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.