1D         Pass           1H        Pass
           2H         Pass           4H        Pass
           Pass       DBL        All Pass

And what do you lead holding  ♠J853  ♥64  ♦743   ♣K954?

Back at my old campus club, we called this a DOON (Double Out of Nowhere). The club had some wild bidders, so I learned not to read too much into their DOONs and BOONs (Bids Out of Nowhere). More than likely, these unexpected calls were just silly gambles from pickup partners who wanted to hear themselves bid.

Now that I’ve graduated from the college club and have more trustworthy partners, I always assume that an unusual call has a rational explanation. Here, the simplest is that partner believes he has enough tricks and trumps to set 4H without any contribution from you. This seems unlikely, though, as his two previous passes suggest he isn’t loaded with high cards and your heart holding tells you he isn’t loaded with trumps. There must be something else about his hand that talked him into trying for a penalty.

If it isn’t a trump stack or a surplus of high cards, partner’s double has to be based on the location of his high cards. He will probably have something in unbid suits and may even have a trump trick, but his main asset will be diamond honors over the opening bidder.

Partner’s double isn’t just an attempt to increase the penalty. It’s also a lead-director. Without it, a diamond might well have been your last choice with this hand, but it’s the right lead now (lead the 3 to show your count).

Bridge logic would bring you to the right answer, but there’s also a widely accepted rule that covers this situation:
    In auctions like this one – where the opponents voluntarily bid game and you and partner have not bid -- a double of the final contract asks for a lead of dummy’s first-bid side suit. 
This applies as long as the bid suit wasn’t artificial.

That’s the meaning for a double of a game contract after an uncontested auction, but the same principle can guide your thinking in some lower-level auctions, too.

          LHO     Partner     RHO     You

           1C         Pass           1H        Pass
           1S         Pass           1NT      Pass
           Pass      DBL          All Pass

Partner has passed twice and there’s only one unbid suit, so this DOON can’t be any type of takeout or “Do Something Intelligent” double. Neither should it be an “I just don’t want to defend 1NT; I hope you can save me” double.

The logical meaning is that this is penalty with good clubs sitting over the 1C opener. It’s possible that partner had enough to overcall 1NT, but was laying in the weeds hoping for a penalty opportunity. More likely, though, is that he has a good hand that wasn’t right for a takeout double or 1NT overcall, in part because of his club holding – something like  ♠QJ95  ♥72  ♦AQ  ♣KQ1084 .

Although partner’s double doesn’t demand a club lead, it’s a strong suggestion. He doesn’t necessarily promise great club length – he might bid this way with  ♠AQ85  ♥4  ♦J1074  ♣AKJ9 -- but he should have good honor strength.

There are a number of other rules that assign lead-directing meanings to penalty doubles made after other types of auctions. Although you probably didn’t hear about them in your beginner bridge class, many are considered so standard that expert partnerships don’t even discuss them. We will, however, in the next issue.

   ©  2025  Karen Walker