Best scheme to cope with Big Club interference

[dbsboy]

I am learning Precision and has become really fond of it.

 

But people love to interfere and I still have problems in this part.

 

To all Big Club experts:

 

What is the best scheme (or your recommended scheme) after partner opens 1C and opponents interfere?

 

I do not mind complicated methods as long as they are effective and useful.

 

Thanks all.

[OleBerg]

Something simple and efficient:

 

Vs. interference at the 1-level:

 

Double is 5-7. (Remember to discuss if double sets up a force, and in which situations it does.)

New suits and nt is natural and game-forcing.

Opponents suit is Gf with no good bid.

 

Vs. interference at the two-level:

 

All bids are natural and GF.

Double is GF with no good bid.

[Gerben42]

I'm not so fond of forcing to game directly on a low level, rather I would have bids showing invitational or better (6+), and otherwise bidding as if opponents had opened.

 

Example:

 

1♣ (1♠) ?

 

* Pass: 0 - 5 or penalty pass

* Dbl: Negative: 6+ with 4+♥, or GF without a 4-card suit

* 1NT: 5 - 7

* 2♣♦♥: 6+, at least 5 cards

* 2♠: 5♥ 5m

* 2NT: Minors

* Jump in a suit: Strong jump shift

 

It just seems to me that this way

* you are going to end up in more familiar situations

* you can get your suits in

 

But I'm willing to hear from experts in this area why this would be bad.

[hrothgar]

I am learning Precision and has become really fond of it.

 

But people love to interfere and I still have problems in this part.

 

To all Big Club experts:

 

What is the best scheme (or your recommended scheme) after partner opens 1C and opponents interfere?

The short answer is: It depends...

 

There are an enormous number of ways to compete against a strong club. A set of methods that works well over a 1♠ overcall that shows Spades probably aren't going to be nearly as effective against a 1♠ overcall that shows either Clubs or the Red suits.

 

Worse yet, a set of methods that works well over a 1♠ overcall that shows Spades probably aren't going to work well against a 1♠ overcall that supposedly shows Spades but actually shows(0-3) Spades with a well prepared run out scheme.

 

If you want to seriously work on your defensive methods you probably want to create a taxonomy of overcalls. Start sorting overcalls based on

 

Level Did the opponents overcall at the one level? Did the opponents overcall at the two level? Was the overcall greater than 1♠ but less that 2♥ (You'll need to figure out where you think the logicial break points are)

 

Shape What do you know about shape? Does the overcall promise a single suited hand with a known anchor suit? A two suited hand with no known anchor suit? A two suited hand with a known anchr suit (which happens to be the suit bid)?

 

Vulnerability What do you do if they are red? What do you do if they are white?

 

The key tension is going to be devising a defensive structure that is able to handle common cases efficiently, uncommon cases adequately, yet doesn't impose an overwhelming load on memory.

[Echognome]

This is obviously an area that takes a lot of practice. I know that I spent about as much time learning how to handle interference over our strong club as I took learning the rest of the system in its entirety.

 

Granted we were playing relay, so take that with some caveat, but I think some of the general principles applied.

 

Also note that when the opponents interfere we gain 2 calls: pass and double (or XX) and we lose as much space as they take up.

 

Over 1-level overcalls, we would use:

 

1♣ - (Dbl) - ?

 

XX 6-8 Any

Pass 4-5 Any

1♦ 0-3 Any

1♥+ Usual meaning, with GF hands

 

1♣ - (1♦) - ?

 

Dbl 0-5 Any

Pass 6-8 Any

1♥+ Usual GF

 

1♣ - (1♥) - ?

 

Dbl 0-5 Any, except see 1♠ below

Pass 6-8 Any

1♠ 0-5 with 4+♠

1NT+ 2-up from 1♥+*

 

1♣ - (1♠) - ?

 

Dbl 0-5 Any

Pass 6-8 Any

1NT+ 2-up from 1♥+*

 

* 2-up means we are bidding are natural suits but 2 bids higher. So 1♣ - (1♥) - 1NT = 4+♥ GF, 2♣ = 4+♠ GF. We like this because it handles psyches and artificial bids equally well. Whatever "noise" they throw at us at the 1-level should affect our constructive bidding and we don't like going for trap passes at the 1-level.

 

1♣ - (1NT) - ?

 

Dbl Penalty, 6-8 any or 9+ with no 5-card suit

Pass 0-5 any

2♣+ Natural, GF

 

1♣ - (2X) - ?

 

Dbl 6-8 Any or 9+ with no 5-card suit

Pass 0-5 any or trap

Others, Natural GF

[PrecisionL]

I, also, have tried many schemes including Rigal's suggestion that X shows 3-cards in the opponent's bid suit. I liked this scheme, but my partner did not:

 

X = (1) 5-7 hcp & 3-cards in the suit bid, or (2) Positive response w 5-cards in suit bid.

Suit = Natural and Game Forcing

1NT = Natural and Game Forcing

Cue = (1) 5-7 hcp & 3-suited takeout, or (2) GF balanced & no stopper.

Jump = Semi-positive & constructive

 

If the interference is after responder's positive response, then Pass-Double Inversion works well.

 

Currently I play (with Keylime) Transfer Lebensohl with X = 5-7 hcp and no long suit.

 

Larry

[rbforster]

I'm also not sure about how competitive you want to be over low level interference like 1♥ or 1♠. One philosophy is to treat 1 level bids by responder after an overcall as natural and invitational+, so 6+ points (or whatever). For example

 

1♣- (1M) - ?

 

X - negative (showing the other major) with 6-8, or any GF with no direction

1♠ - 5+ suit and 6+ points

1N - 6-8 balanced with stopper in M

higher - natural and GF

cuebid - strong takeout of M

 

This style works well against "normal" natural interference, in particular when the opponent overcalling shows some values so the emphasis should be on a competitive auction rather than an game forcing auction.

 

Alternatively, if you really like your strong club response methods and/or if the opponents will overcall on 0-5 counts with 4+ suits, the emphasis might want to be on preserving good game-forcing methods. If you want to take this route, you can play

 

1♣ - (1♥) - ?

 

P any non-GF

X I would have bid 1♥ over 1♣ normally (whatever that means, maybe transfer to spades, or maybe penalty/hearts)

1♠+ as without any interference

 

1♣ - (1♠) - ?

P any non-GF, or a GF with spades

X GF balanced (transfer to NT, or sit if appropriate)

1N+ as without interference

 

The latter one works ok for us since we play transfers over 1♣ with GF hands, so normally 1♣-1♥ shows spades (the lost bid becomes a trap pass) and 1♣-1♠ shows balanced (shown by X). The downside to this is that pass is probably forcing since partner could have a good hand with spades, but then you're likely to be able to double for takeout as the strong club hand.

 

As for non-natural interference methods, I'd like to hear what people like to play against low-level suction or psycho-suction overcalls. You can play "systems on" or similar, but I think that fails to extract penalties as often as deserved. If someone has a nice set of agreements over this, including which good hands pass, what opener's double is when they pass the artificial overcall, etc, I'd be much obliged.

[dake50]

Transfers on, invite+. Should be SOP anyway, but GF+.

Accept if fit, natural if not. Super accept is GF. Lebensohl-like to shake out invite from GF+ after accept.

Forcing pass ON at 2-level/4-level; best guess 3-level.

Partition 1C openers strong with Spade suit in, strong with Heart suit opens 1H (eg16-17)