On Board 2 of this week's Spoons game, your right hand opponent opens 2 ♦ (weak two in diamonds). Your hand is
♠J 7 6 4
♥ A Q9

♦ K 10 3 ♣ K Q 10

You are vulnerable, and the opponents are non vulnerable.

What call do you make, and why? ---------

You have a balanced hand with 15 high card points, with a diamond stop.

Your options are:
2 NT, Double or Pass.

Looking at each option in turn:

2 NT - this would usually be a good balanced hand with a diamond stop and roughly 15-17 high card points. Our hand seems to fit the requirement for a 2 NT overcall, but ...

We would expect the opener to have ♦ AQJxxx for their 2 ♦ opening bid. East will lead a diamond and this will set up 5 diamond tricks for the defence.

Our hand is completely flat, with a 4-3-3-3 distribution and our only 4 card suit is jack high, so the chances of establishing a long suit is minimal.

All of West's strength is in the diamond suit, so any high cards that we are missing will be in Easts hand and thus, very well placed for the defence.

There are many more balanced hands with 15 points that have more trick taking potential than our hand.

This should guide you to reject a 2 NT overcall.

Double - this is a takeout double and should promise 4 cards in any unbid major. It also implies having a shortage in diamonds. We have neither of these features , so we should reject making a takeout double.

We do not have a good long suit, so we can not overcall in a suit. This leads us to the only remaining option - to PASS over 2 ♦.

Spoons 16th June 2025

 East deals NS vul                

This was board 2 from the Spoons game on Monday 16th June 2025.

I expect some Easts will open with a weak 2 ♦, but this is a questionable due to the poor quality of the diamond suit and as the hand is an ideal dummy if partner has a 5 card major.

In a previous article, I mentioned the Suit Quality Test to see if a 6 card suit is suitable for a weak two opener - you add up the number of top honours to the length of the suit, and if this comes to 8 or more, then your suit is good enough to open at the 2 level.

On this hand we have one top honour in diamonds, and a 6 card suit, resulting in a suit quality measure of 7. So East should pass as dealer

If East passes as dealer, then South is likely to open 1 ♠ and West will overcall 2 ♣. This should be passed back to South who has no reason to disturb a club contract, so South will Pass.

This should make with one or two overtricks.

When East does open 2 ♦, South has a problem. With 15 points the South hand is strong enough to enter the auction, but there is no sensible call available to South. The South hand is too weak to bid 2 NT , and the flat nature of the hand precludes making a takeout double and there is no 5 card or longer suit.

The best choice for South is to pass.

West then has a dilemma. A bid of 3 ♣ will nearly always get a diamond rebid from partner, and now E/W are too high and should be defeated in any contract that they reach. If West passes 2♦ then accurate defense should defeat this contract.