As a prelude to this post, let me welcome a new reader, Gary
Cotter who resides in Oregon. Gary has found a new regular partner and he has
the bridge bit in his mouth. We wish Gary and his partner much success.
It is
alarming to me that so few partnerships have bidding agreements after opponents
have made a one no trump overcall of partner’s opening bid. The silence is
deafening. Yet in a comparable situation, when acting on opponent’s opening bid
of 1NT, everybody uses some system to interfere and compete.
Let’s set the
stage. Partner has opened 1c, so let’s arbitrarily assign him 12 hcps. Opponent
has overcalled 1NT with 15-18, so let’s give him 16 hcps. Now we have located
28 points and you hold KJx Kxx Qxx xxxx. What are you going to do? Well, we
could probably make one no trump, but that bid is already taken. There is the
always reliable “pass and see what develops” strategy.
On the other
hand you can add them up, 12+16+9=37. So overcaller’s partner can have at most
3 hcps on a good day. The stark reality is that opener may never get to the
dummy. Give another point to either opener or overcaller and it is a dead
certainty. Think about this, every time overcaller wins a trick, he will have
to lead away from that 16 hcps balanced hand loaded with tenaces. Most of us
have played 1NT without a board entry and would rather forget it than remember
it. If opponents are vulnerable spitting out the word “double” is like hunting
on a game farm. Even non-vulnerable your double will produce an excellent
matchpoint result since you beat all those pairs who don’t read this blog post.
What are the
risks? That we will miss a part score? Well, even if we find a minor suit to
play in it may not be easy as overcaller’s points are sitting right behind
partner. Even success is failure, since even if you can make 2 of a minor, that
is a losing proposition if you can beat 1NT by even one trick. Is there a
chance that overcaller will make 1NT? Not likely at all. He has a balanced hand
and it is almost guaranteed that he does not have running long suit. If overcaller
bid 1NT over 1 diamond it is likely that he is 4333 or 4432. If he had a 5 card
major he would have bid it rather than 1NT. You have been faced with an
opportunity to gain almost a guaranteed top if you will only double.
The important
thing is that you and partner be on the same wavelength. We don’t want him
guessing or running out with that 12 point hand that he opened, so we have the
start of an agreement. Imagine that, “double actually means double”, maybe too
simple. To cement it in his brain, mark the box in the upper left hand corner
of your convention card that says “penalty” and pencil in 1NT O.C.
I do not want
to leave this topic without saying something about the danger of the 1NT
overcall. Is it more risky than opening 1NT? You bet it is. When you open 1NT,
the most likely division of the remaining points is 8-8-8. When you overcall
1NT the most likely probability of the two remaining hands is 6-6. Those nice
round numbers happen only 18% of the time, but suppose you hit on a totally
average day, is it harder to play with a 6 point dummy than with an 8 point
dummy? Clearly yes! One thing you may have noticed about playing no trump
contracts, the more the two facing hands are balanced in hcps, the easier it is
to make the contract. The difference is improved communication between the two
hands.
One of the
things that has always bothered me about direct no trump overcalls is the hcp
range. In view of the overcalls increased risk, why should the bottom range
start at 15 hcp. Yes, you are sitting behind an opening hand, but if you can’t
get to the board, the advantage disappears. In fact it reverses, since you will
be leading to opener’s tenaces. My decided preference is to play 1NT overcalls
16-18. You gain safety and accuracy since the range is narrowed and you are not overcalling
with marginal values. Larry Cohen said that 15 really means a bad 16 so I am
counting him on my side. I don’t expect to change the world by this comment,
but if you are going down with those 15 hcp 1NT overcalls remember where you
heard it first.
Now that we have started an agreement we
need to round it out since even good hands that need attention are not always
suitable for “double.” In the next blog I will flush out that thought and then
turn to what action, if any, overcaller’s partner should take to avert a disaster
in process.
As always feel free to comment, directly if you wish to: tommy@rochester.,rr.com or tsolberg@tampabay.rr.com
