Your left-hand opponent
opens a strong 1NT, partner passes and RHO bids 2D (transfer to hearts). What’s
your call holding
♠Q84 ♥652 ♦KJ965
♣Q10 ?
Your options are limited when you’re in the “sandwich” position after both opponents have bid. On the vast majority of these deals, the opponents will be declaring, so your fourth-seat actions should be focused on helping partner defend.
Lead-directing doubles. The most common way to direct the defense is with a double of responder’s artificial bid. Doubling a Stayman or transfer bid can be very effective, but you need to have clear agreements about suit quality.
Do you double your RHO’s 2D transfer with the hand above? It can work on some deals, but anyone who has ever gone for 1160 -- that’s 2D redoubled, making three -- will tell you it can be dangerous with such a weak suit. The 1NT opener can freely redouble when he has a strong diamond holding and leave the declare-or-defend decision up to his partner. You might have more diamonds than they do, but a few trump finesses and their outside aces and kings will often provide more than enough tricks to make 2D.
Another reason to forgo a double with this hand is you aren’t all that sure that a diamond is the best lead. Your entries are slow or non-existent, so even if you establish your suit, you may not be able to cash the tricks. If you pass and allow partner to make his natural black-suit lead, your queen may help set up his suit.
To double at the two-level, a good guideline for suit quality is five cards with at least three of the top five honors or six cards with two of the top four honors. High spot cards can also be critical. If you want to talk partner out of leading a black suit, you might stretch that guideline and double 2D with ♠32 ♥Q964 ♦AQ987 ♣65 . Change the diamonds to ♦AQ432, though, and a pass is wiser.
It’s important to remember that your double just asks for a lead. It doesn’t say, “I would have bid this suit” or “Let’s compete for the contract”. Partner can raise if he has a fit and some tricks, but he shouldn’t count on you for full overcalling values. You should be able to double an artificial bid with KQJxx and nothing else. If you require more than this for a lead-directing double, you're eliminating many opportunities to help your partner.
Penalty doubles. A double of an artificial bid is a type of penalty double because it shows a strong holding in that suit. A more serious penalty message comes after the opponents reach their final contract. What suit would you lead after these auctions?
(1) RHO You LHO
Partner
1NT Pass 2H* Pass *(Transfer to spades)
2S Pass 3NT Double
(2) RHO You LHO
Partner
1NT Pass 3NT Double
The success of partner’s “surprise” double depends on your opening lead. If the opponents have bid any suits, the standard agreement is that the double calls for the lead of dummy’s first suit. This applies only to natural bids and includes suits that were shown but not named, as in the first auction. Dummy showed spade length, so partner wants a spade lead. He might hold ♠KQJ98 ♥64 ♦A5 ♣10863.
The same logic applies if your LHO had bid 2C Stayman and the auction had proceeded the same way to 3NT. Dummy’s natural suit would be the four-card major opener didn’t bid, so you’d know partner wants a heart lead.
When no
natural suits were bid, as in (2), partner’s double says “Find my suit.” He has
either a solid or near-solid suit with an outside entry, similar to his hand in
(1). Some pairs agree this double asks for a specific suit (usually a spade).
More common – and your best guess if you haven’t discussed it – is partner has
hearts or spades. You won’t know which one, but if you lead your
shorter, weaker major, you’ll usually get it right.
Not vulnerable at matchpoints, your left-hand opponent opens a strong 1NT. Partner passes and your RHO bids 2D (transfer to hearts). What’s your call holding:
(1) ♠KQ965 ♥J ♦KJ102 ♣Q76 ?
(2) ♠AKJ107 ♥J942 ♦54 ♣63 ?
(3) ♠AQ93 ♥2 ♦QJ64 ♣K1084 ?
(4) ♠AJ1097 ♥3 ♦4 ♣QJ10865 ?
When your opponent opens 1NT, your most effective entry into their auction is in direct seat. An overcall in that position allows you to “get in and get out" early, before both opponents have described their hands, and can use up space they need to find their best contract.
The situation is much different when you’re in fourth seat after partner passes and your RHO responds. You can still describe your hand and compete for the contract, but the risks rise and the potential for buying the contract or obstructing their auction declines.
The problems in this “sandwich seat” are that you no longer have the flexibility of showing two suits at a low level nor the advantage of sitting over the strong hand. Hand (1) has the right pattern and values for a direct-seat overcall, but not for one in a live auction. Even not vulnerable, bidding 2S could be expensive if partner doesn’t have trump support and some minor-suit values.
Bidding with this hand may do little more than give the opponents a fielder’s choice. They know enough about each other’s hands to make good decisions about whether to bid on, so if they pass 2S, it’s usually because they want you there. If they bid over your 2S, it’s not even clear that you’ve helped partner defend. ♠KQ965 isn’t so strong that you have to get that lead, especially when you have help in other suits.
An overcall with Hand (2) is a better gamble. Unlike (1), it could be important to talk partner out of a minor-suit lead. Your suit is also much stronger, offering the potential to run if they play in notrump or serve as a tap suit against a heart contract. If the opponents allow you to play 2S, partner will have some high-card strength, well placed over opener. His heart shortness also makes it likely he holds at least a few spades.
Hand (3) offers an opportunity to show three suits. Some pairs play that a bid of responder's suit (2H here) shows this type of hand. Another agreement is to define a double of the transfer bid as a takeout of hearts. This gives up using the double as a lead-director for diamonds, but it’s a bit safer because the 1NT opener is more likely to bid over a double than a 2H overcall.
A second option for the 2H overcall is to play it as a Michaels-type cuebid. It shows a two-suiter similar to (4), with at least 5-5 in the other major and a minor. Partner bids 2NT to ask for your minor.
Bidding with any of these hands could work, but all have risks. The question to ask is how necessary is it to show this hand now? If you pass 2D with (2) or (4), the auction could be at 3NT or 4H at your next turn and you’ve lost your chance to direct the lead, find a sacrifice or even bid a making game. If you pass with (1) or (3) and the auction continues past 2H, you’ll know that bidding would have been either futile or dangerous.
There’s a better argument for bidding with (1) or (3) if the opening was a weak 1NT. In that case, it’s more likely this is your deal, so it could be important to show decent values right away. Against a strong 1NT, though, your best strategy with these two hands is to pass and wait. If responder passes out opener's 2H, you’ll know partner has some values and you can balance with 2S on (1) or a double on (3).
If you pass with these two
hands at your first turn and responder bids again, you don’t mind defending. You
have potential tricks and responder’s suit may be breaking badly, so a plus
score is possible – especially since you didn’t throw in a call that could help
declarer play the hand.
I was introduced to the “mini-brute” (10-12 1NT opening) by one of my favorite partners, Terry James of Columbus OH. We played it for years, even though that range has several flaws. It was hard to describe hands of 15-17 points, contracts were often played from the wrong side and we occasionally languished in 1NT when we had a higher-scoring (but unfindable) 4-4 major-suit fit. And, as expected, even the one-level was just too high on some deals.
We kept playing it, though, because our good results outnumbered the bad. In some cases, the preemptive value of 1NT made opponents hesitant to enter the auction when they could have made a partscore or even a game. The majority of good boards, though, came from opponents who were too eager to bid. The idea that we were stealing goaded them into making marginal overcalls and doubles that turned their potential plus scores into minuses.
Eventually, opposing pairs started making better decisions and the novelty and advantages of the 10-12 1NT waned. Terry and I modified the range a bit (a “good” 10 to a “soft” 13), but finally went back to playing a 15-17 1NT. Our experience with it, though, taught us how to compete more effectively against other weak notrumpers. Here are some tips for choosing your strategy:
Conventions. Many popular notrump defenses use a double to show distribution instead of high-card points. If you play one of these against strong notrumps, consider adding another convention to use over weaker ranges. Several versions of Landy, Astro and Cappelletti are good options for defining a double as penalty.
Some pairs prefer to keep the shape-showing meaning of a double when their opponents open a 12-14 1NT. They view this as more valuable than showing high-card strength, in part because it’s difficult to successfully penalize this range. The arguments are that most opponents have a way to run to a safer spot and you won’t often have a game you need to “protect” with a penalty double.
Still, unless you just can't bear to give up playing double as a one- or two-suiter, it's a good idea to have a card-showing double available. It's essential against a 10-12 1NT and useful against other weak ranges, even if it’s infrequent. Without it, you won’t be able to show a strong balanced hand.
Define “weak”. The most common weak-notrump range is 12-14, but there are several others. If you play different conventions against weak and strong notrumps, you need a clear agreement about which method is “on”. A simple definition is that any range that includes 12 or 13 points is a weak notrump.
Requirements for a double. As with strong notrumps, you need more than just the same range as opener. Against a 12-14 1NT, a direct double should show at least 15 points or 14 points with a good opening lead (you can shade this down a few points in balancing seat). Your hand will usually be semi-balanced and rarely have any suit longer than five cards.
After partner doubles. Keep in mind that a double of a weak notrump shows high-card strength, but it’s not purely penalty. To choose your action, evaluate your hand as if partner had opened 1NT. If you would expect to make 1NT, you can pass the double for penalties. If not, you should pull to a safer spot.
That means you need at least 5-6 points and a fairly balanced hand to pass. With a distributional hand, though, consider bidding your long suit, even if you have decent high-card strength. 1NT is often difficult to defend and your partscore (or game) could be a better score than the penalty.
Weak runouts. If your RHO passes and you hold 0-4 points, you'll want to remove the double. The standard way to find a landing spot is to bid your cheapest 4-card suit and scramble from there. If partner has a doubleton, he’ll usually run to his cheapest 4-card suit and you’ll bid again if you have shortness in that suit.
There’s a bit more safety in using bids of 2D, 2H and 2S to promise 5+ cards. With this agreement, 2C is used as a general scramble with a semi-balanced hand. The doubler can’t pass 2C unless he has a 5-card suit.
Another method is to treat partner’s double as a strong notrump and play “system on” (Stayman and transfers).
And strong. A different type of “biddable” hand is one with good high-card values but too much offense to defend 1NT doubled. To describe distributional strength, you can bid 2NT (unspecified two-suiter) or jump to three of a suit (6+-cards). These bids are forcing to game. If you play the "system-on" method, you can also transfer to your long suit, then raise or bid a new suit.
In the next issue:
Dealing with opponents’ runouts
Copyright © 2019 Karen Walker