Of all the doubles you’ve added to your bidding system over the years, probably the easiest to understand are doubles of artificial bids. When partner makes this type of double, there’s seldom any confusion about whether it’s takeout or penalty or what suits he’s showing. The message is “Lead this suit, partner”, and just about everything you need to know is covered by two common-sense guidelines:
1 – If the opponent’s bid doesn’t show length, your double shows strength (honors) in that suit.
2 -- The lower the level of the auction, the more strength -- and length – you need to double.
These are such simple, logical concepts that it might seem they should apply to every double of every artificial bid. There are, however, some possible exceptions to consider:
LHO Partner RHO You
(1) 1H DBL 2C* DBL
* (Constructive heart raise)
(2) 1S Pass 3C* DBL
* (Bergen – 4-card constructive raise)
(3) Pass Pass
1H Pass 2C * DBL
* (Drury – invitational heart raise)
In each case, you’ve doubled an artificial bid in an auction where the opponents appear to be heading toward a contract that will put partner on lead. That fits the definition of a lead-directing double, but when their bid is a low-level raise, the takeout meaning can sometimes be more useful. Your concern in these situations is that maybe you should be competing for the contract instead of just asking for a club lead.
If your RHO had raised to 2H in Auction 1 – and if you play responsive doubles -- your double would be a takeout for unbid suits. Since 2C is a heart raise, the same agreement should apply. You’d also treat this double as responsive if RHO had made a transfer advance (2D to show heart support).
Some pairs play that a responsive double can be any two unbid suits or even all three, but the more common agreement is that it shows the minors. If you have four spades or just one minor, you can bid the suit, so a double suggests a hand such as ♠J63 ♥83 ♦A964 ♣QJ105 .
You can agree on variations that will give you even more options over this type of artificial raise. One is to play that Double shows clubs and 2H shows the hand that would have made a responsive double over a natural raise to 2H.
It can also be important to have a takeout double available over some Bergen-style responses and other conventional 3-level raises (Auction 2). In these cases, the meaning of your double can change depending on the strength responder is showing. A popular approach is that double is takeout if the artificial bid shows the high-card strength of a single raise, but lead-directing if it promises limit-raise values.
Your considerations are a bit different over a Drury raise (Auction 3) because you’re a passed hand. Although some pairs define this double as takeout, most find it more valuable to play that it’s a club suit. It’s lead-directing, but at this low level, it also suggests that partner compete if he has a club fit.
If you want to show a takeout of their major, you can pass 2C and double later if they stop at the 2-level. If they bid higher than that before the auction gets back to you, you’ll be glad you didn’t reveal your distribution by doubling earlier.
There are other interesting agreements that offer dual meanings for a double of a Drury raise. One is to define double as takeout if they opened in third seat, but lead-directing after a fourth-seat opener. Another applies meanings that depend on which major the opponents are bidding -- if they have spades, your double shows clubs; if they have hearts, your double shows spades.
What is “expert standard”? The double in Auction 1 is so widely played as takeout that I would expect partner to interpret it that way, even without advance discussion. Expert opinion varies on the best use of doubles in the other auctions. The safest assumption -- for you and partner -- is that if their bid is artificial, your double shows length and strength and asks partner to lead that suit.
© 2025 Karen Walker