Friday,
September 12, 2003 12:51 AM
Hand
Evaluation - Misfits
( Overcalls & INT )
PITBULLS:
There is a very frequent auction that comes up with
simple overcalls which
should be discussed by established partnerships. The opponents open and partner
overcalls & RHO bids 1NT with you in the sandwich position. 1♦-1♠-1NT-? . A simple raise is obviously just competitive
. What are all the other bids ? A jump raise
should be pre-emptive as is a game raise . The Q bid
in my opinion , still should be the offensive limit
raise or better . A new suit
should be non forcing so just making a nuisance of yourself as you did not double .
The
double should be thoroughly discussed . Partner did
not make a weak jump overcall so the weak one suiter
is taken out of the equation in these auctions. Partner can still have a pretty
weak hand but with a second suit . Therefore you can
double 1NT for penalty without a fit
if you have an opening bid or better . However , how frequently will that hand come up ? Ilya Kuzkin suggests that the
double should be competitive saying that I have two places
to play the contract. An example hand for the double with the above auction would be ♠x ♥KQ10xx ♦xx ♣Kxxxx. In rare instances , the
double may show 3 places to play the contract with support
for the overcall. This double is
preferable to a Q bid as 1NT doubled might be a nice spot to play the hand when partner
does not want to take your option of playing it in the other suits. Partner is
just happy with 1NTX , as she holds dummy’s first suit
also. This penalty conversion should call for dummy’s first bid suit for a
lead.
Quite
often players say why double 1NT as they will not stay in 1NT X anyway ? There is a fallacy in that way of thinking as
bidding 1NT in any auction involves some element of risk . Why rescue them
from a misfit auction by bidding when you have a nice
defensive hand ? Having the two unbid suits means you
are behind the NT bidder in a misfit auction. They can run out of 1NT X right
into your partners 2ND suit so have absolutely no place to go . I think the double of 1NT is a very under used bid so
using it as competitive with two places to play the
hand is a good tool. When they are vul , make them pay for
light 1NT bids or openers. 1NT implies a misfit so let
the opponents play them doubled when cards sit badly for them
. When you announce enough to compete in the other two suits, I would
imagine the contract can be converted quite often when the overcaller
holds the opponents 1st bid suit
also.
O.K.
what about the re-opening double when 1NT gets around to the overcaller ? You have some inferences on what partner did
not do so you have to be careful. If you have a good hand ,
a good suit with a stopper in their suit , double again for penalty. You bid
again with a long suit and distribution otherwise you put the green card on the
table and say “your lead partner” . Passing will be
your most frequent bid of choice
as partner has conveyed quite a bit of information by taking no action. Misfits should be played by the opponents .