 2H. After two passes, South woke up and bid 3C. Pass, pass, and East bid 3H, willing to compete. Why was East happy to compete? West, in the pass out seat, could have doubled. Since the introduction of takeout doubles at so many levels and in so many situations, it is often necessary to double in the pass out seat in case partner is sitting waiting to penalise the overcaller. The West hand here would not expect East to be sitting in wait to penalise North in 2C, and even if East were to pass and opt for the penalty, West does not have a defence oriented hand but rather it is more suited to playing in either 2S or 2H. West therefore bids 2H rather than double. It is easy to spot the difference, is it not? And East can infer that West is 5-5 in the majors, a small difference in the number of hearts but a huge difference in the potential of the combined EW hands. Exactly what happened I cannot recall other than that East did not bid to 4H which would have made and instead passed when South bid to 4C. My basic tip for someone in the pass out seat after an overcall, is to ask oneself what partner wants you to do, and why partner has passed. There are only two answers to that question if partner has passed: partner WANTS you to DOUBLE, or partner wants you to do nothing. If you DOUBLE, you should be happy to cooperate in the defence if partner passes. If you PASS you don’t want to defend a doubled contract nor do you want to force a decision out of partner. If you BID a lower suit, you are also telling partner that you have no interest in doubling opponents even if partner has their suit well held. That implies that you have a DISTRIBUTIONAL hand, at least 5-5. And if you rebid your suit you are saying that you don’t have an interest in going for a penalty because you have a six card or longer suit that you have opened and would rather play in. There are times when it is right to double with a quite weak hand, but generally even when it looks like a situation where partner wants you do double, you can decide to pass instead. If partner has enough points for game, don’t forget that partner can always bid 3NT instead of waiting for you to double. A shortage in the overcalled suit should give you a clue.
Should East have known that West was 5-5-1-2? Not if West is liable to bid 2H with Qxxx. Which is why West should have five hearts and a 5-4 heart fit and a 5-3 spade fit, plus a combined minimum 18 count should make 4H a viable proposition, with an expected 4C on for NS. Should NS decide to sacrifice in 5C that is another matter.
AT87
AT7
A
AQT93