The 2
overcall of 1
can cause trouble for the opening side unless everyone is on the same page. We had a successful auction yesterday but I will take advantage of it to give some thoughts.
Your partner opens 1
and Rho calls 2
. You hold:
KQT5
K5
K9852
Q7
What to do? Of course agreements matter here. They usually do.
I assume that 2
is natural and forcing, but also that it shows 5. Maybe you could X? And then, if partner responds 2
?
I held the hand above and I did double. To my surprise and relief, partner had four spades. She bid 2
, I had no trouble raising to 4
, making.
Steve Robinson, in
Washing Standard, 2nd ed. suggests, on page 209, that the for the double responder will always have either both majors or one major together with a diamond fit. Let's see how that works if over my double partner has four hearts:
1
2
X Pass
2
Pass 2
Responder has now shown a hand with four spades, without four hearts, and with a diamond fit.
Just how widespread this approach is I am not sure. But certainly we often encounter 1
- (2
) so regular partnerships need a way to deal with it. My plan yesterday was, if partner responded with the expected 2
over my X, that I would then bid 3
. Or maybe 4
, I had not yet decided. But with an agreement that 2
over the 2
response shows spades, denies hearts, and promises diamonds, that would be just right. If partner has four spades as well as four hearts, then knowing of the double fit should be inspiring and s/he will at least invite with 3
. If partner does not have four spades then s/he will retreat to 3
or perhaps bid NT depending on the holding.
So this all sounds pretty workable. Myself, I have usually allowed for more possibilities. The important thing is that the doubler, when not holding both majors, have a viable plan about what to do if opener responds in the major that he lacks. Thus, after a 2
response to the double, I think 2NT should mean "I have spades, I don't have hearts, I think NT might be a viable contract." Steve seems pretty insistent that the doubler will always have diamonds unless he holds both majors. I promise not to feel slighted if you choose to listen to Steve Robinson rather than to me.
The important thing is to have thought about this, and to have discussed it, before it comes up.
The hands were:
http://tinyurl.com/y7lxv93c5
also makes (played by E) and some were in it, but 4
is obviously the right contract. Not that hard to reach, provided both partners agree on what means what.
Added: The situation is different after 1
- (1
) since 1
- (1
) -1M only shows 4+ in M. But after 1
- (2
) then it seems reasonable to plat that X shows that responder either has both majors or one major and a club fit, while 1
- (2
) -2M is a forcing bid with 5+ in M.
Basically, the problem is that when opener starts with one minor and immediately the opponents bid 2 of the other minor, responder might have neither major, one major or both majors, might or might not have a fit for opener, and might have a good hand, a modest hand or a weak hand, and might or might not have stoppers in the opponents suit It's not possible to cover all of these bases with total clarity so we have to choose our poison. And then we have to hope pard is with us.
