EHAA Defense

[pbleighton]

I haven't been able to find Eric Landau's book anywhere.

I have been playing 5 card weak twos for a couple of years,

and am curious about "EHAA defense".

 

Can anyone describe the EHAA overcall/double system for me?

I understand the 2 level overcalls are similar to the EHAA

weak twos. If that is correct, what do the one and three level

overcalls, doubles and cuebids mean?

 

If you have played it, how were the results?

 

Peter

[pigpenz]

you could look for John Kiernans book on Kamikaze NT, it is very similar in structure with their weak twos.

[mycroft]

Eric's book says "do what you like, but here's an EHAA-ish treatment that EHAA players tend to enjoy", and then describes:

 

1) 1-level overcalls are sound. Super 11s would be the minimum, expect a (n old fashioned) 13.

 

2) 2-level overcalls are like 2-level openers; 6-12 if a jump, could be stronger (potentially much stronger) if a non-jump. My explanation of these are "6-12 (or 6+), at least 5 cards in the suit, pretty much anything goes, but we're allowed to pass the insane ones" (unlike openers).

 

3) 3-level overcalls come in two types: single jumps and double jumps. Double Jump Overcalls are traditional preempts - If you want to use the EHAA 3-bid requirements, more power to you. Single Jump Overcalls are Intermediate - 5-6 losers is the guideline - to put some semblance of a cap of non-jump 2-bids.

 

4) Michaels and UNT promise good hands - again sound opening values (but here, of course, shape means 11 is usually a sound opener).

 

5) Takeout doubles also show sound values. Since standard overcalls are so strong, there really isn't any "too strong to overcall" double-then-bid situations; so that's used for the "one-and-a-half suiter" - (1D)-X-p-1H; p-1S shows 6 or good 5 spades and 4 diamonds, but no extra strength.

 

6) What you do with 1NT, 3NT and higher calls is up to you :-).

 

And yes, it is fun, and very aggressive, and since modern systems are designed around negative doubles through a lot higher than 1S, relatively safe. And you get all the bonuses of playing EHAA - pass is a "flashing danger light" being the biggest one.

 

Downsides is that eventually, you will get nailed; and the part-score battle does tend to be a bit more of a coin-flip. But you get to a lot of major-suit games, especially against 5-card-majorites.

 

Coming from a preferred light-actor, it's really comfortable to be on the receiving end of a sound overcall or double (especially with your axe in your pocket). And responding to EHAA 2-bids is pretty systemic, so there's usually no "anything I do will be wrong" guesses to make - the system handles all the guesswork for you. Of course, the system can be wrong, but at least you've not wasted your energy on the stress of making the decision.

 

I've also played it against Precision and other Artificial Clubs - not my favourite toy, but it does have the "don't need to remember anything else" advantage.

 

Michael.

[pigpenz]

I played 10-13NT and five card EHAA weak twos almost exclusively from 79 to91. People always tended to bid when they should double and double when they should bid against one NT. Agaisnt the weak twos you get your shot in first and out as quick as possible.

 

We even went to point of using Ron Gerard-Larry Cohens 1-2-3 two suiters, written up in Bridge World April 1980 I believe. When told we couldnt use them anymore then we just modified them:

 

 

Lots of fun, good results, occassional bad scores, and lots of mad opponents. For us the ACBL told us at the time then when you open 2♦2♥2♠ you had to promise at least five cards in a known suit, so we modified the 1-2-3 suiters to

 

2♦ ♦♥ or♦♣ 5-10hcp

2♥ ♥♠ or ♥♣ 5-10 hcp

2♥ ♠♣ or ♠♦ 5-10hcp

 

or one could just make up like crash or dont two bids and see how that goes alot of stuff you can do

[pbleighton]

Michael:

 

Thanks for the writeup. The non-jump 2 bids seem to be the weak point of the system, as they are so wide ranging.

 

pigpenz:

 

Your modification of 1-2-3 is interesting. I believe that at this point they are not GCC legal, however, and aren't even Mid Chart legal if 4-4.

 

Peter

[pigpenz]

Michael:

 

Thanks for the writeup. The non-jump 2 bids seem to be the weak point of the system, as they are so wide ranging.

 

pigpenz:

 

Your modification of 1-2-3 is interesting. I believe that at this point they are not GCC legal, however, and aren't even Mid Chart legal if 4-4.

 

Peter

We were told that we had to have a known five card suit, so in a way you can look at it as weak twos promising a five cards suit but have a four+ suit on the side....

 

2♦ five card suit with 4+ of ♥ or ♣

2♥ five card suit with 4+ of ♠ or ♣

2♠five cards suit with 4+ ♣ or♦