31 The art of overcalling  (part 1)

We do a lot of this, probably far more than we should, but the important thing is to do it properly if at all. Here are my rules:

a) Base it on playing tricks (PT) not on points, don’t even look at those. (Except 1NT overcall, 16+). PT roughly speaking is HT + suit length plus a little common sense.

b) Five cards is the absolute minimum but more is better. Never fall in love with a 5-card suit.

c) Assess its strength thus: Look at the first three cards and see their HT value, add one for every card after these first three. (See why a 5-carder is not too marvellous?) You can also add HT for any other pictures you have.  Example: Your diamonds are KQJxx which is  2HT and 2 for length, that’s 4. You also have Axx in spades so that’s one more = 5.  And there’s more. We use the venerable Rule of Two and Three which adds tricks for your partner’s presumed hand, two if vulnerable and three if not. Say we’re not vulnerable, so our grand total  is 8, now we can bid for 8 tricks = 2 diamonds.

d) Counting the losers in your suit may be simpler. AKQxxx = no losers,  AQJxx = ½ a loser,  KQJxxx =1 loser, QJ10xxx = 2 losers.

And here’s what to do with a double gap such as AJ10xxx  or AQ10xx where you are clearly missing two honours. Does this make them 2-loser suits or what? No, 1-loser suits 75% of the time. You aim to finesse the suit twice if you can, and expect to lose the first time but not the second time, because most of the time the two missing honours are split between your two opponents. Only 25% of the time are they both with the RHO.

32 The art of overcalling (part 2)

e) Bid it to the absolute maximum you think it is worth NOW, and don’t bid again. So in you go with a 2D bid. You may or may not get this contract, there are so many imponderables, but at least you are making life difficult for the opponents.

5 Overcaller’s partner, attention please! First, if you are asked if partner’s bid was Weak Jump Overcalls, say yes (if there was a jump!) You are the captain now, use the Law of Total Tricks (simple version) which says you count the total number of trumps between you and partner and raise to that level. (You can’t use Dummy Tricks, that’s for the opening side.) Don’t get too excited yet, you must guess how many trumps your partner is showing by the level he bids. Work as follows: assume an overcall of 1 or 2 to be a 5-card suit, a 3-level as 6 cards, and the rare 4 level as 7 cards.  Now with that 2D bid across the table, if you have 3 diamonds the total is 8 trumps, we’re already there so pass, but with 4 diamonds you would go 3D. Never exceed the trump total: if the opponents outbid you, pass. And by the way, never change the suit of your partner’s overcall, you’ll be left paddleless.

Overcalling is fraught with uncertain variables. Find a better call if you can.

Perhaps pass is best? See next week’s tip.

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33  The take-out double

The double is a better bid than an overcall. The overcall says “I’m one-suited” whereas the double says “I’m three-suited” and it’s better to offer a choice. Of course the doubler’s three suits aren’t always as many as four cards each except when holding 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0.

What the doubler is saying is that she can support or tolerate the remaining three suits.

Ideally it is of opening strength but a little laxity is permitted if the shape is good. Even if the shape is a bit away from the ideal 4-4-4-1 the important thing is you are telling partner you have about opening strength, so with say 5-4-3-1 and good points, a double is far better than going for that 5-card suit. Overcalls should really show moderate or weak high-card strength but good length. Never fall in love with a five-card suit.

A message for doubler’s partner

The take-out double forces a reply from you if there is no intervening bid. If you have 10 points or more, jump the bidding one level, intervening bid or not.

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How do we know when a double is for penalties?

There’s not much future in low level suit doubles, and even higher up it is best to hold back if there is any doubt. Only double their 4S if you feel certain your 4H was a make, and that they are sacrificing. To make it simple I like to agree with partner that all doubles up to 3S are for take-out, so higher is for penalties. Nervous pairs settle for a 2S maximum but must then remember that 3-level doubles will be penalty.

I recommend that a 1NT doubled is for penalties, and 2C is used for take-out (Roche) which needs a hand similar to a weak 1NT opening and says “Best suit, please, partner”. I’ll be explaining Roche in my next tip.

But if you don’t fancy that, you can make a 1NT double always for take-out and ditch the penalty double for a pass instead. The main thing is for you and partner to be perfectly clear what method you are playing.

Take-out double always means “Tell me more about your hand, partner”,  and is useful in various situations where you are not sure what to bid. Never overcall if you can double.

The Protective Double

What do you bid with a 9-point indifferent hand when the bidding has started on your left and gone: 1 of a suit – Pass – Pass? If you also pass you will usually get a small minus score, when you and your partner perhaps hold more points than the opposition.  Work it out: you have 9; add on responder’s (max) 5 making 14, subtract this from 40 and so opener and your partner have about 26 points between them. Why didn’t partner bid, then? In all likelihood she wanted to bid but couldn’t find a good one. Wrong shape to double, no decent 5-card suit, or maybe asleep, shock horror. It happens. This is where you can make a protective double on 9-11 points. It’s called protective because you are protecting partner’s hand from obscurity. And the key phrase is “Borrow a king from your partner”. So now you have the 12 points required for the double. Try it. If partner is actually weak, then opener will surely bid again and save you.

PS Oh, and you are said to be sitting in the protective seat.

Not in NT!  If opener has bid 1NT, his partner’s pass does not carry the same negative message.  He could now hold 0-10 points and any protective double is too risky. You could try it if you had a couple of G-and-T’s before playing…

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34 Terry’s Two Clubs after 1NT (part 1)

In my personal system, 2C doesn’t mean what most people mean. There are two different situations involving two different meanings: 2C after opponents’ 1NT, and 2C after partner’s 1NT.  I offer them for your consideration because I have always found them valuable: feel free to reject them if you are happy with what you have.

Roche  (pronounced Rosh or Roash)

Opponents  -  1NT – you 2C. (I think this bidding has already got more possible meanings for the 2C than any other bid in the game. You probably know Landy.) My meaning is “Best suit, please, partner.”  In other words it is a take-out double offering four suits instead of the usual three, and therefore a balanced hand with the usual opening-bid strength that take-out doubles should have. In yet more other words it resembles the very opening bid it is following. Yes, the requirements for Roche are the same as the requirements to open the weak NT. (Actually 12-15 because with 16+ I would double for penalties.)

35 Terry’s Two Clubs after 1NT (part 2)

This time it’s Partner - 1NT – you  - 2C.  Of course this is normally Stayman, and your first worry is that another meaning will lose Stayman. Actually it won’t, because this is a two-way bid including a modified Stayman.  Let me explain.

After partner’s 1NT, 2D and 2H are transfers – virtually everybody plays them, and so do I.  (And 2S to show 11 points.) Although transfers can be used by strong hands seeking a game, their original purpose (still available) was for weak take-outs, to be passed out at the two level.  In other words, the red-suit transfers are two-way bids. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do all this with the minor suits? Well, we can rule out transfer to clubs, can’t we? But 2C = transfer to diamonds is possible, and that’s what my 2C means over partner’s 1NT. And it’s 2-way in that if my hand really is just 5+ weak diamonds, I can pass the 2D transfer. Job done. But this is rare, and if I really mean Stayman then the bidding will carry on. The difference is that in this case responder isn’t asking, he is telling. Over the 2D he bids his 4-card major (hearts if both) and if opener also has four she will raise hearts. If not, but holding four spades she will bid 2S hoping that will do. Responder raises spades if holding four, or bids 2NT or 3NT just as we do in Stayman if there is no major suit fit. Everything is like Stayman except that the boot is on the other foot.

This bid was dreamed up here in Quorn a few years ago and is called Barton after my daughter Julia who helped to finalise the details I have just explained.  So every time we could have used Stayman, we use Barton. It is rarely that the 2D transfer gets passed out, but when it does, we have got the edge over the Stayman players! If you adopt this convention, you need to announce partner’s 2C bid as “Transfer to diamonds.” The following bids need no alerts because they are all natural.

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36 How to overcall two suits

Right, we know how to overcall with one suit and to double with three suits. What about two suits? Well, both would have to have 5 cards at least. Any more than a 10 total should strengthen your resolve to get a bid in. I give you two ways:

  A The unusual No Trump.  Let’s get this word “unusual” out of the way first. It means any NT bid that cannot possibly mean what it says.  Opening 1NT is of course not unusual, nor is bidding 1NT as an overcall, but passing and later bidding 1NT as an overcall can hardly show 16 points so it is unusual.  2NT as an overcall IS unusual because there should be no such thing as a 2NT overcall in your system, and in fact 2NT is the commonest use of the unusual NT. What does it mean? It means I have two 5-card suits, partner, and they are the two lowest-ranking suits remaining after the suit just bid by an opponent. (There cannot be two different suits bid by the opponent because your easiest and cheapest ploy in that case is to double for take-out.)  It is of course forcing if next hand passes, otherwise one of the two five-card suits must be selected. Examples of this if you have already passed: Opponent 1S or 1H  -  you 1NT, this shows clubs and diamonds. Opponent 1C - you 1NT shows diamonds and hearts. Opponent 1D - you 1NT shows clubs and hearts. Same idea if you bid 2NT over them without previously passing, of course.

B bidding two suits  You would use this if your two suits don’t fit the above patterns. Be careful. Having first assessed your hand value, you know how high you can afford to go, following normal overcall guidelines. Say this is the 3-level. Now decide which suit to bid first, following natural bidding guidelines. Bid this suit as low as possible, say 1H.  After further bids if any, now bid your second suit, say 3C, your highest level. (If partner raised your first suit you would reassess the situation.)

C Strength considerations. You wouldn’t overcall a single suit without calculating your power and bidding to the max. So here, you must have similar regard, because your bid for either of the above methods is forcing on partner, so you are normally going to end up at the dangerous 3-level.  If your suits are longer than 5 each, or you have good Playing Tricks, (and maybe not vulnerable) you can take more risk. Practice makes perfect.

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37 Finessing efficiently

I’m going to start by telling you not to take any finesse until you have to. A good summary of how to make extra tricks is Dump, trump, finesse and it is usually best to explore the first two before finessing: you might pick up valuable clues as to where the missing card is. And you might find that you don’t even need to take that finesse at all. Finesses can lose, the other two don’t, usually.

It is also good to have in mind exactly what a finesse is: it is defined as an attempt to take a trick with a card lower than one held by an opponent, by making him play before you.

Fine. A successful promotional finesse means that the threat card is always second player rather than fourth player.  Simple examples are when you lead up to Kx(x) or AQ(x). You have made a mental wish “I hope the threat card (A, or K) is in 2nd player’s hand”.

 But a more sophisticated play is not only to succeed in making your lower card but to actually catch and kill the threat card. You need several other cards for this. Examples abound so I’ll just give one: A10xx opposite KJxx and you want to catch the missing queen. First you must make a mental wish (based on clues from previous play or bidding) as to which opposing hand has the royal threat card. Of course, if you are missing the king there is only one possible hand – the one before the ace.. Now here are your rules.

1 Locate the killer card (A or K) that will cover the threat card, and lead from the opposite hand.

2 Lead the highest card from this hand (this may sometimes drop the threat card).

3 Lead the highest remaining honour from the same hand and see what happens. (If the queen appears, chop it, otherwise:-

4 Lead again from this hand, low if necessary and finesse from the killer hand.

5 If queen still out, play the killer card and she will surely drop, unless there are 14 cards in this suit.

So in the example given, it either goes A 10…J K  or K J …10 A.

All this is sometimes called finessing for a cover.

Some final advice for learners and careless people: If you haven’t got all those supporting cards, you mustn’t fall into a simple error when you have only ace and queen. When they are in the same hand AQ(x) we lead up to the queen hoping the king is with 2nd player.  BUT if your two honours are in separate hands, ie  Axx opposite Qxx, you must not lead the queen because you have seen good players doing so - they are doing the above catching play. OK, say your queen is covered by the king and you kill that with your ace, you had better not feel triumphant unless you have got the jack and perhaps the ten, because they are now bosses. You have wasted your queen. Now do it the right way. Lead from the ace hand (you can play the ace first if you like), just lead towards the queen and it makes 50% of the time. Sorted.

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38 Should I hold up my ace? (part 1)

Depends on the situation. Here’s an easy one:

1. In a suit contract, you are LHO (Left-hand opponent) so dummy is on your left, where you spy a king with one or more low cards. You have the ace and others.  Now declarer leads a low card towards the king, hoping to make it. He is entitled to that king because it was sitting under your ace from the moment the deal was made, so it’s a “live” king and belongs to Caesar. Put your ace up immediately (called rising with the ace). Why? Because that leading low card could be a singleton and if you hold up then where would your ace be? Ever been left holding a useless ace at the end of a hand?

N.B,  Do not rise if the dummy card is the queen. Play low and if your partner has the king, she will die. If declarer has the king he is entitled to one trick, let him have it now: when he tries the king later you now have the means to stop him making two tricks.

39 Holding up ace (part 2)

3. Now for the most common situation: you are declarer in a NT contract and the opponents lead a suit in which you hold the ace and nothing else but low cards. Should you take your ace immediately or hold up, and if so how many times? The standard rule is With a total of 6 cards between you and dummy, hold up once; with a total of 5, hold up twice if you can. The theory behind this rule (known as the rule of seven) is that by playing your ace at the right moment, the leader’s partner will now have no more, and so cannot lead the suit if he gets in, or if he does hold one more, than that is one less in leader’s hand and so you don’t lose too many tricks. Sound good? Yes, it is good in emergency hands but what if you have a better hand than usual? What if, counting your tricks when dummy goes down before playing anything, as I’m sure you do, what if you can see your contract if you take your ace immediately? Even if your target is overtricks, don’t forget that every time you hold up, you are losing one trick, whereas taking the ace puts you in the driving seat. But, be sure that once you take your ace you are not going to lose the lead, because if you do you are going to make the original leader a very happy person.  So, if the nine 3NT tricks are staring you in the face, get in and play the hare for once. In a 1NT contract, the hold-up issue is not so pressing because you can afford to lose six tricks in total and still get home.
4.  Here are two chances for some crafty deception:

1) You are declarer in any contract and hold AJx in a suit, and LHO leads the king. Suppress your knee-jerk desire to ace it and reflect that that king lead must/should be from KQ.  If you duck the trick, keeping LHO on lead, nine times out of ten she will follow with the queen, or any card of that suit for that matter. Now you make two tricks instead of one.  This is called the Bath Coup. But if the nature of the hand calls for immediate control, take your ace and get on with your plan.

2) If you have say AK or AKQ in dummy and you are taking the trick there, you’ll take with the lowest card – as we do, but if the defence have led the suit to these same combinations in your hand, remember that the defenders cannot see your cards. Take with the ace, change the suit, and next time they get in they’ll  likely lead again to your KQ, thinking you haven’t got them or you would have….etc. Works a treat, and it’s called The Declarer’s Mask.

5. One more situation which is not so much “Shall I hold-up” as “Shall I dive in?”  You are defending a NT contract as RHO and your partner has led a good suit which she hopes you will lead back. OK, you know what suit she wants. Declarer now leads from dummy a suit of which you hold the ace: rise immediately every time, and lead your partner’s suit. Job done.

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40  A nice device for defenders - the Dead Dummy Dodge

Somewhere in my tips I warned LHO not to lead from single honours or tenaces if at all possible, because it could give a trick away. It is better to wait for someone else to lead the suit. For example if you hold AQxx and lead the suit (no matter which card) you will make the declarer smile if he holds the king. But what if your partner has the king? Or the dummy even. Another holding: KJxx.  Ideally you want both the ace and the queen on your right. Or in your partner’s hand. Again, if you only knew! Partner might have either or both the missing cards, and even if he did, he might be cautious for the same reason. So although you hold a sequence between you, nobody leads it because one of you is frightened, and the other is frit!

There’s a simple solution, and it lies totally in the hands of the RHO because he can see the dummy as 4th in hand if he leads the suit in question.  (If dummy holds a high card which might take the trick and he (RHO) has a higher card to beat it, perhaps find some other safe lead.) But if dummy has only low cards, we have a very powerful device at hand: that is the suit to lead, because dummy cannot take this trick and partner may hold a tenace, praying that you would lead it. So lead it.

But wait! Here’s the crunch - don’t lead a low card, this will make complications. Here’s Terry’s golden rule: lead your highest card, even an Ace. Well, there’s no king around to put it on. Don’t tell me that you would cheerfully lead an ace at trick one (when you can’t see what’s on your right) but you won’t lead one now.(when you can) Lead your TOP card whatever it is, and if it holds the trick, now lead your next highest, and so on till something happens.  Typically it goes something like J-Q-K-x or Q-A-x-x with partner gratefully eyeing his promoted king. You have probably seen something like this before but not sure how it works. How it works is that it doesn’t give a trick away and many and many a time it gets a contract down. I’m saying that it doesn’t matter what cards you or the other two hold, it is winning play. The crux is that dummy is out of it, so at least you are leading through strength and up to weakness.

I call it the Dead Dummy Dodge or DDD though if you can think of a more elegant-sounding title I would be grateful. It’s well-known amongst good players but I don’t think anyone else has ever gone my whole hog in saying that you can safely lead your top card every time, no matter how the pictures are distributed. Even in the extreme case where the declarer holds all the honours except your lone king or queen, you are hardly giving a trick away by going against all normal rules to lead your honour, because the declarer could always pick it up by a finesse. [So the only time to take fright and abstain will be if dummy has no entries whatever. Pretty rare,]

This DDD rule is rather like Einstein’s Relativity: the difficulty is not understanding it, it’s believing it.

Use the DDD whenever you can, RHO.  (LHO, don’t even think about it.)

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41 Slam bidding

4NT was not designed for getting into a slam, it was designed for staying out of one. A slam is just a game with overtricks, and primarily you need to feel that the overtricks could well be there. 4NT is just a safety measure.

If your partner has bid NT (any number) and your point count looks good enough, it is a matter of simple arithmetic - add your points to hers and see. You are looking for a total of 33 points between you. (This figure means that you cannot be missing two aces.) If you can see 33 even if her point count is minimum, bid 6NT immediately. If you cannot see 33 even if her point count is maximum, pass. But if the max would produce 33, then 4NT says “Go 6NT if you have a maximum, pass with a minimum, or 5NT with the middle figure.”

4NT over any NT from partner is NOT asking for aces: you could have all four aces and still be short of 33.

4NT over an agreed suit (or after the last suit just bid if no agreement yet) depends on what convention you are playing, the choice is yours, and it must be agreed with partner or trouble looms:

1. Gerber  This isn’t 4NT of course, it’s 4C. If you are playing this, I wish you weren’t; it has been called the biggest single cause of confusion in bridge, because it rules out 4C for other purposes, and there are several of these, not least as a raise of partner’s club bid. Do consider Blackwood at least. If you like Gerber because it keeps the bidding low, why are you seeking a slam if you even fear the 5 level?
2. Blackwood This 4NT bid means “How many aces, partner?” And the replies are: 5C = 0 or 4,  5D = 1, 5H = 2, 5S = 3.  Note that 0 or 4! Simple to remember.
3. Roman Keycard Blackwood (RKCB) is adopted by the more progressive players and 4NT means “How many keycards, partner?” There are five keycards: the four aces and the king of trumps, and the replies are: 5C = 0 or 3,  5D = 1 or 4, 5H = 2 and no queen, 5S = 2 + Q.  The queen of trumps is not a keycard, it’s an extra feature that you may be lucky enough to show. There are more options in the full version of RKCB but this will do for now.

How to use 4NT

Only use it if you need to. Only use it if you can cope with any response by partner. Avoid it if you have a void: what if partner has an ace there? Experienced players should learn how to cue-bid their aces before trying 4NT.

Splinter Bids

And here’s another useful aid to slam bidding. Your partner opens a major suit, say 1S. What do the following responses mean? 2D, 3D, 4D?

You should have no trouble identifying the first two – normal change of suit showing 8-10 pts, and jump takeout forcing to game showing 16+ pts. But a double jump? That’s a splinter bid, and it carries three messages: I guarantee 4S, I have mild slam interest, and I have a singleton or void in diamonds. This responding hand should not only have the singleton but good actual points as well, say about 12. Partner can now take suitable action: 4S shows no slam interest, so we go no further, but 4NT is often the next move. Of course it does not agree diamonds!

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42  Suit preference signals

When partner leads a suit for the first time and we can’t beat the two cards played, we know how to signal attitude (high for like, low for not) but what about other situations? The commonest is when you are the first partner to discard: you should always try to make this a suit preference signal inviting a switch.

Signalling with a discard  The old-fashioned method was to drop the suit you want, but this often depletes the very resource you are inviting. Better is the method often known as McKinney, but more often as Lavinthal, here it is:- Suit A is led, you drop suit B which is the suit you don’t want, so this clearly wants one of the two remaining suits. So you drop high or low to suggest the higher-ranking or lower-ranking of those two.

Example: on a spade lead you drop a high diamond, suggesting that you want a heart lead.

Signalling when sending for a ruff  You have detected that your partner has just led a singleton (in a trump contract) so, having taken the current trick or later if you haven’t, you lead back this suit and your partner trumps it. Are you feeling smug? Well don’t unless the card you sent him tells him what suit to lead you, to get back in your hand for a second ruff.  It should have been a low or high card on the same principle as Lavinthal. Maybe you learnt something there.

Signalling in No Trumps I do not recommend Lavinthal here. The common discarding problem in NT is that every time you throw a card on declarer’s triumphant cashing of his long suit, you weaken one of your own. Do not weaken two suits, just one. Having decided which suit you want to keep, keep it as long as possible.  So the first defender to throw a discard is saying “Please keep this suit, partner, I’m keeping the other one.” In case you’re thinking there are three other suits, not two, I’m ruling out the first suit led by defence, which is presumably the defenders’ suit for both to keep anyway.

The real nature of preference signals. They are but suggestions, not commands. This is because signaller cannot always spare an unmistakeable card (what is a 5 or 6?) or hasn’t any of what they would like to have. So use discretion about leading the signalled suit.

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43  Dummy reversal

This of course means declarer treating the dummy as “hand” and her hand as dummy. When should we do it? Whenever it works out better that way. But there are things to bear in mind. Remembering our golden rule to trump in dummy but not in hand, it’s now needful to do it the other way round, providing that our new “hand” is capable of drawing the opposing trumps. Hmmm…

Jacoby Transfers have been around so long now that few people can remember that before they came in, if partner opened 1NT and you feared its safety because of your poverty but held a long suit, you just bid your suit (any suit but clubs) and opener had to pass it. So the weak hand played the contract. Transfers makes the 1NT opener play the contract, and the advantage is that the opening lead will not now go through strength but come up to it. And a holding like Kxx is always better fourth in hand rather than second. Fine, let’s play transfers.

So we all have often played such a hand in 2H or 2S, but have we always realised that this is a case for dummy reversal – every time? Many and many a time have I watched a declarer trumping in the long hand, supposing it to be dummy. No, Sir or Madam, it’s your hand you should be trumping in.. (Not that there’ll be many opportunities to dummy-ruff in a balanced hand.) Use the apparent dummy to draw trumps and in every way treat it as declarer’s hand.

A cynic once said that you can take a bridge player to the table, but you can’t make them think. If you haven’t before, please think about this matter.

Postscript. When partner opens 1NT and you have a 5-card major, don’t automatically panic and bid 2D/2H unless you are really weak. With 7-10 points, pass. Your 5-carder’s length will help your partner to get 1NT, possibly with an overtrick, and played in hearts, will usually make the same number of tricks. Which scores higher when seven tricks are made – 2H (-50) or 1NT (+90)?  Or if 8 tricks made, 2H (+110) or 1NT (120)? Er…. Never fall in love with a five-card suit.

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44  Safety factors

We’re all trying to be more accurate in our bidding, yes? If you have absorbed the Captain rule, you know that your partner will be relying on you for accuracy, and if your bid has relied on suit length instead of points, then the need for accuracy is paramount if you want to avoid a silly bidding war with your opponents.  I’m thinking of 3-level pre-empts at the moment, though the principles apply elsewhere.

The rules I was taught are four-fold, and here they are:

1. You need a 7-card suit
2. You must not be strong enough to open the bidding
3. You must not have a 4-card major on the side unless partner has already passed
4. You must be safe under the rule of 2 and 3.

Am I going too fast? Never heard of this? Only using rule a, or a and b? It’s the canine table again..

The whole point of any pre-emptive behaviour is that you believe the opponents have more strength than you and therefore would probably get a good score unless you stop them. So if there’s any chance of your side opening the bidding and reaching a partscore, the pre-empt is pointless and usually harmful to you. Take this hand: 

S  None  H  xxxx  D  AQxxxxx   C  xx

Would you open 3D with that? I’d like to know a bit more before deciding: Are you vulnerable? What seat are you in? If 4^th seat (unlikely) the opponents aren’t strong, so either open 1D or pass. If 3^rd seat, all the points are on your left, partner has passed, so this is the ideal time for a pre-empt. Bid 3D.  2^nd seat is tricky, as your partner hasn’t yet bid.  If you pre-empt now and he has a strong hand, he may get things wrong. But if you and next player both pass, and he opens 1H you have 4 1/2 Dummy Tricks – enough for game and possible slam. If he opens 1S, you bid 1NT and you will get to a makeable contract.

Weak Twos

Surely the above principles apply to weak twos? They are pre-emptive, after all, and rashly applied could either go down badly or conversely stifle a good bidding sequence with your partner. Start thinking about all pre-emptive bids as overcalls made in advance, and so apply the same safety principles as overcalls. Weak twos are usually six cards exactly, and 5 or 6 to 10 points, that’s like 1 to 2 honour tricks (already imprecise). Assess it as an overcall and a hand like this:

S  Jxxx

H AJxxxx 

D  x 

C  xx  

rates as 1HT + 3 length tricks = 4 playing tricks. If you are vulnerable, add 2 making 6, or if non-vul add 3 making 7, so the most this hand is worth in theory is 1H, not 2H. And look at that 4-card major.  If I were playing weak twos (which I don’t by choice, being terribly old-fashioned), I would only open this hand in 3^rd seat and not vulnerable. I’m saying, by all means open weak twos, but consider each hand on its merits and the current conditions, rather than bidding any old rubbish with a 6-card suit. (Never fall in love with…)

Defence to Weak Twos

Yes, they can be a nuisance, especially 2S which forces 2NT or the 3-level. My gut reaction to any type of pre-emptive bid from the opponents is “Don’t let them get away with it”, but this isn’t always easy. My policy with trusted partners is that the first partner after the pre-empt should strive to deal with it, and if they don’t than the remaining partner should do so. Dealing with it is a matter of choosing between an overcall, a NT bid, or a double for take-out (Doubles of 4-level pre-empts would be for penalties.) But do we need extra strength? You certainly don’t need a weak hand, but say 12 points is enough for most cases. To settle your choice of bid, the mantra is “Do what you would have done over a 1-bid of that suit, only your bid is now one higher of course.” Good luck. Much of bridge is based on probabilities rather than certainties. If it were the latter we wouldn’t play it.

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45  Scar Wars

What are they? Here’s one (bids going round the table):

1H – 1S – 2H – 2S – 4H - ?  Here’s another:  1H – 2S – 3H – 3S – ?

And there are dozens like them: different suits, different levels, some with jumps, but all with one thing in common: “We’re not going to let them get the contract!”  Who is that speaking?  Well, probably all four players. Which of those players is bidding soundly, and which is sacrificing badly, thinking that will show a profit but ending up with battle scars ­- a significant minus score? Let’s see how, using the above examples, we might answer that last query in each case. Here are some of my thoughts:

First, IF the openers are bidding soundly (i.e. bidding as if there was no opposition) they are entitled to three bids between them (opener’s presumed 12-pointer, responder’s limit raise, and opener’s possible further raise with extra strength).  And IF the overcalling side are sound, they should find their limit in two bids (overcaller’s max overcall and partner’s raise to fit-level). Note the big IF’s; weaker players are often more haphazard. So logically, a third bid by overcallers or a fourth bid by openers should fail. I would love to make a rule out of this, but can only offer it as a guide. “If she did, she shouldn’t.” maybe?

Second, It pays to identify the captain of each pair, the one who should make the final decision. In the first example, the opener is the captain because partner made a limit bid,, so if the opponents bid 4S the 2H bidder’s options are Pass or Pass.  In the second example the same principle applies for the openers. 3H is a limit bid, so opener’s bid is now Pass or 4H if he has enough reserve strength for it. He should realise that the opponents are trying to nudge him into bidding an unmakeable game, and not fall for that one. As for the spade bidders, every bid they made is, or should be, a limit bid, so they have no captain and further bids are guesswork. (That doesn’t seem to stop some people I have met.)

Can you see a constant picture emerging?  Well, if I were kibitzing this hand, I’d back the heart bidders’ judgement every time, even without looking at the cards, because they were the opening side with guaranteed strength, who found an immediate fit and are using a good raise system. The spade people are overcallers, with no guaranteed accuracy, only length, hope, and a desire to upset the opponents. When all the contestants in these bidding wars really think things out, they will know when to stop bidding.  And by the way, the time to double is when you know you would have got your game contract yet they outbid you. You don’t know you can get the extra trick if you bid on, do you?  They are robbing you – make them pay. And by the way, The five level belongs to the opponents. Don’t be the second pair to get there.

Final advice

To the openers: Ignore enemy bidding as far as possible. Bid to the proper level as normal, then leave the opposition stranded if they outbid you.

To the overcallers: Both of you should bid to the max, then step back. Only go further if you are pretty sure the score will be better than passing.

To either side contemplating a double. Again, be sure! Doubling a part score may double them into game, so normally only double game contracts. And remember that all the lovely pictures in your trump suit are not worth much if the opponents play the hand.  In fact all four players should identify where most of their points are. If they are mostly in your trumps, lean towards bidding on, if in the opponents’ suit or the side suits, back off, it may pay you to defend.

46  The Traffic-light System

This is for advanced players, or shall maybe bold players? Either way you use it at your own risk. It is played by thousands of people already, so there must be something in it. What is it?

Earlier, I recommended that when you make risky bids such as weak twos, overcalls and pre-empts, you should have counted your Playing Tricks (not points except for the 1NT overcall), and then add 2 or 3 tricks because you don’t know your partner’s hand but you do not expect her to have nothing. We used the Rule of 2 and 3 which says add 2 if you are vulnerable and 3 if not. The reasoning behind this says that you can probably make the contract by adding this number, but if partner’s hand turns out useless and you are doubled, then you will not lose more than 500, and if you do, your opponents have failed to bid a contract worth even more than 500.

This practice held sway for many years before the more modern concept took over – the Rule of 2, 3, and 4. This also involves vulnerability but in a more complex way, by including the opponents’ vulnerability in the calculation. There are four possible combinations: a) Neither side vul, b) Both sides vul, c) Only they vul, d) Only you vul.

Both a and b are called Neutral vulnerability

c is called Favourable vulnerability

d is called Unfavourable vulnerability

Make sure you have grasped everything I have said so far.

Now you can see where using the analogy of traffic-lights can help:

When the vulnerability is Unfavourable the traffic-light is RED

When the vulnerability is Neutral  the traffic-light is AMBER

When the vulnerability is Favourable the traffic-light is GREEN

And the Rule of 2, 3, and 4 says when red add 2, when amber add 3, and when green add 4 tricks to your hand value. It’s adding four invisible tricks that takes a bit of nerve.

OK, here we go: I’m going to overcall in hearts at green vulnerability, my hearts suit is KQJxxx which is 2HT plus 3 for the long small cards = 5 PTs (playing tricks). The rest of the hand includes an ace, that’s it. So that’s 6 PTs now. We’re green, add 4, that’s 10, the overcall is 4H – go for it. Will it make? Time will tell. If it doesn’t , say you go down two, not doubled, you lose 100 and the opponents have surely missed a contract worth more, may much more, maybe a 4S contract which they had no time to find. If you are doubled, two down is 300 and they have surely missed a vulnerable game for 620. See how it works? Bidding to the theoretical limit doesn’t promise that you’ll make the contract, but it assures you it will pay you to bid it.

With the same hand at RED you would overcall only 2H so your partner is now captain knowing you have at least 5 trumps and will use the Law of Total Tricks. If she goes 3H on the basis of that 5 trumps you can now go 4H because you have 6 trumps. Yes, it can all get a bit complicated which is why I said it was not for shrinking violets.  Maybe dip your toe into the system now and then to see how you get on?