Your call?

[Stephen Tu]

Matchpoints, EW vul.

 

You hold ♠A♥AKQJT7♦8642♣A7

p-(1♦)-?

[mikeh]

I expect the vast majority to double, and indeed I do so happily opposite a passed hand, since partner's pass reduces the chances of his getting too high in spades, thus getting us, in turn, too high in hearts. The risk isn't eliminated: KQJx xx xxx QJxx will get us to an unmakeable game once I double, but QJxxx xx xx Kxxx will get us too many overtricks if I bid 1♥.

 

I tried to talk myself into a 1♥ overcall if partner were unpassed, but this hand is (barely) too strong even for me. The good news is that with my diamond length, partner will rarely, if ever, be bidding over a preemptive diamond raise so I should be able to handle most auctions.

 

4♥ is, imo, silly. It might blow off a good 4♠ contract by the opps (which we'd have to double), but will more often just get us to a minus score when we have a plus available....this hand isn't nearly as strong as the hcp, the aces, and the suit suggest...xxxx in diamonds is a real concern, and we may have literally no entry to dummy even when dummy has values.

[ggwhiz]

I don't see a danger with 1♥ as somebody will bid spades and I can either play hearts or defend spades. My pard will bid black suits over double way too much and too often. And I hate it.

 

I'm kinda fond of 3nt to hopefully put the boots to lho and test their discarding skills if I buy it there.

[Cyberyeti]

1♥ - we respond to this as if we'd opened 1♥, so partner won't pass often, and if he does I'm not unhappy.

[the_clown]

I don't understand 1♥ with 8 tricks in your hand. Even at MP there is a game bonus.......

[nige1]

Matchpoints, EW vul. You hold ♠ A ♥ A K Q J T 7 ♦ 8 6 4 2 ♣ A 7

p-(1♦)-?

IMO: 4♥ = 10, 1♥ = 9, Double = 8.

[Cyberyeti]

I don't understand 1♥ with 8 tricks in your hand. Even at MP there is a game bonus.......

It depends what you overcall 1♥ on, if you overcall 1♥ on AJxxx and out, clearly this is too good, if your overcall is a minimum of an opening bid and you WJO on crap, this is fine.

[the hog]

IMO x = 10, 1H = 7, 4H = 0

[mikeh]

It depends what you overcall 1♥ on, if you overcall 1♥ on AJxxx and out, clearly this is too good, if your overcall is a minimum of an opening bid and you WJO on crap, this is fine.

I know of no good player or partnership that advocates that a one-level overcall shows an opening hand or better. However, reading that you use that approach does answer the concerns I had about your earlier post.

 

Btw, surely you know that your approach is an idiosyncratic one?

 

When a poster puts forward a problem, ostensibly in a 'standard' or mainstream context, and wants advice it strikes me as simply wrong to post an answer that really amounts to: 'well, I have a gadget that nobody else plays and using that gadget, this is what I'd do'.

 

Your post was actually worse that that because you didn't disclose that your 1♥ overcall showed opening values or better. Hence you were advocating an action based on an idiosyncratic approach without identifying it as such.

 

We all like to show off our own preferred methods and I sometimes do so myself, but my suggestion is that we try to answer the question as asked, using generally accepted styles or methods and then, if appropriate, add something like: 'in some of my partnerships we deal with this hand type by requiring opening values for the overcall...that allows us to overcall with a higher upper limit than would be practical if we overcalled with, say xx AKJxx xxx Jxx'.

 

Frankly, the idea of not being able to bid, say, 1♠ on AQJ9x xx xx J10xx after a 1♦ opener strikes me as bizarre: almost as bizarre as the notion that with, say, KQxx xx xxx Qxxx I MUST respond to my partner's 1♥ overcall. If it's forcing, it's nuts and if it isn't forcing, we risk playing a poor 4-2 fit. The 'nuts' part softens if partner promises an opening hand but it is still, imo, unplayable. What is he to do with say xx AKxxx xxx KQx? Rebid his heart suit? Bid a stopperless, anti-positional 1N or introduce that club suit? I have to stop now....I am feeling nauseated.

[Phil]

Double.

 

When I jump over partners next call I negate all expectations about holdings in the unbid suits.

 

Hopefully the auction proceeds in a manageable fashion.

[Cyberyeti]

I know of no good player or partnership that advocates that a one-level overcall shows an opening hand or better. However, reading that you use that approach does answer the concerns I had about your earlier post.

 

Btw, surely you know that your approach is an idiosyncratic one?

 

When a poster puts forward a problem, ostensibly in a 'standard' or mainstream context, and wants advice it strikes me as simply wrong to post an answer that really amounts to: 'well, I have a gadget that nobody else plays and using that gadget, this is what I'd do'.

 

Your post was actually worse that that because you didn't disclose that your 1♥ overcall showed opening values or better. Hence you were advocating an action based on an idiosyncratic approach without identifying it as such.

 

We all like to show off our own preferred methods and I sometimes do so myself, but my suggestion is that we try to answer the question as asked, using generally accepted styles or methods and then, if appropriate, add something like: 'in some of my partnerships we deal with this hand type by requiring opening values for the overcall...that allows us to overcall with a higher upper limit than would be practical if we overcalled with, say xx AKJxx xxx Jxx'.

 

Frankly, the idea of not being able to bid, say, 1♠ on AQJ9x xx xx J10xx after a 1♦ opener strikes me as bizarre: almost as bizarre as the notion that with, say, KQxx xx xxx Qxxx I MUST respond to my partner's 1♥ overcall. If it's forcing, it's nuts and if it isn't forcing, we risk playing a poor 4-2 fit. The 'nuts' part softens if partner promises an opening hand but it is still, imo, unplayable. What is he to do with say xx AKxxx xxx KQx? Rebid his heart suit? Bid a stopperless, anti-positional 1N or introduce that club suit? I have to stop now....I am feeling nauseated.

I strongly hinted at it by saying we respond as if we'd opened it, and explained how we respond, I thought it would be apparent to anybody not trying to pick a meaningless fight that this implied we need a bit more to overcall than most.

 

1♥ over 1♦ cuts out nothing so even playing weaker overcalls would want to be better than 1♠ over 1♣, the difference between needing an 8 count and needing a 10 count is not that much (an opening hand for us may be a little less than you're used to, 5431 10 count is fine, we open this 1).

 

Your examples are horrid too.

 

♠AQJ9x and pretty much any 8 small cards 5224 we overcall 2♠ (hell I'll do this on AQJ9 over 1♣ if the vul is right). 1♥ overcall is not forcing, we treat it as a 1♥ opener, and your 3523 weak no trump is an easy 2♣ rebid, the same problem you have if you play a weak no trump, but don't open one with a 5 card major.

[Lord Molyb]

IMO 4♥ = 10, dbl = 7, 1♥ =6.

offensive values and partner is not likely to have diamond honors/♣K