Double a suit over 1NT
I've got 4 of their suit - and they're in trouble
Your partner opened 1NT. Bear in mind that your RHO overcall is showing an opening hand. You want to reply to your partner, but. . ... the opposition rather annoyingly overcalled in a suit. You have three options now, in addition to passing.
- bid naturally (Stayman and Transfers are cancelled),
- use Lebensohl cue bid (that's a way of re-instating Stayman), or
- double
On this page we are going to examine the double. After a NT bid, all doubles are for penalties, even if the double occurs later on, as in this case. You would double because you believe can make more money by doubling them, probably because game seems unlikely for your team.
Taking all this together, it makes sense that you must therefore have
- a very decent hand
- 4-card suit in enemy's suit, obviously
- or v.v. good 3-card
You know your partner has 12-14 balanced, and at least 2 of enemy suit. Do your sums. With your comined 20-24 HCP and good trumps sitting on theirs, is the enemy really going to make 8 tricks ?
Notes
- Beware: if they used Landy, then they don't really have Clubs if the overcall was 2.
- This is an easier bid to call if your partner's NT was a Strong NT opening, 15-17 HCP, for obvious reasons.
- Be careful about doubling a Major bid into game.
Now try the quiz
Can you put all this into action ? Try the quiz for this subject by clicking on the link at the top left of the page, just below the main menu.
(You can try quizzes for any other subjects too while you're there. Look out for the thin red line).