Handling strong club interference

[sartaj1]

Hi folks,

 

It seems to me that the opposition interferes over our strong club about 70 percent of the time. Consequently, our system should be designed towards optimizing those auctions.

 

Am interested in suggested developments after interference, with neat twists and tricks.

 

Also, do you distinguish between interference with no known anchor suit and interference with an anchor suit.

 

Any link to a web resource would be appreciated .

 

Sartaj

[Mbodell]

What I play:

 

When the interference is immediately after 1♣ then:

 

Over X:

XX - clubs/penalties depending on their agreement

pass - double negative 0-4

1♦ - negative 5-7 (or a quaky more)

1♥+ - as if they hadn't bid.

 

Over 1♦:

pass - double negative 0-4

X - 5-7 (or quaky more)

1♥+ - as if they hadn't bid

 

Over other 1 level bids:

pass is forcing to 1nt and shows the 0-4 hand OR a trap pass

X - ~5-8 and kind of takeout-ish

new suit - 8+ natural game force

1nt - 5-9 and balanced and their suit (if they have one) stopped

cue - 8+ balanced game force without their suit stopped

2nt - 10+ balanced with their suit well stopped

 

Over 2 level bids:

pass is non-forcing and generally shows a bad hand

X is ~5-8 and takeout-ish

other bids are as if we had opened a strong nt (so lebensohl/rubensohl or whatever)

 

Over higher levels you can play the same basic idea or invert the X with the awful hand and pass with the semi-positive hand.

 

The harder ones to define are when opponents compete over 1♣-p-1♦-??

 

as here I've found that we bid natural, more or less, but it is harder to describe all the possible sequences.

 

I don't claim these are the best possible things, but they seem to work ok. Also, if you are getting interference at 70%+ rate, I'd think you'd want to collect more penalties to help train your opponents not to come in quite that often. I'd say we get interference in our relay strong club system (arguably the type you most want to interfere against) somewhere in the ball park of 20-25% of the time.

[shevek]

I did some analysis of this once.

In serious imp events, they bid 40% of the time over our 16+ 1♣. That rates to be a bit higher if 1♣ is 15+.

In less serious events and against weaker opponents, I reckon the intereference rate is higher and more costly to them. Strong club is becoming rarer these days, so opponents have fewer opportunities to try out their home-grown counters. As a consequence, they (1) make system errors and (2) bid when they should pass.

You know the sort: 1♥ = at least 4-3 in 2 green suits.

We score well against such action, partly because we have a feel for these auctions and they don't.

If 2nd hand doubles or bids 1♦, we play system on. Simple stuff, meaning X(XX) = 5-8 any, higher bids artificial GF (symmetric relay). X as 5-8 any is not ideal but they usually help us out with silly pass-correct bids.

If they overcall 1♥ or 1♠, we give up relay and play transfers. 1♠ by responder is natural, usually 5, 1NT nat non-force, 2♣ - 2♠ are suit transfers. That all works well, whether or not they show a suit.

We bid their 4+ suits to play. If 1♥ = majors, 1♠ by responder is still natural.

Against natural 1♥ & 1♠ overcalls, double is takeout,. Not 1-suited, so double then a suit is ELC-style.

A double of a random 1M overcall is takeout if they will hold the bid suit half the time. For instance, if 1♠ by them is reds or blacks, double is takeout of spades. This is not ideal, not the best way to collect penalties but will do.

If the overcall 2M, we play 3-level suit transfers Rubensohl-style. Only over majors. If they overcall 2♣ or 2♦, it's natural by us. Non-forcing at the 2-level.

[CamHenry]

I'm speaking from a strong diamond context, but many of the same principles apply. Our responses (uncontested) are 1H negative, 1S GF, 1NT-2H weak transfers (6-card suit; anything other than a completion is strongly invitational).

 

If they overcall, we play X as "any good 8+"; this establishes a game-force (and therefore forcing passes, penalty doubles, and Lebensohlic continuations after a forcing pass). Freebids show a 6-card suit, and 4 to a bad 8. This, combined with experience in deciding when to defend doubled partscores, has served quite well.

 

If they overcall in sandwich seat, after 1D-(P)-1H, we bid naturally (doubles by either hand are takeout at first). Pass by opener suggests but does not guarantee a balanced hand without a stop; we play Lebensohl here as if the auction had gone 1NT - (2x). This does mean that 1NT is sometimes Lebensohl.

 

If they overcall after a positive response (so we've established a game-force), doubles are penalty and passes are forcing. They deserve all they get, and frequently get quite a lot.