Many of those who are called wild bidders earn their reputations not just by bidding too high or too often, but by being too “creative” when choosing their calls in undiscussed situations. When they come up with a bright idea for solving a bidding problem, they try it out during the auction and hope their partners will field it.
Ambiguous doubles are the source of many disasters. A good partner won’t invent a new meaning at the table and expect you to read his mind. There are, however, situations where partner may make a new-to-you double on the assumption that his intent will be obvious, either because the usage is so widely accepted or because there’s no other logical explanation.
Here are some auctions that partnerships don’t always discuss in advance. All these doubles have “expert standard” interpretations, but you don’t need to know how other pairs define them. Bridge logic should tell you what type of hand partner is trying to show.
You LHO Partner RHO
(1) 1S 2NT* Pass
* (Both minors)
3C 3S DBL
(2) 1D 4C DBL
(3) 3H DBL 4H
Pass Pass DBL
Even if you’ve never encountered the auction in (1), you know that partner has something extra. With a “normal” two-suited overcall -- whether weak or constructive -- he would trust your judgment and pass at his second turn.
He’s already shown at least 5-5 in the minors, so he can’t have enough spades for a pure penalty double. A three-suit takeout double doesn’t make sense, either. If he had a 0-3-5-5 hand that was powerful enough to bring hearts into the picture at the four-level, he surely would have started with a takeout double.
This all leads to the conclusion that the double must be based on strong high-card values. It’s similar to an “action double” made by a preempter (discussed in the previous issue). The difference here is that partner started with a two-suited overcall, not a preempt, so his first bid didn’t limit his hand.
Partner could have extra playing strength, but the main message is that he has defensive tricks and wants your opinion about whether to defend or declare. He might hold ♠5 ♥AQ ♦KQ1063 ♣AK865. You can pass and convert the double to penalty, retreat to 4C or bid 5C.
The same meaning applies if partner starts with a Michaels cuebid. After any two-suited overcall, a later double shows the big high-card hand and bids of suits show more offense-oriented values. If partner makes a Michaels cuebid and then freely bids one of his suits, you can figure that’s his longer suit in a 6-5 hand.
Auction (2) challenges you to look past what’s on your convention card and consider partner’s problems. A common agreement is to play negative doubles through 4H, but the higher the level of the double, the less likely it is that partner will have the "right" suit lengths. He needs to be able to show values with a hand such as ♠AK85 ♥K64 ♦Q653 ♣85, so don’t expect 4-4 in the majors for a negative double at this level.
You also have to take a practical view when picturing partner's hand in Auction (3). Technically, his second double is still for takeout, but it also has to be at least partly for penalty. All you know for sure is that he has too much high-card strength to let the opponents play 4H undoubled, so you can’t count on him for perfect takeout distribution. Unless you have a long suit and enough strength that you expect to make your bid, passing will usually be your best choice.
© 2024 Karen Walker