An overcall promises what?

[mr1303]

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Do you overcall here?

[aguahombre]

Yes.

[billw55]

14 count with some shaky values, good enough five card suit, possible useful shortness in partners hand. Yes, 2♦, even red on white.

[mikeh]

I suspect that at the table I would be unable to resist the overcall. However, 2 minor is a very dangerous action on a weak 5 card suit, and this one is weak despite the 7 hcp. Should it go P P x, LHO has a very low risk, high gain conversion available since we get no game bonus for making.

 

I think the correct long term action is to pass, especially at imps.....yes, I do know we need to stretch to bid vulnerable games at imps, but this hand is a looong way from 5♦ and I'd like slightly better heart spots to have 3N in mind. If we belong in some other game, partner would have to bid it.

 

Having said that, I doubt that I'll find a lot of support for this conservatism :P

[mr1303]

Mike was right here. Overcalling 2D makes you join the -1100 camp, and if you're not careful you go for -1400, but I was wondering if I was just unlucky.

[ArtK78]

Mike was right here. Overcalling 2D makes you join the -1100 camp, and if you're not careful you go for -1400, but I was wondering if I was just unlucky.

It was unlucky, in two respects. It was unlucky to go for -1100, and it was unlucky that you chose to overcall. :)

 

Seriously, though, it is normal to bid 2♦ on these cards, even though, as Mike said, it may not be right.

[aguahombre]

Yeh, we all know why we perhaps shouldn't overcall. And yet we would. Hence, my brief answer YES to "Do you overcall?" in the OP. I think I can claim some nice variances from these overcalls when that little thing disrupted their auction in subtle ways not anticipated. I don't choose to remember any -1100's.

[MrAce]

Having said that, I doubt that I'll find a lot of support for this conservatism :P

 

Fwiw, you have my full support for everything you wrote, including not being able to resist to overcall. And you know i am not a shy bidder. I would prefer a lot of 9-10-11 hcp hands with 6 card diamonds as oppose to this one.

[Vampyr]

I suspect that at the table I would be unable to resist the overcall.

 

....

 

Having said that, I doubt that I'll find a lot of support for this conservatism :P

 

LOL, poor prediction, and I also agree with you that at the table we are all way too prone to temptation.

[madongjun]

I would PASS here,wait for partner or LHO bid,then decide next time what I bid.

[the_clown]

Clear pass for me. An overcall promises at unfav at the 2 level promises a 6 card suit or a (semi)solid 5carder and ideally some shape (Qx Axxx KQJ109 xx and I would overcall)

[Fluffy]

I'd rather bid 1NT than 2♦

[gwnn]

I hate 2D at unfav, sorry. I'd do it when NV and hopefully pass at all vul.

[MrAce]

I'd rather bid 1NT than 2♦

 

I did not think of it tbh, but i like that idea for this hand.

 

 

 

[mikeh]

only a cynic would comment on the fact that all the posters pre-the outcome being revealed would bid and most after would pass. ok, I'm a cynic. It's not that I think any of the subsequent posters are being dishonest, just that maybe it's difficult to be objective once the outcome is known.

[mikeh]

I'd rather bid 1NT than 2♦

I'm sorry but this is a far worse 1N than it is 2♦ imo. It's not that I like 2♦ but 1N is a huge overbid. We have only 1 heart stopper, our clubs aren't worth 5 hcp, and we only have 14 if they were.

 

Moreover, partner will bid more aggressively, on exactly the wrong hands, after 1N than after 2♦. He thinks we promise a bigger minimum for 1N. He may well take us to a weak 5-2 spade fit, or overbid thinking that his clubs will be more useful than they are.

 

Stretching to make understrength unfavourable 1N overcalls strikes me as suicidal/fratricidal bridge at its worst.

[nige1]

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Do you overcall here?

[/hv]

IMO Pass = 10, 2♦ = 8, 1N = 7.

Not-vulnerable, 2♦ would be fine :)

[sfi]

only a cynic would comment on the fact that all the posters pre-the outcome being revealed would bid and most after would pass. ok, I'm a cynic. It's not that I think any of the subsequent posters are being dishonest, just that maybe it's difficult to be objective once the outcome is known.

 

Let's see if I can trigger your cynicism as well. :)

 

My instinctive reaction on seeing the original post just now was that there's no way I would overcall (that's a bit too articulate - it was actually 'blech'), and I was genuinely surprised to see the first few posts supporting doing so. The hearts, flat hand, and soft values are all negatives. After looking at the comments I'm actually more likely to consider overcalling as a mainstream call, but taking action here just doesn't leap out as something with a big up side.

 

Getting tagged for -1100 is a bit unlucky though. Mostly an overcall on this hand at this vulnerability doesn't seem to achieve much one way or another. The opponents are still going to find game or a partscore in either major if it's right. The most common good thing is that you keep them out of a 3NT they would have made without a diamond lead from partner. Call that 7 IMPs. The biggest downside (as I'm guessing is the case here) is that they were headed to 3NT and not worried about the diamonds, which is 12 IMPs. It's hard to work out the chance of each, but needing 2-1 frequency in my favour seems to back my initial reaction.

[the hog]

This is a pass and I overcall on light hands. If opener had opened 1D and this were the C suit, I would overcall 2C.

[ggwhiz]

In an unbiased poll I think you would get close to a 50-50 split.

 

Mike Lawrence wrote about the fact that many of your partners cards are not hearts as a reason to overcall aggressively but that was at the 1 level, say with 5 cards in the minor they open and a biddable 4 card major. All his examples had a 2nd place to play (often 1nt) and this is a 1 trick pony.

 

That said I would bid once in a while to remind myself why I shouldn't and have seen -1100 in a team game on similar be a push.

[Fluffy]

Moreover, partner will bid more aggressively, on exactly the wrong hands, after 1N than after 2♦. He thinks we promise a bigger minimum for 1N. He may well take us to a weak 5-2 spade fit, or overbid thinking that his clubs will be more useful than they are.

Getting to the 5-2 spade fit would be a dream if we enter the bidding!

 

Stretching to make understrength unfavourable 1N overcalls strikes me as suicidal/fratricidal bridge at its worst.

That's what I think of overcalling 5 card suits at the 2 level when RHO is probably unbalanced.