There's a gun in your hand

[gszes]

if your partnership feels it is fine to overcall r/w with AQxxxx xx xxx Ax

then by all means pass. Your simple overcall range is way too wide to

make any reasonable judgements and discretion is probably wiser than

valor especially at IMPS. The problem with a huge range r/w is mainly

because a sacrifice will rarely be a good idea at these colors. All actions

taken by p have to be made essentially expecting you to make your

contract.

 

opposite a passed p this 2s overcall has little to gain and a ton to lose

IMO a better min has been shown by others something like

AKQxxx xx xx Axx where you have closer to 7 tricks at least then the

possible damage is severly limited and if p has a near max with support

they wont hesitate to raise to game (and it will almost never get x or

slaughtered even if x)--no small consideration at imps. I am pretty sure

most of those raising are expecting a better minimum hand from p for 2s.

[phil_20686]

if your partnership feels it is fine to overcall r/w with AQxxxx xx xxx Ax

then by all means pass. Your simple overcall range is way too wide to

make any reasonable judgements and discretion is probably wiser than

valor especially at IMPS.

 

opposite a passed p this 2s overcall has little to gain and a ton to lose

IMO a better min has been shown by others something like

AKQxxx xx xx Axx

 

????!?!?

 

People were suggesting AKQxxx xx xx Axx is enough to bid 3S over 2H, which should be 14-16 with a good six card suit. Overcalling with AQxxxx xx xxx Ax is completely normal. I mean you would open that hand, and it has a six card suit, and plenty of offence. This could easily just be a normal partscore deal, not every hand is about bidding game!

[aguahombre]

There is a problem with all the LOLing and the certainty of people's positions. It is the typical problem; we are each coming from a different expectation for the previous auction.

 

As to the LOLing of my pass of the 2S overcall, I see:

 

2H-2S-P in front of me and expect Righty to have some values and to be a reasonable player who would not have passed with 3 cards in the heart suit. Partner overcalled only 2S, and would have overcalled 3S or doubled with a hand likely to make game if I have this normal array. More important to me is that if Righty as passed, my partner has four hearts; and my three baby spades while nice aint gonna do their job if the opps know how to defend as well as how to bid.

 

All of that is a side issue to the given problem -- what to do after (2H) 2S (4H). We might not approve of partner's 2S overcall opposite a passed hand, but at least he got it out of his system and was not tempted to pass and then trot out 4S in balance. He gave me the opportunity to make the 4S mistake instead. I declined.

 

A wise old mentor way back in my youth said that when pressed, a stiff facecard in the opponent's suit means partner is minimum for his/her call. I never fully understood all the logic of that, but I do remember it.

[han]

My grandmother always said that it was going to rain when her breakfast porridge was too salty. I didn't understand the logic of that either.

 

A stiff in the opponents suit (and no raise) means partner is more likely to have length there. Partners are less eager to overcall when they have length in the suit bid by the opponents, so the minimum for their bid is higher. The higher their minimum, the more likely they don't have extras. So basically I agree with your mentor.

[JustTosh]

This is why there's something called Lebensohl. If using Lebensohl you'd know pd was not very strong and passing is then much easier.

[Phil]

OK I'll edit mine too.

[JustTosh]

This is why there's something called Lebensohl. If using Lebensohl you'd know pd was not very strong and passing is then much easier.

Please ignore my last comment. Must have been half asleep or brain dead. Got it completely wrong as this of course is not a Lebensohl situation. I stand corrected.