Good partners are always looking for ways to help each other on defense. They do that with count and attitude signals during the play, but those aren’t their only tools. There are opportunities during the auction, too, even when the opponents are doing all the bidding.
Lead-directing doubles (LDDs) can be a relatively safe way to show where your strength is and guide partner toward a good opening lead. There are two main types of LDDs that can be used during the auction, each showing a different type of hand.
1 – Double of a suit your side has bid naturally (discussed in the February issue). If an opponent cuebids a suit you’ve bid, double is “good hand, good suit”. If it’s a suit partner has bid, double shows support. Some pairs agree that it also promises a high honor.
2 - Double of a conventional or other artificial bid. One of the most common uses is doubling a Stayman or transfer response to 1NT or 2NT (discussed in March). With a strong balanced hand on your left, there’s a possibility that the opponents will pass or redouble to make you pay for this intrusion, so it’s important to have a strong suit for this call.
With the proliferation of artificial bids in modern systems, you’ll find many other opportunities to use these doubles. Here are some common situations and guidelines for the types of hands you should have for a double:
LHO Partner RHO You
(1)
1C Pass 1H Pass
1S Pass 2D DBL
(2) 1S Pass 2NT* Pass
3S Pass 4D DBL
* Forcing spade raise
(3) 2NT Pass
3C Pass 3D DBL
Responder often uses the fourth-suit bid – 2D in Auction (1) – to create an artificial force. With no unbid suits available, partner will know your double can’t be any type of takeout. It shows diamond honors and asks partner to lead that suit if he’s on opening lead.
There’s some risk here, as the opponents are showing game-level values and you don’t yet know what type of hand RHO has for his 2D force. He could be looking for 3-card heart support, locating stoppers for notrump or preparing to show a big spade raise. He could also have a diamond suit, so you’ll want to have length and a strong honor holding for this double.
A double of a high-level bid – a Blackwood response or control cuebid, for example – doesn’t require length or great strength. In Auction (2), RHO’s 4D is a control bid, showing a high honor and searching for slam. Your double just shows a possible diamond trick and a reason to believe that suit is the best opening lead.
In this auction, you don’t have to worry about the opponents passing and making 4D doubled, but there are other potential pitfalls. Your double may allow LHO to save auction space by redoubling to show the other diamond control. Telling them where the high cards are in a critical suit could also talk them into bidding a slam on a finesse – or staying out of a slam that would have gone down on any lead.
In Auction (3), opener’s 3D reply to Stayman is artificial, so partner will know your double is showing diamond strength. Later, he may be asking you if you doubled just to tell the opponents where the diamonds were – or perhaps to remind yourself to lead that suit.
There are many issues to weigh when considering whether to double an artificial bid. You need to be confident that the suit you’re showing rates to be the best lead for the defense and that partner can use this information.
That’s why your double of 3D in this auction is essentially impossible. Besides being more helpful to the opponents than to partner, it violates the first rule of making a LDD: Be sure partner will be on lead.
© 2024 Karen Walker