Friday, November 19, 2010
Hand Evaluation - Overcall (
5-4 majors )
PITBULLS:
The
Bridge playing Shakespeare once said " To overcall or double - that is the
question " . Holding a 5-4 in the majors ( either way ) with a decent hand
you have a decision to make. Which bid describes your hand best to partner ? A T/O double or an overcall ?
A T/O double has the advantage of announcing more than one suit
to partner. An overcall has the advantage of
announcing the 5th card in the major. A T/O double has the advantage of
announcing overall strength measured in quick tricks or simply a HCP total. An overcall hides this defensive strength from partner at
least initially when the auction might take off..
My
opinion this is a " game time decision"
taking into account many variables. When you are not strong ( minimum
opening bid range or lower ) , the scale is tipped in favour
of the overcall. A 5-3 can be reached quickly which makes competing easier. A
5-4 in the majors strong hand should be announced with a T/O double as one of
the purposes of a T/O double is to announce strength not normally associated
with a mere overcall.
What about all the intermediate hands which are neither strong or minimum ? Other factors now enter the equation. Most experts
play a 2/1 response to an overcall as non forcing. They do this
for two reasons. One is that a 1NT responses to an overcall
is constructive not a bid just to keep the bidding open. This frees the single suiters or two suited hands normally sentenced to the forcing
NT structure. You can just bid a suit naturally at the two level
& without making even a one round force. You need to play a SJS to an overcall for this to work properly. The other reason is you
avoid having the heart
suit buried by the spade overcall .
Responder bids 2♥ non forcing
, so you find your heart fits that way.
Many
experts now play equal level conversion to solve the 5-4 spade heart problem
hands. ♠AJxxx ♥AKxx
♦x ♣Q10x . 1♦ so you make a T/O double .
Partner bids 2♣ so you convert to a higher ranking suit at the same level. This
higher rank
bidding shows the 5th spade but not a super strong hand .
Why ? A T/O double with a one suited hand is rare
& not bid this way. A single suited hand is described with an overcall or when really strong a jump Q bid. I would chose a double with the above hand as I play equal level
conversion. A double of a minor always shows both majors but not necessarily
the unbid minor playing ECL.
♠AKQxx ♥Axxx ♦xxx ♣x with this hand I
would overcall 1♠ over a minor. Why ? I live in my
spade suit & since partner will bid 2♥ non forcing I am not afraid of burying the ♥ suit. When my HCP's are scattered throughout my hand , I will tend to make a T/O double . When my HCP's are concentrated in my 5 card suit , I will overcall. The other criteria I use for my
overcall decisions is the nature of my HCP's. When
my hand is soft & offensive in nature , I choose
an overcall. When I have been dealt quick tricks , I double to show the defense. This allows partner
to convert for penalty or subsequently double the opponents.
This is from the
net discussing equal level conversion.
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Holding a distribution of 5
Hearts and 4 Spades, the standard preference was to bid 1 Heart. With the Equal
Level Conversion Double, the partnership can first double. If the first
response is Clubs, the ECL-Doubler
can rebid Hearts, showing minimum and a 5-card Heart suit and a 4-card Spade
suit. If the first response is Hearts or Spades, then a possible game may be
explored.
The Equal Level Conversion
has been a part of national and international tournaments and belong in the repertoire of many expert bridge players as
can be seen on the Convention
Card of Cohen-Berkowitz and Daniela von Arnim-Sabine Auken and Greta Chai
- Foo Yoke Lan.
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