The Little Book of Bridge by Brent Manley

Author:Brent Manley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Adams Media

♠ AKQJ76

♥ Q7

♦ AQJ

♣ 75

Bid 2 ♠, showing your strong hand and very good suit.

♠ AK4

♥ 75

♦ KJ

♣ AK10976

Bid 3 ♣. If your partner has a heart stopper and a smattering of points, he will probably bid 3NT. Remember, your bid of 3 ♣ is not forcing, and if your partner can’t make a move over your strong bid, you probably don’t want to be any higher.

Greater Efficiency

The reason you double with extra strength, planning to bid your own suit after your partner’s response, is that the simple overcall has a very wide range, which hampers the bidding process to a degree.

When your hand is so strong that you need very little from your partner to make a game, your partner will frequently have what you need but be unable to move over a simple overcall. For example, suppose you hold:

♠ Q4

♥ 75

♦ K7653

♣ J1087

Your left-hand opponent opens 1 ♣. Your partner overcalls 1 ♠ and right-hand opponent passes. There’s not much you can do. It’s bad policy to raise your partner’s simple overcall with a doubleton, and you certainly don’t have enough to bid 1NT even though you do have a club stopper of sorts (a 1NT bid in this position shows a minimum of 9 or 10 high-card points and a stopper).

So you pass, as does the opener. Now suppose this is your partner’s hand:

♠ AKJ1087

♥ 82

♦ AQ5

♣ A9

You have just missed a game that should have been bid. Clearly, your partner should have doubled first, then bid spades over your response of 2 ♦. You would happily raise to 3 ♠—you don’t mind raising with a doubleton honor because, more often than not, your partner will have six spades—and you would soon be in 4 ♠.

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