When not to make a negative x

[Badmonster]

P opens a minor they overcall a major you have four of the other. What are some instances where even though you have the 4cM you're better off passing?

[Stephen Tu]

- your hand is weak vs. the level at which you are asking partner to bid. The higher you are the stronger your hand should be. Doubling may force your side too high, getting you a minus score worse than passing & defending would.

 

- you have a very strong holding in the opponent's suit, and think that on average you will get a better score defending than by bidding on; you pass & hope partner reopens with a double.

[cherdano]

- your hand is weak vs. the level at which you are asking partner to bid. The higher you are the stronger your hand should be. Doubling may force your side too high, getting you a minus score worse than passing & defending would.

 

- you have a very strong holding in the opponent's suit, and think that on average you will get a better score defending than by bidding on; you pass & hope partner reopens with a double.

- you are strong and have a good suit on your own that you want to show before bidding your 4-card major at whatever level necessary

[awm]

Agree with what others have said. Also:

 

When your hand is fairly minimum and you have length in the opposing suit, it can be better to pass or bid 1NT. The issue is that if partner has a fit for your major (and also has the minor he opened), given your length in the enemy suit the auction will almost always go Pass-Pass-double after which you can bid your major. However, if partner doesn't have a fit for you, doubling may lead to a variety of disaster scenarios when partner has the wrong balanced hand to rebid notrump over your double. For example:

 

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North opens with 1♦ and east overcalls 1♠. If you make a negative double on the south cards, partner has a tough decision. Some people will bid 1NT, which is right on the actual cards but potentially risky given the lack of a spade stopper and potential for a minor suit fit. Most will bid 2♣, leading you to the inferior diamond moysian when you should be playing 1NT or defending 1♠. On the other hand, if you pass with the south cards you get to defend 1♠ with opponents having the minority of the trumps (probably a reasonable spot). If partner had fewer spades, he would find a balancing call anyway and you reach a reasonable partial.

 

As a general rule, when deciding to negative double versus pass:

 

(1) The more points you have, the more likely you should be to double. This is because selling out to the opponents low-level partial undoubled is more likely to be a bad result when you are strong and pass carries the risk of defending.

 

(2) The more cards you have in the opposing suit, the more likely you should be to pass. The extreme case is obviously a "penalty pass" but light hands in terms of points should normally pass with length in the enemy suit and double with shortage.

 

Of course there are also times when you are better off to raise partner or bid a side five-card minor rather than negative double.