Friday, August 23, 2002 3:46 AM

Tactics - Playing the Vulnerability

PITBULLS:

As Stan Cabay mentioned , good players “play the vulnerability” . This means that the partnership has a great deal of leeway at favourable vulnerability to make tactical bids . One useful bid is to overcall with a 4 card suit with the right kind of hand and the right vulnerability.

Suppose RHO bids 1¨ and you hold:

ª AQ52 © 6 ¨ K76 § AJ965

Many players would overcall 2§, hoping to bid spades later. But in this case, the whole hand is as follows:

ª K 10 8 7 3
© 8 7 4
¨ 8 3 2
§ Q 10
ª J 9 4 ª 6
© A Q J 10 © K 9 5 3
¨ Q 5 ¨ A J 10 9 4
§ 8 3 2 § K 7 4
ª A Q 5 2
© 6
¨ K 7 6
§ A J 9 6 5
 
If you overcall 2§ the bidding will go:
 
 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
 1¨  2§
 2© Pass 3©  All Pass
 

Yes, West will bid 2© – in competition this doesn’t promise the world (or even a rebid). East, with a minimum opening and poorly placed ªK, should only raise to 3©, and West will probably pass. Perhaps the opponents won’t bid so accurately and they will get all the way to 4©, which is down two – undoubled, of course. Big deal! As the cards lie you are cold for 5ª despite the fact that you couldn’t safely bid again. But if instead you had overcalled 1ª partner would have bid 3ª preemptively whether West bid or passed, and you would have bid 4ª since you would usually have some sort of play for game opposite four- or five-card spade support.

Your reaction to this example may be skeptical. Of course, you may say, if the cards are laid out this way a spade overcall would work best. But why should you find such a fine fit? You’re right – most of the time you won’t, but no harm is done either! The opponents will simply disregard your bid and get to the same contract they were going to get to anyway, since without a good fit, you would be unable to outbid them.

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There is another good argument in favor of overcalling four-card majors. Once an opponent opens the bidding, showing about fourteen points on average, and leaving twenty-six points to be split among the other three hands, it is unlikely you can make a game on sheer power or even outbid the opponents at all. In fact, you can outbid the opponents in a parts core or make a game, it will usually when you find a good major-suit fit. In the unlikely event that you can make game on sheer power, you have a better chance of getting there when you bid your four-card major.
 

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When you bid a good four-card suit, like AQJx, you can overcall fairly freely. With A1075 or KJ84 you need a very good offensive hand, both in outside high cards and distribution, to overcall. You can get into trouble, in any sequence, if you bid with the worst possible holding and partner raises with the worst possible holding, but the odds are against that combination. Besides, the opponents may misjudge their hands and rescue you if you stay at a low level.

Another way of “playing the vulnerability” is to have weak jump overcalls only weak at favourable vulnerability and make them intermediate when not .

The opponents are not vul and you are vul . Do you really want to pre-empt and give the opponents an opportunity for a big number ? So what do you do you beef up the suit quality of you pre-empt until it becomes a non pre-empt i.e. a hand in the intermediate range . I think the answer is just do not make a pre-emptive jump overcall at unfavourable vulnerability . An intermediate jump is not only safer but it describes your hand in one bid and clarifies competitive auctions .

xx Axx AKQJxx Jx not xx xxx KJ10xxxx x

3♦

1♠ P

3NT

 
 2♠ AKJ10xx x Axx J10x

1♥ 3♥

4♠